One Wild Night

Chapter 342 Contrasting Personalities

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　　Sonia headed downstairs in search of Lucy after confirming that she wasn't in Tom's bedroom. Her steps faltered when she saw Lucy entering the house with Desmond, who was holding his pair of sneakers in his hands, and they were both laughing at something.

　　From the sound of Lucy's laughter, Sonia could tell that it wasn't forced. She was actually enjoying the man's company, and this made Sonia smile involuntarily.

　　"There you are. I was looking everywhere for you," Sonia called out as she joined them.

　　"Forgive her. She would have joined you a long time ago. I held her back to keep me company," Desmond said before raising a foot for Sonia's inspection, "She got me this for my birthday," Desmond said with a proud smile, and Sonia gasped.

　　"You cheat! Why didn't you tell me you were getting him a gift? I would have gotten him one too. You wanted to win the girlfriend of the year award, didn't you?" Sonia said in an accusatory tone, and Desmond laughed.

　　"Don't worry. There is enough room in my heart for both of you. But right now, Lucy is occupying a bigger spot. You will need to get me a gift too in order to balance it out. I'm a very materialistic old man," Desmond said with a wide smile, while Lucy just kept grinning. 

　　"I will see what I can do to correct this," Sonia promised, and Desmond nodded.

　　"Alright, I'll be waiting. I will leave you girls now. I need to join Eve in the bedroom. She won't fall asleep unless I'm there to cuddle her," Desmond said with a wink, leaving both girls staring after him speechlessly.

　　"I don't know about you, but I think I'm in love with this family," Sonia said as they watched him disappear.

　　Lucy smiled without saying a word. She couldn't believe that she actually felt better after listening to Desmond and talking with him. It must be because he was Tom's father, she mused. 

　　"What did you both talk about for so long?" Sonia asked curiously as she and Lucy climbed up the stairs with no destination in mind.

　　"Different things. He told me about his wife, he talked about parenting, and about what happened between my mom and me. I cried, he consoled me, and after that, he just kept talking about funny stuff to cheer me," Lucy said, and Sonia smiled.

　　"I think he succeeded."

　　"Yes, he did," Lucy said with a nod, "So you are leaving with Bryan tomorrow?"

　　"Yeah. But if you want me to stay with you, I will," Sonia promised.

　　"Nah. That's not necessary. Besides, I'm sure you will be back soon. What about your apartment? Are you going to move or what?" Lucy asked curiously.

　　"Not immediately. But I might do that eventually," Sonia said as they stopped at the top of the stairs.

　　"Cool. So what about Jade? I thought you were going to be in her bedroom?"

　　"I was until mother Hank came in. You won't believe what I said to her when she knocked on Jade's door," Sonia said, and Lucy laughed when Sonia told her about it.

　　"That sassy mouth of yours is going to be your undoing. Do you remember that time in high school when we..." They both burst into a peal of laughter at the memory before she could finish.

　　That had been the good old days before they found out about Jamie's craziness. They had returned from school one hot summer afternoon, and all Sonia had wanted to do was lounge around the house in just her undies or, best-case scenario, in her birthday suit.

　　She had been disappointed when they got to Lucy's house and found her father's car parked outside. They got inside the house, and because it was awfully quiet, they assumed that he was probably resting in his bedroom, so they just headed straight to Lucy's bedroom. 

　　Once they shut the door behind them, Sonia started speaking, "For fuck's sake, Lu! Why did your dad have to come back from work so early today when I was actually looking forward to lounging on his favorite couch naked while we watch an episode of Good luck Charlie or Wizards of Waverly place?" Sonia complained as she threw her school bag on the bed.

　　"Language, Sony! Watch it!" Lucy chided in her proper good girl fashion.

　　"What part of the speech am I watching? The for fuck's sake or the naked?" Sonia asked with a roll of her eyes.

　　"You're incorrigible," Lucy said with a shake of her head as she started to take off her clothes.

　　"That, I am!"

　　"So you were going to tell me about the party last night...." Lucy reminded her.

　　"Yeah, about that. I still don't get why you are so scared to sneak out. You could tell your parents that you're at my place or we are going to a friend's house for a groupie..."

　　"A groupie? You do know what a groupie means, don't you?" Lucy asked with a giggle.

　　"Well, a word could mean more than one thing. And in my lexicon for cool kids, groupies here mean group reading, smartie. I'm sure your parents won't mind if you just tell them we are going for a sleepover group reading. And then we can go to a party. It's not a big deal. These parties are always fun, trust me," Sonia said, her green eyes glittering.

　　"I'm sure they are fun, but I'm satisfied with the photos I get to see, and you always tell the stories so well without leaving out details that I begin to feel like I was present at the party. I'd rather be indoors than go to those unauthorized parties. Now enough with the diversion. How did it go last night? Everywhere I turned today, everyone was talking about the party at school. I even overheard someone say you were seen necking with Davies," Lucy said as she adjusted her glasses and sat in the center of her bed wearing just her undies as she watched Sonia, eager to get the gist.

　　"Well, yeah. We were caught making out," Sonia said with a coy smile. 

　　"Really? Was it fun? How far did you go?" Lucy asked, looking at her owlishly.

