Restart

Chapter 47. New group of people

I get a call from Paul, telling me he wants to cook instead if that's ok with me and asking if it's also ok for some of his friends to join us. I don't know what I've done to deserve him, but his intentions of introducing me to other people are obvious and I am so happy I found him and I can't wait for him to be a bigger part of my life.
I put on a pair of jeans and a light pink sweater, as to his request to be as casual and comfortable as possible. I grab my coat but then realize I don't have an umbrella and it's pouring outside, so I call Alexander to the rescue.
"Hello beautiful! Please tell me he canceled on you. The weather is really bad and I don't want you going out there on your own."
"No, actually he is cooking, so I can't blow him off as he's put all that effort for tonight already." I complain.
"Don't take a taxi, I'll drive you there and when you are ready, I'll come and pick you up." He calmly says.
"What? No lecture about me going over to his apartment?" I say surprised.
"Why? Should I worry about it?"
"No, of course not, it's just that I ..." I was thinking that I wasn't used to my boyfriend being so understanding.
"Claire, I trust you. If you feel it's ok to go to his place, it means it is."
"But when I first talked to you about him, you hated him."
"Well... I've done some reconsidering since and you must remember we both weren't in such a good place back then, so now I realize I overreacted. Just let me take you please."
"No, don't worry about it, I'll just take an Uber, but could I please borrow your umbrella?"
"Hm...sure but it's going to cost you." He says slyly.
"Oh come on!" I protest.
I get in the elevator wearing my coat buttoned up, with my scarf neatly tucked in so he doesn't get any ideas. His apartment's door is open and I hear him talking intensely on the phone, but I don't know to who he is talking to. When he sees me he shows me he needs a minute and I grab myself the umbrella that he already brought out for me, I send him a kiss and I leave as I am already running late.
It hasn't stopped raining and I am desperate as I couldn't find an Uber available with this weather.I was going to accept Alexander's offer to drive me there but when I saw how busy he looked I changed my mind. I've been standing here for more than 10' and I call Paul to let him know I am running late, when I hear the Mclaren's engine roaring, right before I see Alexander stopping in front of me.
"Get in!" He shouts.
Paul answers the phone and I tell him I am now on my way. I explain the situation and I tell him that Alexander is driving me there.
"I would like to also invite him up, but I prefer to stick to the plan rather than being nice." Paul says.
"No, it's fine. I hope everyone's not waiting for me. I am sorry I'm late."
"Everyone is here, but we are having a drink while waiting for you, so don't worry."
"Great, I'll be there shortly."
"Well, that's rude of him." Alexander smiles.
"Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?"
"It's not like I could avoid it. Anyway, where to?"
I give him the address and I ask him about his call, curious about who he was yelling like that to. He says he doesn't want to talk about it and although it annoys me, I leave it at that.
"Enjoy your night beautiful." He smiles and kisses me.
Then I kiss him back and here we are ten minutes later, still sitting inside the car in poring rainin front of Paul's building, making out like horny teens again.
"Hurry back to me." He says, breaking the kiss first.
"No, please don't wait up. Tomorrow is Monday and your schedule is crazy busy. Get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."
"No, I am coming to pick you up."
"Please don't. It's only going to stress me out, as I'll be feeling someone's waiting for me and I won't be able to enjoy myself, as my mind will be on the clock."
"Ok, I know what you mean. I'll keep my phone on and please call me if you need anything."
"I won't! Just get some rest."
I take the elevator up to Paul's apartment and Stephanie opens the door for me.
"Hey, come on in. We've been waiting for you." She greets me with a smile, still looking sober.
"Oh hi there gorgeous! Everyone meet Claire, Claire this is... everyone." He says and we all burst into laughing. "Please don't ask me to introduce you to all of them now, as you won't remember their names anyway and you'll only end up feeling embarrassed about it later on. I've organized a little game for us, so that we'll have some fun and introduce ourselves to you." Paul says excitedly.
We move towards the kitchen and I ask him if he needs any help, but he declines and proceeds with his cooking. He is wearing a National Geographic apron and he has his glasses on, looking extremely cute.
"I swear to you if I didn't have a boyfriend, I would be all over you, looking all cute in that sexy apron." I joke.
"Well, I am a free minded person, flirt away my dear. I am open to everything." He jokes back.
"I can't! I am desperately in love." I say dramatically.
And I start telling him about Alexander and how amazing he is, but he puts his finger on my lips, shushing me and forbids me to mentions his name again, but in a funny way.
"Did you invite all these people for me? I mean it's like a party."
There are eight people in his apartment plus Stephanie and the two of us. I was surprised when I saw all of them in that small apartment, but instead of feeling awkward, I liked it.
"Of course I did. You need to meet new people, so there you go, meet away!" He smiles. God! His dimples are to kill for and I don't have a single female friend to introduce him to.
"I don't know, I am a bit off, as I was a loner for so long." I admit.
"Don't worry, leave it up to me. Now come on, help me set the table." He asks.
