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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 12, 2015 21:42:56 GMT
In the most recent weeks since Amber had returned to Manhattan from Los Angeles, she'd barely had time to unpack. Part of her had contemplated not even going, but her assistant had all but insisted. Needless to say, the closet at the Glamour offices had been raided to find Amber a last minute dress and her hair had been set in loose curls. But she wasn't excited. As a teenager, she thought that it would have been exciting to return for her reunion and fall back into easy gossip, judging the women she knew once talked about her behind her back and flirting with their husbands. A lot had changed since then. Never once had she imagined that she'd be thirty and widowed. Just two months ago she'd sat in a lawyer's office to discuss the division of her late husband's estate - she hadn't wanted any of it, much to the surprise of his already-grown children. She'd wanted one thing - a painting that he had purchased while they'd been in France on their honeymoon, and then she was done. She had requested a transfer to the East Coast and had left behind. In fact, if it weren't for the ring still on her finger she might have let herself believe everything that happened in New York was just a foggy dream. Part of her felt guilty due to the fact that only days before her husband's passing, she'd been contemplating requesting a divorce. As a young girl, she'd never really felt guilty over anything she'd done or the people she'd wronged. Oh, how the times had changed. She made polite chit-chat with faces she recognized and names she couldn't be bothered to recall before finding the bar. "Dry gin martini, three olives," she requested with a smile at the young bartender. There were only a handful of people she was actually interested in seeing, and even in those cases she wasn't sure what she was going to say to them. Nonetheless, she scanned the crowd to see which one of them she might see first. |
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 12, 2015 22:18:25 GMT
To be entirely honest, it was the open bar that enticed him the most. Not that his wallet needed the extra padding he was giving it, but because open bars tended to also be a cattle call for desperate women. Or at least that's how he saw it. Women who tended to frequent the kinds of clubs, bars, and events that he frequented were often those that came with additional baggage - a closeted drug habit, a husband with a wandering eye, children.
But this was sure to be different. This was, after all, his high school reunion. Instead of the mesh of women much too young for his 30 years, or much too old to consider a realistic prospect, these were women who were not only his own age but women who might be feeling vulnerable. After all, how could one possibly feel accomplished and adequate when in a room with the future heir of Finn Industries. And as he got older, so did his father. The rights to the company couldn't be that far away now.
And so, it hadn't really been a difficult decision whether or not to attend this cliched affair. It was almost always going to be a yes.
The only hesitation had been because of her - not that he would ever let on that fact to anyone. Instead, he found a small group of formerly popular, still enticingly beautiful classmates and turned on the charm. A gin and tonic in one hand and the other resting on the small of the closest blonde's back, he felt as though he was certainly well on his way to yet another enjoyable night.
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 12, 2015 22:32:07 GMT
Parker had been all too eager to attend his high school reunion - not for the nostalgia of it all so much as to look for more investors. He'd just flown back from what had been a very successful board meeting in Silicon Valley and was on an adrenalin high. He easily made conversation with familiar faces and exchanged a few business cards where he could. You've heard of us, haven't you? We're about to go off the bloody charts, rolling into eight different cities next month. We're going to change the way that people live their day-to-day lives. Telephone me tomorrow and schedule a meeting with my assistant, we'll see about getting you in before we really take off.
Lifting his scotch to his lips he took a sip before turning his attention from one of his former classmates to flit across the room and observe who else it was he needed to catch up with and float a business card over to. He spotted Amber Jacobs near the bar, and for the life of him he couldn't remember what her new last name was, not that he felt it mattered much, and thought Glamour doing a sidebar piece on the company would be brilliant publicity.
