The Way We Were

The next week, on Friday the 13th, Nikolas and I were getting ready for the opening night of The Prohibition. The club and everything was in order. We were expecting close to 600 people; about 300 were close friends and frenemies in all industries. With the likes of Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, Valentino, Madonna, and my dear friend Sarah Burton, we had many designers and friends in fashion. The rest of the number were people who bought tickets to the club.

Because there is such a large amount of celebrities and international elite figures all here in one night, we decided to charge a $50 door fee to the "commoners." If someone didn't meet the dress code, they'd be refused entrance. We've also recruited three bouncers outside, each with copies of the guest list and the "do not enter" list which includes the cast of Jersey Shore, Lindsay Lohan, any of the Hiltons, among other fake figures.

Upon arrival, everyone is to walk the red carpet that we set out. Paparazzi will be awaiting each celebrities arrival, and the V.I.P will enter first, then the rest.

Our V.I.P section in the club is lavish and extraordinary. It has its own bar, sofas, and my own personal private lounging area hidden by a heavy curtain. I had wanted a glass window to separate the V.I.P from the rest of the club, sort of like an artistic way for everyone else to see us; they can't touch us, but they can observe. But that plan was put off until a later time, so instead we used the upper level so we can "look down" on the action.

Along the walls we have Warhol pop art and the surrealist paintings of Salvador Dali's along with some of our own pieces. But my favourite part of the what the club offers are the waiters. They are dresses in white jackets and black pants, very Great Gatsby-like. They go around with drink trays and some go around serving cigarettes. And my dear Chanel is providing the champagne, compliments of LVMH. And in the V.I.P where my private section is, I have a tabletop buzzer to summon the waitstaff.

But now Nikolas, Daniel, their wives, and I were in a hotel room at the Plaza. All of us were getting ready, my stylist Brad Goreski was helping me get dressed, but Nik and I were also to be interviewed briefly by Fashion Television. We sat on the edge of the bed as they were finishing setting up. Jeanne Beker sat in a chair across from us and as the camera began rolling, she introduced the interview.

"I am here with Audrey and Nikolas Cobain-Versace in a lavish hotel room here at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. So, in preparation for tonights grand opening of the Prohibition, how are you two feeling right now?" She asked.

We looked at each other and started to laugh. "Um, I kinda feel nervous. But at the same time I'm super excited." I laughed.

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty much the same. I just wanna go already, but we still have like, I don't know, what? half an hour?" Nikolas chuckled, looking over at Daniel.

Jeanne: "So where did the name come from? I know that the Prohibition was an event in American history, but who chose it and why did you choose that name?"

Audrey: "I chose it. Um, well it just fits so well. I mean, this isn't like a club that glorifies alcohol, but it's the style of the club. We wanted the name to reflect the style, and it's this crazy cocktail of everything, especially the 1920s as that is when the Prohibition occurred."

Jeanne: "If you could describe it in one word, the club, what would it be?"

Nikolas: "I don't know if just one word would be enough." He laughs. "I'll try. Um, glamorous."

Jeanne: "Okay, well you can go ahead and describe it."

Nikolas: "Well, Audrey and I had talked about it earlier and we both agreed that it's like a mixture of Elizabeth Taylor and David Bowie. It has the class of Taylor but the glam of Bowie. So it becomes this really amazing cocktail that is really diverse without trying too hard."

Audrey: "Physically we wanted it to look like the original Studio 54, but still making it our own. So when you see it, you'll definitely get the feel of disco, but it'll sort of look like the Copacabana on Goodfellas. You know, the small round tables, the little lamps. But with a huge dance floor."

Jeanne: "Now you've been preparing for this for a long time, even promoting it. Was it back in August that you began promoting it with ads in Times Square and on television? I remember one a few weeks ago reading; "The Versaces are known for their parties; Welcome to the Prohibition."."

Audrey: "Yeah, even before we had any idea of what we wanted in a nightclub let alone the name, we wanted to let everyone know that this our dream for the future and it's coming to a place near you." I laugh.

Jeanne: "Now you're expecting close to 600 guests, most of them are friends right?"

Nikolas: "Yeah, many designers and fashion icons are coming, a few socialites like Daphne Guinness. Many musicians, like our close friends Jay-Z and Kanye, actors, Hollywood's elite, models, family friends, everyone."

