The Last Boyfriend (9 page)

“I’ll have the same thing
as my fine, young debutant.”

The lady rolled her eyes
and flipped a page on her notepad. “Are you guys ready to order or
do you need a few minutes.”

“I’m ready, you Lucky?”
Zane wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I held in a laugh.

“Yes. I’m ready. I’ll have
the International Passport Breakfast, please.”

“And I’ll have a ham, green
pepper, and cheese omelet, please.” Zane smiled at the lady, and
she gave him a hard stare.

“I’ll have the drinks out
in a few minutes.” She turned around and walked back to the
kitchen.

“And this why I come to
your diner every Friday.” Zane laughed.

“Oh really,
why?”

“Because I have the best
server in all of Miami at Lou’s.”

“Shayla is pretty
good.”

“Not as good as a girl
called Lucky.”

“Well, you know what they
say. Girls who go through cotillion make the best
servers.”

“I guess I learn something
new every day.” He laughed and then frowned as his phone rang.
“Sorry, will you excuse me, please Lucky, I have to take
this.”

“Sure.” I smiled at him,
trying to ignore the curiosity that was creeping up in me. Who was
on the phone? I wanted to know, and yet, I didn’t. I knew that if I
found out it was Angelique, my mood would be ruined. I decided to
distract myself from eavesdropping on his conversation and pulled
out my phone while I waited.

“Did you speak to him?”
Zane hissed into the phone. “So what did he say?”

I bit my lip, wondering who
had made him so angry.

“Flying?” He sighed. “Do
you know who the girl was?”

I opened my text messages,
pleasantly surprised to see that Braydon had text me back, asking
me to join him for dinner that evening. I was about to turn my
phone off without answering when I heard Zane say. “I’ll give her a
call and see if I can take her on a date next week.”

I kept my face down, hurt
and upset, and quickly responded to Braydon’s text:
That sounds great. What time were you
thinking?

“Sorry about that.” Zane’s
voice interrupted me.

“No problem.”

“So what were we talking
about?” He asked me with a brief smile. His eyes looked distracted,
and I could tell that his mind was still on his phone
call.

“I don’t remember. Maybe
you can tell me what you had to say?”

“What I had to say?” He
looked at me with a blank expression.

“When you pulled over on
the highway.” I frowned. “You said you had something to tell
me.”

“Oh yes.” He paused. “It’s
not important.”

“You can’t just say that
now. I want to know.”

“Lucky.” He leaned towards
me again and spoke in a low tone. “I want you to be my undercover
lover. I want us to reenact all the scenes from Fifty Shades of
Christian and …”

My mouth dropped open as I
looked at him. I knew he was a freak. Or more appropriately, a
kinky freak. “You what? Do you mean Fifty Shades of
Grey?”

Zane burst out laughing and
nodded his head. “Sorry, I had to see your face. I’m taking it that
you read the book.”

“That is not funny.” I
frowned and ignored his question. “You owe me $100.”

Zane pulled out his wallet
and took out another set of twenties. “In all seriousness Lucky, I
want you to come with me to Los Angeles tomorrow.”

“I can’t go to Los
Angeles.” I shook my head. “I have school, and I have to
work.”

“Okay.” He sat back and
smiled at the waitress as she placed our plates on the
table.

“What do you mean, okay?” I
frowned. “That’s it. You’re not even going to tell me
why?”

“You told me you couldn’t
come.”

“But that doesn’t mean I
can’t be convinced.” I sprinkled some salt and pepper across my
eggs. “Convince me.”

“What are you studying,
Lucky?” Zane cut into his omelet. “Last night I think you told me
history, right? You know a lot about civil rights stuff?” He spoke
nonchalantly.

“Yeah history.” I
nodded.

“I like history.” He smiled
as he chewed. “It suits you.”

“Why does it suit me?
Became I’m old and dowdy.”

“I’d hardly call a
supermodel old and dowdy.”

“Then why does history suit
me?” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

“It shows me that you’re a
thinker. You’re intelligent. You care about the past. You care
about people. You care about not making the same mistake
twice.”

“What did you study in
school?”

“I was a British Literature
major.” He grinned. “Very very useful degree.”

“About as useful as it is
to know the names of all of King Henry VIII’s wives.” I
laughed.

“We all know about King
Henry VIII.” Zane laughed. “He left the Catholic church so he could
get a divorce from Anne Boleyn, right? Or was it Catherine of
Aragon?”

“Smart.” I stuck my tongue
out at him. “Name for me all of his wives and I’ll be even more
impressed.”

“Do they have to be in
order?”

“No.” I grinned.

“Okay, that’s easy.” He
grinned back at me. “Catherine of Aragon, Mary, Anne Boleyn, and
uhm, the other Boleyn sister.”

I burst out laughing as he
frowned. “The other Boleyn sister?”

“Right?” He cocked his
head. “Or was that a movie.”

“I guess knowing all his
wives’ names isn’t that common, right?”

“Okay, you got me. What are
the names?”

“First off, ‘The Other
Boleyn Girl’ was a book by Philippa Gregory. Now his wives, in
order were: Catherine of Aragon, whom he divorced, Anne Boleyn,
whom he executed, Jane Seymour, who died, Anne of Cleves, whom he
divorced, Kathryn Howard, who was executed and another Katherine,
Katherine Parr.”

“What happened to the last
Katherine? Did she run away, scared he was going to scream ‘Off
with her head?’ or what?” Zane faked a shudder.

“Actually no, Henry died
while they were still married and she was widowed.”

“I bet she poisoned him.”
He laughed.

