He likes to surprise me. In a good way, of course.
It was a rare rainy morning in LaLa Land. The rain had stopped a couple of hours before we met at a restaurant at Chateau Marmont.
“Right on time as usual,” he said. As we hugged and shared the joy of reunion of our friendship, he slid a gift bag from Pasotti across our table. “Thank you,” I said, and picked up the gift bag and placed it right next to my purse on the table. Neither of us did mention about it until it started raining at the outside are of the restaurant. The next hour we kept engaging in our conversations to catch up out lives in the past three months. And then all the suddedn, I felt a rain drop on my forehead.
“Open up the bag,” he said.
I said, “Now? Perhaps we should go back inside first.”
He didn’t verbally respond to me. My instinct was telling me that it was the time to open it. So I did.
The bag was stuffed. First, I saw a lingerie set from Kiki De Montparnasse. The beneath it was a message card filled with benjamins. I giggled and looked at his face. I knew he was doing it on purpose, to embarrass me in the public place in his own charming way. He is always neat when it comes to finance. He always takes care of my fees prior to our meeting and then do it on purpose. It’s just his way of showing generosity and sharing some fun moment together. There was a big smile on his face. He said, “There’s more.” I digged in the bag deeper, but still trying to hide the sexy lingerie and the envelop filled with cash from the peeps in the area. There, I found a Pasotti umbrella.
I said, “Thanks…but I live in LA. I don’t think I will use it even once a year.” He said, “Well, then, it’s the time. I’m glad that I did insist you to open it here. It was worth it.” I giggled and said, “What a waste!” He smiled and said, “I’m just contributing to the economy whenever I can…besides the fact that I like to surprise and make you giggle. Open the umbrella and let’s go back to inside.”
An hour later, we headed back to his room 69.
I haven’t had another chance to use the zebra-patterned umbrella since then.
