|
|
Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 3, 2015 0:53:55 GMT
The entire weekend had flown by and part of Amber was sad to see the long weekend come to a close. But as she looked around the crowd, dozens upon dozens of anyone who was anyone enjoying themselves, clad in white for the Glamour White Party, she was also proud of the event she'd helped put together. She'd spent the past two days enjoying everything the Hamptons had to offer and essentially playing house with Brandon, even more so when they'd been asked to watch Melanie Benson for a night and discovered that they could keep a child alive for a significant period of time. She smoothed out her dress and glanced over at Cassidy, who was busy chatting with vendors and making sure everything was in order.
Reaching out she grabbed two drinks off of a tray being carried past and handed one to her assistant. "The hard part is over, calm down a bit" she insisted. "I want to thank you for all your help, so have fun, okay?" Cassidy beamed at Amber and nodded, gratefully taking the drink and visibly relaxing.She paused for a moment, listening to the music and making a face. "Actually, do me a favor and relax after you tell the DJ that this song is awful and he has to change it."
Cassidy laughed, shaking her head and taking a sip of her drink. "I'll go talk to him. Where's Brandon?"
"I left him on his own for a bit to make sure everything was going smoothly, I should go find him? I'll check in with you later?"
When she turned around, she looked around - spotting several familiar faces, a few that had gotten onto the guest list despite her disapproval. Still, there was only one person she was actually looking for.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 3, 2015 1:13:41 GMT
There was something to be said about parties outside of the city. Somehow all of the traditional work chatter was replaced with discussions about people's hobbies and vacation plans. Now that the summer months were winding down, conversations were seemingly filled with stories about everything that people and their families did over the summer. And truthfully, if Brandon heard one more story about some sort of European or tropical vacation that someone took their kids on, he was going to be relieved to participate in more discussions about work.
He was proud of Amber for the event that she had been able to pull together, but part of him was sad that their little mini-vacation was coming to an end. Quite frankly it had been nice to get away from their routines and sit on the beach for hours before heading back to the beach house and making sure they had some fun there too. He hadn't even minded babysitting Melanie Benson if he was being honest. Though, he was a little excited to get back to the city and have her officially live in the Penthouse, that was a new phase of his life that he was looking forward too.
Brandon spotted Amber looking around and he excused himself from the conversation with the boring middle-aged woman who couldn't seem to stop talking about her children. He smirked at her and walked over to meet her, "Have I mentioned how beautiful you are?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 3, 2015 1:33:51 GMT
Amber grinned brightly, wrapping her arms around Brandon and tilting her head. "Hmmm, have you? I can't remember, you might have to remind me," she teased before pressing a quick kiss to his lips. She glanced around the party again, chuckling. "I think Cooper already spilled something on himself," she laughed. "As fun as it is to organize, I don't know if white parties have ever been practical," she mused before turning to look at him. "Are you having a good time?"
Cooper, meanwhile, had in fact spilled something on himself. Fortunately, it was just water. He was glad that Amber had been able to arrange for an intern of hers to watch Melanie for most of the party, he was pretty sure four year olds and all white attire didn't mix. Besides, there was something extremely refreshing about being able to get away and just be an adult for a little while. He looked to his side at Maddy and grinned sheepishly at her. "Would you like a drink?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 3, 2015 1:55:57 GMT
Brandon grinned back at her, wrapping his arms around her in response. "You look gorgeous," he complimented. He contemplated her question and thought back to the contents of his evening so far. It had been a lot of small talk and a lot of small glances over to Amber to see how she was doing running this entire evening. "It's been interesting," he remarked. "How do you think it's going?"
Maddy smiled at him and nodded, "Please. A drink would be good - I've never been very good at these big social gatherings. It's easier to make it through with a drink in your hand, I think."
|
|
|
|
Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 3, 2015 15:42:32 GMT
Amber grinned a bit. “Well, I think it’s going well enough,” she nodded. “Everyone seems to be having a good time, so I suppose I’ve done my job,” she laughed before tilting her head at him. “I’m kind of sad that we have to leave though, I could think of about a dozen or two things I’d rather be doing than networking with people on the last night of our weekend,” she teased.
