Mr. Lawson's Assistant

Chapter 62

Damon's voice carried around the door and into my room. I panicked and sprinted to the bathroom, yelling.
"Don't come in!" I shoved myself into the bathroom and closed the door to a crack. "I'm not dressed!" I said between the bathroom door and the doorframe. My bedroom door froze and for a long moment, it was quiet. "What do you want?" I asked, annoyed and trying to calm my spiked heart rate.
Damon's voice was muffled behind the door that lead to the living room and the bathroom door.
"Sorry, Soma told me to come get you..." He trailed off, and I scanned the bathroom for something to throw on. Grabbing my bath robe, I pulled it on and tied it in place, before I stepped back out into my room.
Walking over to my bed, I lifted the black dress from where I'd abandoned it and faced the door.
"Come in."
Slowly, Damon stepped into my room, glancing at what I was wearing, then to the dress in my right hand. Then, seeing the shoe box on my bed, he smiled apologetically. "You were getting ready?" He asked, gently closing the door behind him when Kenya's laughter drifted in through the open door.
I turned and moved towards the bathroom, taking down my hair as I went. "Obviously."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to walk in on you-" Damon paused when I closed the bathroom door in his face. "...Soma said you were hiding in here..." He continued after a moment.
I pulled off the bath robe and rolled my eyes as I climbed into the black dress. "She was right," I started to adjust my hair in the bathroom mirror, "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to go into a woman's room uninvited?" I straightened and pulled open the second cabinet drawer to my left. Pulling out mascara and some black eye liner I leaned forward again.
When Damon responded, I could hear the smirk on his face, "I was invited."
I glared at my reflection in the mirror because I couldn't glare at Damon. "By someone else!"
"I was still invited." Damon answered, and I could hear him shifting on his feet outside the door.
I applied a limited amount of naturally colored, red lipstick to my lips, finishing with a small dash of silver eye shadow, before I stood back to admire my handiwork. "Make yourself useful and bring me my shoes." I called to Damon through the bathroom door, fluffing and changing the part of my hair, before spraying some hairspray into the unruly, brown curls. Taking a step back, I gave myself a once-over, then moved to the door. I walked out as Damon picked up the shoe box from my bed, but when he glanced over at me, he stopped midway between grabbing the box. I tried not to notice the way his gaze swept fully over me twice, before they returned to my face, but it was extremely obvious.
In turn, I looked Damon over quickly. I hadn't paid attention before, but, obviously, he didn't look half-bad. He was wearing a light green, collared dress shirt with khakis and his black hair had been styled with some sort of gel. Not to mention the Gucci sunglasses that were hanging in the opening of his shirt.
"Nice glasses." I raised my eyebrows, reaching for my shoes.
Damon handed me the box and shrugged. "They were on sale." I frowned at him and he winked.
As if he cared about the sale.
I thought, taking one of the heels out of the box and sitting on the side of the bed. Damon waited for me to put one of the heels on, then handed me the other shoe.
"Where are we going to eat?" I asked, feeling uncomfortable with the lack of conversation.
Damon ran a hand through his hair and frowned, "Somewhere called Carlos?" He pulled out his phone and searched through it for a minute, before he nodded. "Christopher's," he corrected himself, shoving his phone into his back pocket. I hadn't ever heard of it.
Using the bed to steady myself, I stood to my feet and took a few steps forward. Damon glanced between my face and the heels, waiting quietly as I strode across the room and back. "You like them?" He asked, meeting my gaze. I wouldn't hold his stare.
My eyes dropped to the shoes and I nodded. "They're nice."
Damon chuckled, bringing my attention back up to his face. "Yeah, they're nice..." He turned towards the door when someone else knocked.
I blew out a breath, "I'm coming!" I pursed my lips, striding over to my bedside table and grabbing my purse. When I turned around, Damon had left my room and the door was cracked open. I shut off the lights as I left my room, and just as I walked out into the living room, I saw Kenya disappear through the front door. Damon was holding the door open and he waited patiently for me to get through the door, before he let it close behind him. Kenya turned around, hearing my heels clicking on the floor and her jaw dropped.
"Oana Atkins! You look amazing!" She gushed, rushing forward to frame my face with her hands, before shaking her head and pointing to my shoes. David looked at me for a moment, something short of surprise flashing across his face, before he looked at Kenya. Trying to follow her rush of words, his expression, like my thoughts, turned to confusion.
Damon chuckled quietly, stepping up to pat my shoulder. "I agree, Kenya." He sent a quick look in my direction, but I didn't have time to decipher it, because David was starting to pull Kenya down the hall towards the stairs.
"Stop oogling my sister, Kenya, she's got a big enough mouth, she doesn't need a head to match it." He glanced back at me and smirked.
I raised my eyebrows. "I learned from the best." 
David snorted and pulled open the stairway door to let Kenya and me through. As I passed him, he simultaneously grabbed my arm and kicked the back of my knee, falsely making me think I was going to fall down the stairs. Damon, reached out and caught my other arm when I stumbled, but I grabbed David's collar and jerked him forward a step with me.
"Brat!" I muttered, giving David a firm shove as I regained my footing. David snickered. Damon let go of my arm, ducking his head and ushering me forward when I turned to look at him. What he didn't know was that I had seen the smile he was trying to hide.
*
The waitor appeared at our table with food, and Damon and David settled back into their seats, smirking. They'd been having a discussion about why the men were traditionally expected to pay for their date's meals. Kenya and I had been keeping quiet, letting them continue their banter, until I needed to use the bathroom.
"Batbroom break?" I elbowed Kenya and she nodded, sliding her chair back as we both stood.
Damon and David stopped talking. "Where are you going?" David frowned, "The food just got here..."
Kenya smiled, "We decided to go pay for our own food at another restaurant."
I held back a smirk and nodded in agreement, glancing at Damon. Instead of looking confused like my brother, he raised his eyebrows.
"Are you going to walk to that restaurant in those heels?" He asked me, trailing his eyes down to my feet. I felt heat rising to my cheeks, but promptly ignored it.
"No, I'm going to fly." I retorted, and Kenya just laughed, pulling my left arm from my chest.
"We'll be right back, we're going to the bathroom." She shook her head at me and winked at David, before pulling me off in the direction of the bathroom. We walked to the restroom in silence, but as soon as we were inside, Kenya turned to me, grinning. "Girl, I have never seen a woman rock heels more than you're rocking those!" She gushed.
I rolled my eyes, "Damon insisted on buying me the most ridiculously expensive pair of shoes-"
"Damon bought those for you?!" Kenya cut me off, her hand flying up to her mouth. "Oh, honey..." She glanced down at my shoes and smiled, slowly shaking her head.
"Oh, honey, what?" I frowned, moving towards a toilet. Kenya didn't answer.

