Getting Over Edie Ch. 04

But tonight was different.

HE was different. It was a debut of sorts, and a small part of him wasn't ashamed to admit that seeing Edie seeing him this way was going to be a bit of a thrill.

Blindly, he reached into the recesses of his closet, pulling out the closest pair of jeans. He paired them with a navy and green striped v-neck shirt before pulling on a simple black blazer. Grady shook out his curls. They were getting out of control. His hair was erupting all over his head. It was almost time for a haircut.

Fifteen minutes later he was fully dressed and heading out the door, game face included. No drama tonight, he silently reminded himself as he hailed a cab. As he slid inside, his phone chirped with a text message from Tony. "Where the hell are you?"

He quickly typed back. "On my way now. Got caught up, as usual. Be there soon."

Grady sat back, his gaze idly watching the lights of the city stream by. His mind was nowhere in particular, thoughts of mundane proportions floating through his head. He tried to keep his mind neutral to avoid an inevitable slide to what would occur tonight. Would she be there? How would she look? Was he supposed to care?

No, he wasn't going to backslide into neurotic territory. He'd been doing well for the past month. Edie and his obsessive thought process were not going to ruin five weeks of hard work.

Grady drew in a slow, steady breath before exhaling deeply. Everything was going to be okay.

This was all just another test.

Less than ten minutes later he arrived at Tony's apartment. He quickly paid the cabbie and scrambled from the car. "Hey there Tyson," he said, greeting Tony's doorman. The older man smiled and tipped his hat to Grady as he held open the lobby door. "Good evening, Grady. Loved last week's blog."

Grady grinned. "Tyson I didn't know you read my stuff."

Tyson smiled, his coal black eyes shining brightly in his tanned face. "Just started checking it out last week. My granddaughter is a huge fan. She's got a bit of a crush on you."

"Well tell her I said hello, then." He gave Tyson a playful salute before stepping inside the lobby. Grady tapped his foot impatiently while waiting for the elevator; he wasn't sure why he was so jittery, but just chalked it up to nerves.

He was kind of excited for people to see how much he changed. He looked good, and he felt even better. It'd been awhile since he could say something like that.

Grady stepped out and headed towards Tony's apartment. He could hear the music thumping through the walls. Before he could knock, the door to the apartment flew open and he collided with Benny. "Whoa there big guy," Benny said.

"Whoa yourself," Grady replied. "Where the hell are you heading to in such a rush?"

"Uh...nowhere" Benny said quickly, closing the front door behind him. Grady noticed the guilty look on his face. Benny Silver was clearly up to something. "Gotta get some cigarettes. I'll, uh, be right back."

He pushed past, but not before Grady noticed the reddish mark on his neck. It almost looked like—

"Is that a hickey?"

Benny let out a nervously high chuckle. "What? Man, come on...what? Man..."

Grady shook his head. "Dude you are the worst fucking liar ever. You're going to have to eventually tell us what you're doing. Or should I say who."

Benny rolled his eyes. "You're so fucking clever. Glad to see your shitty sense of humor has returned."

"Whatever. Don't turn this around on me." Grady tilted in head in the direction of Tony's apartment. "Wait a minute. Is she in there?"

"Man, what are you...man shut up." He punched Grady in the arm.

Grady had never seen his friend look so ruffled. Benny was normally the one who talked shit, the guy who always had a damn joke at someone else's expense. But here he was, looking like a kid whose mother just caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. "She IS in there. Who is it?"

"Listen, you need to stop worrying about me. I'd be more concerned about what's behind that door for you."

"What are talking about?"

Benny glanced at Grady, his normal swagger returning. "There's a hot ass chick in there asking about you every five minutes," he said with a smirk. "And no, it's not who you think. Now I'm gonna go get cigarettes. Be back in a bit."

"Yeah yeah yeah. Hurry back. I'm sure your girlfriend is just dying to give you another hickey, because apparently we've time traveled back to high school where hickeys are in fashion."

"Asshole. We'll see if you're laughing in an hour or so." He gave Grady the finger as he headed down the hallway.

Rolling his eyes, Grady headed inside. The place was crowded with Tony's coworkers and various bands represented on the label. Grady glanced around the spacious living room, pretending as if he wasn't searching for her.

Shaking those thoughts from her mind, he instead turned his focus to locating Tony. Walking through groups of people, he finally spotted him chatting with a tall blonde woman with a haircut that could only be described as 'mullet couture'.

