“I’m wearing it on the wrong hand,” Nina said as she admired the ring. “Richard made sure that the press won’t be reporting on it, even if someone does leak the news. We want to keep complete control over the narrative.”
Ryan and I glanced at each other. How much money would that take? I mean, there were magazines that reported on alien landings and how the British Royals hated each other. They’d clearly print anything if they thought it would sell.
Nina made things even more uncomfortable when she disapproved of our lack of reaction. I wished I would wake up and realize this whole situation was just a nightmare and not my real life. I didn’t want to spend another second with my selfish, egotistical mother, and tonight would just get worse when Richard’s sons got here.
An awkward silence stretched over the table, and I looked down at my glass of water uncomfortably. I literally had nothing in common with Nina or Richard, and I certainly wasn’t going to tell Nina about my life like she was my real mother. She gave up that right when she abandoned me. She was nothing but a stranger to me.
Richard leaned forward to break the stalemate after it had stretched on for a painful couple of minutes. “There’s no reason to wait for them to get started,” he said with a forced bit of friendliness in his voice. “I understand that the two of you go to school together?”
I nodded at Richard and ignored Nina. “Ryan and I have known each other since we were six,” I explained. “We were very lucky to both be accepted to the Academy of Ballet here in NYC.”
“It’s competitive to get in?” Richard asked curiously.
“Very,” I said seriously. “We practiced for over a year to get ready for the entrance auditions.” I smiled over at Ryan, and he gave my hand a squeeze. “We made a deal that if both of us didn’t get in, then neither of us would go.”
“That would have been a mistake,” Richard criticized. “If one of you hadn’t been talented enough, then you would have prevented the other from realizing their potential.”
I frowned at him. “Staying together was more important to us.”
From the way Richard sighed, it was evident that he had no understanding of what I was trying to explain.
“The two of you looked lovely together when you danced,” Nina said with a fake sweetness in her voice. “How long have you been dating? Surely not since you were six?”
I shook my head and tried to hide a smile. I guess I hadn’t corrected them when they had called Ryan my boyfriend last night, so they assumed we were a real couple. I met Ryan’s eyes, and we had an entire silent conversation in only a few seconds. Would it be better to play along and pretend that we were a couple in love, or tell the truth? I let Ryan know that it was up to him with a slight incline of my head.
Ryan cleared his throat. “I usually don’t have to say anything, because most people just assume this about men in ballet – but I’m gay. So no, we’ve never dated.”
Richard raised an eyebrow. “I don’t believe in stereotypes,” he said bluntly. “It didn’t take long for me to realize that people rarely adhere to them when it comes to buying behavior. The religious pastor’s wife might be obsessed with erotic novels, or the hard-core biker might constantly be buying pink dresses and barbies for his little girl.”
“So, you can see all the stuff that people buy?” I asked, trying to distract him away from talking about me and Ryan.
Richard’s eyes lit up. “That’s the most important part of my company – and why we are so successful. We track buying behaviors and use complicated algorithms to predict the items our customers will need next or what might interest them. We want to figure out what it is that they want before they even know themselves.”
“That sounds helpful, but also a little big brother-ish,” I said tentatively.
Richard laughed. “Our intention is to be helpful. Almost a third of American households currently have a premiere membership, and we intend to bring that up to half within the next five years. We’re going to become an irreplaceable fixture in people’s lives.”
“That’s impressive,” I admitted hesitantly.
I probably should have spent all day today researching my new ‘family,’ but I hadn’t - mostly because I was so resentful of them pushing their way into my life. Now that I was sitting here with Richard, I realized that this was an opportunity that people across the world would kill for. This man had created an empire in only fifteen years and showed no signs of slowing down. He was right that Awake.com was quickly becoming a staple in so many people’s lives. Maybe I should take advantage of my time here.
“Have you thought about adding a ballet store, like how you have with other sports?” I asked. “You have almost everything under the sun listed except for dance or ballet. We go through quite a few tights every month, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to offer them on your automatic ordering service,” I suggested. “Pointe shoes would be more difficult because the fitting is so crucial, and a lot of dancers have a preferred maker, not just a preferred brand, but if anyone could do it, it would be your company.”
Richard blinked. “We don’t have ballet listed as a sport?”
I shook my head. “Nope. And dance is a pretty big industry. Tons of little girls all over the country take lessons. While a lot of them drop out before they get to high school, it’s annoying to be forced to buy everything from expensive dance shops.”
Richard sat back. “Huh, I’ll have my people look