After Kenya and I used the bathroom and fixed our hair, we made our way back to the table to eat.
"I never did understand why women always go in groups to the bathroom." David shook his head as Kenya and I took our seats.
"We just can't stand to be alone." Kenya remarked with a mischievous smile. When David frowned, she laughed. "What else?" The two started a flirty banter, and I refrained from rolling my eyes. Picking up my fork, I started to eat my pasta, and upon feeling Damon's gaze, I looked up at him. His lips twitched upward and he switched his gaze to where David and Kenya were arguing, smiles plastered on their faces.
"How long?" He asked quietly, looking back to me.
I pursed my lips, "I don't know. Maybe two weeks." I shrugged, and Damon nodded. We ate our meals in silence, casually listening to David and Kenya's discussions, which had now flowed into a conversation about dogs.
"Women run in packs just like dogs, it's just a thing we do!" Kenya laughed, forking some of her food into her mouth.
David raised his eyebrows. "Now that makes sense. Women are female dogs!" He grinned, leaning forward to eat his own food, eye level with Kenya.
Before Kenya could respond, I cut in.
"Leave it, David. Talk about something else." I reached out and sipped my water.
David turned his grin on me. "What? Don't you enjoy my flirting?"
Damon answered instead. "I know I do." He winked at me, sipping his own drink.
"No one asked."
David gave a low whistle. "Ouch." Damon's mouth stretched upward into a ghost of a smile and he leaned back in his seat. "Didn't need them to."
I narrowed my eyes at Damon, opening my mouth to respond, but instead, the waitor appeared with the check. When I reached for the bill, Damon caught my wrist and grabbed the bill in his other hand. Giving me a look, he pulled out his wallet and slipped out his credit card.
Kenya glanced between the two of us and chuckled. "Sometimes, I wonder if you guys even like each other..." Kenya reached over and handed the second bill directly to David, smiling. This time, David said nothing, just shook his head and smiled, pulling out his own wallet. "How about we head downtown and get a few drinks?" Kenya suggested as we stood and started out of the restaurant. I glanced at David and he was already looking at me.
"How about we go see a movie?" Damon asked, catching the look between David and I.
Kenya was oblivious to the silent conversation and just shrugged. "That's fine too."
We'd taken two cars, Kenya's and Damon's, so we all piled into Kenya's Honda and headed to the theater. Damon and I were scrunched together in the backseat, our knees and hips touching because of how tight it was. I almost felt bad for Damon, because he had to fold his legs up tightly and spread his legs to keep his knees from pushing David's seat forward. However, when I started shifting uncomfortablely, trying to keep my thigh from pressing against Damon's, he started smirking and I no longer pitied him. Kenya had David connect her phone to the car's bluetooth, and minutes after we merged onto the highway, the music was shaking the car and Kenya was switching lanes like a mad woman.
"Easy!" David grabbed the side of his door as Kenya veered into the left lane to avoid a slow-going truck.
"The movie starts in ten minutes-" Kenya shrugged, but David cut her off.
"The thirty minute previews start in ten minutes. I think we can sacrifice those for you to slow down!" He glanced over at the speedometer, his eyes widening. If I wasn't struggling to keep myself pressed against my own side of the car, I might have laughed. "Seriously, you're going fifteen over!" David sat back in his seat, half-smirking, half-grimacing.
"Kenya!" This time, it was Damon protesting the sudden veer that Kenya made onto our exit ramp. I felt Damon's weight shove me into the car door and inhaled sharply. "Sorry..." Damon tried to pull himself back onto his side of the backseat, but the exit ramp was heavily curved and it was nearly impossible for him to do so.
After a minute of being pressed into the door handle, I gave up. A small laugh bubbled up inside my throat and I lay my head against the window as Kenya slammed on her brakes to avoid running a red light. In spite of being half-way on top of me, Damon reached out and held me back to the seat for the sudden stop. I glanced from his face to the rearview mirror at Kenya's. Covering my mouth, I allowed my laughter to spill out loud. After a moment, Damon started to chuckle, and slowly pulled his arm away from me as we surged forward at the green light.
Four minutes later, all of us were laughing and spilling out of Kenya's tiny car, amazed that we'd made it all in one piece.
"I had no idea how badly you liked movie previews." David cracked, throwing his arm over Kenya's shoulders as we made our way into the theater.
Kenya narrowed her eyes at my brother. "Careful, you still have to ride back with me!"
"I think I'll walk..." David grinned, quickly seconded by Damon and me.