Not A Bad Thing

17 - Most Expensive Seats & Half-Time Freak Outs

"Tess! Great to see you!" Alec said as he enveloped me in a bear hug.

I laughed as I tried to break free. "Hi, Alec, it's good to see you, too."

"I was afraid that the other day I saw you would be the last," he somberly said, and I recalled how I had almost lost Andrew before I had him. I would have beaten myself up for it, always wondering what would have happened if we had gone out.

I cleared my throat and fixed my hair. "Well, clearly it was not." To make my comment less rude, I did jazz hands. He laughed and then put his hand on who I assumed was his wife's back.

Andrew had failed to mention the tickets were on the private and most expensive area of the stadium, where only rich people went to see the games. Of course, I should have expected it, but I kept forgetting how wealthy the man I dated was.

Alec turned to look at George, who was beside me and trying to play it cool, though neither of us had even been in this luxurious place. We tried to pretend we knew how things worked around the expensive seats. "Hey, man, Alec Brown, nice to meet you."

George was beside me and he politely shook Alec Brown's hand. "George, a friend of Tess's," he presented himself as. "He's so fucking gorgeous," he whispered into my ear as he pretended to look around the place.

"Hi, I'm Patricia," Alec's wife said. She shook my hand and gave me a warm smile. It was nice to know that the woman I was going to be in this place with was laid back, nice and did not think I was going to steal her husband. I was tired of women objectifying me and having a competition with me.

I turned to look for Andrew as George exchanged some words with Patricia about the game and her shoes. They were fabulous. I was trying hard not to stare at them for too long. George did not mind though, and he had a way with people that made it easy for him to talk to them. I knew that was going to take him places.

Andrew turned his phone off and came back to my side. "I arranged so that nobody bothers me today anymore," he stated as he ushered me to a seat.

"Great, because if you got a call, then you would make me tell you what you missed, and I would have no clue," I half-joked.

"Of course, you wouldn't," he chuckled. "I don't even know why I brought you."

"Because I'm adorable and I look great in the teams' colors." I gave him thumbs up.

He laughed and kissed me.

"Enjoying yourselves?" Alec asked then, interrupting us. He had a knowing smirk and I flushed brightly. I hated that. I was cooler than that.

Alec sat beside Andrew with his wife on his other side and George next to her, still chatting and apparently having forgotten all about me. I thought I would have him to make me company today, but apparently, I would have to find some other way to entertain myself.

"You look really sexy in those pants," Andrew murmured into my ear. "Absolutely...desirable."

I hummed in response and leaned in. "You don't wanna play this game, it's fairer on girls than boys."

He smirked. "And there I thought you were a good girl."

I scoffed. "Andrew...you're the good boy. I have always been bad, you know that."

He smiled carelessly. "I know I'm a goody two shoes."

"So sexy," I joked, and he shoved me playfully as the game begun.

---.---.---.---.---

It was half-time, Andrew had gone to the bathroom and George was still deep in conversation with Patricia. Now even Alec had been cut out of the equation. I took it as my opportunity to get the interview arranged.

"Hey," I said as I joined him on a side as he chugged down a beer. We had stopped counting how many we had a long time ago.

"Hey Tess, are you getting any of it?" He pointed towards the field.

I shrugged. "Kinda, Andrew gets a laugh of explaining it to me."

"I can see him getting frustrated," he appeased with a smile.

"Sports are not really my thing," I excused. He laughed and nodded in agreement. "Alec...I need to ask you a favor. I think Andrew already spoke to you about it but-"

"Yeah, the interview. I don't mind. We'll do it next week, sound good to you?"

"Yes! Thank you."

"Is she gonna sleep with you to get that interview, too?" a bitter voice questioned.

Alec and I both turned to look appalled to where the voice came from. There stood Jennifer, fuming. I stared at her. Where had she come from? I could swear she was like a terrible nightmare, appearing at the worst of times.

I excused myself to Alec and he went back to his seat. I took a step forward towards her. "Jennifer? What are you doing here?"

"It's not fair," she muttered.

"What?" I was confused and was unsure of how to act. She seemed a bit erratic.

"I send you off into an impossible interview to get you fired and you get it! Not only that, you get the guy. Then, I get my mom into thinking the business associate should be interviewed, and you get him too!"

I frowned. "What is wrong with you?"

"With me?" she roared. Before I could even blink, she had stomped to where my party was. "She is a whore! She will sleep with your husband to get the interview!" she yelped to Patricia.

Patricia gasped and stood from her seat, trying to get away from Jennifer. Then, Lewis came around and I cursed internally. Seriously, where did they come from?!

"Babe! Great bumping into you here!"

"Lewis, what are you doing here?" I tiredly asked.

"Watching the game, of course."

"Lewis, go get Jennifer, please. She's making a fool of herself and embarrassing me," I hissed, tired of the drama.

He looked in her direction vaguely. "I tried to go out with her again," he stated. He took a step forward and invaded my personal space. "Though I must say the moment I saw you I could only think of ditching Jenn. God, you're beautiful," he breathed into my ear.

I tried to pry away but he was drunk and suddenly possessive. The world was spinning out of control around me and I could only think of how everything had gone downhill in a matter of minutes. My head was starting to hurt, and I just wanted to curl into a ball and forget all about this.

Before I could think of anything to say or do to keep Lewis away, he was no longer on top of me, nonetheless.

Andrew was between us, fuming. "You got to be kidding me," he seethed.

Lewis sobered up in a second and raised his hands defensively. "I-I was just leaving, man." It was very attractive and calming to think that Andrew only needed to get pissed off and people wanted to step away from him.

Andrew turned to send daggers my way with his look and I cowered back in surprise. It was not fair; it was not really my fault. "This could only happen with you by my side," he snapped. He looked around. Alec had his wife hiding behind him as Jennifer was hauled away by security and George was a few steps away from them staring at me with a guarded look.

I was exasperated and wanted to cry. Now Andrew was blaming me for something I had nothing to do in.

"Well, I guess we'll be going home early," he muttered as people kept on staring. "Grab your things," he said, barely looking my way.

I pursed my lips and grabbed my handbag, feeling humiliated. Andrew did not even wait for me. He half-waved at Alec and his wife and stormed out. I followed him with shame and regret for ever accepting to come here in the first place.