One Night Stand With The Alpha

Thursday 27th June 1991-Marlene

I don‘t think Daniel had expected me to say yes when he asked if I wanted to go away with him for a few days, but I was exited to get away with him and it felt like the most grown up thing I had ever done.

We spent the night together, and in the morning I expected him to tell me he had changed his mind about going away, or that he didn’t want me to go after all.

He was awake before me, as he always seemed to be, and he asked me if I was still interested in going with him.

We agreed to meet in the evening, and I didn’t have any idea where we were going, but I trusted he wasn’t going to kidnap me and murder me - possibly another stupid decision, but I was too caught up in the moment to think of that.

I didn’t have any idea what to pack, and I was so excited that I had left without asking what we would be doing.

Daniel was still a mystery to me; he was rich, and his family clearly had more money than I could ever hope to earn. And yet he didn’t make a huge show of that wealth, and he seemed more interested in having fun and enjoying the summer than anything else.

It wasn’t like I had any clothes that would be appropriate if he was planning on taking me somewhere fancy, either.

I settled for shoving as much into my backpack as I possibly could, and I hoped that he wouldn’t think I was weird for bringing so much when we were only going away until Sunday.

I blushed when I thought of how he would probably react, because I imagined he would make a comment about me not needing any clothes if he had his way.

I tried to push that thought out of my head so I could finish getting ready, but I was buzzing with excitement, and I think I probably terrified Elizabeth when she showed up at my room, because I yanked her into the room and closed the door behind her so I could tell her about my impromptu plans for a romantic escape with my unbelievably hot summer fling.

I was conscious that I had only just made any progress with Biata, and I didn’t want her to hear what I was planning, but it did seem like actually telling someone I was going to be away for a few days was the sensible thing to do.

I didn’t feel so sensible when I couldn’t actually tell Elizabeth where I was going to be, but she was the sort of person who saw it as exciting and she didn’t make me feel bad for it.

I could have done without her comments about being taken to serve in a secret s*x cult, but it was a good natured joke and she hadn’t been trying to upset me with it.

There was a sharp knock on my bedroom door and Elizabeth groaned because it was definitely Biata and she barked at us to stop being so inconsiderate before her own door slammed a few seconds later.

I was expecting Elizabeth to start a fight over it, but she had been picking through the things in my bag and she held up a lilac tie dye crop top I had always considered particularly cool, but never had the guts to wear in my hometown.

She wrinkled her nose at the top, and I suddenly felt like my idea of cool made it obvious I had grown up in a sheltered environment.

“I take it Daniel’s into the whole ‘cutesy innocent’ thing, then? Is it like... his thing?”

I stammered, unable to answer such a blunt question.

He definitely didn’t seem to want me to act like I was innocent and unexperienced when we were alone, but I had never considered the idea he might be into me because of that, and it was mortifying to think about.

“It’s not like he requested I dress like I’m an unsophisticated student… I don’t think it’s his thing, whatever that means.”

Elizabeth laughed and tossed the top over to me.

“Marlene, if it was his thing, you would definitely know about it,” she continued pulling my clothes out and examining them critically. “When are you leaving on this sexy mystery trip, anyway?”

“He didn’t say exactly, but some time this evening.”

Elizabeth tapped her jaw, contemplating something in a characteristically melodramatic way.

“OK… when’s your birthday?”

I had no idea why that was important, but I wasn’t going to question it.

“October 9th.”

“Alright… how about we go and pick out something a little more grown up and I will call it my early birthday present to you.”

I felt my cheeks burning.

“Are you serious? Are my clothes really that bad?”

She picked up one of my white cotton bras and hung it over one of her fingers by the strap.

“I mean…I don’t think this thing would leave anybody weak at the knees.”

I leaned across to snatch the bra from her, shoving it back into the bag and massively regretting telling her any of this.

“He hasn’t complained about my choice of underwear yet, Elizabeth. I don’t think spending money on anything more exotic is necessary. Besides, it’s not exactly empowering if I dress up in uncomfortable skimpy lingerie to thank him for being my sexy, rich sugar daddy just because he’s taken me away for a couple of days.”

