"Wish I could erase and make your heart believe, but I'm a bad liar."

IMAGINE DRAGONS | BAD LIAR

•

a a l i y a h

I was a hot, spicy mess.

Derek was supposed to arrive in twenty minutes and judging the state of my apartment, I wasn't remotely ready. Talon lay across my white leather sofa, one of her legs draped over the cushions and the other dragged on the ground. She was useless and only adding to the filth of this place.

I hopped across my Rockefeller loft, trying to squeeze into a pair of black skinny jeans while cleaning my glass coffee table at the same time.

"I don't get why you're so stressed right now, it's not like he's gonna come inside," Talon said and after a few moments she laughed at her own unintended pun. "Or maybe he will, who knows." She winked.

"One day Talon, I'm going to put a literal filter over your mouth," I warned.

My best friend rolled her eyes, sashayed towards my windows, and pushed aside the light grey sheer curtains to record the panoramic views of New York City for her ten million Instagram followers. She posed and flipped the camera around so she could show off her bright orange Adidas suit. Talon wouldn't have known what casual was if it dragged her by her hair.

"This whole thing would go a lot faster if you helped me out you know?" I suggested loudly so she could hear me over her vanity. Zipping up my pants, I paired it with a coral plunging v-neck.

Nope.

"I hate this," I murmured and stripped off my pants and shirt. It was the third time I couldn't decide on an outfit and at this point I considered just going in a garbage bag. Fuck it.

Frazzled, I ran over to my marble kitchen counter and tossed all the empty glass water bottles into the recycling.

"Honey, relax, men are not complex creatures. They're really simple—like plants. You just water them, feed them, give them attention, and they should be fine," Talon said with a shrug.

"But Derek is definitely not simple. He's probably more goddamn complicated than I am. So, your plant analogy isn't gonna work on him," I responded, slipping into a short backless black dress. "I'm not even going to change anymore, this is it."

Talon put her phone away and reached for the table cloth. "Go put your heels on and I'll do this."

I ran up the stairs and strapped on the first black heels I could find, ignoring the fact that my walk-in closet looked like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Twenty minutes later, I walked Talon to my brass doors and watched her head into the elevator as I waited for Derek. Finally, peace rippled through me as I drew dark red lipstick across my lips and removed all the piercings along my ear except for one and the small gold hoop through my nose.

Chivalry had to be dead. Or so I thought until Derek showed up at my doorstep in a perfectly tailored rich navy blue suit. His light brown hair was swept back and it was a coppery, shimmering color under my dimmed lighting.

"You look lovely." Derek ran his cold fingers over the back of my hand, before bringing them to his lips.

"Thank you. You're pretty impressive yourself," I smiled.

Seeing him was so rare that it felt like a vacation every time we were together. No flaws, no red flags. Even if there were any, an infatuated girl's eyes could turn a red flag into a green one.

But I didn't want to think about that.

He brought me downstairs where his chauffeur waited for us at the corner of my apartment in a sleek black Mercedes. I gripped my fur coat as a cold breeze billowed by and prickled the goosebumps along my arms, urging me to get in the car.

"I've missed you, baby." He grabbed my arms and kissed my neck tenderly as we weaved through traffic. "How was your week?" Derek slung his arm around me, rubbing my shoulder. A wave of fresh cologne stimulated my senses and his breath smelled like mint.

"It could've been better," I admitted. "It was kind of weird to be honest..." I heard myself trailing off as Derek perked up at my last statement.

"I had a pretty odd week too if I'm honest myself. At the firm we had this one client show up completely wasted off their mind," he reminisced with a chuckle.

I should've known he would go off on his own tangent, as he always did. He was always focused on my face but never on what I had to say. What was I expecting? It was how I looked and not what I thought.

"Doesn't sound that odd, you've told me about guys this that before," I mentioned.

"Well, yeah, but I can't get over it. Anyway," he breathed and his brown eyes roamed my figure with a roguish glint. "You look sexy."

Derek nuzzled my neck again, pressing his lips against my bare skin and pulling my waist closer to him.

"Derek!" I whispered through my teeth so his chauffeur couldn't hear us. "Not in the car, are you insane?"

"Oh come on," he complained and the corner of his lip quirked into a grin. "I'm not the one insane one here—you love misbehaving in public."

I huffed in frustration. Who did he take me for? The driver pulled up to the back alleyway of Jean George's so I could avoid any unwanted pictures. Derek preferred our "relationship" or whatever this was to be kept on the down-low and I somewhat agreed. The last thing I needed was press hounding me about this man in my life.

Derek came 'round to open her door. "Well first things first, for the best Jean Paul experience—you need a table at the window."

Jean George's was full, each possible table occupied with people studiously preoccupied by their meals. A group of middle-aged men in black suits collapsed with snooty chuckles and clinked their wine glasses.

Curious eyes followed me and whispers ensued as Derek guided me up to the second floor. I already knew what rolled off their tongues: "Is that Isaac Zarren's daughter?" and normally someone who had never seen me at my father's climate change campaigns and solar energy conventions would've scoffed and shaken their heads.

As he promised, our table was just by the bow windows overlooking Central Park. The pathways were littered with light posts and the trees were muted under the midnight blue sky. It was never empty, tourists wandered courageously through the park and a hobo lay behind a trash bin.

"How did you book a reservation here? There's like months in the waiting list." I raked my fingers through my curls. I knew just how to puff up his ego and all I had to do was make it seem like it was his idea.

"Part luck and part good looks," he said with a smirk.