I follow him carrying everything he prepared and setting the table was done by the two of us alone, as Stephanie was busy having her tongue down a man's throat. I turn to Paul and we both laugh awkwardly.
"Everyone take a seat." Paul announces.
And then he turns to Stephanie and that man and tells them to get a room causing everyone's laugh, even theirs.
We all take a sit and Paul is right next to me. He raises his glass and toasts to me.
"To Claire. Welcome to New York gorgeous. It's good to have you here."
"She is a keeper Paul." One of the men says.
"Oh, but she is reserved already, I was unfortunately too late." He jokes.
The whole night is amazing! My stomach hurts from too much of that delicious food he made and from constantly laughing my heart out. What a great group of people, with everyone being so fun and easy-going. While eating, we played the introduction game that Paul proposed and I found it so hard to hold my tears from too much laughter.
"Ok. Time to play! So you guys all know each other besides this beauty here, but... let's spice things up a bit to make this game more interesting for the rest of us as well. All you have to do is stand up, say your name and what was the weirdest or most embarrassing situation you experienced concerning sex so far. Just to be fair, I'll go first.
"Hi, I am Paul and I had sex in my best friends bedroom."
"Shut up! That's not weird." Serena complains interrupting him.
"...with his mom." He continues and everyone's eyes and mouths open wide and then we all burst into laughter when he comically explains all the details about how his friend's father eventually caught his wife cheating on him with a seventeen year old boy.
"That's disgusting, how old was she?" Maria asks.
"She was thirty seven but smoking hot! I don't regret it for a minute!"
We all make fun of him and this guy Ryan said his mom's available if he still likes his meat overcooked, which literally threw Stephanie from her chair.
Everyone takes a turn and I am left last. This is so much fun and I feel like I don't need to go to the gym tomorrow, since I already feel my abs being stiff from all the non stop laughter. Seriously this people are crazy.
"Hi, I am Claire and I am too embarrassed to play this game."
"Boo hoo..." they all exclaimed.
"Ok, Ok... uhm...I guess the most embarrassing experience I had, was when my boyfriend and I had sex in the storage room of the coffee shop he was working at, while his friend was covering for him."
"That's nothing. Come on!" Stephanie challenges me.
"What if I told you that his boss had a hidden camera in there, that my boyfriend didn't know about."
"No!" They all exclaimed.
"His boss gave him the tape the next day along with his dismissal and it was hard for him to find another job right away, when he really needed the money for the university."
"He should have sold that tape." Jacob jokes and they all burst into laughter. I found out later that Jacob is Stephanie's boyfriend, but they've only been dating for a month.
"I suggested that as well." I say in a humorous way and now everyone is in hysterics.
"I never thought of you as a daring girl." Paul says.
"To my defense, we were nineteen at the time and our raging hormones got the best of us."
We all laugh with that comment, as we realized that all of our stories were back from the time we were careless young adults and sex was our main concern.
The discussion got a lot easier after that. We had such a fun night sharing stories and before leaving, we all exchanged numbers with the promise that we would make this a tradition and once a month one of us would host the dinner and come up with a new fun game for us to play. I felt so happy with that perspective and I look at Paul to let him know I appreciated this so very much. I grab his hand and squeeze it and he brings mine to his lips and kisses it.
After everyone left, Stephanie kissed me goodnight saying she would meet me tomorrow after work, as we arranged earlier to go shopping and went to her room, promising Paul she would help him with the cleaning first thing in the morning.
"Thank you so much for tonight, it was amazing." I tell him.
"No, you are amazing and everyone loved you." He says smiling. I put my finger in his dimples that are showing brightly and I tell him how cute they are and he now laughs awkwardly, only making them look more intensely.
"I'll give you a ride back home." He suggests.
"No, you are too intoxicated to do that."
"Sorry, had I thought about that I would have stopped drinking a while ago. I'll call an Uber."
"Let's clean this mess and if you are sober by the time we finish, you can take me."
"Deal! I hate cleaning up and Stephanie will never keep her promise, as I don't think she will be even be able to wake up in time to go to work tomorrow. She had too much to drink, again."
It barely takes us an hour to tidy the small apartment and everything is now sparkling clean. Paul seems to be completely sober now to offer me a safe ride home.
"Wow! I don't think I've ever seen this apartment so clean. Thank you." He says hugging me sideways, in a buddy sort of way, kissing my shoulder and at that exact moment I feel something off. I don't really know what it is, but it's something.
He takes me home and with another quick kiss crossing our faces we say goodnight and I was so thankful that this time I didn't get that strange feeling I got when he kissed me on the shoulder back at his apartment. I would hate to lose him as a friend, as he truly was amazing and very fun to be with, but most importantly he was helping me so much with my healing trip.
It's 2 a.m. and I'm laying in bed thinking that tomorrow is going to be very difficult for me to wake up and go to work, but then I realize I will see Alexander first thing in the morning and I smile, falling asleep feeling only joy and happiness.