Cooper smiled at Maddy, placing his hand on the small of her back he led her over towards the bar to order a drink, finding himself near Amber and Brandon in the process, he nodded at them. “My two favorite babysitters,” he joked. “Nice get-together you organized here, Amber.” He glanced up, eyes falling on two familiar faces. “Isn’t there something ironic about the two of them wearing white?” he asked, gesturing with a tilt of his head to Parker Blye and Olivia Warren.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 3, 2015 16:41:19 GMT
Brandon smirked at her, agreeing that there were plenty of things that the two of them could get up to anywhere but here. Not that it wasn't a great party, and not that he wasn't happy for her for putting this all together, but his thoughts kept trailing off to what they could do back at the beach house once they excused themselves from the party and from the people surrounding them in this occasion. He looked across at Cooper and shook his head, thoughts being momentarily interrupted by the memory of babysitting the other man's daughter. It had taken him a while to figure out exactly what he was meant to do in the situation, but he was pretty pleased with himself for how well he had managed that situation. At his mention of the other couple, he sighed softly. "I'm surprised they haven't burst into flames already."
Maddy looked over in the direction that Cooper was nodding and shook her head, noting that trouble couldn't be far off. "Congratulations on the party," she chose to say to Amber instead. "It really looks amazing."
Liv sometimes wondered why she bothered to leave the city at all. On familiar grounds she felt much more at home knowing what the rules were of the games. Here, surrounded by all the same familiar people, she was half-tempted to fall right back into familiar steps. She took a sip from the martini glass in her hand and sighed softly, "I'm afraid I'm already bored. We should find some way to entertain ourselves," she remarked. "Should we go find someone to socialize with or shall we excuse ourselves from this hopeless excuse of a party?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 3, 2015 17:49:29 GMT
Parker grinned at Liv. “Well, it’s supposedly for a good cause and I’ve a few people I need to chat with. So we should hang in for a little bit. We don’t have to stay for the entire thing though,” he assured her. Sipping his drink, he glanced around the party, taking note of people he needed to greet to keep up appearances and those he needed to chat with for the sake of work. His eyes settled briefly on Madison and Cooper, part of him wondered exactly what was going on there but he decided against trying to figure it out. Still, he had to talk to Cooper – for the past few weeks discussions on any sort of deal between them with work had come to a screeching halt. “I have to go make nice with Cooper,” he mumbled.
Cooper chuckled at Brandon’s comment and shook his head. “I had the highest hopes when he returned and wanted to meet about work. But for some reason I want very little to do with him now,” Cooper admitted.
Amber grinned when Cassidy walked past and wordlessly handed her a gin martini before turning her attention back to the British couple who seemed to have zeroed in on their group. “Have you told him that yet?” The last thing she really wanted was anyone from their little social circle getting into it in the middle of the party, but she wasn’t so naïve to think they could truly avoid it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Olivia Warren-Blye on Sept 3, 2015 19:08:32 GMT
Liv had followed his attention over to the small gathering of acquaintances of theirs. Normally she wouldn't have been so bothered by the idea of going over to talk to someone when she knew that she could play little games with Brandon Finn, at least for the sake of amusing herself during the social function, but he had been proving that he wasn't much for those anymore. In fact, in seemed that there were several changes occurring that she was sure needed to be remedied, given the proper motivation. This whole thing with Finn and Amber Jacobs was one thing, but whatever was happening with Cooper Benson and that poor doe-eyed girl needed to be corrected as well - simply for the sake of keeping her entertained. She couldn't very well have people think that she was becoming soft now that Parker had reappeared in her life. "As long as you make it up to me later," she smiled coyly at him.
|
|
|
|
Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 3, 2015 19:16:24 GMT
Parker grinned at Liv, leaning in to press a quick kiss to her lips. “Oh, I can promise you that, love. Shall we?” he gestured, leading her over to a group that he knew didn’t contain their biggest fans. But they were all adults now, weren’t they? He zeroed in on Cooper, fixing a smile onto his face. “Benson, you don’t call, you don’t write. One might think you were avoiding me,” he greeted cheerfully. “Do you have a minute to talk shop?”
Cooper ticked his eyebrow up, running his hand through his hair and then shaking his head. “Parker, now’s not really the best time to get into it, yeah? Call my assistant, she’ll set up a time for us to speak on the phone.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Olivia Warren-Blye on Sept 3, 2015 19:29:05 GMT
Madison could feel her body tense as Parker and Olivia approached, and she couldn't help but think back to the last time she had found herself in a public gathering in which they had made their presence known. It hadn't ended well then, but she hoped that this time would be different. The truth was she thought she knew both of them well enough to know that they weren't just going to be able to tell them to "shoo" and expect them to do it. She became instinctually aware of how close she was actually standing to Cooper and contemplated reaching for his hand, as a way to not only protect herself from what she was sure was an impending explosion, but also to make some sort of subtle claim. It was the latter that had seemed the oddest, and it was the part that kept her from acting, instead she sipped at her drink and watched the pair for a moment. "Let's all just enjoy what's left of the holiday weekend?" she offered instead.
