Be my date

“Which way is she?” They both looked up at the arrow signs by the elevator bank.

“This way,” she said, pointing to the left.

He consulted his room key.

“Ah, I’m that way.” He pointed to the right.

They smiled at each other and didn’t say anything for a moment.

“I can honestly say that I’ve never had a more entertaining time in an elevator. Thanks for that.” He reached out a hand.

“Likewise.” Lucia shook it. “Good luck at the wedding.”

He laughed and grimaced.

“Don’t remind me. Congratulations to your sister.”

She thanked him and walked down the hall toward Susan room. She wished she knew what else she could or should have said to keep talking to him longer. She sighed and kept walking.

“Lucia. Wait.” This was crazy. Avon knew, objectively, that what he was about to do was crazy. But as she turned to walk away, he shouted for her to stop a split second later.

“Yeah?” She turned. “You can’t have the rest of the cheese, not even as a parting gift.”

Okay, here was his opportunity to play it off, pretend that that’s what he was asking for, banter with this cute and funny woman with the great cleavage one last time, then turn around and go to his hotel room and get ready for this brutal weekend . . . Well, when you put it like that, maybe this wasn’t so crazy.

“You . . . you wouldn’t be free this weekend, would you? How long is your sister in town?” No turning back now.

“She leaves tomorrow after her deposition. I’m working on Saturday. I have an event at—”

“Working on Saturday—what about Saturday night? Even . . . Friday night?” Oh please, let her be free, now that he’d gone that far.

“Well, I have to—”

“Be my date this weekend? Please? The wedding isn’t until Saturday night, so that would work, right? If you can’t do Friday night I understand, but if there’s any way you could come to the rehearsal dinner with me, I would . . . I don’t know what I would do. Really appreciate it? Buy you all the cheese you wanted?” How did he go from zero to babbling and pleading with this woman in thirty seconds flat?

“Avon, I . . . Are you sure?”

He smiled. With that question, he knew he’d almost got her.

“Positive. Come to the wedding, be my sandwich, protect me from poisoning and disaster. It’ll be your good deed for the year. And it’s only May—look at you, getting your good deed for the year done before the year is even half over!” He was so close to victory; he could tell by the smile in her eyes as she looked up at him. “Come on, Lucia .” He touched her shoulder. “Save me.”

She took a deep breath, and he held his as she considered.

“When you put it like that, what else can I say? I’ll do it.”

He pulled her into a hug. Her champagne bottle–laden purse clanked against his butt, and they both laughed.

“You won’t regret this.” He pulled back and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. “Wait, give me your number.”

He typed in her number as she recited it.

“There, I texted you, so you have mine. I’ll send you all of the details later.” He turned to leave before she could say anything else.

“Okay, but Avon, are you . . .”

“See you tomorrow, Lucia . Congratulations again to your sister!”

He sped down the hall with his suitcase, not giving her a chance to back out.

Lucia stared at Avon’s back for a few seconds. Had that really happened? Had that cute stranger just asked her to be his date for a wedding? And had she really said yes?

She turned and raced down the hall to Susan’s room and knocked on the door. Susan threw open the door and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Get in here!” They grinned at each other and hugged again. It was great to see her sister, it really was.

“Your hair looks amazing,” Lucia said. “The pictures on F******k do not do that ’fro justice.”

Susan looked her over and frowned in that way older sisters can.

“The outfit is great, and I love the shoes, but I thought you were going to get blond highlights? What happened?”

Lucia shrugged. “Sorry, I chickened out. I didn’t think I could pull off the blond.”

Susan made a face at her.

“Haven’t we been over this? Look at Beyoncé!”

Lucia laughed. “Even though I work in San Francisco , I still work for the mayor, you know.”

Susan plopped down on the bed.

“Oh please, you could get away with some blond highlights, easy. But then, you always were the risk-averse one.”

Lucia opened her mouth to argue but thought better of it. She was here to improve her relationship with her sister, remember?

“Look what I brought you!” she said instead.

She pulled the champagne and the cheese and crackers out of her purse. “Not quite sure how cold the champagne is anymore, but we still have to drink it. And I heroically saved most of the cheese and crackers from the guy I was stuck in the elevator with, so we’d better enjoy them.”

“Well, of course we still have to drink that champagne! Gimme.”

Susan grabbed the hotel water glasses as Lucia pulled the foil off the champagne bottle.

“I can’t believe you were stuck in the elevator all that time. And why weren’t you texting me back? Was your battery out?”

“Okay, there’s a story there, but let’s toast to you before I get into all of that.” She twisted the metal tie open and pulled out the cork with a gentle pop. After she poured a healthy amount into each of their glasses, she held hers up.

“To Susan hills , the first black female partner at olive, Young and Stewart in over ten years. To a brilliant lawyer, but most importantly the best big sister a girl could have.”

“Are you trying to make me cry?” Susan said. “It’s not working. I don’t care if you see water in my eyes; it’s just because I’m allergic to this carpet.”

Lucia smiled and clanked her glass against Susan’s

“Cheers to you.”

They both drank, hugged again, and drank some more.

“What time is our dinner reservation? Are we going to be late?”

Lucia took another sip of champagne and checked the time.

“Reservations are at eight and it’s not even seven yet. Have some cheese.”