　　"God, yes! It was so much more fun than I expected. He actually used his..."

　　"Sonia dear, I think I've heard more than enough now," Andrew called from behind the closed door of the mini-library, which was directly opposite Lucy's bedroom, announcing his presence to them.

　　As Sonia and Lucy laughed at the memory, Sonia shook her head, "I swear to you, that remains the most embarrassing moment of my life. I wished the ground would open up and swallow me at the moment. Especially when I was leaving, and I had to walk past your dad," Sonia said, and Lucy laughed harder.

　　"Remember how you kept trying to replay all you had said to pinpoint exactly what he could have heard?" Lucy asked, and Sonia raised a hand to her face, which was burning in embarrassment from the memory.

　　"We should probably go to bed now. It's almost one in the morning, and we are out here laughing like maniacs," Sonia said, and Lucy nodded.

　　"Yeah. We should. I have to be at the office tomorrow. Did I tell you that I'm accepting that offer from the foundation yet?" Lucy asked, and Sonia shook her head.

　　"No, you didn't. Why did you change your mind?" She asked with a concerned frown and listened as Lucy explained Tom's idea.

　　"Although, he said it was Harry who suggested it," Lucy said, and Sonia nodded.

　　"It makes sense. Speaking about Harry, I sent you the voice recording I made of my conversation with Jade earlier this morning and this night as well. That would fill you in on all we discussed in your absence," Sonia said with a wink.

　　"Is she aware that you recorded your private conversation with her?" Lucy asked with a disapproving frown, and Sonia rolled her eyes.

　　"Yes, she is, and she gave me permission to share with you too. Geez! You never change, do you?" Sonia asked with a shake of her head, and Lucy flashed her a smile.

　　"I do change. As a matter of fact, I've changed a great deal. The only thing that hasn't changed is my good manners," Lucy said as she headed for Tom's bedroom, "Goodnight, Sony. Got to sleep now. Some of us are not privileged to be our own bosses," she called with a wave. 

　　"Yeah, please, by all means, sleep. Some of us are not privileged to fuck our boss because we are our own boss. Or maybe I can, with a vibrator. I just might get one. Need to know what it feels like to fuck my boss," Sonia called back as she also headed for Bryan's bedroom, and Lucy turned to look at her, appalled that Sonia had actually said that out loud where anyone else could have heard it. 

　　Sonia blew her a kiss and giggled when she saw how furiously Lucy was blushing. She laughed harder when Lucy gave her the middle finger, "Some of us actually have the guts to say the words out loud, honey. Fuck you too, baby," Sonia said as she walked into the bedroom and quickly shut the door before Lucy could respond.

　　Inside the bedroom not far from theirs, Desmond and Evelyn laughed, "Sonia is a really wild one, isn't she?" Evelyn, who was snuggled against her husband's body, complained.

　　"I think she is perfect," Desmond said with a chuckle as he patted her back, thinking that it was great that they were going to have all the personalities in the Hank family, both the good and the bad and the terrible. 

　　"Why did you want me to be the one to speak with Lucy?" Desmond asked curiously after a moment. He had been surprised that Lucy had stayed back on her own when he had actually been planning on asking her to take a walk with him.

　　"Because I thought she might be more comfortable with you. You know you have a way with words, and I seem to make her nervous," Evelyn explained.

　　"She's a sweet child," Desmond said, and Evelyn smiled.

　　"I know. I just keep wondering how those two ended up becoming best of friends with their contrasting personalities," Evelyn said with a shake of her head. Although she loved Sonia, she still felt like Sonia was a mischievous handful.

　　"The same way we've been married for over thirty-one years with our contrasting personalities," Desmond said as he kissed the center of her head, making her sigh contentedly.

　　"You've talked to Jade, I suppose? Or are you planning on doing that in the morning?" He asked, and she nodded.

　　"I talked with her. She's interested in Harry," Evelyn said, and Desmond sighed.

　　"I thought as much. That was a long time coming. Do you remember how she looked at him when he broke her fall that first time?" Desmond asked, and Evelyn smiled.

　　"Yeah. Yet you asked me not to interfere even when it was obvious that Harry liked her too," she reminded him.

　　"Yeah. I believe if they were meant to be, they would find their way to each other on their own. Besides, what kind of parents will we be to matchmake our daughter whose boyfriend is under our roof with her elder brother's best friend?" Desmond asked, and Evelyn shook her head.

　　"It doesn't matter now. She looks happy now, and that's all that matters. She said she's thinking about joining Tom's company," Evelyn said, and Desmond chuckled.

　　"Of course, she has to be closer to Harry," he said knowingly, and Evelyn laughed.

　　"I can't believe that I didn't even think of that."

　　"Let's hope Harry is wise enough to get her this time and not run off like he did the last time. In the meantime, we can relax. Our kids are all doing well, and they are in safe hands. You did such a great job raising them," Desmond said, and Evelyn looked up at him, her eyes gleaming with love and respect for her husband.

　　"I could never have done this without you. You promised I was never going to regret being your wife or the mother of your kids, and not once have I ever had a reason to regret it. Thank you," Evelyn said, and Desmond smiled at her as he kissed her softly, making her melt against him.