"You installed another dating app?" Liza asked as she walked in on Rae scrolling through her phone.
"I wasn't getting any takers on my old ones. People kept cancelling on me for some reason." She replied with a frown on her face because she couldn't decide on what picture to use as her profile. "Hey Liz, should I go with blue hair or pink hair for my bio? Which one says single woman ready to get married to you?"
Liza rolled her eyes. "I think you should shave off all your hair and become a nun actually. Come on! There's more to life than being someone's partner. When was the last time me and you just hung out without mentioning love or the sorts. Aren't you supposed to be my best friend?"
"So that's a no on blue hair isn't it? Okay, thanks"
Liza rolled her eyes and stomped out of the room. "You'll never find what you're looking for on those superficial apps by the way! Men on there just want to hook up!"
Rae rolled her eyes. Liza didn't get it. She didn't care about love like Rae did. She never had, not even when they were little. Rae remembered how teary eyed she would get watching princess cartoons on rainy days, when the prince finally saved the princess with a true loves kiss, but Liza was never interested. She always proposed logical solutions to problems, and so she couldn't understand how the power of love ever saved the day. It didn't help that she came from a broken home either. Her parents had split up when she was a teenager, which further solidified the idea that love wasn't realistic.
'I'll show her', Rae thought. 'I'll show them all. I'll find my prince, and we really will live happily ever after. I know it."
Unfortunately, she hadn't found him yet.
°°°
The bar Lucius Malkov was meeting his friends at was a loud one. Of course, most clubs are often loud, but the noise in this one was deafening. Since he could barely hear himself when he opened his mouth to order a drink, he wondered how on earth his order was going to he heard. To his surprise, the bartender nodded and grabbed the right bottle, pouring in a little brandy into an iced cup and sliding it across the table.
He caught it with ease, bringing the cup to his lips as he scanned the perimeter. His friends were late, as usual. He was always on time, even when he knew they wouldn't be there for another ten minutes. The loneliness gave him time to reflect on himself.
This was their favourite bar, their most frequented place to hang. They'd discovered it when they were in their twenties and new to the world of New Yorn. It quickly burrowed a place into their hearts, and they all spent every Friday night there since.
It was also the place he'd met his ex girlfriend, Carina. It was like love at first sight. She had deep brown eyes that stared into his soul, long dark hair that he loved to bury his face in. She was perfect. Maybe a little too perfect for him.
Their breakup was the worst one he'd ever experienced. It was like he was a different man. He didn't care about his looks, he didn't care about his business or job, all he cared about was winning her back.
The Malkov family business survived by the skin of its teeth, simply because his younger sister Adriana took over as CEO while he was away, hunting for the love of his life. He found her, and she rejected him yet again.
She had found someone else.
Thankfully, seeing his longtime lover in the arms of another man was enough to clear his head.
He shook his head now, finishing the drink and rubbing at his eyes. It was no use pondering over what happened with Carina. Not when there were so many new women at his beck and call.
His eye caught a pretty blonde haired woman staring at him. She blushed and looked away when he caught her staring, and he was about to go over there when someone grabbed his arm.
"And where do you think you're going aye?"
Lucius rolled his eyes. The gang was here.
"I was going to go entertain myself while I waited for your tardy ass." Lucius said with an eye roll as he picked his nearly empty cup and walked over to an empty booth. The blonde girl watched him walk away with sad eyes.
"Entertain yourself with yet another woman's heart? You need to take a break from the ladies man, you'll wear yourself out." Mark, his best friend since they were in diapers, said.
"I'm surprised the ladies haven't put up posters with your name on it and pasted them all over town, warning the other women to stay away from your philandering self." Mark's longtime girlfriend chuckled as she called a waiter over to their table. Rosa was the only woman other than his sister who interacted with Lucius and didn't have the hots for him. She only had eyes for Mark, her boyfriend since college. Truthfully, she really only saw Lucius as something broken that she needed to fix, but her friends all complained that he never called them back, so she had stopped trying to set him up.
Now she just tolerated him, hoping the girl who'd sweep him off his feet and actually stay this time, would get here as fast as she could.
The rest of the gang were Katie a hardworking school teacher by day and crazy party freak by night, and Lucius's right hand man Justin, who worked with his sister to keep the company afloat the year Lucius went AWOL.
Katie shook her head at their friend's antics. "Oh leave him alone Rosa. One day he'll fall in love and learn his lesson. Until then, forget about him and let's enjoy the weekend."