Chapter 16: Enough Work, Let’s Go For Drinks
Cassandra’s POV
I walked into the studio and was surprised to bump into Stella. She had a roll of fabric under her arm.
“Stella?” I asked. “What are you still doing here? Why haven’t you gone home yet?”
“You know me,” she said in a joking tone. “There’s nothing to go home to. Work’s my only lover.”
I chuckled. Stella had no shortage of male admirers. In fact, I was pretty sure she got asked out at least once a day. But she refused them. She wanted to focus on her career and she believed that men were all just distractions.
“What about you? I thought you had that thing tonight at Jordyn’s grandfather’s?”
I nodded. “I did. But it ended early. So I decided to come here to get a jump start on that difficult dress order.”
Of course, I neglected to mention that by ‘ended early’, I really meant ‘I was pushed down a flight of stairs by Jordyn’s lover’. But she didn’t need to know the details of that ordeal.
Yet.
And I also neglected to mention that I’d made an ominous deal with Jordyn that put my secret identity at jeopardy. Again, it was nothing she needed to know.
At least not right now.
“I just put on a new pot of coffee,” Stella smiled brightly. “Help yourself. And if you need anything, I’m just down the hall.”
“Thanks,” I smiled.
Five minutes later, fresh coffee in hand, I was hunched over my desk examining Ellie’s dress order. She was picky, with a long list of requirements. She clearly wanted something show-stopping and one-a-kind. Something that would make others turn green with envy when they saw it.
I was struggling though with the design. I didn’t understand why Jordyn refused to divorce me sooner. According to Ellie, they were practically engaged. I mean, come on. She’d just ordered an engagement dress! So what was the hold up?
“Focus, Cassandra,” I scolded myself. Whatever was going on with Ellie and Jordyn was none of my business. I had a job to do – design a knockout engagement dress for Ellie.
There was just one little problem.
I was completely and unequivocally UN-inspired.
I sighed. It was no use. I couldn’t come up with a single idea for this dress. I was just wasting my time right now.
I had too much on my mind.
So I decided to go and talk to Stella about the agreement I made with Jordyn. Maybe if I unburdened my mind a bit, I’d let in
some room for some fresh ideas.
I knocked softly on her door.
“You don’t need to knock,” Stella chuckled from inside. I opened the door and sat across from her. She was flipping through the latest fashion magazine, a tired look on her face. “Blah blah blah. It’s all pastels and florals this season. Meh. Where’s the fun in that?”
“It’s a throwback to the delicate femininity of the early Victorian era,” I said.
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She raised her eyebrows at me.
“But you’re right,” I quickly added. Stella hated it when I spat out facts about fashion. “It’s no fun at all.” She smiled triumphantly. “Look. I need to talk to you,” I blurted out. No time like the present, right?
She closed the magazine and leaned back in her chair.
“Shoot,” she said.
“Okay, but don’t judge me. I sort of…I agree to arrange a meeting between Jordyn and the Hot House Flower CEO.” I bit my lip and waited for the tongue-lashing I was sure Stella would bestow.
“But you’re the CEO,” Stella said. “Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know. It just sort of happened. He backed me into a corner. He said he won’t sign the divorce papers until I arrange this meeting.”
“But Cass, he doesn’t know WHO you are. I thought we were trying to keep it that way. Don’t worry about it. He can meet with me. We’ll pretend you’re my assistant.”
“Really?” I was glad she was on board with this. “You’re the best, Stella. Just one more thing though. Jordyn’s company actually has quite a bit to bring to the table. So if he offers you a good deal, don’t discount it because of me. I don’t want my own personal hang-ups to get in the way of a good business deal for Hot House Flower.”
Stella narrowed her eyes. Then she nodded. “You got it. I’ll consider his offer carefully. Now what do you say we get out here and hit up that bar down the street? The really popular one? The something circle or square? I can’t remember what it’s called. But you know the one. What do you say? Drinks on me, to celebrate you ‘almost’ being single.” She winked.
“The Vicious Circle. Sure, why not?” I replied. I wasn’t getting any work done here anyway. A night out might do me good. Besides, I’d been meaning to check out that bar. Everyone raved about it. I wanted to see what all the hype was about.
We gathered our things and ordered a cab. Thirty minutes later we pulled up to the bar.
Once we got inside, we were shocked to see the place packed. And I mean PACKED. The dance floor was elbow to elbow and the line up for drinks at the bar was insane! It was positively pumping.
“This place really IS popular,” Stella whispered, nudging me in the direction of the bar.
“Did it hurt?” A strange man appeared behind us. He leered at Stella.
“Excuse me?” Stella asked.
“I was just wondering if it hurt when you fell from heaven. Because you, sweetheart, are an angel.”
Stella and I looked at each other. He was so serious! We burst out laughing.
“That’s the worst pick up line I’ve ever heard,” Stella said, as we made our way around the man. We both just wanted to drink and have fun, but we got hit on three more times before we even made it to the bar.
Eventually, we got our drinks. A really cute guy asked Stella to dance. I could tell she wanted to.
“Go,” I said rolling my eyes.
“Just one dance,” she smiled. There were a few empty seats at the bar on the far end, so I went and sat in one. Moments later, a man asked if the seat was taken.
“All yours,” I said.
He sat down.
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“Whatcha drinking?” he smiled at me.
“Vodka martini,” I replied.
“Classy drink,” he said. “Look, I’m not very good at this whole ‘talking to beautiful women’ thing. So please forgive my
awkwardness.”
I smiled. He was sort of endearing. At least he wasn’t trying to drop cheesy pick up lines on me. So I let my guard down. We chatted for a bit. At first, he seemed all right. Kind of sweet. Stella was having a great time on the dance floor. He offered to buy me another drink and I let him. What was the harm, right?
Well, about halfway through the second drink, he started getting a little too ‘touchy-feely’ for my liking. He placed his hand on my thigh and slid it up. I grabbed it and removed it.
“Oh come on,” he said, his demeanor changing. “You’re flirting with me. You’re practically begging me to touch you. Don’t act all coy now.”
“Pardon?” I said. Then I shook my head. The way he was looking at me made me feel very uncomfortable. I stood up to leave.
But he reached out and pulled me towards him.
“Not so fast,” he whispered in my ear. “I bought you a drink. The least you can do is thank me properly”
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