Auri and Rachel walked into the club with big grins on their faces. They turned their heads and looked at each other and smiles graced their painted lips.
"We have to celebrate!" Rachel said as she pulled her friend towards the VIP area.
Auri followed her with a slight skip in her step. She wanted to be happy about something. Getting closer to Nicolas Leroux was that something.
"You said you have news too," Rachel spoke as she manoeuvred them around the sitting areas and avoided a stumbling couple.
"You go first," Auri said suddenly feeling shy.
Rachel looked back at her and raised a brow. They stopped in front of a bouncer who stood in front of the entrance to a sectioned-off area. He recognised Rachel immediately and smiled down at her. She looked him up and down with a playful passion burning into her eyes. Auri resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Her friend flirted with anything and anyone. She did not discriminate.
"Your news," Auri reminded her friend as they walked past the bouncer and found their usual seats near the railing that overlooked the rest of the bar.
"Oh that," Rachel said with a smile.
"Remember my college application?" she asked an excited grin on her face.
"Which one?" Auri asked.
"Engineering," Rachel said and Auri's eyes lit up in memory.
"Aerospace engineering?" Auri's eyes were going wide with the implications.
"You got accepted?" She asked her voice raising over the music.
"Yes!" Rachel cried back and Auri shrieked with joy.
The music was loud enough to drown their shrieks but people could see they were celebrating something from the way they clutched each other and began jumping around in circles.
"Oh my gosh!" Auri cried with joy.
Rachel had fought with everything she had to meet the entry requirements. Auri was very proud of her. She knew that this meant a lot to her friend.
"I'm so happy!" Rachel cried as she bounced around with her friend.
"I'm so happy too!" Auri's grin was so wide her cheeks hurt.
Rachel suddenly stopped jumping up and down in her heels and looked at her friend.
"Wait a minute," she said as she studied Auri's flushed face, "What's your news?"
Auri's flush deepened.
"I got a modelling contract," she said and paused for dramatic effect.
Rachel waited her face morphing into one of concern, confusion and there was sadness in her eyes. Auri had never wanted to be a model. Auri could understand her concern considering the interest had developed when Mara had overdosed.
"With French Red," Auri said and she watched as her friend's face turned into one of confusion.
The confusion slowly turned into realisation and then disbelief and suspicion.
"The French Red?!" Rachel asked.
Auri vigorously nodded her head and her hair bounced with the action.
"With CEO and Head designer Nicolas Leroux?!" There was disbelief in her face.
Auri nodded her head again her face glowing with joy.
"Holly shit!" Rachel whispered putting her hands to her mouth.
"Holly fucking shit!" her voice was a little more audible.
She could not believe it. She took a step back from Auri and looked her over.
"You're not peeing on my leg, are you?" She asked.
"I'm not kidding you," Auri said, "I'm a French Red model."
"Holly smokes, you're serious!" Rachel exclaimed and then suddenly embraced her friend.
Auri just managed to catch herself and she laughed. She was so happy. Telling someone had made it so much more real.
Holly shit is right, she thought with a smile.
"I'm so proud of you!" Rachel said into her hair, "Mara would be so proud of you!"
"She will," Auri subtly corrected her friend.
Why was she talking as if Mara would never wake up? Sure it was five weeks now but the doctors hadn't given up. She would not give up.
"She will be proud of you too."
"She will," Rachel agreed with a sad smile.
She did not know Auri's plan to go after Nicolas but she knew Mara. She was the only other person who understood a little of how she felt.
"Let's party!" Rachel shouted breaking Auri out of her thoughts.
Rachel began moving to the beat there and then. Auri smiled and ducked her head in embarrassment. She could see people looking their way. She was dressed appropriately for the clubbing scene but she did not go as much as her friend. It was also ironic she was now the model in their pair.
She was not on stage now. She was in her everyday life. She was not performing for Nicolas' attention. She was in her real skin. Her real personality was out. She did not want people staring at her.
Sadness filled her again as she thought of Mara. Mara would have tried to get her to join her. Mara would have not just danced. She would have gotten on top of the table and embarrassed her even more. But Mara was not here. She was unconscious in a hospital bed.
Auri blinked away the sadness and watched her friend move to the music. Her brown hair was flying with every move she made. Her hands were in the air and flailing. She was wearing a red tight wrap-around dress that stopped halfway down her thighs. She had black six-inch strappy heels on her feet. Rachel was a beautiful woman. Her brown eyes were closed and her red lips were stretched into a smile.
Auri looked around the VIP area. She froze when her gaze met someone she had not expected to see at all.
"Oh my god," she whispered as she paled and then flushed in embarrassment.
