Blueprint for Romance

Lance

Vanessa

Seeing Lance walk into the café felt unreal. I couldn’t stop the big smile that broke out as I hurried around the counter to embrace him. Lance was taller than me, by a lot, even though he was a year younger than me. He was my big brother regardless.

“Vanessa,” he whispered as he crushed me against him. I didn’t care that we had an audience. I didn’t care if Lillian lost her s**t because I wasn’t behind the till. And I certainly didn’t care if there were any customers that needed to be served. I hadn’t seen Lance since I left home and as I squeezed him a bit harder, I realized that I missed him more than I had ever admitted to myself.

“Lance, you came,” I said when we finally pulled apart.

“Take it upstairs,” Lillian snapped softly. I looked over my shoulder and merely smiled.

“Lillian, this is my brother, Lance,” I said to her. She looked surprised and I knew why. I was dressed in my work outfit, but it wasn’t just that. Lance screamed money. All the way from his expensive loafers to his dress pants and his freshly pressed shirt. His hair was perfectly styled and even though his sleeves were rolled up, his watch caught the light. “Lance, this is my boss and the owner of the café, Lillian,”

“It is an honor to meet you, Lillian,” Lance said as he leaned forward and offered his hand. Lillian immediately shook his hand and smiled.

“The honor is all mine…still, you should take it upstairs,” she said to me, and I nodded as I grabbed his hand and literally dragged him to the back. There was a staircase that led upstairs to the apartments.

“Vanessa…what is this?” Lance asked as I approached one of the apartment doors.

“I live here,” I said to him as I pushed open the door and dragged him inside. My roommate was out, so that was a bonus as I shut the door behind us.

“You live…here?” Lance didn’t look impressed as he looked around the small apartment. And it was small. The kitchen was tiny, and the living room could only fit in a small two-seater couch and the TV was mounted onto the wall. Three doors. Two bedrooms. One bathroom.

“I live here, but I recently bought a house,”

“I’d hope so…what on earth is going on? When you texted me, I was surprised that you wanted me to come out here…” Lance looked absolutely horrified as he continued to look around. “You live here?”

“With my roommate,” I added, as I watched him closely. His eyes went wide, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s been nice,”

“Nice…yes, I’m sure,” he remarked and when I shoved him toward the couch, he nearly tripped over his own feet in order to stop me. “No, I think I would prefer to stand,”

“Seriously? It might not look like much, but it’s clean,” I reassured him as I took a seat on the couch. Lance eyed it for a moment before he finally sat down on the edge of the seat. It was as if he didn’t want to fully commit to the idea of sitting down on it.

“I’m here, but I honestly hope I don’t stay here,” he muttered.

“No, I’ll get you booked into a room at the vineyard,” I hurriedly said. Lance immediately looked relieved that he wouldn’t have to stay with me in this apartment. However, that look vanished and was replaced with uncertainty.

“And the vineyard? It’s nice?” he asked carefully, and I chuckled.

“Not only is it nice, but it is also quite fancy,” I explained. Lance completely relaxed and I couldn’t help but just smile.

“Good…good…but why am I here, Vanessa?” he asked. His voice was now filled with concern, and I frowned as my smile faded. “What’s going on?”

“I got my heart broken,” I whispered. I then proceeded to tell him everything about Damon and our relationship. I told him about my plans to woo him and Lance listened intently. By the time I was done, it was clear to me that I had fallen in love with Damon. That was why I was so heartbroken and upset by our breakup.

“Well, I must say, I am confused. This doesn’t sound like the Vanessa I know, because my sister wouldn’t take no for an answer,”

“I cannot force someone to love me, Lance,” I argued.

“No, but it doesn’t sound like he doesn’t love you, Vanessa. It sounds like he is lost, and he may not even know what he genuinely wants. You have to show him what he is missing out on,” Lance said, and I slowly nodded. I didn’t feel hopeful, but maybe he was right. Maybe I just needed to continue with my plans regardless of Damon breaking things off with me. “The first thing to do is make him jealous,”

“And how do you suppose I do that?” I asked, curiously.

“Well, for starters, he doesn’t know about me, does he?”

“No,”

“Good, then let him sweat. Let this small town do what they do best. He will eventually hear about how you jumped some good-looking man in your workplace and how you took him upstairs. If he is even remotely interested, he will be jealous and seek out the truth,” he explained. I slowly nodded as I realized it could work. No one knew about Lance, well, except for Lillian, but she wouldn’t say a word. I smiled as I realized that this could very well work.

“Ok,” I agreed.

“Splendid…now, please tell me you don’t expect me to wait here while you finish working,” he said as he stood up and looked around.

“No, go to the vineyard and book in…I’ll join you soon. I just need to take a few days off and that means I have to speak to Lillian,”

“Oh, I’m sure she won’t have any issues,” Lance remarked with a smirk as we left the apartment.