Jeanne: "And it's said that there will be a special performance by Jay-Z and Kanye West."

Nikolas: "Shh, it's a secret." He laughs.

Jeanne: "One last question, who are you wearing?"

Nikolas: "I'm wearing a navy pinstripe Tommy Hilfiger suit with a Gucci tie and dress shoes."

Audrey: "And I'm wearing a Karen Millen cocktail dress with Alexander McQueen shoes and clutch, and I have a fascinator, but my stylist just needs to put it in for me. Brad, say hi to the camera." I laugh. Brad awkwardly waved to the camera.

Jeanne: "Well I wish you both the best, I'm positive tonight will be a great success for the both of you. Thank you for your time."

"Thank you so much. We'll see you tonight." I smiled, hugging her after Nikolas had. When the camera had stopped filming, we got up and walked Jeanne and the crew to the door and wished them well. We walked back and quickly checked ourselves in the mirror.

"How do I look?" I asked, having Brad adjust the fascinator in my hair.

"Gorgeous as usual. But Edie darling, are you sure you don't want to borrow a fascinator from me? I mean, the dress code is cocktail chic." Chanel asked Edie.

"I'm not going to a Royal wedding. I'll pass." Edie laughed, "And what does cocktail chic even mean?"

Nikolas put his arm around Edie and kissed her forehead. "Her head is pretty enough, she doesn't need a bird sitting on it."

"Well, should we go?" Daniel asked, looking at himself self-consciously in the mirror, touching his newly cut hair. It was still black, but it was short and could only be styled into a faux hawk.

"You look handsome Daniel." I smiled, placing my hand on his shoulder. I turned to Brad, lightly touching the fascinator. "Are you sure you like it? It's not too much?"

"Darling it's perfect. It's so chic." He smiled.

I smiled back. "Okay. I'm ready, are we all ready to greet our guests?"

"Let's do it." Nikolas smiled. So we all checked ourselves in the mirror one last time before going downstairs to the limo. In the limo, thought it was only a short drive to the club, we popped a bottle of champagne and poured each of us a glass.

"To success." Nikolas raised his glass.

"To the club." Edie smiled.

"To money." Daniel said.

"To fame." Chanel said.

"And all that comes with it." I smirked.

"To the Prohibition!" We all cheered, clinking our glasses together.

The limo slowed to a stop as we arrived in front of the club, even through the limo tint the lights of the cameras were flashing brightly. Nikolas took out his phone and called the crew inside the club. "Places everyone. The Versaces have arrived. Cue the music, we're exiting the vehicle." And as we exited the limo, the crowd cheered as we each stepped out onto the red carpet, and the song "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" by Dean Martin started up over the outdoor speakers. I smiled and worked the cameras, posing and loving the attention.

When we saw that our V.I.P guests were beginning to arrive, we approached the doors and did a final group pose before Nik and I cut the ribbon that was in front of the doors. Everyone cheered and went crazy, coming closer to the doors.

"V.I.P first." The bouncers told the crowd.

Entering the club, the music had changed to David Bowie's "Let's Dance", and everything looked beyond amazing.

"I can't believe it!" I grinned, grabbing Nik's arm. "This has exceeded my expectations!"

"We did it." He smiled, wrapping his arm around me as we all made our way to the V.I.P section upstairs. We watched as everyone began entering and we listened for the gasps of amazement from each. The V.I.P section was huge, so we definitely had enough room for our honoured guests.

As we greeted each one, our parents came with Rosalie and Mauro, and Sophie. I hugged each of them but failed to notice Sophie right away, and gasped when I did.

"Sophie! You look...different." I said, covering my mouth from shock. She looked completely different. She was wearing a very short cut out dress with her garter showing that held up her black sheer stockings, and an oversized leather jacket. Her hair was long from extensions and now it was bleach blonde when it used to be black. And her make up, dark red lipstick and black eye makeup that made her look like a raccoon.

"So what?" She raised her brow, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Um...okay." I simply replied, walking past her to go greet the last of the guests. And as the commoners had finally finished entering the club and the doors were closed, Nikolas and I had a microphone and formally welcomed everybody.

