Three months had gone by and I hadn’t seen or heard from Skyla. I did my daily routine so as not to attract attention, but I couldn’t help but notice how light I really was compared to those around me. It helped that my dad and Alecia had traveled to South America for a business trip and had been gone for over a week now. They also had several future trips planned, so hopefully I could continue my streak of limited contact. I went to one business meeting before they departed, but I was only there to listen to the plan, so no one noticed I was less talkative than usual. I hadn’t seen too much of my mom, either. She was busy in her social circles and Council meetings.
Pretty soon, I was going to see this new D Glow version of Skyla. What if I gave it away that she was someone I had already met? My mom had reassured me that she would look and act different, so it shouldn’t be too hard. She told me to brace myself, though, and not to expect the same chemistry as before. Probably better if there isn’t. I could face this easier as just a mission.
My office phone rang but I didn’t pick it up. I decided to let my new admin assistant handle my calls today. I had been promoted after my true identity was made known. The president and CEO of the company was a D Glow, so he and my dad struck a deal to keep me on until I was made his official heir since I insisted on working. Frankly the thought of quitting and working alongside my sister every day made me nauseous. Why do that until I absolutely had to? With my promotion to vice president of marketing, I was assigned a fresh-out-of-college neutral-gray Normal named Blakely as my assistant, who Ty, of course, had tried to date.
Ten minutes later there was a knock on my door.
“Dude, you don’t answer my texts, and now you’re dissing me on the phone?” I saw Ty standing in my doorway. He had his hands on his hips and a look of irritation on his face.
“I’m sorry, Mr. LeBete.” Blakely came running in behind Ty excitedly. “He just waltzed right past me even though I told him you were busy.” Her thin five-foot-six figure looked frail in an oversize sweater and long pleated skirt. She gulped uneasily, waiting for my reaction.
“It's OK, Blakely.” I waved her away. “Just tackle him next time.”
She nodded slowly, not entirely sure if I was joking, turned, and headed back to her desk.
“Oh, hi, Ty,” I said casually. “Sorry I didn’t get back to you—I’m crashing on reviewing these reports. I’m still down to play tennis with you after work.” I shuffled the papers on my desk so he could see all the folders I had to go through.
“Well, good,” he scowled. “I was starting to think that you were blowing me off because you’re now a royal big shot.”
“Hmm…” I leaned back in my chair and tapped my fingers together pensively. “You’re right. Go pick up my dry cleaning, you insignificant peasant.” I smirked and bounced forward in my chair so he could tell I was joking.
“Very funny.” Ty came into the office and closed the door behind him.
“What are you doing?” I asked exasperatedly as he took a seat in front of my desk. “I just told you, I’ve got work to do.”
“Please, why are you working so hard? You’re a royal for dark's sake. Besides, I think you could use a break.” He pulled a Kit Kat bar out of his pocket and tossed it onto the desk. He then pulled another one out of his inside jacket pocket and started to tear off the wrapping.
“What are you, a vending machine?” I jabbed. “I’m just waiting for the official announcement that I’m in training to take over for my dad, and then I’m outta here.”
“Sweet!” Ty said with a mouth full of chocolate.
“OK, Ty, what's really on your mind?” I sighed and leaned forward to grab the Kit Kat on my desk. I wasn’t really in the mood for chocolate, but I took the bar anyway since I had told Ty in the past that Kit Kat was my favorite candy bar.
“I just wanted to know how it was going with Stella,” he said, taking another bite of his Kit Kat.
“Really?” I asked, tilting my head skeptically. “This is what you want to talk to me about?” I was trying to stay calm, but I felt my palms start to get sweaty. Did he know something?
“Yeah, like you’re really going to fill me in while you’re trying to keep up with me on the tennis court,” he sneered, his mouth full of chocolate bar.
I still wasn’t convinced this was his true intent for being in my office, but I obliged.
“Bad break,” I sighed and started to unwrap the Kit Kat bar. “She jetted off to India for some village project helping children, blah, blah.” I made a look of disgust on my face and sank my teeth into chocolate and wafer goodness.
