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“I think you’re on the right track.” – Joe
“I must be. Your glasses are beginning to steam up.” – Sugar
SOME LIKE IT HOT
Leo
I opened my eyes long before sunrise on my twenty-eighth birthday, and my first thoughts were of Izzy.
It had been weeks since I’d seen her and with every day that passed, I felt her drawing further away from me. If she planned to contact me, it would happen today.
Every year since I’d turned sixteen, she’d left me a Happy Birthday message so it greeted me first thing in the morning. More times than not, it was a text, but sometimes she taped a sticky note to my bathroom mirror or to my car steering wheel. One year I’d even awoken to a sticky note attached to my forehead.
With my birthday being so close to Christmas, she’d made sure to always make the day special.
I picked up my phone. My stomach sank. No text notifications.
I sat up and ran my hand through my hair. So much for it being a happy birthday.
Yes, things were off between us, but I didn’t think she’d let that interfere with her birthday tradition.
Damn, I’d fucked it up between us, and I had to fix it.
Instead of immediately getting in the shower, I turned on my laptop and booked a flight.
It was time to fix my life.
Forty-five minutes later, I’d showered and packed and was on my way to the office.
Franklin met me in the foyer of House of Bennett, since he planned to treat me to breakfast this morning. “Can I take a rain check?” I asked him. “I need to get to the airport.”
“You’re leaving?” But then he shook his head at me and grabbed me by the elbow. “It doesn’t matter right now,” he said in a rush. “You’re going to have to delay for a few minutes. We’ve had an emergency up in the office.”
“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” I scrambled to think through what could have gone wrong. Most of the staff had these two weeks off for the holidays, but there were still a few employees around trying to take care of last-minute problems that might arise with orders and deliveries.
“Just come up. It’ll be easier if you see what’s going on.”
We were expecting the fabric shipment for the spring lines to clear customs at any moment. I followed Franklin as he rushed to the elevators. “Is there a problem with the fabrics for the spring lines?”
Franklin pushed the button for the floor that held the designer showrooms. We mainly used those for our most wealthy and elite customers and for private couture runway shows.
As we rushed down the long hallway, all the doors were closed. Franklin stopped at the last one and opened the doorway to wave me in before him. My stomach had begun a nervous roll as I approached the unknown, and it tightened when I entered the dark room.
Franklin slammed the door shut behind me, and I heard a scrape that sounded like a lock. I stood still in utter shock. “Franklin?” I called out. He honestly didn’t just lock me in here and leave, did he?
The room was pitch black since there were no windows. This was one of our private fashion show studios. I couldn’t see a thing. But I didn’t feel alone. “Hello? Anyone here?”
A light flared to life in the back of the room, illuminating a giant poster of Izzy and me that looked like they had taken it at summer camp the year after we met. In the photo we were both laughing—as only eight-year-olds can—with our whole bodies, while still holding one another’s hands tight.
I smiled. From the moment we’d become friends, we’d been inseparable.
Another poster lit up, but this one held text, not a photo.
“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” –Casablanca
Adrenaline hit my system. Izzy hadn’t forgotten. She was here somewhere. I searched the dark corners of the large room, but with the way the spotlights worked, I couldn’t see anything outside those single rings of light illuminating the posters. What I could see was covered with heavy drapes that lined the room to give it a more intimate feeling when we held shows here. Those drapes hid all the areas of the room where we staged models, dressing rooms, and makeup.
Another poster lit up, this one of Izzy and me, both lying in sleeping bags in a tent making shadow puppets on the wall. That photo had been taken when we were in junior high. My mom had gotten an idea in her head about us needing a family camping trip, never mind that she and my sisters hated dirt and bugs with an infinitesimal amount of disgust and fear. That trip hadn’t even lasted twenty-four hours, but Izzy and I had a great time.
I smiled even as my chest tightened. I missed her so much.
“Izzy?” I called into the dark. “Are you here?”
Another quote lit up.