Parker remotely registered that one of his old classmates was directing a polite question both at him and Brandon Finn before he shrugged it off and nodded in her direction. "Has anyone actually spoken to Anna Nicole over there since she got back to Manhattan?" he asked.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 12, 2015 22:43:14 GMT
Part of him knew that she was over there, it was some sort of weird sixth sense or something, but he had done his best to place his attentions elsewhere. And with a couple of coy remarks he had already done well with the girl to his right. Birdie? Biddy? Baby? Whatever it was, it wouldn't matter in a few hours when she was untangling herself from his sheets and he oh-so-politely escorted her from his penthouse.
He looked up at Parker and felt the smirk drop from his lips. He had heard the stories and about her husband, but he had stopped thinking about it almost as soon as he started. "Not even a little bit," he shrugged off the question.
Part of him wanted to glance in her direction, survey how she looked, see if the last ten years had changed her at all. But part of him also was afraid that if he did he would be too tempted to go speak with her. To say hello, or to poke fun of her for marrying someone who might as well have been her grandfather. The thought of seeing her again was too tempting and so he looked over in her direction and caught sight of her in an appealing black dress, cut low enough that he could almost feel himself growing tempted at the mere sight of her. "Being a widow suits her."
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Post by Olivia Warren-Blye on Aug 12, 2015 22:58:37 GMT
She was blonde now. That was the entire summary of everything that had happened in her life over the past ten years. She wasn't sure if she was upset, or disappointed, or indifferent about the lack of growth and maturity in her life. Sure, she held important social roles and her life was surrounded by social gatherings, galas, and other high-brow events, but as she looked around at her classmates she saw titans of industry, models and actors, and people who had simply fallen by the wayside. Was she in the middle? Was she irrelevant? Well, she certainly couldn't have that. She smoothed out her dress to make sure that everything was on display as it should be and grabbed a drink from the bar. Sipping at her dirty gin martini, she felt a smirk passing her lips as she spotted her old ... friend. Let the games begin, she thought before noticing a familiar blonde further down the bar. "Hello, Amber." Of course she had heard what had happened in the poor girl's life recently, and so she would only be doing her well-mannered duties to wish her condolences. "Awful shame that your poor elderly husband passed." |
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 12, 2015 23:07:18 GMT
She spotted Brandon glancing in her direction and immediately diverted her own gaze, pretending to be completely engrossed in what one of her former classmates was saying. Still, part of her wanted to go over to him - to say something - to look into his eyes and figure out where they both stood. But she fought it off, just like she fought off all instinct to speak her mind about his arm candy for the evening. Still, the more she tried to ignore it, the more of a foul mood it put her into.
It seemed very obvious that neither of them were going to move to talk to the other. She requested her second drink of the evening, mentally debating if she should take the initiative and go over.
Amber glanced up at the familiar accent caught her attention. "Olivia, how wonderful to see you," she lied. She'd never really been much of a fan of Liv's and she did her very best not to bristle over the mention of her late husband. She took a sip of her martini. "Thank you, I appreciate your condolences. Though, you know what they say - better to have loved and lost than die an old maid trying to relive the glory days." She tilted her head and offered the British woman a grin. "Did you change your hair?"
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Post by Olivia Warren-Blye on Aug 12, 2015 23:17:23 GMT
Olivia gave a soft laugh and smiled widely. "I did," she shrugged nonchalantly. "Someone once told me that blondes had more fun, and judging by your own escapades in school I assumed that it must be true."
She looked out into the crowd as a way of pretending that she didn't know that she may have not only hit one of Amber's nerves, but two of them. Perhaps unintentionally, and certainly irrationally, she kept finding herself drawn to where Parker stood with the small gaggle of women and one Brandon Finn. As she knew they would, both men had done nothing but improve on their already appealing appearances. It was hardly fair that their school had produced so many attractive and powerful men, but who was she to complain when she had certainly taken the opportunity to take advantage of it. And yet, the woman she continued to taunt had as well.
Idly she sipped at her martini as though the entire conversation, the entire reunion, was boring her. Though, in truth it was not only an amusing engagement thus far, it was the first time that she had seen Parker in nearly ten years and she wasn't going to let that opportunity pass her by. But he wasn't her target yet, she was still enjoying the game she was playing with the blonde at the bar.
