wouldn't i.t. b e nice

[adam page]

Thank god for play dates. Without them, Adam might never get a chance to get out on his own. It wasn't that he didn't love being around his son, those after all were his happiest moments. It was more that he didn't enjoy always having to edit his surroundings. Every now and then he wanted to go out and have a drink, but he couldn't exactly go bar hopping with a five year old. Back when his wife was still alive, they each would get one or two nights a week where they got to go out with friends. It was just another way he and Natalie kept each other happy together. They were young when they got married, and had Ashford. They both wanted to make sure it was the real thing that would last forever. They made lots of compromises to their everyday lives. Adam and Natalie were more mature in that way, than with most couples their age.

Usually on his nights, Adam would go out with the boys to a local bar for a few laughs and drinks. Adam wasn't a huge drinker, but he did enjoy his rum. He loved the drink's spicy taste, and the way it warmed his whole body as it made it's way down his throat. In the last year and a half, he hardly had any time to let loose. He had been there for Ashford every step of the way, and he had no regrets. He just thought that it had been a few months since he had a night out.

Jackson's Bar was one of his favorite places to eat in paradise. If he ever had to do some schmoozing with some colleagues over lunch, he usually came to Jackson's. Tonight though, he would set up camp at the bar. Taking a seat on a stool at the far end of the bar, Adam waited for the bartender to come over to him. Barney and Adam knew each other. Barn had been bartending many-a-nights that Adam walked in alone. He was a friendly enough guy, didn't approve of the 'rich bastards' that came in the place. He wasn't complaining about their tips though. He liked Adam because, according to him, Adam was 'sane.'

Barney quickly finished up with a customer before making his way over to Adam. He grinned, asking Adam how he was, and how Ashford was. Barney basically knew Adam's entire life story. 'The usual?' he asked. 'Of course,' Adam had responded. Barn poured him a generous glass of Myer's Dark, Adam's favorite rum, before heading off to deal with another customer at the bar. He would be back though, Barney always came back. Sometimes Adam thought he might be gay. Adam sipped his rum and starred off into space. He had to remember to give Barney a good tip.

[Lyndsee.]

Lyndsee,

"I'll bring you back something nice, mmkay?" She motioned towards both girls with her eyes, nodding in their directions to assure them that she would, and her absence would be worth it. The oldest blonde haired little girl threw her arms over her mother’s shoulders and hugged her dearly before being torn away by the babysitter who offered to look after Lyndsee’s daughters while Lyndsee went out to enjoy herself. The babysitter, Brittany, insisted that she took time out for herself. Ever since she moved here it had been all about the girls, and she needed a break, said Brittany. But Jasmine and Honey were her life; she didn’t know how long she could be apart from them. But she’ll try.

Kissing Jasmine, her youngest, on the forehead, she gave her shoulder a soft squeeze and waved towards the little girls both staring up at her in horror. She felt bad for leaving them but Brittany seemed to have her way around this baby sitting thing so she decided to trust her on it. With her keys in one hand, and her bag in the other, she backed out of the building and out the door, double checking it was locked before she turned to leave the Penthouses, and towards the busy street where it took a few hours to get a cab considering the equal amount of people wanting to get one just as badly as she did. The yellow vehicles sped past and picked up random people from the street, Lyndsee had been particularly patient, and hoped at the back of her head that a cap didn’t stop for her, so she could go back and see her children.

But eventually one pulled up a moment before she turned back around, she reluctantly got in and it took her to Jackson’s bar where normally she’d enjoy herself. Ever since she had children she never wanted to go out, in high school she’d always be out, she’d get smashed once a week and spend all of her time in her best friend’s dorm where they talked about boys and what was on television, but now she’d lost the energy to do that. Never the less, she walked into the bar after stepping out of the taxi with her head high and looking for a familiar face, and once failing returned to the edge of the counter.