“I found out that the secret to life is friends. Best friends.” – Fried Green Tomatoes
The next photo that lit up was my family surrounding Izzy and I at our high school graduation. We looked so young and so happy, but what struck me most was my expression as I looked over at her. Even in the middle of my family, there was no missing how much I loved her even then. How had she never seen it? Looking at it now, I couldn’t miss it.
Another poster lit up with a quote, then another photo, and another and another until the room was almost completely lit and memories of my life surrounded me. And in all those memories, Izzy had been there.
How did I ever think I could live without her?
But before I could call out to her again, a symphonic version of the Happy Birthday Song rang throughout the room and the curtains parted, revealing all my friends and family.
There had to be over a hundred people here, including my mom, who shouldn’t be out of her rehab facility no matter that she was in a wheelchair.
But the one person I didn’t see was Izzy.
Disappointed didn’t touch my emotions, but I smiled and put on a brave face for the people who had shown up for me. I leaned over and hugged my mom. “Does your doctor know you’re here?” I gently chided her.
She cupped my cheek. “Yes, and he sent along a nurse to make sure I don’t overdo it.” She waved at an older gentleman standing behind her. “Happy birthday, Leo.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I glanced at my watch. If Izzy wasn’t here, then I needed to get going or else I would miss my flight. But I couldn’t leave when they’d gone to all this trouble. Who had organized this?
I glanced over at the twins chatting with Franklin, who’d apparently snuck back in the room without me noticing. “Who’s responsible for putting this together?” I asked mom.
She shook her head. “None of them. They’ve all been too busy catching up with the day to day running of House of Bennett. No, this is all thanks to her.” Mom gestured behind me.
I turned.
Izzy pushed a huge multi-tiered cart filled with cupcakes. At the top sat a small cake with a virtual inferno of lit candles. Her eyes sparkled as she met my gaze and started singing the Happy Birthday song. Everyone joined in.
“Don’t you hit a certain point when candles just become a fire hazard?” I asked her when the singing ended.
She laughed. “Nope. They invented fire extinguishers for a reason.” She eyed the candles as they flickered dangerously in the moving air of the room. “But maybe you should blow them out quickly just in case.”
I followed her instructions. Everyone applauded when the last candle went out.
It took a few minutes and several people dispersing cake before I had time to sidle up to her. “I thought you’d forgotten.”
Her eyes darkened. “I don’t care what might happen in my life, I will never forget you and the important parts of your life,” she said. “I don’t plan to miss a single one.”
My heart surged. Did that mean I hadn’t fucked us up entirely? God, I hoped so. “I’m going to hold you to that promise.”
Her smile beamed. But then we got pulled in different directions by various people who’d come to the party, and I didn’t get another minute with her until a couple of hours later.
By then, the party was winding down, and we’d both come over to the doorway to bid my mom a farewell as her nurse had decided it was time for mom to stop partying.
“I hope it was a wonderful birthday,” Mom told me.
“The best,” I agreed.
She winked at Izzy, who stood beside me. “No, I think the best is yet to come. You two probably should be on your way. Your sisters are in charge of cleanup duty.”
“Be on our way?” I sent a questioning look at Izzy.
She gave me a mischievous grin. “I might have made some plans to kidnap you over the holidays...with your mother’s blessing, of course.”
My mom waved goodbye to us as her nurse pushed her out of the room before I could question anything about that. “Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas,” she called to us as she rolled down the hall.
I tugged Izzy to my chest. “Kidnap me, huh? I think I like the sound of that.” I nipped at her lips. The few lingerers at the party couldn’t see us as we stood in the shadows of some of the dramatic curtains.
She ran her fingernails through the short hair behind my ear. “I missed you. You didn’t seem to be coming back to Austin, so I figured I needed to make alternative plans.” For a moment, she looked unsure as she bit her bee-stung lips. “Is that okay?”
“Better than okay. I missed you, too. In fact, this party made me miss my flight. I was on my way to Austin to see you this afternoon because I needed to see you.”
Her smile beamed. “We’ve always been on the same wavelength. It’s good to know that hasn’t changed.”
“I don’t think that ever will. You and me, we go together.”
She twined her hand with mine. “Let’s go together and get out of here. I feel the need to have you alone.”
She wouldn’t find me arguing with that.