"Finn's still as dashing as always, isn't he?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 12, 2015 23:30:35 GMT
In the ten years since high school, Amber would have liked to have thought she'd grown up a bit. But that didn't mean she'd forgotten any of the hard taught lessons impressed upon her when attending school with the girls of the Upper East Side. Keeping her expression passive and swirling the contents of her glass briefly, she offered a small chuckle. "Of course. So tell me, Liv, I haven't really heard much about you since I got back to New York. Where are you working? Who are you seeing? What's new and exciting in your life?"
Naturally, Amber knew fully well that Liv was single, living in her parents' apartment, and unemployed. But Amber would take great pride in forcing the woman to say so. At the mention of Brandon, Amber shrugged a studded shoulder up. "I suppose. In all honesty, it doesn't really look as though much has changed about Brandon. Or, for that matter, any of you - save for some hair dye."
She politely shook her head at one of the catering staff walking by with a tray of appetizers and instead fixed Liv with a small, smug smile.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 12, 2015 23:38:34 GMT
Call it bat-like hearing, or call it hopefulness, but he heard his name pass Amber's lips and for a brief moment he looked up at her to see if she was coming his way, or simply just speaking his name in a passing mention. He saw her engaging in conversation of some sort with a blonde woman and thought nothing of it right away. However, this blonde woman was annoyingly familiar in the sense that he couldn't quite pin her.
He disjointedly chuckled at something that someone had just said in their small group and nodded over in the two women's direction. "Is that Olivia speaking with Amber?" he asked, realizing that he recognized the facial features a hell of a lot more than he recognized anything else about her. Besides, if anyone else were to recognize the woman, it would certainly be those in this group - he couldn't say that he had stayed on top of the life and times of his graduating class.
Realizing that his glass was now empty, he faced an internal struggle of bellying up to the bar for another round, or continuing the conversation with these painfully dull women without a drink in his hand. Taking a quick, deep inhale he grinned at the group. "Another round?"
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 12, 2015 23:50:45 GMT
Parker had more than busied himself talking to some pretty little socialite who'd come on the arm of one of their other classmates. It wasn't until Brandon mentioned Olivia that he even glanced back in the direction of the bar and frowned. Even with all of the years that had passed, Parker was able to read Liv's facial expressions and body language from across the room. And he'd been on the receiving end of enough slaps from Amber Jacobs to know what was most likely brewing near the bar.
Brow furrowed, he turned to Brandon. "I don't think they're speaking so much as trying to decide the best way to draw blood," Parker admitted before cursing lightly under his breath. He tipped his glass back and drained the rest of its contents and turned to the pretty brunette he'd been talking to. "How about I go get you another drink, love?" he suggested, barely waiting for a response before nodding at Brandon Finn.
Fixing his gaze back on the bar, he did note that Olivia looked as stunning as ever. He noted that her hair had changed but, apart from that, nothing had. On their approach to the bar, he let his gaze rake down over her body and the way her dress clung to her. Shaking that thought off, he leaned against the bar, grinning at both women as he gestured to the bartender for another glass of scotch. "Liv, love what you've done with the hair," he smirked before turning to Amber. "And Amber," he let out a low whistle. "If you're looking for husband #2, I might not even make you sign a pre-nup if you ask me very nicely," he teased. "Tell me, what did you get for marrying that geezer at the end of the day?"
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Post by Olivia Warren-Blye on Aug 13, 2015 0:00:48 GMT
For whatever reason, she wasn't expecting him to come over to them. And she certainly wasn't expecting him to address her directly. If he wanted to pretend that the last ten years had never happened, that he hadn't left her for university, then fine. She was not above putting forward a strong, confident front. After all, that was the girl she was in high school, and she could certainly be that woman now.
