“No, I love the country. I live in Sonoma County. I work at a winery.”
“Oh wow! Cool.” What the hell was she doing here then, if she lived in Napa?
“Yeah, it’s better than my days on the pole.”
“You worked at the polls? For elections?”
“No, I worked on the pole.” She grinned and pressed her boobs together. “Lap dances and stuff.”
“Okay now, Tiffany.” Derrick put his arm around her shoulder. “Shall we go and get our food now. We have a reservation.”
“Yay for burgers.” Sarcasm dripped from my lips. “The food of kings and queens.”
“I do like being called a King.” Tyler chuckled as we walked into the restaurant. “King Tyler has a certain ring to it.”
“Isn’t Esquire enough?” Derrick held the door open for all of us.
“Oh is Tyler a prince?” Tiffany asked, her eyes wide in awe. “I’ve never met a prince before.”
“He’s a lawyer. Not a prince.” Was this girl a complete ditz? Why was Derrick into her? Actually that wasn’t a real question I had. She was a pretty girl with big boobs, I knew Derrick well enough to know that was enough for him to be attracted to a girl.
“So Olivia how do you know Derrick and Tyler again?” Tiffany asked me as we all sat down and I just gave Derrick a look. Hadn’t this girl just asked me if I was Derrick’s sister? I still wasn’t convinced I wasn’t on a TV show.
“From the circus.” I pressed my lips together to stop myself from laughing. “I used to walk the tightrope and they were the freak show duo.”
“Wow, that’s so cool.”
I turned my face away to stop myself from laughing and I could see Tyler’s lips twitching as well. Derrick was starting to look furious though. He never did have a good sense of humor.
“Olivia is my sister, remember Tiffany?”
“Oh yes.” There went the giggle again. Who did she think she was? Marilyn Monroe? I was excited to tell the girls at work about her tomorrow. I knew they would enjoy the story. “I suppose my head is all a fluster, seeing you again, Derrick. I’d forgotten how handsome you were.” Gag me with a knife, already.
“What about you, Olivia?” Tyler looked over at me.
“What about me what?”
“Had you also forgotten how handsome I was as well?”
“I suppose you were pretty handsome for the freak show.” I grinned. “It’s a pity that you have a third nipple in the middle of your chest, with long grey hairs on it.”
“Not really. That didn’t stop you from playing with it all night long.”
“Okay guys.” Derrick held up his hands. “Play nice for once. Ignore them Tiffany. Olivia and Tyler have been acting like this since before I can remember. You know how it can be with immature members of the opposite sex? They’re always arguing.” Derrick gave me a look. “I hope you’re not going to keep this up for the entire trip.”
“Derrick, you’re not my dad. I am a twenty-seven year old woman. I can do and say what I want to and you have no power to tell me otherwise.”
“I dare you to say that to mom and dad.”
“Are you crazy?” I laughed and then my stomach growled. “Let’s order some burgers and beers. I am beyond hungry right now.”
“You’re talking my language.” Tyler said as he picked up the menus and handed them to us. The waitress approached the table and smiled at Derrick and then me. “You guys are such a cute couple.”
“We’re not a couple.” Derrick threw his head back and laughed as he motioned his arms around the table. “This table is full of the jungle fever. The ebony and ivory if you will.”
“Derrick.” I groaned as I shook my head. “He’s my brother and we’re all just friends. Can you give us a few minutes to look at the menus please?”
“Oh sure I’ll be back.” She said and then walked away.
“Derrick, really?” I rolled my eyes. “You’re in San Francisco now, you can’t say those things!”
“Why not?” He rolled his eyes. “Are the PC police going to lock me up?” He shook his head. “This is why I would never live in California. I can’t stand having to watch every little thing I say.”
“Uh huh.” I knew better than to engage him in this subject matter because as soon as you made a comment he was off running to the races and he wouldn’t let up for hours. “So Tyler how was the plane ride?”
“Uneventful. I did some work.” He nodded. “Oh yeah, my mom and dad send their love.”
“Oh tell them I said hi.” I smiled. Tyler’s parents were the sweetest people I’d ever met.
“Mom says she hopes to see you this Christmas if you come back to Florida.” He surveyed my face. “So what shall I tell them?”
“Oh I don’t know my plans yet. I wasn’t really planning on going home for the holidays. It’s kinda busy at the office where I work right now and I’m not sure I’d be able to get away.” Which was a little bit of a lie. The office was busy, but I knew my manager Tate would let me have off a week or two, if I asked. I just wasn’t sure I wanted to go back home and be inundated by questions from family asking why I didn’t have a boyfriend or a husband. Then would come the questions asking if I was a lesbian. And soon after I’d be whisked off to church for the pastor to pray over me. And I wasn’t sure that I had the patience or the energy to deal with any of that right now.
“Don’t you miss the beaches? We could go down to Key West.”
“That’s a long drive from Palm Bay.” I wasn’t sure the three of us would survive a long road trip together. At least, I wasn’t sure that my sanity would survive.
“Well we can go to Melbourne beach.” His blue eyes sparkled and I was reminded of how handsome he was. He could have been an actor in Hollywood if he wanted. Not that I would tell him that. His ego was huge enough.
“You know I prefer Indianatlic beach.”
“Well we can go there then. I’ll bring my surfboards.”
“I hate surfing. And I don’t want to get my leg chewed off by a shark, thank you very much.”
“Then we can go to the mall.”
“Yay, I don’t know how I survived without going to Melboring mall.”
“Ha-ha, I forgot that Melbourne was nicknamed Melboring.”
“I didn’t.”
“We could go to Disney then.”
“I prefer Universal.” I laughed. “I know, I know, I’m being difficult. I just don’t know if I will have time to come.”
“Well, I’d love to show you my house and stuff if you did decide to come.”
“You’re in Orlando now, right?”
“Yup, Winter Park.”
“Oh nice. How big is your law firm?”
‘It’s pretty big. Though I might end up in an even bigger office as the partners want me to transfer to the New York office.”
“Oh wow.” My eyes widened. “You said you’d never leave Florida.”
“You said you always wanted to live in New York.” He shrugged.