“No, that sucks,” gasped Ty as he polished off his chocolate. “Why didn’t you break her heart before she departed?”
“Because she broke up with me first, jackass,” I retorted indignantly.
“Ouch.” Ty winced. “Do you need a hug?” he mocked.
“Shut up!” I snapped.
“Too bad she left before she found out who you really are, that would’ve been fun. Or… maybe she did find out and that's why she left?” Ty mused.
“She left before the queen testing.” I said, making it up on the fly.
“Well, we can go for drinks after tennis because I’m not meeting up with Silver tonight.”
Silver was a Glow Ty had told me about a few weeks back. He had texted that he finally found a wealthy, hot chick that was into him and bombarded my phone with photo after photo of them together.
“Oh?” I asked, distracted by an email that just popped up on my screen.
“Yeah, well, she's apparently found someone to partner with so…” His voice trailed off.
I turned away from my screen and glanced over at Ty, who was looking downtrodden as he mindlessly glopped through my notebook. So that's what this is all about.
“OK man, good chat.” Ty stood up abruptly and stretched his arms up in the air, acting nonchalant. I could tell he was trying not to show he was upset.
“OK, I’ll see you tonight.” I nodded to show empathy without looking Light Glow sappy.
“Hey,” I added.
“Yeah?” Ty said, half turning to see me as he headed out the door.
“Silver is an idiot.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, throwing a hand up dismissively.
Ty shuffled out of the room without closing the door behind him.
I sighed and got up to close the door. As I turned to go back to my desk, I noticed the planter plate underneath my ficus tree was a different color. Typically it was light gray, but today it was black. My mom had told me to watch for it to change—this was a signal.
I went over to the plant and tilted it up. Underneath was a piece of paper. I grabbed it and set the plant back down. I unfolded the paper. There was a number on the top and a bunch of jumbled letters and numbers that made no sense underneath it.
I fished the codebook my mom gave me out of the inside pocket of my dark-blue Armani suit—my mother had given me this codebook about a month ago and said to always keep it on me. If anyone found it on me, they wouldn’t question it, since my father used codebooks all the time for his business.
I flipped to page seven like the note said and used the decipher key. My heart was pounding as I wrote out each letter and number. I sat back and looked at the note.
Tonight. 1800. Apartment lobby. Contact.
Was I meeting the new Skyla tonight? Oh great. I had to tell Ty I couldn’t play tennis or go out for drinks tonight after all. He was going to be mad.
I quickly picked up my desk phone and broke the news to Ty. “Sorry man, my father needs me to do something. Family business comes first.”
Even though Ty knew I had no choice when it came to the family business, he still sounded pissed off.
“Fine,” he grunted, and hung up the phone with a loud click. I looked at my watch. It was 4:17 p.m.
I felt a little panicked. What if I hadn’t seen the color of the planter? I made a mental note to check throughout the day. I locked my computer and put all my files in my desk drawer, then grabbed my jacket and dashed out of the door. I needed to get home and refresh mentally to wrap my head around what was about to happen.
At 6:00 p.m., I walked out of my elevator into the lobby, still wearing my suit from earlier in the day. I stopped by to ask the clerk to call the cable company since my cable was suddenly (coincidence?) not working. While I was standing there, the concierge came marching in, carrying shopping bags from various department stores and a black coat with white fur cuffs. Right behind him was a woman dressed in cropped pleated black pants, a black shirt with dramatic bell sleeves, red leather fingerless gloves, and black high-heeled boots. Was this Skyla? I didn’t want to stare, but it was hard to tell. This woman had iron-straight platinum hair. Carrying an Hermès handbag in one hand and a Prada shopping bag in another, she strutted past me without a glance. Her side profile confirmed that it was Skyla, but just barely—she looked shockingly different.
“The cable man will be here in ninety minutes, Mr. LeBete,” the clerk said to me.
The new Skyla, who had reached the elevator, turned on a heel.
“LeBete?”
“Ah, hi,” I said, walking over to her as smoothly as I could muster. “I’m Stephen LeBete. I don’t remember seeing you before.”