"Oh, hullo love," she greeted him absentmindedly before turning to Brandon. "Well, aren't you something?" She fixed him a soft grin and sipped at her drink, polishing off what was left of the alcohol-rich beverage. She picked up the metal spear which was holding the olives and made a play of slowly slipping one off of the edge of the toothpick and chewing on it.
"Olivia," he said as a way of greeting her.
"Would you look at that? The gang's all back together." She dropped the empty silver toothpick back into her glass, letting it echo hollowly before ordering another.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 13, 2015 0:11:30 GMT
Amber's eyebrow ticked up when Parker addressed her but instead plastered on a smile. "Honestly, Parker, you couldn't pay me enough to be interested. But I'm sure Liv would jump up at that offer for minimum wage. Her first real job," she replied stiffly. She took a sip of her drink and did everything in her power to not make any sort of eye contact with Brandon. Instead she turned back to Liv, watching her all but put on a show for their new company.
Turning to the bartender, she beamed. "Could I just maybe get a shot of something, or a shotgun, whichever you have handy?" she asked with an airy laugh, as if she wasn't even remotely serious. Her hand rubbed the back of her neck, trying to ease the sudden tension out of her.
Parker chose that moment to place his hand on Amber's lower back, just above the dip of her dress. "You've got to relax, Amber. We're all friends here."
Amber quickly shrugged off Parker's touch and turned to level her gaze at him. "No, love. We're really not. But we've pretended for this long, so why not keep going?" she replied, her tone clipped. "Would anyone else like a shot or am I drinking alone?" she asked blandly.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 0:28:36 GMT
Of all the women he graduated with, it was perhaps these two that he would have assumed were the most likely to draw claws. Not because he felt that Amber was malicious in any way, but because she had always been one to defend herself. And because Olivia had always been one to go for the jugular. But now, whatever Olivia was giving off was causing Parker to take a particular tone with Amber. One that he didn't particularly appreciate.
Brandon turned to the bartender, "Better make that two. You know what - make that four shots of whatever you have handy."
He watched as the bartender poured four shots of some sort of whiskey - he didn't even care to read the bottle. At this point it could have been complete swill and he would have downed it regardless. He gave Amber another once-over and turned to her for the first time that evening.
"Still in LA? How's California treating you?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 13, 2015 0:39:43 GMT
Amber took a deep breath and finally turned to look up at Brandon. Her chest tightened in a way she hadn't felt since she was eighteen and had allowed herself to be convinced that perhaps the two of them could be something. She loathed that feeling, that fluttering that made her feel like a child again. So she stared back at the shot glasses in front of them.
"Oh, you know. Beaches. Rodeo Drive. I moved back to Manhattan about a month ago," she admitted. She turned over her shoulder to look at the woman that had been on Brandon's arm earlier. "I see that New York's been treating you as well as ever. Let's drink to things never changing," she nodded before lifting a shot glass in half-mocking salute before tipping it back and taking the shot easily. She didn't even wince as it burned its way down her throat.
"Just like the good old days," she muttered.
"Are you always this dreary, love, or is this just because you're still in mourning?" Parker asked, taking a sip from his glass of scotch and letting his eyes skim over Amber before glancing around to see who else was in the room.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 13, 2015 0:50:56 GMT
He rolled the amber liquid back and forth in the glass before cheers-ing her and downing the liquid himself. He dropped the empty shot glass on the bar and truly looked at her for the first time. She was beautiful.
"Welcome back." he said, ordering himself another gin and tonic.
He heard Parker taunt her and he turned to the other man and shrugged indifferently without saying anything. How does one remark on a former love's current romantic situation? Or lack thereof?
"Mourning would certainly explain a lot, wouldn't it?" Olivia mused, downing her own shot as though it was just another cocktail. "It must be absolutely horrid to have gone through what you have, and then to have the absolute rot of our graduating class come on to you as though your dear old husband hadn't passed." She assumed that the game must have changed. Or at least Parker had finally hit a nerve she couldn't ignore.
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