I snickered. "Okay, handsome. Now, tell me what you were so busy doing last week that you couldn't contact me?"

Derek sighed and leaned forward. Reaching for my hands, his fingers traced soft circles on my skin—god I knew just what he was doing but I couldn't help but slip into his trance.

"Thinking about you—thinking about us," he said, his eyes never straying from me as he spoke. "Look, I gotta admit something..."

He breathed as if it was difficult to speak and he cupped my hands, enveloping them with warmth. "I'm afraid of how much I like you and I-I know I'm going to mess this up and that scares the shit out of me."

My face softened, eyebrows pulling together in sympathy. His gaze was filled with sincerity and his touch with promise. A small smile curled my lips.

"Don't say that, you're not going to mess this up," I reassured him.

He shook his head and looked away. "I don't deserve you."

"Stop," I pleaded. "Don't say that."

A young male waiter with cropped blonde hair hastened towards our table, breaking through the bubble of intimacy we had, and spewed a carefully practiced introduction.

"We'll have the finest bottle of Chardonnay and some oysters for the table." Derek ordered, his tone thick and demanding.

I parted her lips ready to protest against the oysters, but the waiter had gone before I could.

Derek looked pleased with himself. "Isn't this far better than that bar where we met?" He asked, his lip quirked into a crooked grin.

"What? That wasn't so bad," I giggled, knowing exactly how much he'd protest to that.

"Easy for you to say, you weren't drenched in vodka."

"Exactly. Though, it did make you look shiny in the dark," I joked.

"Shiny? That shine almost put my suit into critical condition, he would've gone into comatose," Derek teased with a laugh.

"You are so dramatic," she said.

"Yeah, you're rubbing off on me." He raised his eyebrows, and his eyes darkened suggestively. "In more ways than one..."

My eyes widened, and I took a sip of my wine in an attempt to cool down. "Aren't you presumptuous?"

"Call it what you will, but I know I want a beautiful woman when I see one," he replied, his voice coated with charm.

When the oysters arrived, Derek took the conversation in a different direction, and suddenly we were back to his ordeals about being an investment banker. The man could've written a chronicle on it if it was deemed necessary. For the most part, I listened to every single word elevated with passion about finance and Wall Street. But eventually, I was really hoping to successfully steer the conversation elsewhere.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" I eagerly changed the subject.

He swallowed and narrowed his gaze to the empty glasses between us. "I do actually, I just... haven't seen her in a long time." He finished the rest of his wine. "Ages, actually."

"Sorry about that, I—"

"—But let's focus on tonight, everything in the past is completely irrelevant," he insisted.

Our courses arrived fifteen minutes later and we ate in absolute silence. Every now and then he would flash his eyebrows at me or touch my knee with his foot under the table.

"I have some good news for you, and I think you'll like it." He wiped his mouth with a napkin and rested his cutlery.

"Oh really?" My eyes widened.

"One of my mates is a partner at this prestigious law firm, and he's currently looking for a paralegal," he exclaimed. "So I got you an interview."

I had to stop eating so I could loop what he had just told me in his head. Paralegal?

"Wait, what? An interview to be a paralegal? I don't even have any professional experience in law," I questioned, trying to keep my voice at a stable tone. "Derek, I work in PR not law."

Shock crossed his features, pulling his lips into a frown. "Oh, I thought you were a law student."

"No." I shook my head. A distasteful look etched into her features. "I was a business student."

"Right but like," he fumbled for words. "Is that something you want to do forever? And law is something you can learn that gives great reputation."

She shook her head and sighed. "Derek, no. I don't even want to talk about this."

"You mentioned having troubles at your office and so I was just trying to help you," he sounded annoyed now.

With a sunken expression, he returned to slicing his steak and I stared down at my codfish blankly. My appetite was wearing thin.

A boisterous group of men arrived on the second floor of Jean George's and it instantly caught my attention. They looked to be in their very early thirties but with booming income. The man at the front, with a brown buzz cut, seemed to recognize Derek and he quickly approached our table.

"Derek, where have you been you fucker! We've been looking for your drunk ass at the Rabbit Hole." The man cackled.

Derek broke into laughter, standing up to greet the man with a bear hug.

"I could say the same for you, Rodge, you actually survived alcohol poisoning."

"You'll be there for poker night right?" The man, Rodge, asked.

"You think I'm going to let any of you walk away with your dignities? Not a chance! It's far too entertaining watching you struggle and lose, of course." Derek gave him a hard confirmation handshake.

Rodge eyed me up and down, with curiosity shining through his dark green gaze. A silence dawned over them and I raised an eyebrow as they waited for Derek to introduce me. The men fidgeted.

"So I'll see you guys, later, hey?" Derek said.

"Yeah, let's catch up soon." Rodge gave him a curt nod before him and his buddies strode off.

I tossed my third glass of wine down, and as it spiraled down my throat, bewilderment contorted my lips into a dissatisfied frown. Derek returned to his meal as though nothing happened.

The only thing going through my mind at that moment was whether or not I should have bothered bringing it up to him. I technically wasn't his crazy, but if that was the case why did I feel so crazy?

"Why didn't you introduce me to your friends?" I blurted.

Derek blinked and cleared his throat. "Things become more complicated when it's public and I'd rather us stay in our bubble."

I wet my lips and stuck a piece of black cod into her mouth. There was a nudge in my gut, the instincts that told me to see whatever it was I was supposed to see. I was overreacting. I didn't care. I shouldn't.

But, I did.

After all, I have always been a damn good liar.