I began to extend my hand to shake it but stopped myself. She's not a business partner.
“Jade,” she said in a low, seductive voice. “I just moved in.” Her face showed no emotion. I noticed immediately that her eyes were no longer blue. They were green.
“I see…” I trailed off, stammering, trying not to stare. “Well, it's customary for me to take out any beautiful woman who moves into my apartment building for dinner. You know, to make them feel welcome.”
“I’m sure it is,” she snapped, turning her back to me.
“But,” I quickly reached, “there haven’t been any beautiful women to start this custom until you walked in.”
“Smooth,” she said, turning back around to look at me.
The elevator door bell dinged and opened. The concierge efficiently stepped into the elevator, set the bags down, and held the door open with the fur coat still wrapped around one arm.
“I’ll be back down in one hour. Be ready to impress me.” She click-clacked into the elevator and spun around in time to toss me a sly smile before the doors shut.
I walked over to the clerk and asked him to make me an 8:00 p.m. reservation at Chez Lagoon, a classy French Mediterranean restaurant frequented by D Glows. Then I went back up to my apartment and checked my phone for any messages. Maybe there was some other clue as to what I was supposed to do tonight? Nope. I looked at my watch: 6:24 p.m. Plenty of time. I hopped into the shower and changed from my suit into gray pants and a black button-down shirt, purposely choosing my custom-made LeBete cuff links to match, a rare present from my dad when I started attending business meetings with him. At 7:15 p.m., I threw on my black bomber jacket, grabbed my cigarettes, lighter, wallet, phone, and keys, and stepped into the elevator to go downstairs. Jade wasn’t there yet, so I quickly arranged for a security member to accompany the cable repair person into my apartment—I didn’t want some random person wandering around my property.
Thirty minutes later, Jade appeared in the lobby.
She had changed into a formfitting, and extremely low-cut, black lace dress. Diamonds dangled from her ears, and a black silk jacket and tiny silk purse adorned her arms. Her shiny black platform pumps clacked and echoed across the stone floor as she approached me.
“Whoa,” I accidentally murmured out loud. I half wanted to run over and cover her up. “You’re late.”
“I’m worth the wait,” she cooed as she handed me her coat.
I helped her put her coat on. This was going to get annoying very quickly.
“Your car is waiting for you in the front, sir,” the concierge said, handing me my keys. “Are you sure you don’t want to call a driver instead?”
“No thanks, I feel like driving tonight, Carlo.”
I didn’t bother opening the door for Jade. I didn’t want her to have the upper hand tonight.
I walked past the passenger door over to the driver side and got in. I could tell this surprised Jade a little, but she said nothing.
“What floor are you on?” I asked as she climbed into the car.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Your apartment. What floor is it on?”
“Oh. Twelve, if you must know,” she sighed, not looking at me.
“I’m on the twenty-fourth.”
“The penthouse, of course. I would expect nothing less of a LeBete.” She looked over at me and flashed me a sexy red-gloss smile.
Even though she looked nothing like her old self, she was still pretty. What I was most surprised about were the heels. How was she able to walk so well in them?
“I’m surprised you’re not cold. If that dress was any lower cut, I would see your belly button. In fact I think I can see it,” I glanced down at her belly to emphasize my statement.
She pulled the coat under the seat belt over her dress.
“If you had any more cologne on, it would wipe out a skunk family,” she quipped.
I couldn’t help but smile at that comment. That's exactly what you’d expect a D to say.
“Nice car, by the way,” she added, feeling the soft lambswool car seat covers I had put in for the winter.
“What did you expect I would have, a Golf?” I grinned.
She didn’t say anything. Perhaps that was a little harsh, since I had driven Ty's Golf for several dates when she knew me as Julien.
At the restaurant, I caught myself staring at Jade. I couldn’t help it. She was a completely different person. I mean, I knew she was just acting, but she was so convincing that even I forgot she was actually Skyla, a virtuous and sweet Pure Light Glow. Now, she oozed with charm, flirting with every guy that approached the table to greet us. She drank pink champagne and gushed about her new apartment and how she was waiting for her new Porsche that she ordered to arrive. I almost spit out my drink when she told the waiter she wanted a steak.