"Wow, this is truly amazing. The turnout is stupendous and you all look so beautiful. Nikolas and I have fought tooth and nail to make our dream for this club come true. We both had a vision of what we wanted, so we collaborated and created something sublime and even more amazing, something we had only dreamt of, and Nik and I are truly grateful for all of you coming tonight." I grinned.

"We want to thank you all for joining us this evening on such an personal and important night for Audrey and myself. We hope that the club lives up to your expectations. Enjoy yourselves, enjoy the music, each other, and everything else you can imagine." Nikolas smiled.

"So without further ado, Welcome to the Prohibition." I smiled.

Clapping and cheering filled the room, as everyone stood up and faced us. Instantly the lights dimmed and the beginning to "Ni**as in Paris" by Jay-Z and Kanye began. They took the centre of the floor to perform their song, and the guests were ecstatic.

I went and sat down with my brothers when I saw Jack sitting with his aunt Angelica and uncle Danny by my parents. Angelica and my mother have been friends since forever. I quickly jumped up and went to say hi to Jack. He stood up and hugged me, kissing my cheek.

"Jack darling, you came." I grinned.

"Of course, I wouldn't miss the party of the year for anything." He smiled.

I sat next to him, "You didn't bring Shannan?"

"No, she's in Paris right now. She's doing some modelling over there."

"Oh, that's too bad. I guess then you're stuck hanging out with me all night." I laughed.

"You say that as if it's a burden. I don't mind." He smiled.

"Audrey? Is that you?" His aunt Angelica turned her attention to me.

"Yes, it's me." I smiled, I got up and went to hug her.

"Oh, I haven't seen you since you were a teenager, look how beautiful you are! I see you've met my nephew Jackie." She smiled.

"Yes I have, we're doing a film together." I chuckled.

"You're an actress now? I always knew you'd find your way into film." She laughed. "How old are you now?"

"Oh how I hate that question. I'm twenty-six." I chuckled.

"You're still so young! So Jack, don't you think Audrey is beautiful? Look at her." She nudged him.

I started laughing, "Please, don't embarrass me, or Jack!"

"She is beautiful." Jack smiled, watching me.

I half-smiled and looked down, trying not to blush. "I was actually about to invite him to join me and my entourage. Would you like to join us Angelica?"

"Oh no, you kids go ahead. It was nice seeing you Audrey." She smiled, sitting back down.

I linked arms with Jack and led him toward mine and Nik's entourage. "Would you like a drink?" I asked him as we sat down.

"Sure." He replied. So I pressed the buzzer on the table and didn't have to wait long before a waiter arrived.

"I'll have a glass of Cristal, and he'll have-" I looked at Jack.

"a scotch on the rocks." Jack finished.

"Right away." The waiter turned and left toward the bar.

"Everyone, this is Jack Huston. Jack, this is everyone." I grinned, gliding my hand through the air showing him everyone.

"Ah, so he's Jack." Chanel smirked, proceeding to sip her champagne.

"I'm Nikolas, Audrey's younger brother." Nik held out his hand to shake Jack's.

"Pleasure to meet you. Congratulations on the club." Jack smiled.

"Thank you." Nikolas smiled. "Oh, Audrey, Jay and Kanye have finished." He stood up and looked down to them.

"Yeah, so?" I chuckled.

"There's another performance." He turned and looked at me.

"Oh, who?" I asked.

"You'll see." He smirked. The lights proceeded to dim and a blue spotlight shone against the curtain hiding the stage. Then a familiar voice was heard through the speakers.

"This song here is a little something I wrote for a girl that's very dear to my heart. I met her in the summer of last year and she inspired me to write this. It's the last song that was written for our record, and of the entire song, she most inspired the lines "If you give up New York, I'll give you Tennessee" because it was that moment that I knew she was the one I was gonna marry someday. So, my love, Audrey. This is for you." The curtain dropped and Caleb and the band went straight into the first riff of their song called, "The Face." The guests began cheering as they finally realized that it was Kings of Leon behind the curtain.



I covered my mouth from shock and stood up to watch them. "Nik, did you do this?" I grinned.

He stood up and held out his arms, chuckling, "A thank you is all I need." I hugged him tightly and started laughing, trying my hardest to not cry.

"Nik, this is the best gift you could ever give me. Thank you so much!" I smiled, kissing his cheek.