Liv laughed softly, shaking her head at the entire situation, "So sociable with everyone else but suddenly you can't spare a moment of your time to actually speak with either of us?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 3, 2015 19:36:58 GMT
Parker nodded, “Liv actually has a point. What are events like this for if not to network?” He glanced at Madison for a moment before glancing back at Cooper. “Besides, I really need to get going on this deal and I don’t really understand why you’re stalling so much. It’s good for both of us, Benson. Good for the bottom line.”
Cooper drained what was left in his glass and shook his head at Parker. “Listen, I didn’t really want to talk about this here, at a party, but there won’t be a deal. We don’t think that an investment with your company is a sustainable one for our properties, high-tech is still too high risk for the magnitude of the deal you’re talking about, Parker. And the idea that you don’t see that, as well as other questionable choices,” his eyes flicked up to Olivia for it. “Make me question your judgment as a potential business partner, so we’ll be passing it up.”
Amber, who couldn’t help but watch as Cooper not-so subtly took a dig at Liv and giggled into her martini glass.
|
|
|
|
Post by Olivia Warren-Blye on Sept 3, 2015 19:49:01 GMT
Olivia surveyed Cooper for a moment, seemingly sizing up the man who dared to think that there were more suitable business partners for him than Parker, who had proven himself to be quite the dedicated little worker in her opinion. "Something could be said about your questionable choices as well," she remarked, moving her attention over to Madison. "Maybe it really works out better for everyone this way. No fears or concerns that any decisions made by Parker's company would be ... meek. Or frankly, not very long-lasting. I find that he tends to be the sort that makes decisions that would be effectual in the long-run - and not just a sprint." Olivia didn't feel that she had quite met her quota for reminding the other woman that she had lost Parker in her life to an obviously much better-suited candidate.
Maddy wanted to think that this hadn't suddenly taken a turn toward Olivia personally attacking her again, but she couldn't be so naive to think that it was at all true. She chose to bite her bottom lip for a second to keep from saying anything and instead turned her attention to her shoes. At the moment, they seemed to be the most interesting part of this entire conversation.
Brandon shot a quick grin at Amber before turning his attention back to the drama that was beginning to unfold. He wasn't sure that he was ever going to be used to be outside of the drama, but in lieu of everything that had happened recently, he wasn't necessarily convinced that it was time to jump right back into it either.
|
|
|
|
Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 3, 2015 20:02:08 GMT
Cooper ticked his eye up at Liv. “If I thought for a second that you were actually talking about business, Olivia, I’d point out that the problem with hardwiring property to depend on technology like the kind Parker is peddling is that then we’re relying on technology. A power outage hits, a natural disaster cuts out cell and wireless towers, or someone hacks it – we’re locked out of everything and so are my clients and we lose millions of dollars a seconds. But since I’m not stupid enough to think that you’re trying to seem remotely knowledgeable about a business deal you know nothing about, how about you stop trying to piss on your boyfriend and embarrassing yourself around here, yeah? I’ve got a four year old at home, I don’t need to deal with a petulant child on my night out.”
Amber flat out laughed at that, turning her head slightly and trying to briefly mask it as a cough in Brandon’s shoulder. She turned back to Liv and arched an eyebrow. “Liv, don’t come over here and try to insult my friends, it won’t end well.”
Parker pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is all escalating quickly.”
|
|
|
|
Post by Olivia Warren-Blye on Sept 3, 2015 20:12:36 GMT
The truth was that Olivia wasn't sure she even cared to know what the entire conversation had truly been about. Part of the reason she had chosen not to find a career right out of school was because she had come to the realization that it was all petty politics, and she had quite enough of that in her day-to-day. "It seems to me that you're letting me get a lot further under your skin than you might like to admit, Cooper. And quite frankly, I could really give a damn about whether or not you think I'm ... what was it that you said - a petulant child? But really it must be the fact that you're around children constantly that has made you forget how to have an adult conversation without resulting in name calling. You really should be ashamed of yourself."
|
|
|
|
Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 3, 2015 21:02:02 GMT
Cooper laughed at Olivia. "You're telling me I should be ashamed of myself Olivia?" he asked incredulously. "Do you know what you are to everyone here? You're our source of entertainment. Maybe when everyone was younger, we took you seriously because wes were all young and stupid. But now? We laugh at your desperate attempts to stay relevant and the petty games that you try to play with people that couldn't give a damn if you stopped showing up. You're such a joke, that people don't take Parker seriously anymore. Not because you're trouble, but because you're a nuisance. You're a waste of space that none of us have time to deal with anymore." He smirked at her. "I've been playing those games a lot longer than you have, sweetheart. I was varsity, you're still J.V. don't push me, because you won't like it if I'm forced out of retirement."
|
|