“Well that would have been
karma for sure.” I laughed and cut into my crepes. “Hmm, these are
so good.” I allowed the taste of the lingonberries to dwell in my
mouth as I chewed slowly, savoring every bite.

“Come with me to Los
Angeles, Lucky.” His voice was low and measured as he changed the
subject.

“I still don’t know why you
want me to come.”

“I need an assistant.
Someone who knows a lot about history. Someone I know I can work
with and trust. And I trust you. I don’t trust many
people.”

“But I have classes.” I
sighed.

“Can you take a leave of
absence or withdraw from the classes?” He paused. “I’ll pay for the
classes you've already signed up for so you are not out
any money and I will pay for the remaining credits for
any other classes you have to take.”

“I don’t know.” I bit my
lip. “I’m almost done.”

“I’m working on a
documentary.” He paused. “It’s about the ’60s. Civil Rights and all
that stuff. I think that you could really help me, as a
historian.”

“You make movies?” I looked
up surprised and slightly bewildered. Why hadn’t he told me before
that he was making a documentary about the Civil Rights
Movement?

“Well, not movies.
Documentaries.” He smiled. “My dad makes blockbusters, I just
dabble, so to speak.”

“What’s your documentary
about?”

“The education system after
1954.”

“You mean after
Brown. v. Board of Education
?” I asked excitedly.

“Yes. I’m talking to people
to see how the end of segregation impacted their educational
experiences.”

“Nothing really changed
that much.” I paused. “Not for a long time.”

“You know about the
subject?”

“A bit.” I drank some
coffee and thought for a moment. “My senior thesis is related to
that topic actually.”

“Oh?” He nodded his head
and smiled. “Well then it seems like you would be a better
assistant than I thought.”

“I’m not sure.”

“You could be one of the
interviewers if you want. Maybe use what you learn to help your
research. Talk about an amazing primary source.”

I nodded in agreement. It
would be an amazing opportunity to actually talk to people who were
alive and went through integration, as opposed to just writing
about interviews that other historians had been a part of and
written about. This was the sort of research that could get me into
a top graduate program, which would offer me a better chance at a
tenure track professorship at a top university.

“I’d have to stay in school
for an extra semester though.” I talked out loud, voicing my
concerns.

“What’s an extra semester
when compared to the time of your life? Think about it, Lucky, you
have your whole life to live as everyone else has planned for you.
Do you know what that six months means to the breadth of your life?
It means nothing. This could be a real growing experience.
Opportunities like this don’t come up for everyone. This is an
opportunity to break up the mundane, everydayness of your
life.”

“I just have a plan you
know.” I frowned to myself. My plan had always been to graduate in
four years, get married, go to grad school, have some kids, and
become a teacher or professor. But where had it actually gotten me?
It was like my boyfriend plan. Good in theory, but going
nowhere. I was practically a nun right now, and there was no
potential guy anywhere on the horizon, well, maybe on the horizon,
if things went well with Braydon. “And I’m kind of seeing someone
right now. I don’t just want to leave.”

“I thought you didn’t have
a boyfriend.” Zane’s voice was accusing.

“I don’t, but I have a
first date tonight.”

“With?”

“That’s none of your
business.”

“Are you going to come with
me to Los Angeles?” He sat back, and I watched as he wiped his
mouth with his napkin.

“I …”

“Take a chance, Lucky. I
promise that you won’t regret it.”

“I don’t even know
you.”

“Do you want me to talk to
your parents? I can call them now and talk to them if you are
worried about what they are going to say.”

“I’m not worried.” I looked
away from him, and stared at a little boy who was blowing bubbles
into his chocolate milk at the next table.

“This is an
amazing opportunity, Lucky, I am sure they would understand.”
I felt Zane’s hand reach over and grasp mine, and I turned back to
him.

“My parents don’t have to
understand. They’re dead.” I saw the sympathy in his eyes as soon
as I said the words and I cringed. I didn’t want him to feel sorry
for me. I didn’t want every conversation we had from here on out to
center around his pity for me. “And you don’t have to treat me any
differently because of that either.”

“I won’t treat you
differently.”

“Good.”

“Let me take you to dinner
tonight.”

“I have a date.” I frowned.
“I told you that already.”

“So I’ll just pick you up
tomorrow morning then?”

I nodded slowly. “I guess
so.” And that was it. My decision was made. I think I had known as
soon as he had asked what my answer was going to be. “I have to
call Shayla and Maria at the diner to let them know,” I shook my
head as I spoke. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“You won’t regret it,
Lucky. I promise.” Zane’s eyes looked slightly overwhelmed as he
smiled at me. I didn’t really understand why. All of a sudden I
wondered if I had made a mistake. How could I just give up college
and my job? All for a guy I didn’t really know and a job I hadn’t
even started yet. I bit my lip and sighed, all of my walls were
crumbling down and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen
next.

Chapter 6

“You look amazing, Lucky.”
Braydon whistled as I got into his car. I was slightly annoyed that
he hadn’t come to my door to escort me, but tried to dismiss those
feelings from my head.

“Thanks.”

“Do you like my car?” He
grinned as he stretched his hands out and caressed his leather
seats.

“It’s a nice car.” I
nodded, slightly uncomfortable at the way he was stroking the
seats.”

“It’s a Bugatti,” he
continued. “Nice doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

“Oh sorry.” I had no idea
what a Bugatti was.

“Don’t be sorry, just sit
back and enjoy the smoothest ride you’ll ever feel.”

“Uh, okay.” I attempted a
smile, but I was pretty sure that it came out as a frown instead.
Braydon laughed as he looked at my face and I felt even
worse.