Exclusive

Somehow a long strip of the ground was raised and lit up with white lights all the way from the front door, almost to where we stood, and cushy chairs were seated in rows around the front and sides. A massive curtain hid the quarter of the living room where the front door was from being seen. The pulsing strobe lights had stopped and now there were only dim white and brown lights focused on the new stage and audience. Everyone was seated and an intense feeling of anticipation clogged the air. Julian took me over to the front row on the right side of the makeshift stage where there were two empty seats next to Pandora and a few others. She watched as we approached and once she saw my arm in his, sniffed and trained her attention on the person to her right. I ground my teeth and gestured for Julian to take the seat next to her before I did something I might have later regretted. He sat down, understanding.
The crowd was quietly chattering and for the first time I noticed the surplus of photog's that had clicked away at Gabriella earlier now sat in the first two rows. Others stood behind the entire audience, better to get a view of the full runway.
"The have a fashion show in their house?" I leaned over and whispered to Julian.
"Every season." He inclined his head toward mine, so close our foreheads almost touched. "Gabby designs like a fiend in her spare time and their mother supports her. They throw public and private shows to showcase all of her creations."
I looked up at him and he gave me a smug look. "Have you never heard of Kavana Aves?"
My eyes blinked slowly, like a lizards. "That's their mom?"
Julian just laughed and patted my leg. "You have much to learn."
I shouldered him gently and trained my attention to the runway once again. The lights began to sway back and forth and a beat began to pulse from the speakers that were attached to the top corners of each wall. Mist descended on the ground from behind the curtain, announcing the beginning of the show.
Julian moved his hand away, rubbed both together and sat forward.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen." Jared walked out from behind the curtain, a brown microphone with jewels encrusted on it in his grasp. He had changed into a tan jacket embroidered with fall colours sans shirt, black pants, shiny oxfords and a wide smile. "We thank you all for coming out tonight to get an exclusive premiere showing of the new autumn Junior Aves line - Bienvenue à Tomber. Without further ado..."
He walked to the end of the catwalk, down the steps and sat in a lone vacant seat directly facing the curtain. A woman began to sing and out came the models. Each were clothed in beautifully made dresses, skirt ensembles, and pants suits. Shimmering golds, bright oranges, pale roses and every shade of brown I could think of was present. There were a few dresses I had to commit to memory so I could ask about availability later. Flashbulbs popped, hands were clapped in admiration, and before I knew it each model came out and stood in two parallel lines down the stretch of the runway for a final look. With a flourish, Jared re-appeared from behind the curtain and I looked to his vacant seat in shock.
"A big round of applause for the designer!" He gestured behind him and Gabriella burst forth from the other side of the curtain, a satisfactory grin plastered across her face. She held a clipboard, and had a bluetooth securely fastened to her ear that she most likely used backstage to send commands. She moved to the end of the stage and took a bow. The audience stood up and erupted in applause. Jared put his arm around her and they both bowed together once more. "Thank you again for coming! Gift bags will be given out as you exit. Have a wonderful night!"
Julian cupped his hands around his mouth and hooted at his friends and I laughed. He looked at me from the side and gave me a sly smile. I shook my head at him and continued clapping until it all died out and the crowd began to disappear. The mist receded and security guards began ushering the guests around the curtain, toward the exit as photographers quickly packed away their equipment.
Jared and Gabriella sped-walked back to the curtain, disappearing once again. Julian rose from his seat, as did Pandora and the person she had ignored us with. The girl could have been her polar opposite, with the same extremely long locks except for where Pandora was a dark witch, she was light.
Everything about Pandora was severe. She had vibrant brown skin, long, straight jet black center-parted hair, extremely defined full lips, and sharp green eyes that seemed to cut through me like a knife. Her friend's hair was similar except ice white and she only wore soft lip gloss and heavy eye makeup, making her grey eyes look brighter than an iceberg. Both standing at a clear 5'10, they looked like two beautiful skyscrapers except one had a big enough chip on her shoulder to feed a flock of birds.
I thrusted my hand across Pandora to her friend, putting on a bright smile. "Hello. I'm Olivia Stalls."
Pandora stepped back, clearly offended. "My name's Gwen." The girl introduced herself and firmly shook my hand. I could detect a slight accent in her voice but I just couldn't place it. Her gaze was warm and friendly.
"Stacy?" I smirked at her and she smiled in return.
"No, no. Just St. Laurent, unfortunately." She humorously slumped her shoulders a bit and we both laughed.
"Regardless, it's still great to meet you. Are you a friend of Gabriella and Jared's?"
"Oh yes. We go way back. I'm talking swing sets and tea parties."
