Falling In

“Welcome Ms. Descenzo, Mrs. Saint Lauren would like to see you,” the guy that opened my door for me said once I got to the Eiffel Tower. I nodded and followed him through the crowds. We finally got to the top and he led me to some back room, and opened the door for me. I stepped in and saw that I was in some sort of waiting room.

“You must be Stella?” the woman stood up with a comforting smile.

“Yes, I am. You must be Mrs. Saint-Lauren,” I smiled, trying to cover my nervousness.

“Please, call me Adeline,” she grinned. “Sit down please,” she said. I nodded and took a seat on the couch and faced her. “I’m glad you came. Your father said he couldn’t come, and I’ve been wanting to meet you for awhile now.” My eyebrows furrowed. Adeline Saint Lauren of YSL wanted to meet me? “Your father and I went to school together decades ago, along with your mom. I must say, you look more like your father,” she smiled. “And he asked me to get you introduced to some people.”

“Introduced to who?” I asked, wondering how my dad knew Adeline Saint Lauren and whoever the hell she was going to introduce me to.

“Some important people that play a role in your father’s business,” she smiled. But before I could say anything else, she changed the topic. “I’ve also heard that you were a great photographer.”

I blushed and looked down. “I’m just starting out,” I said.

“Oh honey, I’ve seen your work. It’s beautiful,” she complimented.

“Thank you,” I smiled.

“I’m glad that you made it out here. I know it was last minute, but I figured it would be a perfect time to meet you,” she said.

“I’m thankful for the invitation and it’s an honor to be here,” I said to her.

“Well then, shall we get down to the party?” she asked as she stood up. I followed her lead and exited the room. We were walking down the hall into the elevator with her body guard and I appreciated how she kept the conversation going.

“I heard that you snowboard as well, is that correct?” she asked.

“Yes ma’am.”

“I’ve also heard that you recently just won a competition back home.”

“That’s correct once again, ma’am.”

“Honey, I told you. Call me Adeline,” she assured me.

“Ma’am. We’re here,” the bodyguard said.

“Come on, let’s celebrate a new year,” Adeline laughed as she pulled me out of the elevator and went through a hallway. Once we opened the door, the flashes coming from left to right blinded me as Adeline just smiled at them and I did the same thing.

Adeline pulled me along with her as she talked to business men and clients. “This is Stella Grace Descenzo. She’s Neil Descenzo’s daughter,” she introduced motioning towards me. They knew my dad? What?

“Oh, what a beauty,” a French woman said as she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“It’s nice to meet you,” another French man said as he gave me a firm handshake. He looked taken aback. “You really are your father’s daughter. A firm handshake says all about a person,” he said to me.

Adeline introduced me to close to a hundred people already, and I doubt I’d remember all of their names. She introduced me to a particular group that made my jaw drop. “This is Lelaine Vuitton of Louis Vuitton. That’s Delila Marks of Coach, and Drina Macintosh of Apple Inc,” she said. “This is Stella Grace Descenzo, Neil Descenzo’s daughter,” she said.

We talked for awhile as they asked me questions and talked among each other, until we moved onto another group. “I’ve introduced you to a lot of people, yet I haven’t introduced you to my family,” she laughed as she led me through the crowd.

She walked up to a man that stood at about five-foot-ten, whom turned around and gave her a soft kiss on the temple. She mumbled a few words to him and she came back to where I was standing a few feet away with the man and a little girl.

“This is my little girl, Elizabeth Jane. And this is my husband, Carlos,” she introduced to them, and vise versa.

“You’re Neil’s daughter?” Carlos beamed at me.

“Yes I am,” I nodded.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” he smiled as he gave me a hug.

“You’re really pretty,” the little girl told me. I smiled down at her.

“Thank you, you look pretty in that princess dress that you have as well,” I complimented. She smiled at me blushed.

“Can we leave her with you for a moment? We need to talk to somebody,” Adeline said sympathetically.

“Of course,” I smiled. “Do you wanna go take a walk, Elizabeth?” I asked her.

‘Let’s go,” she grinned as she took my hand and dragged me somewhere. We ended near the tables, close enough to where her parents were.

“So, how old are you Elizabeth Jane?” I asked her.

“I’m six years old,” she smiled at me. “How about you?”

“I’m twenty one,” I smiled. “You’re fifteen years younger than I am.”

She scrunched her nose. “I have to use all my fingers and my toes and I have to borrow one finger form you to be able to count your age,” she frowned.

I laughed at her cuteness. We kept talking for awhile and she told me that her favorite color was green, she was in 1st grade, she hated science and loved reading. She said that she also liked pictures, and her smile grew even more when I told her I was a photographer.

“I always see people with their cameras taking pictures of clothes mom and dad make. I think it’s really pretty the way the pictures come out,” she told me.

“It really is. My camera is like my third eye,” I laughed.

She scrunched her nose once again. “Isn’t that creepy? Having a third eye?” she asked. I chuckled once again.

“No it’s not,” I shook my head at her. My phone rang, making me take it out of my clutch quickly and put it to my ear. “Excuse me for a second, okay?” I asked the little girl. She just nodded and turned her head away. I walked a couple of feet away, but kept my eye on her.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hey Stellsy. It’s Deegan,” he said.

“What’s up Deegs?” I asked.

“Where are you?”

“Paris,” I said.

“What the hell are you doing in Paris and you didn’t take me!?” he yelled.

I laughed. “Sorry babe, I was invited to a New Year’s party.”

“Who’s?”

I bit my lip, keeping the smile from ripping my face. “YSL.”

He was silent for a minute. “As in, Yves Saint Lauren?!” he asked.

“Yup,” I giggled.

“Oh god, I double hate you,” he huffed. “Well, just wanted to let you know that a letter from the X-Games came in the mail for you.”

“Oh, okay thanks. It’s probably the invite and tickets for the photography thing,” I said.

“Yeah, well go have fun,” he said. “I’m gonna go spend my New Year’s with Avalanche and the Frends Crew,” he huffed.

“I’ll get you a French girl as a New Year’s present!” I joked.

“I like them Italian, not French,” he joked back, knowing that I was part Italian.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Leave me alone. Gotta go. I’m taking care of Mrs. Saint-Lauren’s daughter,” I laughed.

“Did they invite you to baby sit?” he joked.

I laughed once again. “Talk to you later Deegs. Love you!” I said before hanging up and went back to sit next to Elizabeth.

“Who was that?” she asked me.

“That was my bestfriend,” I told her.

“You have a bestfriend too? I have a bestfriend too,” she smiled.

“OH? My bestfriend’s name is Deegan, how about yours?” I asked her.

“My bestfriend’s my brother,” she said. “His name is-,” but she got cut off.

“Elizabeth, where’s mom? How many times do we have to tell you not to talk to random people, I’m so sorry about my sister, she’s really-,” he apologized and caught sight of my face. We both stared at each other in shock.

“Ethan?!” I squeaked as the same time he said “Stella?!”

“What are you doing here?!” we both asked each other.

“Oh thank you so much Stella, I’m so sorry about that,” Adeline said to me. “Oh, I see you’ve met my son,” she smiled.

“Son?” I asked once again. Ethan looked from me, to his mom, to his sister, to his dad and back at me again. “I need to take a seat,” I said and sat down on the chair behind me before I passed out in the middle of it all.