Chapter 2

"Relax, Eloïse," Marila consoled, "don't be so rigid. Move around, get acquainted, drink more. It's my birthday and this is all I wish for," she suddenly feigned drastic sadness, "Unless...unless you don't want me happy tonight. I mean, I understand that--"

Eloïse rolled her eyes, "ok, fine, fine. No need to be this dramatic. But I won't get that wasted. Dad wants me home in one piece."

Marila squealed, swiftly kissed her friend, and snaked to a pool of boys seated at the far end of the dim room.

Eloïse wanted to dot out. She didn't like the crowd, the ear-splitting music, the fact that she knew little to no one in the party besides her best friends, she hated the stench of alcohol as it only made her remember the puke she had seen and smelled earlier that evening. Now, she knew not if her absence of socialism was associated with the fact that her dad had begun depriving her of such two years before she hit puberty. Everyone knows how that period of one's life can take a pretty big toll on an individual.

"Hey, Eloïse. Come join us," Marila waved from her pool of Hollywood model entourage to her friend who just stood like a pole amidst the busy room. Eloïse, being the ever so shy girl she was as far as boys were concerned, excused herself to get a refill.

She was in search of Bennie. She hadn't seen the brunette almost all night long. Last she remembered sighting her was during the birthday girl's grande entré. Epic. She must admit everything went on as planned if not, then perfect: Marila radiated a captivating beauty in her haute couture mauve outfit mainly composed of plumes. The fabric which shielded her upper body was a purple Versace silk chiffon. She boarded a silver swing which gradually descended with her gorgeous figure as the swan-dressed ballerinas waited below with their gracious tiptoe gestures. A true goddess she was. Hollywood had to keep an eye on their journalist in case they ran short of a model someday.

A hand grabbed Eloïse's shoulder causing her to skip a bit. "Bennie, Jesus! You scared the spirit out of me."

"Scared you? In this ruckus?" Bennie had on a simple skinny black leather gown on black boots. In her hand was an almost empty champagne flute.

"Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Oh. I've been here and there," she hiccuped then giggled.

"You're wasted," Eloïse commented. Examining her out-of-character friend.

"Who? Me?" She hiccuped, "I'm not wasted. I'm just a little out...of place."

Eloïse rolled her eyes, "Come with me. You need some water and not," she struggled to pull the flute from her friend's grip, "this." But Bennie won't let her.

"No no-no-no. This is a once in a year thing, Eloïse," she hiccuped, "and we have to enjoy it like our lives depended on it. Do you understand? At least... At least, your dad agreed you join us till dawn unlike in high," she hiccuped, "school when he would prefer you attended the day party only. And not to forget...under his supervision." She laughed. "Ole days! I miss that sometimes buttttt...you're with us tonight. Drink and mingle Eloïse." She laughed deviously as she exited in a backward motion.

Eloïse sighed as she was left all alone. Once again. For some reason, so suddenly, she wished her dad never agreed for her to attend. Originally, he disagreed but after a special treatment from his wife, his mind completely changed.

Suddenly, the air felt so hot and all Eloïse wanted to do at that point in time was inflate her lungs with something pure and feed her eyes with better wonderful things but upon taking a step towards sanity, the mic screeched, inducing winces as some protected their ears with their palms.

"Uhh... Sorry," Marila giggled. She had peeled off her haute couture and was now in a plain white dress with splatters of gold, an amalgamation which portrayed a Greek goddess vibe. "Please, please your attention. My cake will be arriving in less than ten and I beg on the following to not be up to an arm's reach away: Bennie Fitzgerald and Eloïse Woods.

I hope ya'll are enjoying the party so far," she childishly flashed her thirty twos. "With that being said keep the music poppingggg."

Determined to complete her journey, Eloïse dashed out of the pungent hall and even though outside still littered with some late teens talking, laughing, and smooching, it still was far better than the interior. She walked past a good number of them to make it to a manageable spot where silently sat on a rock bench to stare at the night of a thousand stars.

Funny to herself how Marila's twentieth-anniversary preparation had drifted her entire attention off the fashion show due in less than seventy-two hours. She had slacked so much in the past six days that she worried about her mother taking care of everything despite the old woman not wanting her to meddle until Marila's birthday was done and dusted with.