"Hey man," Tony said with a wave. "Glad to see you finally showed up."

"You know me, always on Princess Time."

Tony laughed. "How could I forget? Grady this is Luna Phelps. She's in charge of marketing at Roqued Records. Luna, this is my friend Grady Kade."

The blonde extended her hand and Grady shook it firmly. "Nice to meet you."

"Grady writes for EDGE magazine," Tony added. Luna shot him a look. "The women's magazine?"

"The very same."

She glanced at him before shrugging. "Pity. You were kind of cute, in that whitebread kind of way."

"Excuse me?"

Tony tried to keep from smiling. "Luna, he isn't gay."

"You know, this is the second time I've been called gay this week. Not sure if I'm offended or flattered by it at this point."

Luna shot him a sheepish grin, her bright red lips parting to reveal blindingly white teeth.

"Sorry about that. I just assumed from the hair and the clothes that you were a friend of Dorothy."

"It's cool. And I'm very much straight. I just write 'The Go-To Guy' column."

"Oh really? My one friend is completely obsessed with your blog. You're definitely not what I envisioned as The Go-To Guy."

"What did you have in mind?"

Luna shrugged. "To be honest, I didn't think you were really a guy at all. Half the time all those 'male perspectives' are written by women."

Grady nodded. "Yeah I know what you mean. But no, it's me. I promise."

Luna grinned. She really was attractive, save for that ridiculous haircut. "I'll have to let her know." She winked slyly at Grady before sauntering off.

Tony shook his head. "Your fan club is random and strange."

"I don't even know what to say, man. I mean my column was always pretty popular but now its reachability is spreading."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Tony asked.

"I suppose," Grady said with a shrug. "Oh, I completely forgot; as I was coming in, I ran into Benny..."

"Wait, Benny's here?" Tony interrupted. "I didn't even know." He craned his neck, glancing around at the partygoers.

"Well he went out for cigs."

Tony raised a dark eyebrow in surprise. "Benny doesn't even smoke."

Grady nodded, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "I know. But the best part: ol' dude's got a hickey the size of Michigan on his neck."

"What?" Tony sputtered, nearly choking on his beer. "A hickey? What is he, twelve?"

"That's what I said too!" Grady replied, his grin wide. "He practically ran down the hallway when I tried to question him about it, but not before he said to watch out. Apparently there's some hot girl in here who's been asking about me."

"I wonder who this chick is. And why the hell didn't announce he was here, that douche."

"I don't know. Gia isn't lurking around here, is she?"

Tony grinned. "Not as far as I can tell. And as for the girl asking about you, I can only guess who that is." His grin was smug and completely know-it-all. Grady was half-tempted to knock his beer out of his hand.

"Well who is it?" His heart began to thump loudly. "It isn't...?"

Tony shook his head. "I thought you weren't going there tonight?"

Grady dodged that question with a wave of his hand. "I'm just asking, is all. Who is it?"

"Oh! You're finally here," a voice said behind him. Grady turned, steeling himself for whoever it was.

"Hey Arden," he said. His shoulder relaxed and he smiled, genuinely happy to see her.

Arden grinned. "Tony told me all about your Princess Time. It's nice to hear that there are some men who take longer to get ready than most women."

"I like to look my best," he said. She rolled her eyes, but continued to smile.

"Well you look alright."

"Just alright?"

"Fishing for compliments? What am I, your personal confidence booster?"

"You, be nice? What is this, Opposite World?" Grady glanced around the room in mock confusion.

She giggled. "Shut up. I can be nice, you asshole."

"You do realize that statement was a perfect example of how not nice you really are."

"The only thing I realize is that I'm awesome and you sir, are just jealous of my boogie."

Grady glanced out of the corner of his eye at Tony, who was watching the exchange between the two of them, a curious expression on his face.

"In the midst of stroking your own ginormous ego, you didn't even tell me how nice I look."

He gave her the once over, taking in her violet cocktail dress. It was short and strapless, cinching tightly at her bust and waist. Black tulle fanned out on the bottom, giving the dress an almost tutu-like appearance.

Her gold accessories and shoes complimented her rich, dark chocolate skin perfectly. Her hair was pinned by a large gold butterfly, sweeping big, thick curls to the side, leaving her right earlobe bare.

Yes, she looked good, fucking amazing actually.