The man at the bar came to her a lot sooner then the taxi did, she smiled and he passed over her order in exchange for the note she pulled from her back pocket. She lifted the fruity alcohol to her lips and swallowed the first mouthful before setting it back onto the counter. She looked back and to her side to be greeted by a most familiar face. Apart from the dancing couples and the music you almost had to speak over the bar was a very comforting place but it wasn’t so much if you were alone, she was glad Adam was here and it was confirmed he was alone too as she got in respectable distance from him. Propping the glass onto the bench and seating herself on the stool next to him, she turned to him and greeted her best friend with a wide toothy grin. "Hey Adam, I didn’t know you’d be here?"

[adam page]

It just happened, an awareness suddenly swept over him. The bar was dimly lit, providing a warm atmosphere. Tables for two were most prominent in the space. Adam watched as a tall fellow in a white coat held hands across the table with his lover who was an absolutely gorgeous Barbie doll with big lips, and even bigger breasts. Slowly, he watched the man reach into his pocket. He was going for it. Adam could tell by the look in the man's eyes. Most guys looked hungry when out with a woman, especially guys like the one sitting twenty feet in front of him. This man however, looked at the girl the same way Adam used to look at Natalie. Slowly, the white-coated man retrieved a small black box. Adam turned around in his stool, facing the bar once again. He knew what was about to happen.

He remembered his own proposal. Adam Page knew he wanted to marry Natalie James within three months after they started dating. There was something about her, she was driven, spontaneous, funny, intelligent, and caring. Everything he could ever want and more. She wanted to know him, the real him, not just the Adam she wanted him to be in her mind. She wanted to see all of him, at his best and at his worst.

It had been three weeks after she announced she was pregnant and wanted to have their baby. They were walking along the steps at the Met, milling around, Adam slid down the metal railing like he did when he was a little kid. Natalie laughed and had tried to push him off. They had fun together. After a long conversation with many laughs, Adam found himself looking into her eyes. He took her soft hands in his. "I don't want you to think I'm doing this out of obligation. I'm not... Natalie James, I am so in love with you... I've been in love with you since the first moment I saw you in the library on that rainy day, your beautiful eyes hidden behind those big glasses of yours... Natalie..." he had said, pulling out the small black velvet box from his pocket. "will you marry me?" She had said yes, she had thrown her arms around him and almost squeezed the dear life out of him. She had almost forgotten all about the ring. It was beautiful platinum diamond ring with 'to my Natalie' inscribed on the bottom. She had kissed him, and he wished that night would never end.

But it did. And Adam now found himself wondering what the white-coated man inscribed on the engagement ring for his Barbie doll.

Adam finished the rest of him rum, and motioned for Barney to come back over and pour him another drink. He suddenly felt very very alone. It was the first time in eight months he had felt the sting of loneliness even when surrounded by a group of people. Maybe he shouldn't have come out tonight. Maybe he should have just stayed home, and watched a movie in the massive theater room of his late Uncle's house. Maybe he should have drowned all his sorrows in an extra buttery sea of popcorn. Yeah, that's what he should have done.

He was mere moments away from being overcome with sadness, when he felt someone's eyes on him. He looked down the bar, to see Lyndsee Lockhart coming towards him. He instantly smiled... he didn't know he could still do that. He took a deep breath, and suddenly he wasn't alone anymore. "Hey, yeah I actually come here a lot," he said, that smile still plastered on his face. He wiped it off, he felt a little guilty, but the corners of his mouth still curled and hinted of how much she raised his spirits. "How are you, how's Honey and Jasmine? Ashford keeps asking about your little one, I think the little guy might have a little crush." Their kids often played together when they visited each other at home. Adam's newly inherited house had all sorts of fun rooms for kids. Last time Lyndsee and her kids had come over, they had all gone to the basement to do a little bowling and Ashford had dropped a ball on his toe. His boy tried with all his might not to cry, but after a few moments he just burst into tears, and Adam had to nurse him back to health.

[Lyndsee.]

Lyndsee,

Lyndsee used her free arm to push the fringe from her eyes, so she could look over at Adam properly, without a strand of hair in the way. Adam was wonderful to her, and her children, and she tried to return the favour by being as great to him and his family. You could say she loved him, she wasn’t in love with him but she loved him, in an entirely different light though. She could get into bed with any of the men surrounding her in the bar but she couldn’t see herself doing that with Adam, she didn’t know why. The first time she met him, he was a pretty face and usually didn’t befriend men so easily, but she had and she couldn’t say she regretted it. Besides, even if she did see him that way she’d always figure she was just replacing his wife, and she couldn’t live with that.

