Just One Cup

Chapter 2

Chapter Two [REWRITTEN] : Aurora

"Aurora!" I heard a voice call from behind me, turning from my seat to see Lucy striding over.

She put one arm over my shoulder once she was close enough and took a seat at the front bar next to me. "You look stunning! How have you been? I heard a lot of wonderful things about you and your cafe."

I was relieved with our decision to meet at the nightclub lounge bar instead of the club downstairs.

It was quiet with dimmed lights and easier to carry out conversations and had a neon blue lit bar. There were continuous booths consisting of dark red lounge chairs and doors on one side of the walls that I wasn't sure where it led to.

I grinned and looked down at my outfit that I randomly threw together last minute. "Nothing new, really. Glad you invited me out, but you're flattering me too much."

"You're being silly again, like always!" She nudged my side. "Give us something strong." She spoke, winking at the bartender.

"Coming right up, ladies," the bartender smirked at her.

She really does know everyone.

Lucy turned her attention back to me. "There's something different about you since the last time I saw you. You know, since you left your family and came here, but I can't put my finger on it."

I hated thinking about the past, but I knew it was always a part of me. I will never truly escape from them. "Have you seen them?" The question lingering heavily on the tip of my tongue.

She gazed around the lounge before her eyes landed back on mine. "I heard some things about them and Liam from some of my friends there. They are still looking for you. Don't you think that it's weird that Emma showed up in the same city as you did, literally weeks after you settled down?"

The quiet music rang in my ears as Lucy paused for a second to inch closer to me. The distant clattering replacing her words and hazy figures I could not make out in the dimmed lights occupied my senses instead.

She spoke softer this time, "I mean, I know that she was never mentioned in conversations when you were younger and she was basically nonexistent to them, but it is weird to me." She ran her fingers through her short brown hair before folding her hands onto her lap.

Before I got the chance to reply, the bartender slid two shots towards us. "Hope I didn't keep you ladies waiting."

I was quick to take one to drown my thoughts away, even if it was for one night.

"Oh, Aurora. My friend is here too," she tapped my shoulder and directed my gaze across the lounge and towards a booth in the corner with her pointer finger. "I want you to meet him."

I did not get a chance to reply when she took my hand and dragged me across the lounge.

You have got to be kidding me.

I thought my eyes were playing games with me, but as we neared him, it was no doubt the man from the cafe this morning. I stopped on my track and tried to get Lucy's attention quietly. "Actually, I need to–"

Lucy failed to notice that I was speaking as he looked up at us with his large back leaning against the seat in the booth. The faded lights hanging on the ceiling made it hard to make up his image unless you were close.

"Dante, this is Aurora. Aurora, this is Dante, a friend of mine who I did some business with lately. He owns this place, so I come here often for free drinks." She made me take a seat across from him.