"Actually we all do." Pandora interjected smoothly, sneering down at me. "Except our boy Julian here of course but we've made room for him." She looked at him adoringly, making my blood curdle. "Haven't we?"
"Yes we have." He nodded at her, smirking, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was trying to exclude me from their circle before I was even properly invited to it.
"And there's always room for more." Gwen gave me a re-assuring look. I was immediately grateful to know she not only had a sense of humour but also an empathetic bone in her body. I couldn't say the same about her friend.
"Says you." Pandora rolled her eyes and took Julian's hand. They walked up the front of the stage and down the catwalk, vanishing behind the curtain.
"Don't mind her." Gwen waved a hand after her vile friend.
"Trust me, I'm trying not to." I blew out a sigh and looked to the stage. "Should we go back there too?"
"Sure."
We trailed them and threw wide the drapery, giving us a view of the now calmed chaos that was backstage. A few stray models were wiping their make up clean or heading out in their regular street clothes. Julian had just finished hugging Gabriella on a job well done and moved onto Jared for a slap on the back. When Pandora saw us reach, she silently slid her hand back into Julian's.
I kept my distance, standing next to Gwen and Jared, just for safe keeping.
"That was amazing you guys!" Gwen one-arm hugged Gabriella and then kissed Jared on the cheek. "Even better than the last show."
"Really?" Gabriella somehow smiled even wider, her eyes turning to slits. She fumbled with her clipboard for a second but quickly regained her composure.
"A thousand times. Not to say the last one wasn't spectacular but this time you guys have completely outdone yourself." Gwen commended them.
"She's right." Jared slid his arm around Gwen's waist and dimpled at us. "The only way it really could have been better was if she was apart of it."
"Oh please, I am so over runways. Fashion week in Milan did me over this year. I don't think I'll be going down another catwalk for at least three months. Too much stress."
"Mmm good thing I know the perfect tension reliever." Jared started massaging her shoulders and she swatted him away playfully.
"What did you think Olivia?" Gabriella turned to me eagerly.
"It wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before. How did you transform your living room into a place fit for a fashion show so quickly?"
"It wasn't that hard. Besides we had help." She gestured to the crew of people cleaning up and taking down the curtains.
"Well I was amazed. Great job."
"Thank you."
"So are we all staying tonight or not? I've got a nail appointment in the morning and I need to know if I should postpone it or not." Pandora asked as a general question. She was still, irritatingly, holding his hand as if she was trying to establish dominance. Did she not remember I had met Julian officially literally two hours ago? What was she trying to prove?
"Adriana, Leo and Don said they'd be back in fifteen minutes, and I'm pretty sure Leo wasn't walking straight as he went through the door so I'd say when they get back they're all gonna want to crash here for the night." Jared recounted.
"So a sleepover it is!" Gabriella enthused and walked off to a clothing rack, rapidly checking each tag and scribbling down onto her clipboard.
"Ugh, the word 'sleepover' has always seemed so juvenile to me." Pandora grumbled. "We're practically adults now."
"You're not even 18 yet. Relax." Julian teased her, running his palm down her hair.
"Whatever." She dismissed him. "Gwen let's go down to my floor and change. As sexy as I make this dress look, I have a feeling it's going to give me respiratory problems if I keep it on much longer."
Without another word the both of them exited the now almost back-to-normal looking apartment, leaving the three of us alone.
"Are you two together?" I asked Julian boldly, turning my whole body to face him. I wasn't going to continue to be shunned by a girl with a superiority complex if she was simply claiming what was hers.
A peal of laughter blurted from Jared, and he covered his mouth with a hand to hide it, looking away. Julian simply looked taken aback and had to blink before answering.
"No." He answered slowly. "We're just really good friends."
Jared dropped his hand and just laughed outwardly before slipping away to help his sister, and I heard him mutter the word "really" under his breathe. Julian's face burned to such a bright pink that I almost felt bad for putting him on the spot. Almost.
"If you two aren't really dating the why does she spit fire whenever I'm near you? That's a bit strange for two completely single people." I crossed my arms over my chest in indignation.
He swallowed and looked down at his Neiman Marcus shoes. "We're just friends." He repeated huskily.
"Alright." I let my arms fell back down to my sides. As far as I was concerned my question had been answered and the conversation was over. I walked over to Gabriella who had moved on to counting stray shoes on a wooden shelf display.
"I want you to know that I really appreciate you guys inviting me to come tonight. I had a fun time and your clothes are so inspiring."
"You're welcome." She beamed, setting down her clipboard. "Jared and I really do like you and you're so nice, and beautiful, and even though some of us haven't been as welcoming to you as the rest of us... to make up for any of tonights unpleasantness, why don't you stay over tonight too?"