This must be killing her!
“It's fun to be out with a LeBete.” She gulped down her second glass of champagne. “It's like being out with a celebrity,” she smiled.
“LeBete is Le best,” I teased.
“Mm-hm, family slogan?” she jeered, holding up her crystal glass and pointing at it to the waiter passing by.
“You can’t really beat a partnership with me.”
“Full of yourself much?” Jade snipped. “Well, I think partnering with a rock star could be fun.”
I rolled my eyes. The conversation was getting stupid.
Just when I thought I had seen it all, after plowing through a mini chocolate molten cake, Jade took out a cigarette.
“Got a light?”
I started patting my jacket pocket. My head couldn’t wrap itself around the fact that she, of all people, was about to smoke.
A random dark-gray twentysomething Normal stopped and took out his lighter, lighting her cigarette.
“Thank you,” she beamed.
“Want to make it up to me?” he asked, taking her free hand and kissing it.
“All right, all right,” I said, aggravated. “Move along.”
The guy handed her his business card. “Call me if he gets boring,” he smiled, and walked away.
“You don’t smoke?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I do, I’m just not in the mood right now.”
“Well, I just had to try it out. Most restaurants won’t let me smoke, but with you, I can practically get away with anything,” she cackled in delight.
She slowly inhaled and exhaled her cigarette as if to prove to me that she really enjoyed smoking.
I maintained a poker face and flagged down the waiter to ask for a coffee with Baileys and an ashtray.
“Oh, that sounds yummy. Me too,” she said, biting her lip and glancing at the waiter coquettishly. He didn’t react, probably because he was a D Glow and clearly knew who I was. When we first walked in, he’d practically tripped over himself to get us drinks and menus.
Jade then stood up, stubbed out her cigarette on her plate, too impatient to wait for the waiter, and announced a little too loudly that she was going to the ladies’ room.
I watched her try to walk a straight line to the bathroom and shook my head in disapproval. It's not uncommon for D Glows to get drunk, but did she have to take it so far? I mean, she didn’t have to have the coffee with Bailey's. Mixing alcohols was bad news, especially for a novice like her.
I raised my hand, and another waiter immediately came over. “Check, please.”
“Right away, sir,” he replied and darted off.
By the time Jade returned, I had already paid, drank my coffee, and was scrolling through email messages on my phone.
I stood up when she got to our table and let her know I paid the bill.
“Oh,” she stated hoarsely, holding onto the back of her chair. “Do you want to go out to a club?” She didn’t even notice her coffee sitting on the table.
I sauntered over to where she stood, put on my best smolder, and looked her straight in the eyes.
“I think we should go to your place for the night,” I murmured softly.
I slowly traced my index finger down the plunging neckline of her dress and back up the middle to the nape of her neck, my eyes following my finger trailing up her neck until they were fixated on her eyes again. We stood there for a brief second, staring at each other intensely. Jade broke the gaze, looking down, her face flushed. She quickly collected herself and stammered, “Yes…yes, of course, that's what we should do.” She grabbed her coat and we headed out, me leading the way. I fought the urge to reach back and grab her hand, something a D Glow would rarely do.
As we stepped outside, I heard a man yell out my name. “Stephen LeBete!” When I turned to look, a flash went off. It was Jason, a photographer for a D Glow magazine that typically covered my father. A few more flashes went off as Jade and I got into the car.
“Why would they be interested in you?” Jade asked as we drove off. I flashed her a look of irritation and said nothing. Um, hello? My mother is a D Glow queen, and I’m a wealthy bachelor that all female D Glows want as a partner. Normals, who know nothing about our family royalty, still know about my father's legitimate businesses and want to marry me as well. I wanted to remind her of this, but she needed to figure it out on her own.
We drove in silence back to our complex. When we got up to her apartment, she unhandily dug for her key and opened the door.
“You still wanna come in?” she slurred.
“Yep,” I said, gently pushing her into the apartment. I kicked my foot back to shut the door behind me.
