Lust, Lies, and Forbidden Ties ✵ h.s.

✵ seventeen ✵

"That's great! I will definitely see you soon!"

She agreed, saying she would see me soon as well before we hung up. I thought it was a pointless phone call, but I just brushed it off.  Mrs. Woods probably just wanted to make sure I was going to be on time, but I was also certain that she expected nothing less of me.  After all, I had never been late to work without notice once in the year and a half that I had worked for her, so why would I start now? Sighing at the thought, I found managing to readjust the neckline of my dress. It was a strapless dress, and I liked it when I bought it the other day, but now I could tell it was just going to be a huge bother for the rest of the evening. Of course, I hoped that it wouldn't cause that much of an issue, but I figured only time would tell.

Oliver held my hand as he drove.  He kept my hand in his, our hands resting on his thigh as he drove.  I thought the gesture was cute, especially since I wasn't used to men treating me that well.  Normally, they were either assholes, wanted me for sex, or both.  With Oliver, I didn't feel that way at all.  I always felt like he wanted to hang out with me because he genuinely enjoyed my company.  It was nice in comparison to previous men, and I was still not sure if I would ever get used to him being so kind.

The car ride felt a little longer than I had anticipated the twenty minute drive to be.  I blamed the usual New York traffic, but there was also the fact that when we pulled up to the actual event center, there were an insane amount of cars.  Before Oliver and I could even think of getting out, we had to wait to make it up to valet.  Though, once we did make it, Oliver was quick to get out of the car, handing his keys to one of the many attendants working.  My door was opened, Oliver holding his hand out to me once I had stepped out of the vehicle and grabbed my small purse.  I grasped it quickly, noticing that there were a lot of people here.  I recalled Mrs. Woods saying that there had been a lot of people, but I didn't think there would have been this many.

There appeared to be a red carpet of sorts, but I had no intentions of participating in such activities.  Especially not if I wasn't going to lose anything if I didn't.  When I had walked the carpet with Harry, it was most certainly because he had to do it.  However, I personally was not someone who needed to do a red carpet and I was not about to try and work my way into that area of expertise either.  Pulling Oliver right past the cameras, and interviewers, he laughed softly, asking where I was in a rush to go.

"Red carpets make me nervous," I told him as we continued toward the building.  "I don't like them very much."

"Oh, okay," he nodded, taking my answer without any doubts.  "I guess that's why you're practically sprinting then."

It made me roll my eyes, Oliver and I making it to the entrance of the building.  The more I thought about it, though, the more I felt like trying to work my way down the carpet would have been worthless to my time anyway.  It wasn't like I was anyone of importance, so none of the people who were interviewing or taking photos would have wanted to waste their time on me anyway. 

Once we stepped inside, I was surprised to see that not only were we not the first ones here, but there were very clearly over a hundred people already milling around.  As I looked around the venue, I also noticed that the entire room was decked out completely. The theme was obvious, and while it was supposed to look like a Moulin Rouge type, it also looked like Gatsby had thrown a party. I genuinely felt like I was in some sort of movie, knowing that I had been to fancy events before, but this one definitely took the cake.  All of the things inside were beautiful, several spots open for photos, while there were drinks and food at every corner of the room. There was a stage toward the back, someone performing jazz music, but I found myself walking in further with Oliver, spotting Mrs. Woods not much later.