Entering the living room, we saw that Charlotte and Alistair were already seated at the couch, waiting for us. Charlotte was in an elegant maroon gown which suited her and Alistair was in a tuxedo with a tie which matched Charlotte’s gown.
Charlotte looked up as soon as we entered and rose up with a smile. “You girls look lovely!”
She stepped forward and gave me a hug. “So do you, Mrs. Jenson.”
“Thank you, Olivia.”
“Are you all ready? We need to leave right now or we’ll be late for our launch party,” Alistair said impatiently. “Oh, and you three look amazing.”
I giggled. “Thanks, dad.”
“Is Ethan going?” Olivia asked.
“Yes, of course. He left a while ago to pick Heather up.”
Charlotte and Alistair gave some instructions to the guards and servants and then we proceeded towards our cars.
As I slid into the car’s backseat with Olivia, my nerves bubbled up to the surface again. I refrained from biting down on my nails but I was squeezing my chessboard style clutch purse to death.
Olivia looked over at me and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Relax.”
I nodded and turned away to stare out the window as we zoomed past New York streets.
After some time, which seemed incredibly short, we arrived at the venue. The place was crowded with paparazzi and fancy cars. Hoards of people with cameras rushed to the oncoming cars and crowded around it. Thank God for tinted windows.
Our car drove straight into the parking area where paparazzi wasn’t allowed. Charlotte and Alistair’s car pulled up next to ours.
I was afraid we’d have to go to the front of the entrance to enter the venue but Alistair and Charlotte led us through a door at the end of the parking lot and then we were inside.
It was a big, fancy hall. Right in the middle was a smooth, raised rotating platform where a white car was placed. I gathered that the car was Torrec Serychel. I didn’t know much about cars so I just stuck to knowing its name. It was exactly how Alistair described it as. It exuded opulence, grace and grandeur.
The hall was filled with people dressed in their finest. Women in elegant gowns chattered with their friends. Men dressed in black tuxedoes with women hanging off of their arms made business conversations with each other.
Upstairs, there were balconies with comfortable seating where prominent faces from the creative industry were huddled together, most likely gossiping or looking for work.
On one side of the hall, there was a buffet set up with delicious food laid out. The aroma spread throughout the hall, beckoning me to come and devour all of it.
People were still pouring into the hall in pairs and there was soft music playing in the background. I assumed there was going to be dance.
“Juliet!” Someone hollered, almost giving me a heat attack. I turned towards the source and found Rachael, holding onto Rebecca and a handsome man, who I assumed would be Robert Ainsley. They made their way towards us.
Rachael looked so beautiful that I couldn’t help but stare at her in awe and a hint of envy. She looked like a true goddess in that dress of hers. She had worn a blood red dress with a deep V-neckline. There were two slits from her thigh which showed both of her long legs. She had on a sparkly diamond necklace and her hair was curled just perfect. Her black high heels further made her look taller than she already was. Robert fell an inch or two short in front of her. Her makeup was done amazing and her lips were painted red.
“Hey, you look awesome,” I said as I was pulled into a hug.
“Thanks, and so do you. Olivia, you too look amazing.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey, Rebecca!” I said, picking her up easily. “You look like a princess.” And indeed she did with her blue frock and black wedges.
She giggled in my arms. “You look pretty.”
“Thank you!”
“Hey, Juliet. How have you been?” Robert spoke up after my little chat with Rebecca.
I looked up at him and gave him a hesitant smile. “As I’ve always been, I’m fine. What about you?”
“The usual. I’m actually planning to take a vacation with my family. Need a break from all of the work, I guess.”
I nodded. “Yeah, you probably should. That’s a good idea.”
It was surprising, even to me how easily conversation flowed with people I met like two minutes ago. It wasn’t that hard to talk to them as if we’d known each other for forever.
We talked to them some more before we were joined by Charlotte and Alistair. They exchanged greetings and talked about business.
“Where’s Antonio?” Robert asked as he looked around for him.
“He’ll be here any minute. He said Audrey takes a lot of time to get ready,” Rachael said, rolling her eyes.
“That’s true. Women do take a lot of time to get ready,” Alistair said, looking at his wife pointedly.
“Or maybe you don’t have anything worthy to look after so you don’t need much time,” Charlotte retorted, shooting Alistair a fake glare.
“Are you calling us ugly?” He asked.
“Just you. Both my son and son-in-law are handsome men.”
We all chuckled at Alistair’s shocked face.
“I’m your husband, woman.”
“Unfortunately,” Charlotte sighed but we all knew she was just playing with him and how much she loved Alistair.
“I can’t believe you find other men attractive than me!”
“What? You call that bald spot on your head attractive?”
“You did not just comment about my hair. Y-”
“I didn’t. For that, you need to have hair, which you don’t.”
We all burst out laughing. They were just so cute together.
“I’ll have you know that I was the most handsome boy in my high school days.”
“You were a nerd. That was hardly handsome. You were just a little cute. And my tutor,” Charlotte said, smiling at the memories.
“Hey guys!” Antonio’s energetic voice boomed in our ears and we turned to look at him. His hand was around a very beautiful woman, Audrey. I had seen her in front pages of magazines and newspapers. But seeing her in person, in front of my eyes just told me how little justice the pictures did to her beauty.
She had black hair with brown highlights and her eyes were a rich shade of brown. Her skin looked so soft. Her dress was the most beautiful I’d ever seen, not that I’d seen much anyway. It was cherry red mermaid gown with the top half sequined. Her hair was swept to one side of her face and she had worn big red earrings which matched her outfit. Much like mine, she had on a pair of silver heels.
“Hey, man. We’ve been waiting for you.” Robert said, greeting him with a hug.
“Sorry. Got late because of Audrey here,” he said and gestured to her.
She playfully hit him with her purse. “You were the one who wasn’t allowing me to get ready.”
He shrugged. “I missed you badly, so forgive me for wanting to spend a few more minutes with my girl.”
“Oh, Ethan and Heather are also here,” Rachael announced and we turned towards the entrance where Ethan just entered with Heather latched to his arm.