But he wasn't about to tell her that bit of information.

"Ehh, you look okay." Grady could have sworn he saw a flicker of disappointment in her wide eyes before she snorted and waved her hand at his comment.

"Whatever. I look awesome." She turned her attention to Tony. "Thanks again for inviting me."

Tony grinned. "No problem. Any friend of Gemma's is a friend of mine. Besides, I know someone else who'd be disappointed if he didn't see you." He elbowed Grady in the ribs for emphasis. "Right buddy?"

Grady shot him the look of death, but Tony continued to smile as if he didn't see. "Well anyway, I should go mingle and pretend not to notice the abundance of people tramping through my home. I'll check back later to make sure there isn't bloodshed on my brand new carpet. You two play nice."

Grady shot a scowling look at Tony's back before turning his gaze to Arden. "Do you want a drink?"

She shook her head. "No thanks. I've got to stay booze-free tonight. I have a performance coming up next week."

"Performance? Really?"

Arden nodded. "Yeah. At the end of every session we do a showcase of the best pieces we worked on throughout the class."

"That's kind of cool. So you're going to be dancing?"

"Thanks, and yes. My class will be doing two choreographed numbers and I'll be performing a piece of my own." She was hesitant for a moment before glancing up at him. "Would you like to come?"

Now that caught him off guard. "Oh, I..."

"Shit, never mind. It's so last minute. You probably have something to do."

"No, I don't. I'd love to come."

Her smile was so genuine, Grady was actually glad he said yes. "That's awesome. I don't care what they say about you, you're alright Grady Kade."

"Don't let that secret get out. It'll ruin my tough guy reputation."

"I think the Shirley Temple hair you're rocking is killing that particular reputation."

Grady ran his fingers through his hair. "Hey don't knock the curls, woman. They are awesome."

"For a six year old. If you start tap-dancing and singing 'The Good Ship Lollipop' I might crack a rib from laughing."

He grinned. "I've actually been thinking about cutting it."

"Really now? I think it'd be weird to see you with short hair."

"Weird?"

Arden shrugged. "Not a bad weird by any means. Just different."

"Well I'll take that under advisement. So, how's the babysitting going?"

"So far so good. It's been pretty easy, seeing as how Dylan isn't here yet and I haven't seen Stevie for a while now."

A wild thought suddenly came to him. "Hmm."

"What?"

"I just had this crazy moment of clarity. You just said Stevie's been MIA for a while now, right? Well apparently Tony had no idea that Benny was even here. I ran into him when I showed up and he had a giant ass hickey on his neck."

Arden shot him a look. "Wait...you don't think." She paused before scoffing. "No. No, I don't believe that. Stevie would never..."

"Ahh but they already have, remember? The night we first met."

She was silent for a minute, letting his words sink in. "That little skank" she said, shaking her head.

"Which one" Grady joked.

Arden rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

He jostled her. "Come on, Arden. You have to admit it's pretty damn hilarious. I mean, they're complete opposites."

"It's just so...random, I don't know." She was quiet for a minute, her mind seemingly lost in thought. "You know now that you mention it, Stevie has been acting a little off. I thought it was shit to do with the band. It totally makes sense now." She made a face. "Eww."

"I'm inclined to agree," Grady said.

"Stevie and that meathead...so weird" she said with a shudder. "But Tony and Gemma are freaking adorable."

Grady nodded. "Yeah they definitely are." His blue eyes scanned the room for Tony, spotting him chatting with a guy sporting serious ink on his arms. Gemma was at his side, her hand resting in the crook of his arm. "I had no idea Gemma had a kid."

"Oh yeah. Milo. He's five years old and a total sweetheart. I'm actually glad she finally talked to Tony about him."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Gemma's been in a really shitty situation Milo's dad is a little tough to deal with, and I think Tony's the right guy to remind her that good things can happen." Grady noticed the slight break in her voice. He also noticed that she wasn't meeting his gaze.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Arden shook out her shoulders. "Ahh, I'm good. Just feeling nostalgic, I suppose."

"Yeah, I know what you mean..."

She paused for a moment before speaking. "Were you...were you expecting Edie to be here?"

"To be completely honest, I really don't know what I was expecting. I guess." He sighed. "I don't know. Part of me wants to see her because I want her to see how I'm doing without her. The rest of me would rather avoid her for a lot longer."