"Fabulous idea!" Jared exclaimed, making me jump. He threw down a faux fur scarf as if to make his point.
"Really guys I'm flattered, but I'd rather not. I-I..." I looked back at Julian who looked away as soon as we made eye contact. "I just got a new baby kitten and he's been home alone for too long now and besides... I'm really tired."
Julian made a shadow of himself and slinked off to open kitchen, seated himself on of the fine oak chairs and peeled open a banana.
"But it'll be so much fun if you stay." Gabriella pleaded, grabbing back my attention. "I promise you won't regret it. We always have sweets and champagne, then we end up falling asleep to sexy Brad Pitt movies."
"If that isn't alluring enough, you'll get to meet our friend Leo. He's a riot. If you've ever wondered what someone is like after exceeding the legal limit by triple the amount then stick around. Last time we had to pry him off of one of the big trees downstairs in the front of the building, while the landlord shouted constant threats of 'evicting us spoiled hellhounds if we didn't control our friend immediately'. It's still one of my favourite nights to this day." He sighed with a smile as he remembered.
"Why would anybody wonder that?" Gabriella derided him with a look of intolerance.
"Maybe she's got a different set of interests than you. Perhaps she likes things other than vanilla ice cream and Barbie dolls-"
"THE LAST TIME I played with a doll I was seven-"
"Twelve."
"NINE, OKAY. I WAS NINE. They weren't Barbies - they were MyScene's. And I don't play with dolls anymore, I'm way beyond that." She put her hands on her hips and nodded fiercely at her brother.
"So it's okay that I gave away the ones back at our avia's house?"
"Jared. You didn't!" She shoved him so hard he staggered and had to balance on one foot before standing up straight again. He cracked up laughing at her, triumphant.
"You're right, I didn't." He assured her through his sniggering.
"Good. I would have shaved the side of your head in your sleep." She sniffed and turned back to me. "Sorry about that Liv, Jared was unfortunately the only person in my family born annoying."
"No no, you both are very sweet but I'm just gonna have to pass tonight. You all have fun and a great night okay?" I quickly gave a hug to the both of them and scurried to the elevator door, graciously declining the security guard offering me a gift bag.
It wasn't that I didn't trust them anymore, I just didn't think I was ready to become one of them full throttle yet. I heard Jared call out after me but by that time the elevator doors had shut, I had already scanned my card for 18th floor access and was swept away, finally on my way home.
I let out a big gust of air as if I had been holding it in since I the moment I walked into their home. I checked my phone that I had hidden in my strapless bra all night, only to see that it was minutes to midnight. I realized that that meant Jay had been home a whole four hours and I got extremely anxious. Had I really left a newborn pet alone in a new, overly spacious and unfamiliar apartment for hours? What kind of owner was I?
The door pinged, opened and I rushed into my immense living room. I darted my eyes around, scanning the apartment like a manic robot to make sure everything was still in place until they fell on a ball of white fur, curled up and sleeping in the middle of the couch.
I smiled in relief and scooped Jay up, officially retiring to my room for the night. I set him down on the sheets gently, careful not to wake him. I entered the bathroom, stripped down to nothing and decided to take a bath since I knew it would be the best thing for my for some reason sore body and frayed nerves. I plopped some bath bubble packets into the tub and turned on the steaming water. I bent at the waist, swishing around the water back and forth so there would be equal bubble opportunity for the entire tub area. I straightened back up and just stood there for a moment, tipping my head to the ceiling and relished the silence.
I began to doubt myself and think maybe I was way in over my head by wanting to live by on my own. Had I not loved flying from continent to continent with my father? Did I really need to know how to separate darks from lights? Did I really want to be independent?
Of course I did. Every moment I had spent alone on Daddy's private jet while he chattered away with business moguls, I told myself that I could be out socializing, making a life and a name for myself. I swore I would do it one day and that day just so happened to have come along with some strange twists.
Looking in the mirror, I mustered up a tired smile and breathed in and out calmly. Tiredness threatened to overtake my body so I bathed, skipped putting anything back on and crawled into bed. Jay was still snoozing away, curled up at the foot of of my bed like the cute little baby he was. I put my head on what felt like the softest pillow in the world and was about to drift off... when I heard the doorbell ring.
My eyelids drooped open and I thought about getting up to see who it was, to see if maybe just maybe Julian had heard me decline the Aveses invitation and had come up to persuade me to come stay with him. With them, I corrected myself. Everyone, not just him. Julian, Jared, Gabriella, Pandora.... Julian... Their "fun" friend Leo... but I didn't. I was honestly too tired to be bothered. I flipped over in bed toward the window, closed me eyes and finally, finally, succumbed to sleep.