Push by Sadie Rose
It had been five days since Roman left and he was no closer to coming back home. His business in Japan was not going as planned and he had to add several more days to his trip which did nothing to alleviate his bad mood. Each day we would carve out some time to talk but it wasn’t much due to his meetings and the time difference. Texts would go back and forth between us and it could be several hours before I could get a response. It was just something that I was accepting since it was out of my hands.
Madison had returned from L.A. and was back at the apartment, and I was splitting my time between there and the apartment at work. Roman had told me in so many words that it made him feel better knowing I was safe in the building and in his space. It made him feel closer to me knowing that I was sleeping in his space. So when Madison had to stay late at work one night, I stayed at the apartment. Now that I had been to Roman’s home, the apartment felt so different, so impersonal, cold, and unfeeling. I didn’t want to go there without Roman and after that night I hadn’t been back. I stayed at my place and spent time organizing my space, catching up on reading, and planning out the next few weeks’ schedule around my work and my mom’s treatments. I didn’t want to miss any of them and so far Helen, my boss, had been understanding.
Miller had driven me to two of mom’s treatments and he had made it very clear on the last ride home that he would drive me to all of the appointments and that he had been discreet in reporting his activities in his daily log to Roman. I felt awful having to drag Miller into a lie of omission with me but I couldn’t drop that kind of news about my mother over the phone and it wasn’t something I could say via text message. I had no choice but to wait till he got back to tell him more about my personal life and come clean about dragging Miller into keeping my secrets.
The secret that was out was my relationship with Roman. Everyone knew at work now that we were seeing each other and frankly anyone who read supermarket tabloids. While I didn’t care what anyone thought about my relationship, I was having to get used to the stares and whispers at work. Ray had been great and kept telling people to fuck off if he felt they were being too openly forward with their gaping at us while we ate lunch each day in the cafeteria.
I had finally made it to Friday night and I had just walked into the apartment. I kicked off my heels, sank into the couch, put my head back, and closed my eyes.
“Well look who it is!” Madison shouted.
“Jesus! You just scared the shit out of me Madison! You could have freaking made some kind of noise and not just snuck up on me.”
She laughed as she sat down beside me on the couch. “I’m surprised to see you here. Isn’t the Roman God returning today from his jaunt across the ocean?”
I shook my head. “No, he got held up and won’t be back for a few more days.”
Madison smiled and it was good to see her smile again after what she’s had to go through. “His loss is my gain then! Go shower, curl your hair and get dressed. We are going out tonight and don’t even try to get out of it. It’s happening. I texted Ray and he’s coming too.”
I inwardly groaned. Maybe my old lady vibes were resurfacing but the last thing I wanted to do was get dressed up, put on torture chamber shoes and be surrounded by sweaty drunks in the club. “Madison, please don’t make me go. I’m really tired, between my mom’s treatments, the time difference with Roman and a really long week of work I’m completely spent.”
“Nope. Get up off the couch, Ollie. It’s happening. You need this more than you realize. You won’t be getting any pity from me. While you shower, I’m going to go pick out your outfit and I don’t want to hear one complaint. I’ll buy you a drink when we get there and it’ll loosen you right up.”
One of the many benefits to living with Madison the last several years, I knew her tone and tenor, and right at this moment, I knew she wasn’t going to give up till she got her way. I sighed and heaved myself up off the couch. “I hate you right now,” I told her as I made my way down the hall to get in the shower.
“You love me and you know it!”
I waved my arm in the air to shoo away her words. The shrill of her scream made me stop immediately in place.
“Oh my God Ollie! What is that? Is that what I think it is?”
I turned around and faced Madison. I was lost in confusion. “What are you talking about Madison?”
She rushed over to me and grabbed onto my wrist. She eyed and fingered the bracelet that Roman had given me last weekend. “This Ollie. You know what this is right? Did Roman give you this?”
“Of course, who else would have given it to me? All the other men I’ve got on the side?” I let the sarcasm drip from my words.
Madison continued to eye my bracelet and turned over my wrist counting the diamonds. “Ollie, this had to have cost him a small fortune.”
“Oh trust me, I’m sure it did. I didn’t want to accept it but I knew it meant a lot for him to give it to me and honestly after he explained it to me it made it mean a lot to me. I won’t take it off.”
Madison stood there staring at me, mouth gaping, “Wow. This is serious then.” Letting out another squill Madison started bouncing up and down, holding my hands. “Girl we are celebrating tonight!”
After my shower, I stepped into my bedroom wrapped in a towel and spotted the outfit Madison left on my bed. The dress shouldn’t have shocked me, nor the sky-high heels she left on the ground beside it. Madison was no stranger to fashion and pushing the envelope and she was bound and determined to drag me along with her. Tonight she had placed a red, skin-tight halter top dress with a deep v in the breasts. I don’t know where this dress had come from but as I squeezed it up my thighs it made me feel sexy and sultry in a way I hadn’t felt before. By the time I strapped on the nude heels that made me at least 4 inches taller, I felt like a major bombshell.