Enjoy yourself Eloïse. I want to hear you talk about a boy after that party is over. Her mother had said.

Eloïse exhaled. Wasn't that easy to mingle. Especially with those of the opposite sex.

"You could barely think it's twilight with a star as bright and as close."

Eloïse turned her attention to the stupefying handsomity standing adjacent to her. His masculine facial features which pointed to the dark sky now turned to her. She flushed and even more when she realized what he meant.

"I must admit for once that my grandma was wrong when she said beautiful things were only found in the upper firmament. Hi, I'm Craig. Craig Donnelly," he kissed the back of her palm, smiled a bit, and that alone made her forget her name as she transformed into a stuttering mess. "Eloïse Woods, I presume," He surprised her.

"A...Uh yeah, yeah that's my...name." She almost wanted to ask how he knew her name but bit back from it. Afraid it might sound awkward. But as if reading her mind he said,

"I'm a fashion worm. Follow your mum on all her social media sites where I've read about you and seen you twice or thrice."

"Oh." That was all she could mutter. She internally cursed herself.

"May I keep you company?"

"Uh...yeah...sure." She got a spread-out piece of her silky off-shoulder red gown off the space he now invaded. As the wind blew through their silence, a whiff of his Cologne blew past her nostrils. He smelled so good. God, she sounded like a creep.

"Are...are you a friend of Marila's?" She broke the silence. She had to, else, she would be enticed to analyze every other aspect of his entirety. Both visible and invisible. Again, she flushed at the unladylike thought. Did he notice?

He smiled, "Not really. We chatted on a dating site once or twice before I quit. She had informed me about this and I couldn't miss it. Thankfully it fell on a weekend."

"Oh. So...why did you quit?"

"Work. Too busy to keep up with online dating. Was my friend's idea to pertain to it by the way," he chuckled, "said I was going gray and had to settle as soon as possible."

Gray? He couldn't be any older than twenty-five based on her analyses.

Too bad he worked already. Eloïse thought to herself. He would've made a perfect model with the perfect jet black hair, perfect nose, whittled jawline, strong, fierce eyes which she had noticed gave a pleading smoldering intensity. He was just so perfect. A lot better than Ace.

"What about you?" He picked her out of reverie.

"Huh?" He had been talking and she was busy mind drooling over him.

"I asked what you were doing here all by yourself."

"I lost my friends in the hands of the party."

"I take it you're not the easily-get-a- acquainted kind of person better still, not a party person, right?" Eloïse nodded, glad he didn't mention the term her friends usually called, 'Shy', at the same time, scared that he might end up understanding she was a daddy's daughter which would either scare him away or let him make fun of the situation.

"It's normal. I would behave likewise if I were in your parent's shoes. Bad things happen every day as the earth rotates. If I were your boyfriend, I'll count myself blessed to have a girl like you; pure and innocent."

She blushed. He had a way with words. How charming. The good part of it all is she hadn't a boyfriend and as much as she wanted to let him know, something had her mouth stitched. She didn't want to sound like she was campaigning for one. Her dad's angry image abruptly popped on her mind.

"How can you so easily tell I attribute to those aspects?"

"We all can distinguish wheat from weeds can't we?"

Not only was he good-looking. He was smart too. A walking bag of parables. She interiorly yelled. For a moment, silence reigned.

"Have you ever thought about becoming a model?" She asked.

"Is that a compliment or a job opportunity?" Eloïse whipped her head in the opposite direction to hide her umpteenth flush of the night. "Well, no. I never thought of that but won't mind giving it one for your sake but I'm afraid my work won't give away a bit of my time."

"Eloïse!" Bennie called from a distance, cupping her mouth with both hands, "it's time to cut the cake and Marila's going crazy looking for you. Hurry!"

"Oh my," she vacated her seat, "it was nice meeting you Craig but I have to go."

"The pleasure is all mine. Will love to see you off if that won't bother you." He curved his elbow, his dazzling black eyes putting the night to shame.

What a gentleman. She smiled at him while hooking her arm to his.

"Shall we?" He portrayed a killer smile.