She stood in front of me and put a hand on her hip to try and look sexy while trying to keep her balance.
“You’re wasted,” I said with a slight hint of disgust. I walked past her and went into the kitchen, opening various cupboards until I found a glass.
“Oh no, oh no!” Jade ran to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. The next thing I heard was her throwing up.
“Yep,” I said, filling the cup with water from the refrigerator. “Pretty much saw that coming.” I was glad she hadn’t had the coffee with Baileys or she probably would’ve puked in my car,
I calmly walked over to the bathroom and lightly tapped at the door with the back of my knuckles.
“Are you OK?”
“No!” Jade cried.
“Do you want me to come in?” I asked, secretly hoping she would say no.
“No.”
Phew.
“OK, well can I at least get you some water?” I raised up the glass as if she could see it.
“Um, could you just put some on my bedside table?” I could hear water running now, so she was probably cleaning herself off.
“OK.” I went into the room next to the bathroom and flipped the light switch on.
I walked over to the gray painted wooden side table and set the cup down. Her bedroom had been decorated with a sobering combination of purple, gray, and black. Two walls were light gray, and two, the one by her bed and the wall opposite her bed, were a deep mauve. The bedspread was a deep shade of purple, and a black accent blanket had been neatly folded at the foot of the bed. Two black fluffy throw pillows and two purple-and-gray satin pillows lined the top of the bed against an ornate silver headboard.
I approached her closet and peeked inside. The top was lined with various shoes, mostly heels and boots. The bottom of the closet was lined with gun cases. There was a sea of black, gray, and purple clothes with a pop or two of red, gold, and blue in the mix. I pulled a black satin dress toward me on its hanger. This is so short, it's really a shirt.
“Find anything you like?” Jade appeared at the door, startling me.
I hastily let go of the dress, stepping away from the closet and shutting it.
“I was looking for something for you to change into.”
“Ah,” she rasped as she tumbled into the room. She stopped in front of her bed, leaning against it with one hand for support.
“Try my dresser over there. Second drawer.” She pointed to the gray dresser that ran alongside a window with her one free arm.
“Any T-shirt will do,” she muttered. Her face was sallow and ashen and her eyes looked glazed and sickly gray. She must have taken out the contacts.
I opened the drawer as directed, pulled out a gray T-shirt, and tossed it to her.
She turned her back to me and comically yanked her dress off over shoulders, cursing under her breath.
“Would you like some help?” I asked with a raised eyebrow in amusement.
“No!” She yelped as she did a little shimmy to get the tight dress past her waist. The dress was finally wrestled off, and Jade stepped out of it, ungracefully. She briskly grabbed the T-shirt, slipped it on, and, in a zombielike trance, meandered over to the bed, pulled the blankets half back, and climbed in.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she murmured, turning to her side and curling into a ball.
I walked over and pulled the blankets up to her shoulders and kissed her on the forehead.
“Don’t worry. The smell of puke doesn’t really get me going.”
I never had any intention of making a move on her in the state she was in, but with security cameras in the halls, I couldn’t have risked not going in with her. It wouldn’t look right to another D if I just kissed her on the forehead and told her to take care of herself in front of her apartment door.
I stood there a moment to make sure she was OK before leaving her bedroom, flipping off the light switch, and closing the door gently behind me. Was it the alcohol or her training that lowered her inhibitions? Probably the alcohol.
I looked at my watch—I had been in her apartment for twenty-five minutes. Better make it an hour for my reputation. I plopped down on the white leather couch and turned on the news. I had been irritated with Jade earlier, but now I only felt bad for her. She had been thrown into this world and it was a hard adjustment.
After thirty minutes elapsed, I turned off the TV and headed back to my apartment.
There was one more thing I needed to do before I hit the sack. I took out my phone and told Siri to call Ty.
“Hey man, where are you?” Loud music was playing in the background.
“Just a second, I can’t hear you,” Ty yelled.
A few seconds later, Ty came back on the line.
“I’m at a party. What's up?”
“You won’t believe what happened to me tonight, bro.”
“What's that?”
“I think I met the D Glow chick of my dreams.”