Five: New Friends

..............(Alesandra's POV)

The food was amazing: hot and steamy Piperade, a tall flute of champagne dating back to 1970, and a fine dessert of creamy chocolate mousse. Lucian had informed me that the menu was inspired by popular French dishes.

The whole time, people were bidding on items. One man spent 24 grand on a real pearl necklace for his wife. All the money was going towards a charity, which was fine with me.

"I'd like it if you spent the night at my place." Lucian whispered during the auction of an ancient jukebox.

I turned to him abruptly, heat immediately creeping up my neck and to my cheeks. "Malea will be worried if I'm not at the apartment."

Lucian practically rolled his eyes at my statement. He grasped my hands under the table. "We'll just call her then to tell her."

I gulped. Spend the night? "Okay."

I glanced over at Winter who was draped over Uriah's arm, her strapless dress hitching lower around her bust. She leaned in to whisper something seductive into his ear, then he laughed heartily and planted a kiss by her ear.

She looked so sure of herself, so confident, so beautiful and desirable. Uriah respected her. Lucian doesn't respect me. If I act with her confidence is there a chance he would begin to love me for me and respect me?

My stomach quaked as I leaned closer to Lucian, to the point where I could breathe faintly and still smell his musty, mind-numbingly amazing cologne. Then I leaned my head on his chest, our bodies as close as publicly appropriate.

I could hear the steady rhythmic beat of his heart. Surprisingly, he planted a kiss onto the crown of head and sighed deeply.

This was more like it. If I could channel Winter's confidence and controlling seductiveness then, maybe, just maybe, Lucian and I could really be together: happy.

(2 hours later) Alesandra's POV

The driver pulled away from the front of the mansion and headed towards the 7 car garage.

"Bet I could get to the door before you." I grinned, before he could protest, I peeled off my heels and hoisted up the skirt of the dress and darted down the driveway to the door.

"Hey! That's not fair!" I heard his call as I raced towards the door.

I reached the huge double doors, panting and heaving in breaths of air. Soon enough, Lucian reached the doors and collided into me in a hug.

Instantly, he leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. The kiss was soft and delicate at first, but became more intense, each kiss laced with passion, longing and then some. His hands trailed down the sides of my hips and then he wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me towards him. He pressed me against the Adobe walls and continued the kiss.

His lips trailed to my neck and up to my jawline and fluttered up to my ear. His hot breath fanned over my ears as he spoke. "Tu es à moi." He nipped at my ear and my breath hitched.

I took enough French in High School to know what he said: You're mine.

Malea's POV
This was my last day on the job. I sprayed the table down and followed the line of Clorox with a damp rag.

While I was here working my last shift, Ales was out at some grand fundraiser Lucian's dad was hosting. She's not even engaged to him and they're already out on glamorous adventures. I hope she's happier than she's ever been. And I hope because of me, she isn't rushing into anything she isn't ready for. I want the best for--

"Ugh. Get me a Bloody Mary with an extra shot of vodka." A voice called, cutting off my thoughts. I looked up to find a young lady about my age looking at me through bloodshot eyes. She had exuberant red hair, and eyes the color of the ocean. Her skin was freckled like a splatter of red paint on a blank canvas.

She looked familiar. "I'll be right with you in a moment." I bent down and retrieved the ingredients from the cabinets and set them out on the counter.

"What's your name?" She asked while rifling through her metallic clutch.

I eyeballed the tomato juice amount into the cocktail shaker and looked up. "Malea. Why?"

She seemed to have found what she was looking for--her phone-- and glanced up at me for a moment before turning her attention to her phone. "Because I like to make small talk with bartenders. They tell me it brightens up their day."

I gape at her. Then roll my eyes before adding a tablespoon of lemon into the mix. "Sure." I glanced up at her. "Who are you anyway?"

She looked at me as if I had offended her, a freshly manicured hand positioned over her heart. "Yurissa Woods."

A snort escaped my lips before I could stop it. "And I'm Madonna." Yurissa was a big time model and actress. Sure this lady may have a lot of features that look similar to Yurissa Woods, but this woman was bigger than Yurissa, weight-wise. And besides Yurissa quit acting and modeling all together. Had to do with something about not liking the business.

"Fine. Be that way, but once a fan comes for an autograph, don't be surprised." She winked at me just as I finished up the drink and slid it to her.

"I'll just call you Mary until you tell me your real name." I shrugged.

Mary snorted. "I just told you my name, but you know, I don't care."

She took a hearty sip of the Bloody Mary and placed it on the counter. "Fun fact, after my son was born, I drank Bloody Mary's whenever the days were too stressful." She shook her head. "I'm not an alcoholic, I swear."

I nodded. "Thanks for that, though I never asked."

"Anytime." Mary drank again. "How's your day going?"

I grinned. "Well, today's my last day on the job."

Mary frowned, pity coloring her features. "Oh, sweetie. How could your boss possibly fire such a great bartender like you?"

I burst into a fit of laughter. "Does everyone that meets me think I'm that bad a bartender?"

She held up a finger and shook her head. "See, I said you were a great bartender." She pointed at herself and giggled through a sip of her drink.

A girl who looked almost like a 19-year-old walked up to Mary. The girl was clad in a tight mini skirt and a neon green crop top that could substitute a bra. She tapped Mary on the shoulder and screeched when Mary turned to her.

"OMIGOD! You're Yurissa Woods!" The girl screeched and took the seat next to Mary—who actually may be Yurissa.

Mary rolled her eyes at me to give off an edge of nonchalance—like she gets fans every day— and turned towards the girl. "Yup, that's the name." 

The girl's eyes practically popped out of the socket. "OMIGOD! Please sign my forehead." The girl immediately dug into her handbag and resurrected a bold black sharpie.

Mary bit her bottom lip hesitantly and shrugged, taking the Sharpie from the girl. The signature looked just like Yurissa's. Mary finished and closed the cap of the pen, then handed it back to the girl. "So, what's your name?"

The girl grinned. "I'm Danielle, but everyone calls me Dani." She held out her hand to Mary for a handshake. "How's your son doing? You left New York so suddenly, everyone was so worried."

This woman was definitely Yurissa.

Yurissa sighed and downed the rest of her Bloody Mary. "He's fine. He turns 156 weeks In 2 weeks."

I snorted. "Why do parents either refer to their children's age as in months, weeks or days. Just frickin call him 2 years old."

Yurissa burst out laughing. "I just love messing with people. I hate it when new parents do that, too. Matthew is 2 years, almost 3."

Dani laid a hand on Yurissa's and smiled. "So what brings you back to Manhattan and where's Matthew right now?"

Yurissa have a huge sigh and leaned back on the stool. "I wanted to move into a penthouse for good and talk to Matthew's father. Matthew is with my sister for the weekend. I needed a break from all the crying."

Dani nodded sympathetically. "Well, it was nice talking to you. Yurissa, please take my number. Call me anytime. Maybe we could talk more."

Yurissa nodded and exchanged numbers before Dani walked off to enjoy the music.

Yurissa looked down at her crystal-encrusted watch and drummed her fingertips on the counter. "Hey, Malea. We should exchange numbers, like Dani and I just did. You were certainly a good shock of reality and you really made me miss hanging out with friends. I needed that after a week of Matthew's continuous night terrors." 

I nodded, apathetically. Whatever. I slid my phone towards her and washed out her Bloody Mary glass as she typed in the numbers.

"We should totally hang out. I'll see you later." Yurissa gathered her things and left with a wave.

With a half-hearted wave, I wished her a good day.