Elizabeth groaned the same way she did whenever Biata was lecturing her, and I realized I was being a little over defensive.

“Look, you don’t have to take me up on the offer. And if you do accept and then feel weird about it, you don’t have to dress up for him. I just thought it was worth suggesting, because from what I can tell, he is the kind of guy who would appreciate it. It’s nothing to do with empowerment or feminism, so please don’t start lecturing me about the patriarchy or anything like that.”

I hesitated, but I could see her point and the offer may have made me feel self-conscious, but it was generous and it might actually be fun to go out with Elizabeth.

“Alright… I’m not going to go crazy and let you talk me into wearing a leather catsuit or something, though.”

She thought my joke was hilarious, and I decided not to admit it hadn’t actually been a joke at all.

She grabbed her purse, and then dragged me out of the house to go and buy the sort of underwear that would probably have given my ex an actual heart attack.

Something I really wished I hadn’t thought about, because it made me feel guilty to look through all the beautiful lace and imagine how Daniel would react when Theo was probably still heartbroken over me.

In the end, I settled on something made of delicate black lace with black satin bows that Elizabeth described as ‘adorable’, even though to me it was almost impossibly sexy.

I had blushed so deeply when they handed me the bag with the logo of the shop emblazoned on the side in glossy red letters that Elizabeth took it from me, and rolled her eyes.

It wasn’t like people were going to be undressing me with their eyes as I walked down the street with the bag, but I was grateful to her for taking it from me because I was feeling shy and I really didn’t like the idea of anyone seeing me with that bag.

Even walking into the shop had taken a great deal of effort, and I had spent the entire time feeling like they would throw me out for being too immature to look at that sort of stuff.

I made sure to thank her, and as stupid as it was, I knew it had been a genuinely thoughtful gesture - she had taken me to the club the night I met Daniel, and now she had taken me for a day of girly shopping.

She left me at the doorstep when we got home, but promised she would try to get back before I left with Daniel, which I suspected was a hint that she would try to help me out with how to actually impress him.

She thrust the bag of expensive grown-up underwear into my hands, then gave me a hug before she left me to go and finish packing alone.

My heart was racing as I thought about packing that underwear alongside my tie-dye shirt and ratty old cotton bra, and it felt like a naughty secret, but when I opened the door to my room I dropped the bag on the floor and stared in shock at Biata rooting through my stuff.

She froze, and her mouth opened and closed like a fish as she tried to think of an excuse for why she had come into my room like this.

“Get out.”

I sounded a lot less angry than I felt, and she hurried past me to get away before she had to offer any more of an explanation.

I was shaking as I went over to my stuff, but it was all still there and none of it seemed to have been ruined or messed with.

I shoved the new underwear in the bag and zipped it up, the excitement I had been feeling completely gone now that I had found Biata like that.

I made a note to hide my personal things in the future, and to invest in a lock for my door so that she couldn’t do that again - I also scrawled a note for Elizabeth and went to leave it under her pillow, in case she didn’t make it back before Daniel arrived to pick me up.

I spent the rest of the afternoon pacing in my room and feeling like a kid waiting for a birthday party to start, and I nearly tumbled down the stairs when the doorbell rang.

I probably seemed like an over excited puppy to Daniel, but he told me he was excited, too, and it made me feel a little better about it.

I was so caught up in getting my bag and wondering how he would react to seeing me wearing that underwear that I completely missed that he had parked his car outside and my breath caught in my throat when I saw that he had pulled up in a dark blue Chevrolet Corvette.

It was a sleek, sporty two-door car that was just more evidence that he was ludicrously rich and extremely nonchalant about it.

I half expected him to say ‘oh, this old thing…’ if I mentioned it, but he was smiling at my reaction and he took the bag from me to put into the trunk of the car as I climbed into the passenger seat looking both clumsy and completely out of place to the people who were glancing at the car as they passed us by.

“You’re all set?” he asked, and I blushed because it made me feel like I was a kid who might need reminding to bring everything on a trip.

I smiled, and nodded, and he smiled back in a way that made my heart flutter before we set off on our trip, and I finally found out what he had in store.