Valerie

9 - Val

"Why are you talking to him like that?" Another man came into view. He looked like Thomas except a little older and shorter. "You're the staff and he lives here." He said to me. Right because of course everyone that Thomas associates with are snobs. I needed to remember that even if he apologised, he could still be an arrogant asshole.

"Right, sorry." I said in a small voice, shrinking into myself. I didn't dare to look at Thomas again but I could practically feel the tension radiating off of him. Weird.

Ugh, I'm so dumb. I should have known better than talk to Thomas who was essentially my boss.

The man that told me off, which it now clicked was probably Thomas' brother, turned away from me, dismissing me silently. I took this as my cue to leave and glanced to Thomas before I went. He looked like he was about to say something before his brother cut him off with, "Tommy, you need to get dressed. You're supposed to look somewhat presentable at your own dinner." 

Tommy? I stifled a laugh.

As I was walking away, it hit me. This was Thomas' birthday dinner. Jesus, my last birthday consisted of... I couldn't remember.

I swallowed the bile that had risen up to my throat in response to this realisation. If I couldn't remember, then something really bad must have happened.

---

I could feel his eyes on me. Every now and again, he would look at another guest, greet them and then sure enough, his eyes would be trained back on me.

I never looked back though because I needed this job and I did not need his brother having a go at me and getting me sacked. 

I wish he would stop staring at me though, it was really throwing me off for reasons I couldn't explain. Maybe it was his fitted suit that sculpted his muscles, or maybe it was the way his soft, dark hair was styled but he was just distracting. Either way, he was clearly staring at me to make some point, that I was beneath him or something. 

I was on the other side of the room, tray with champagne glasses in hand. At one rare point when Thomas wasn't looking, a man around my age came up to me, an arrogant smirk etched onto his face. Definitely a relative of Thomas.

He had sandy blonde hair that was cut short, into curtain bangs. He was a tiny bit taller than me, but not much, and had a lean physique.

"Champagne, please." He said, looking me up and down. Slightly irritating, considering my tray was right in front of him but nevertheless, I took a glass off, careful to not drop or wobble the tray and handed it to him. 

As he took it from me, his fingers gripped onto mine, for a second too long. Yuck. I shivered from disgust but he must have taken it a completely different way from the way he was looking at me like I was his next meal and not the four course one about to be served. 

"I'm Tyler, what's your name?" He asked, once again, looking me up and down.

I just smiled at him and gave him no response. His eyes darted to my name tag before obviously ogling at my boobs and he said, "Val."

I gave him a tight-lipped smile, suddenly unsure of my safety. He licked his lips and looked like he was about to reach for me when an older looking man, in the centre of the room, with salt and pepper hair clinked his knife on his glass, about to make a speech. 

As Tyler turned around, I let out a relieved sigh. I did not want this man anywhere near me. 

"As you all know, it is Thomas' twentieth birthday today." The older man began and a soft applause rippled through the room.