"Lucky, I don’t find the time." She answered in all honestly; she really didn’t have time to get out. The hilarity of it was that she had ruined her reputation at school from doing the stuff she didn’t have time for. As he mentioned her children, she thought back with the clench in her stomach about how they would be doing right now, she often worried about them and half of the time it wasn’t necessary. It’s funny how much children change your life like they had Lyndsee’s. But as it became her turn to reply, she looked over to him and made sure her children weren’t interrupting their blooming conversation. "I’m great, they’re great." She laughed under her breath as he mentioned his son could be smitten in love with her daughter. Taking another sip of the soft core alcohol, she set it back down before answering. "Good grief, they’re getting younger and younger these days."

It was something very hypocritical to bring up actually, she’d always been poked fun at for having her first kid at seventeen, and losing her virginity at the ripe age of fourteen, she wasn’t even legal to be having sex in the first place. Another thing about Adam she found refreshing, he didn’t judge her on any of that. He knew a lot about her, and to be honest she wasn’t all that comfortable with having somebody carry her secrets but you know, she much would have preferred to tell him that stuff drunk then to sleep with him then drunk: boy would that be awkward.

She took the straw from her drink between her fingers and tossed it in circles in the glass, suddenly she wasn’t so thirsty anymore. Dropping it back in glass, she crossed her arms over the bar and took a quick look over the bar. There was nothing out of the ordinary, drunk men and their lady friends, more sophisticated couples at the bar and the couple at the booth who seemed to be getting engaged. She leaned over and nudged Adam, pointing subtly in their direction as he put the ring on her finger. "Why would you propose in a bar?"

[adam page]

Adam smiled and nodded, he knew exactly what she meant when she mentioned not being able to find the time to go out. Having kids at their age had averted them from going the normal path of someone in their teens. They had been forced to grow up, way faster than both of them could have imagined. He wouldn't have it any other way, and he was sure she felt the same. "Yeah, but you know I'm usually here only during lunch hour for work. This is the schmooze spot." It was true, he had been to Jackson's many times, but most of the time during the day. Before the night life really got going after the bell, Adam would usually do business over lunch. He was a young one just out of grad school, but he got the respect of many veterans at his firm, or the Old Fogies as he liked to label them.

It turned out many prestigious lawyers wanted to meet the son of Maxwell Page. His father was a corporate lawyer who had worked his way up through the ranks until he was asked by CBS to join the Board of Directors. He got the job out in paradise through his father and he wasn't ashamed of that. It wasn't as if he didn't deserve it. Adam had worked hard his entire life, from his freshman year of high school, until his senior year of grad school. He dedicated twelve years of his life to becoming a corporate lawyer, he deserved his own office with a breathtaking view worth millions.

"I remember my first crush when I was a little kid. I was in kindergarten, and her name was Kaitlynn Wilton." he said with a soft chuckle, before taking a sip of his rum. "We were five, and we used to go behind the cubbies and kiss. I dunno, I think everyone's had that crush when they were a little kid. She was my girlfriend though, we were an official thing at daycare." he said rather matter-of-factly, trying to keep a straight face as he took another sip of his rum.

He swiveled around in his bar stool as she brought his attention to the couple he had watched earlier. A knowing smile made its way onto his face as he leaned back, his forearms resting on the bar. He could see the way she couldn't stop smiling, and the way her eyes gazed into those of the man in the white jacket. "Many people propose in bars," he said, his eyes glancing over in her direction. "Perhaps this is where they met... or this is a place she has always wanted to go... it could be an anniversary." Adam had always been a romantic optimist. He gave her a little wink and nudged her back. "Besides, this bar is also a restaurant, and I wouldn't come here dressed like this if it wasn't classy." Adam said, showing off his clothing as if he were a host on QVC. He looked good in his white oxford shirt, and khaki chinos. Usually if he was going anywhere else, he threw on a tshirt and jeans. "But really, would you be that upset if your love proposed to you in a bar?"