I checked myself out in the mirror and the red dress emphasized every curve that I had between my full breasts, my round ass and even made my hair shine a more golden blonde. I grabbed my phone off the dresser and took a quick selfie. I checked the time and did the conversion, it was noon in Tokyo so I sent the photo to Roman with a matching red heart. We hadn’t texted or talked since lunch which was his morning. I put my phone in my clutch and headed down the hall to see if Madison was ready. She was waiting on the couch for me.
When she looked up from her phone her eyebrows shot to her hairline. “Damn Ollie! You look smokin hot! When I saw that dress, I knew it would be perfect for you.”
I laughed, “Can you see my pulse? That’s how tight this is and it feels like I’m wearing a giant piece of plastic wrap.”
Madison stood up and we made our way out the door and down the steps. We had to take it slow due to the sky-high heels we were both wearing. On the ground level, Miller was standing guard at the door facing the street, talking on his phone. He turned toward us as our heels clicking on the concrete steps caught his attention. When Miller caught sight of us his eyebrows shot up to his scalp and his mouth dropped open. So open that he could have stuffed an entire Krispy Kreme doughnut in his mouth without biting it. As we got closer, he recovered but his cheeks had a flush of pink to them. He still had the phone to his ear and I caught the last two words of his conversation, yes boss. He closed the phone and put it in his pocket.
“Hey Miller. Turns out we’re going out tonight.” I could tell from his lack of eye contact that he wasn’t thrilled by this. I turned my attention to Madison. “Where are we headed tonight Madison?”
Madison stepped closer to Miller and put her hand on his arm right above his elbow. She batted her big, brown eyes at him and in her most seductive voice almost purring, “The Ko Bar. It’s over in SOMA, so I would love a ride.”
Her shameless flirtiness did not surprise me. Miller’s reaction though was something I had never seen. He had to clear his throat and adjust his tie before he could respond. “It would be my pleasure to drive you, ma’am.” If I hadn’t spent so much time in the car talking to him I might have missed the small shake in his voice. Madison was clearly affecting him.
When Miller looked at me, I knew instantly he had a message to deliver and he wasn’t thrilled about it. That was the thing about my mom’s cancer, driving back and forth to Sacramento from the bay. I was spending about 5 hours in the car every day with Miller and we had picked up each other’s mannerisms. I could predict a lot of what he was going to say to me or how he was going to react to any given situation. He had been the one to deliver the news of Roman being delayed, and if I had to guess correctly, Roman had made him do it to soften the blow. He was wearing the same facial expression he had on then.
“Olivia, Mr. Devereaux is under the impression that you are leaving your apartment and in that specific garment.” He paused for a moment and I could see the tint of pink in his cheeks again but I didn’t quite know what he was going to say.
“Yeah, I sent him a selfie. I’m sure he doesn’t think I’m watching tv on the couch in this getup.”
Miller’s lips slightly twitched and I could see Madison shifting her weight from one foot to the other as we both focused on Miller, waiting for him to finish. He reluctantly met my questioning eyes. “Olivia, Mr. Devereaux has explicitly asked me to have you change.”
Madison and I looked at each other, both of our mouths open. I turned back to Miller and pursed my lips. “You can tell Mr. Devereaux… wait, you know what I’ll tell him myself.” I took Miller’s phone from his hands.
Miller began to hold up his hands in a wait motion but I was already dialing Roman. This required a video call and with how fast my temper was rising he better answer on the first ring if he knew what was good for him. I looked over to Madison and she was eyeing Miller like a fresh steak had just been placed in front of her after fasting all day. She wasn’t going to be any help here. Miller had broken out into a sweat and was bouncing his eyes between Madison, then to me waiting on Roman to answer his phone.
On the third ring, Roman’s voicemail picked up and I saw red. He had the nerve to send Miller to do his dirty work but then wouldn’t answer his phone. Screw that. I quickly got out my phone and saw that Roman had sent me several text messages since I had placed my phone in my bag. I quickly read through them.
You look so hot. Is that for me?
Ollie, that better be for only me. Tell me you aren’t going out in that.
It would be one thing if I was going with you but men will be all over you in that dress and I won’t be there to let them know you’re mine. Change. Please.
I took a deep breath and tried to see it from his perspective. Would I like him going out without me and looking super sexy? No, but he always looked hot.
No matter what I wear, I’m still your girlfriend. Madison and I are going out and meeting Ray. It will be fine and when you get back I’ll put this dress on just for you. Trust me I wish you were here but I’m not changing.
I put my phone back in my purse, I wasn’t going to wait for his response. I looked over to Madison and Miller. “Let’s go!” And pushed through the door to the street and the waiting car.