Lucia reached for the champagne bottle and refilled their glasses.

“Oh wait, what was the story from the elevator? Why weren’t you texting me back? I was worried that you were, like, eaten by the elevator monster or something.”

“ ‘Elevator monster’? Susan, you couldn’t come up with a better fake worry than the ‘elevator monster’?”

“The champagne is already going to my head, and I had a six-hour flight today, so give me a break. Tell me this story immediately.” Susan set her glass down on the nightstand and gave her a stern look.

“Damn, do I feel sorry for whoever you’re deposing tomorrow. Does everyone you give that look to automatically spill their guts?” Lucia took a fortifying sip of champagne.

The real Susan slipped out from behind the lawyer face as she grinned.

“Basically, so start spilling.”

Lucia took a deep breath. It had just happened a few minutes ago, and this story still didn’t seem like it had happened to her.

“So, the other person in the elevator with me was a guy.”

Susan nodded.

“Obviously, otherwise you would have texted me back.”

Lucia kept talking so she wouldn’t lose her nerve.

“A cute guy.”

“Come on, am I an idiot? Of course he was cute. He wouldn’t have even known of the existence of the cheese and crackers in your purse if he wasn’t. But I feel like that’s not the end of this story. Wait.” Susan looked Lucia up and down. “That dress looks like it’s easy to get in and out of. I am going to be SO proud of you if you had a quickie in the Lacoste hotel elevator!”

Lucia gasped.

“SUSAN “, eww, no.”

Susan sighed.

“I knew that was too much to hope for. My prude of a little sister strikes again.”

Lucia’s hand tightened around her glass. Now she was a prude for not throwing her clothes off for a stranger in an elevator?

“I’m not a prude, but thanks for that.”

This always had to happen, didn’t it? Whenever they got together, her hopes were high, but within the first five minutes either she would manage to say something passive-aggressive to her sister, or Susan would somehow make her feel inadequate.

Susan nudged her once and again when Lucia didn’t look up the first time.

“It’s not an insult, Lulu. You know you’ve always been the well-behaved one.”

Susan hadn’t called her Lulu in a long time. She forced herself to smile.

“Anyway.” Lucia stood up and poured the rest of the champagne into their glasses. The bubbles would cheer her up. “You should get ready. Even though you are in Berkeley , I don’t think you want to show up to dinner in that robe.”

“I bet I could make it the latest style.” Susan grabbed a dress out of her suitcase and pulled it over her head.

“Zip me up.” Lucia jumped up behind her. “You distracted me with that whole sex-in-the-elevator thing. What’s the rest of the story?”

“Excuse me, I distracted you?”

“Semantics. Continue.” Susan reached into her purse for a lipstick.

Lucia slid her now-much-emptier purse over her shoulder and her right foot into a shoe.

“To make a long story short: I’m going to be his date to a wedding this weekend.”

“WHAT??”

Susan froze in place with lipstick only on her bottom lip.

“Well.” Alexa smiled. “I shocked you now. That’s a first.”

*****Avon tossed his bag on the hotel bed and grinned at the view from his window. He pulled out his phone and texted his buddy in L.A., drew, who had heard everything there was to hear about the saga of this wedding.

Found a date for the wedding.

Thirty seconds later, his phone buzzed.

Didn’t you swear off women? Like, specifically because of this wedding?

Oh right, he had done that, hadn’t he?

Ok yes but this is an exception.

He investigated the sure-to-be-overpriced minibar. What the hell. He opened a beer and sank down on the bed.

Uh-huh. Where’d you find this one, in between SFO and your hotel? Nothing about you should surprise me. And yet.

He knew Drew would appreciate this.

IN my hotel, if you can believe it. In the elevator.

Drew took a long drink of his beer and pulled off his shirt.

Let me guess, tall, blond, big fake boobs.

Well, this would definitely surprise Drew.

Short, black, real boobs.

Avon stripped and jumped in the shower, bringing the rest of his beer with him. This morning he had cursed his Friday breakfast meeting in Oakland with his mentor that forced him to get to Berkeley on Thursday night. Now he thanked whichever god had inspired Dr. Davis to schedule that meeting so early in the first place. And also the one that made him follow Lucia onto that elevator.

Even though he was paranoid about running into another member of the wedding party, he took a chance and left his room to get a burrito from his favorite taqueria. He pulled his hoodie up over his head as he crossed the hotel lobby, though. No need to take too many chances. Luckily, he made it there and back scot-free.

Fate wasn’t as kind to Avon the next morning. As he got off the elevator in the lobby, he almost bumped into none other than Josh, who was holding a cardboard tray with two big Starbucks cups in one hand and a paper bag in the other.

“Avon! Oh man, it’s so great to see you!” Josh said, a wide smile on his face.

“Yeah, man, same,” Avon, happy at least that Josh’s hands were full and they couldn’t do the full bro hug that he could see Josh wanted.

“You just get here? I just got coffee for me and Anna. Come up to the room and say hi? We’re a little crazy with wedding stuff, but I know we’d both love to catch up with you!”

“Oh man, I wish I could.” Josh was so nice and cheerful that lying to him was like lying to a puppy. Easy and mean all at the same time. “I have to run. I’m heading out to have breakfast with Dr. Davis. He’s at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, you know.”