"You know you don't need validation from her, right? You're doing a great job, Grady..." She stopped herself. "I'm sorry. I'm doing it again, overstepping."

"No, no, no" he said quickly. "You're fine. I just...I guess I'm just a little wound up. Maybe I am more affected by this situation than I realize."

"I think you're fine. Sometimes we hype shit up in our heads but in reality, things aren't always what they seem." She touched his arm, her fingertips lightly grazing the soft material of his blazer before reaching down to give his hand a slight squeeze.

Grady was sure it was more out of reassurance than flirting, but he couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine. Despite his initial misgivings, he was now convinced that something was amiss.

Stevie sidled up to them, her eyes darting around the room. Grady tried to scan her discreetly, looking for hickeys but couldn't find any visible marks. He'd never really paid attention to her before, but she was actually kind of pretty; darkly gorgeous, to be exact.

Her short black hair was styled in a feathery fauxhawk, short on the sides and long on top. She was dressed in black combat boots, dark skinny jeans, and a long, tight black tank top.

"Hey pumpkin," Arden said. "Is everything okay?"

Stevie rolled her eyes. "You're not going to baby me all night, are you?"

"No. You just look a little ruffled. Dylan giving you shit?"

Stevie shook her head. "He's not even here yet, thank fuck. Probably being held up by that plastic twat he calls a fuck buddy." She winced as Arden jabbed her in the ribs with her elbow, her head cocked in Grady's direction. "Fuck, sorry dude. I forgot she was your ex."

Grady shook his head, his corkscrew curls falling into his eyes. "No it's cool. No need to censor yourself around me. I definitely know firsthand how Edie can be."

Stevie shrugged. "Yeah well whatever the case, he isn't here yet and my nerves can finally be at rest. He's annoying the shit out of me; Dax couldn't care less, he's just about the music and getting this album together. Meanwhile I'm the one stuck with Dylan and his fucking ego."

Arden's gaze traveled beyond their little trio as Benny entered the main room, his eyes darting around as if looking for someone. She watched as he scanned the crowd before his gaze landed on Stevie. He grinned lasciviously and started over before he stopped suddenly when he noticed Arden watching him.

She smiled and shook her head as he stood still, trying to decide what to do. Arden turned back to Stevie. "Don't be alarmed, but I think someone's looking for you."

"What are you talking about?" Stevie asked.

"There's a guido standing about eight feet away, looking incredibly lost."

Grady scanned the room. "Benny's back?"

Arden nodded. "Yup. And it looks like he was going to come over until he saw us standing here."

"Why the fuck would he come over here?"

Arden shot Stevie a knowing look. "I have NO idea why he would come over. But the look he had on his face earlier, he seemed very determined to make out with someone, and I'm sure that person wasn't Grady."

Grady stifled a chuckle as Stevie shot Arden a dirty look. "What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything," Arden replied, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. "I'm just saying boy was looking all eager until he saw me standing over here."

Stevie rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. If Dylan shows up, let me know." She turned sharply on her heel and stalked off.

Both Grady and Arden watched as she walked past Benny, who waited a beat before following her out of the room.

Arden chuckled. "Oh god I think you may be right. They are definitely doing something together."

"It's so weird; I've never seen Benny this ridiculous about a girl before. Normally he's the one who sits back and lets them come to him."

"Yeah, well maybe he actually likes someone this time." She glanced up at him. "You think we should call them on it?"

Grady shook his head. "Nah, let them have their fun. I don't want to bust their balls so early in the game."

"Maybe you're right. It's kind of nice to have a secret like that, I suppose."

"Like...secret lovers?"

"Clandestine affairs, notes left in brick walls, lots of longing looks standing on cliffs overlooking frothy grey oceans....you know, Secret Lovers." She sang that last part, her voice cracking loudly.

Grady smiled, shaking his head. "Dude, you are so strange."

Arden smiled as well. "You have no idea."

The next hour was spent schmoozing and boozing with the various and plentiful partygoers. Grady had to admit, he was having a pretty decent time. The music was great, the drinks were amazing, and Tony's industry friends were good company.

Every so often he would catch Arden's eye from across the room and they shared a small smile. Okay, there was definitely something there. She caught his eye again and made a funny face. He chuckled into his beer, sputtering slightly which made her giggle.

Grady turned his focus back to the discussion he was having with a group of Tony's coworkers about books when he heard a loud noise across the room.