Her future boss and target, Nicolas Leroux was in the club with his group of friends. And he was looking right at her. He was sitting in a lounge area in the same clothes she had seen him in earlier that day. The only difference was that he had a leather jacket over his shirt and he had a glass of some golden liquid in his hand. He raised the glass to her and smiled.
"Oh my god," she breathed out as she wondered how long he had been observing her.
She was glad she had not done anything that would drive him off.
Thank the skies for being more conservative, she thought.
She let her lips stretch into a slow smile and she tipped an imaginary hat at him.
Oh, my dear god! She thought.
***
Nicolas had seen her the moment she and her friend had walked into the bar. She was wearing a pair of tight black jeans and a royal blue top that molded her shape but left her shoulders and back bare if one wasn't counting the chains that crossed over her shoulders and traversed her back.
When she had walked in every man had looked her way. She had the unconscious sway that would draw them in. Her long curtain of black hair had caught the light in such a way that it had shimmered as she had moved. She was wearing black ballet flats.
She was beautiful. It looked like she was celebrating. She had just gotten a contract with him. That was worth celebrating.
"Who is that?" One of his friends, Gabriel Koning asked.
"Who?" Oliver asked with all his attention on his phone.
"The girl Nico is staring at," Gabriel replied and Oliver looked up, his phone not as interesting anymore.
Nicolas looked away from Aurelie. Oliver narrowed his eyes at his friend. Nicolas was not a coy man.
"Who?" he asked again.
"That girl over there," Gabriel nodded his head in the direction of Aurelie and her friend.
Oliver followed the gesture and when he saw Aurelie his eyes widened and he looked at Nicolas.
"Why is she here?" he was eyeing the girl with suspicion.
Nicolas looked back at him. His expression was bland. Giving away nothing.
"How am I supposed to know why my new model is in a club?" He asked his voice in a lazy drawl.
"Wait," Gabriel looked at his two friends, "You guys know her?"
"She's the new French Red model I was telling you about," Oliver said and Nicolas was the one narrowing his eyes at the other man.
Why was he talking about Aurelie? What had he been saying about the girl?
"Damn," Gabriel said his voice and dropped shoulders reflecting his disappointment.
"She's too young," Oliver said his tone warning and disapproving.
"She's hot," Gabriel said his tone admiring, "I don't blame Nico for having a little crush."
He drained his glass before adding with feeling, "Damn!"
Oliver looked at him with disgust but said nothing. Nicolas had all his attention back on Aurelie. She was jumping around and laughing with her little friend. Her hair bounced; the chains bounced. Every man with or without a female companion looked at other things bounce as well. She was an irresistible young woman. Beautiful.
He watched her stop jumping around and her friend began to dance. Aurelie seemed embarrassed. Her eyes shifted around as if looking for a place to hide. Nicolas found that rather cute and intriguing. She was a model. One, it seemed, who was not interested in people staring at her. She would get over that. Her gaze scanned the room and then settled on him. Nick felt the breath catch in his lungs when their eyes met.
He stayed where he was and it took everything for him to remain relaxed. She looked around as if looking for a place to hide. She muttered something to herself and her gaze locked on him again. He raised his glass at her and she muttered something to herself again. She lifted her hand and gave a cute little salute his way.
"Damn," Gabriel said beside him and Nicolas looked at him and lifted his brow.
"You cannot mess with her, Nick," Oliver told his friend sternly, "You have Val waiting on you."
Nicolas scowled at that.
"I never had Valentina," he said.
"She is tethered to you," Oliver retorted "You know it is wrong to mess with others while you're bound to her."
He gestured to Aurelie as he said, "That girl is too... She smells like she has an agenda. I don't trust her."
Nicolas' scowl became more defined.
"She is just an employee," He defended himself, "And you have no right to comment on what Valentina and I have together."
"For all that is holly just don't dally with that girl," Oliver said and drained his cup.
"Your life is too messy," he said as he got up, "Val's a decent girl. She does not deserve you."
"Where are you going?" Gabriel asked.
"Do you think it's a good idea to stay in this club?" Oliver directed the question to Nicolas.
Nicolas thought about it with his gaze on Aurelie. She was looking anywhere but where he was. Her friend kept on dancing, completely oblivious to the fact that Aurelie was not having fun. Was it a good idea for him to stay? He wanted her to have fun. He wanted to party. He wanted to keep their relationship comfortably professional. Her watching him picking up ladies in a bar or him watching her being picked up by men would not maintain that. Things would get awkward. There was a tension between them that he hoped would dissipate with time. It would not do that if things got messy at the beginning.
"No," he said with a sigh as he got up.
He did not know her but his gut said Aurelie was too good for him. He glanced at Aurelie one last time and their gazes met again. She made no move to get to him. Instead, she flushed smiled shyly and turned away from him. Feigning interest in the ground near her feet. She was no trouble. She was too innocent, too pure.