"Now go watch your man." He smirked. So I ran past him and went down the stairs, I tried to run across the floor but the heel of one of my shoes gave out and caused me to stumble. Caleb laughed while he was singing, which was received by a death glare by me. I kicked off my heels and continued to go to the stage and stand side-stage and listen to them perform. It took a lot of will power to not attack Caleb with a hug while he was singing, but I managed. As the song came to a close, he sang the lines once more; "If you give up New York, I'll give you Tennessee...The only place to be."

I bit my lip with excitement, and when he held out his arms to me, I ran up to him and held him so tight, kissing him again and again almost forgetting that all eyes were on us. Our little moment was quickly overtaken by clapping and cheers and whistles.

"I've missed you so much." I grinned, kissing Caleb again.

"Let's go sit down, we'll talk more." He smiled, waving the guys to follow us. I quickly went and gave them each a hug, welcoming them back. I cued to the DJ to play some music and get the guests dancing, as I held Caleb's hand and pulled him along to the V.I.P section while also grabbing my shoes from the floor.

"Hey Caleb, long time no see." Nik joked, shaking hands with Caleb.

"Yeah, we actually came back last week. We've been in Tennessee, and when you called me talking like Edie Sedgwick I thought I was busted!" Caleb laughed, sitting down and pulling me next to him.

"You do not realize just how much I've missed you!" I laughed, hugging his arm.

"But Audrey, this place is amazing. You and Nik did a great job on it." He smiled, looking around.

"Thanks." I smiled, "do you guys want a drink?"

"Yeah sure." He replied. I waved the waiter over who brought over mine and Jack's drinks.

"I'll have a red wine." Caleb told the waiter.

"Corona please." Nathan and Matt added.

"And I'll have a Jack Daniels." Jared replied.

"Speaking of Jack, Jack I'd like you to meet my fiancé Caleb, and his brothers Nathan and Jared, and his cousin Matt." I smiled, "Caleb, this is my neighbour and co-star Jack Huston. He lives downstairs in my building, and he's working on Factory Girl with me."

"Nice to meet you." Caleb shook his hand, and soon the others copied him except for Nathan who sat across from Jack a little too far to reach his hand.

"So you've got a new place, I can't wait to see it." Caleb smiled.

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing. It's huge, and my bedroom is on a loft, and it has a small kitchen, of course, and huge living room. And a guest room, a huge library, and upstairs I plan to convert it into an art studio, so I can paint and not have my paintings in the way. But I love the studio the most, one wall is all brick, the other is covered in mirrors, the back wall I don't know if I want more mirrors or if I just wanna leave it brick. But you'll see it later!" I grinned.

"And Daniel, your hair! What made you decide to cut it?" Caleb asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I just needed a change."

"I like it." Caleb nodded.

"Thanks." He smiled.

"Hey! We should go dance! I love this song." I smiled, standing up as I heard some M83 come on.

"I don't feel like dancing right now." Caleb chuckled.

"Oh c'mon, we'll do a group dance. C'mon everyone, we're gonna go dance." I laughed, waving for everyone to join me. Chanel and Edie, and Behati and a few other models, including male ones, got up.

"Let's go Jack, you're gonna show me your John Travolta moves." I chuckled, pulling him with me. Out on the dance floor we were owning it, dancing to a very 80s-esque song and not caring how ridiculous we looked. Jack laughed as he held my hand and turned me 'round and 'round. I laughed as I stumbled into him and he wrapped his arms around my waist.

Nikolas' POV

Edie had dragged me out to dance with her, so I humoured her and casually swayed as she danced in her own little way. I was bumped into from behind and when I turned to look, it was Daniel.

"I'm not sure if Audrey should be dancing like that with that Jack character." He whispered.

I glanced over at Audrey and saw her being held by Jack. I raised a brow and smirked, "I don't see anything wrong."

Daniel looked back at them and sighed, continuing to dance with his wife.

"Fine." I whispered sharply. "Behati!" She turned around and smiled, dancing over to where we were.

"Go dance with Audrey, you two haven't seen each other in like, forever." I smirked.

"Yeah that's a good idea." She smiled, going over to Audrey.

"Happy?" I raised my brow at Daniel. He just smiled and continued dancing.