Ava expertly brushed the garden path free of dirt and branches while humming to herself. Thoughts of Sébastien filled her head and she quietly smiled to herself.
She hadn't seen him yet today, but she knew it couldn't be long before he turned up again somewhere with that smirk of his and his hands that he couldn't keep to himself. At the very least she'd see him at dinner again, which they always held together lately.
Despite the fact he'd told her he was done with work for a while, he'd been cooped up in his office a suspicious amount of time. It made her fear that he'd only come back here so that she wouldn't have to be in New York City after the scene she'd caused. She didn't want her bad decisions to impact his work and his company but anytime she tried to carefully bring it up he'd assure her he'd finished his projects and was just doing minor work from home.
The sun had finally started to come out and she took a moment to simply enjoy it. The clouds had been a constant companion of hers yet she couldn't bring herself to miss them. It wasn't that hot outside, it was actually pretty cold still. But the sun brought a warm light that made her feel calm and relaxed.
When a strong arm suddenly wrapped around her waist she let out a yelp as she bumped into a large chest. The rumbling laughter that reverberated through the chest gave the identity of the culprit away. "Sébastien," she half-whined while still being held against him. "You scared me."
"I'm sorry," he replied while barely holding in his laughter, telling her that he wasn't that sorry at all. But he did loosen his grip on her waist, allowing her to turn around to face him.
The sunlight in his dark brown eyes brought out the shining gold flecks and briefly distracted her from the conversation that had just started. "It's fine," she replied distractedly. "What's going on?"
He briefly dipped down to kiss her on the lips, but it quickly turned into more as his tongue demanded access, which she freely gave. His soft lips moved in sync with her own and she lost herself in the feeling of his warmth against her skin.
She reached up to cup his jaw and pull him even closer, if that was even possible at all. It was only when a slight breeze brushed her hair that she realized they were still outside, and George or Lauren could see them.
She quickly pulled back, surprising Sébastien. "What's wrong?" he asked, his brows knit together in confusion.
"We're outside," Ava replied, as if that explained anything.
"So?"
"So, someone could see us."
"You're embarrassed by me?"
"Wh—No! No, I didn't mean it like that, I—"
"Ave," he interrupted. "I was joking. You don't have to explain to me why something makes you uncomfortable.
"Oh," she said, now embarrassed.
"I almost forgot, I came here to ask you something."
"What's that?"
"I'm going out to get drinks with some friends tonight, do you want to come?"
"Drinks?" Ava asked uneasily. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"You don't have to drink alcohol if you don't want to. I'll be with you the entire night, I promise. You can invite Everly too if you want, her brother's coming too."
Ava thought about it for a while. If she didn't drink, it may actually turn out to be fun. But last time she didn't want to either and people called her boring for it.
But then again Sébastien wasn't there to help her back then.
"Do I have to decide right now?"
"Of course not. And if you change your mind later that's fine too," he replied while reaching up to brush his fingers against her cheek. She couldn't help but smile up at him. What did she ever do to deserve him?
"Thank you," she whispered before standing up to her toes to briefly kiss him on his lips.
"Let me know when you've made up your mind," he asked before pulling away. She watched him go while still thinking of his offer. It would be nice to go out as a couple, and do normal couple things.
But the drinking aspect made her a little wary while also worrying about his friends. What if they didn't like her? Maybe it was a courtesy offer from Sébastien and she was supposed to decline?
She tried to imagine what his friends here were like. Would they be the same as those from New York? If they were like Justin, she'd be fine with it.
A memory suddenly entered her mind. It was the first time she'd met Sébastien and he asked her to serve drinks to him and his friends. But his friend turned out to be terribly rude and asked her to do something that was way over the line. Even back then, Sébastien had stepped in to protect her, but what if that same person was coming too?
With a sigh, she decided she'd need help making this decision. From her pocket, she pulled out her phone and pressed the call button. If she was lucky, Everly was on her break right now. If not, she'd have to wait until she was called back.
"Hey bestie," came Everly's ever-cheery voice from the other side. "What's up?"
"Hey, Everly," Ava greeted back. "Um, I wanted to ask you something."
"Anything for you," she immediately replied, making Ava smile a little.
"Well, Sébastien is going to get drinks with his friends tonight and he asked me to come too, but I don't know what to do. You're invited as well, by the way. He said something about your brother coming too."
"Oh, yeah. I did hear something about that, sounds really fun. Why wouldn't you want to go?"
"Well, I don't like to drink, for starters. And Séb said that I wouldn't have to but I don't want people to think I'm being boring or anything. And what if his friends don't like me?"
"I've known these guys my whole life, they're not that complicated. I highly doubt they'll dislike you. And it's fine if you don't want to drink! Don't worry," Everly assured her. "And hey, if you really feel bad about it I'll come and won't drink either."
"No, I don't want you to come and not have fun because of me."
"It won't be just because of you, then. I'll have to drive me and my brother home and drunk driving would be really irresponsible, don't you think."
"Everly..."
"No! My mind has been made up! Fear not, my friend. We'll go through this together. See you tonight, then, bye!"
"Ever-" Ava started before realizing she'd already hung up. Now she couldn't not go out tonight. At least she wasn't the only sober person present, a thought that did ease her nerves.
The only thing left to do was to text Sébastien to inform her of her decision. With a quick text, she let him know that she would be coming too before sliding the phone back into her pocket. There was still a good chunk of the garden path left to sweep but she decided it could be done tomorrow.
Right now, she had to pick out her outfit. She mentally slapped herself at the realization, she should've asked Everly what she was going to wear. But she wasn't going to call her again. She could do this by herself, at least.
After all, it was just an outfit. Right?
She made her way to her bedroom and opened her closet. There were a lot more clothes in there than when she just started working there, and she shifted through her options.
One dress was cute, but very short. It made Ava fear she couldn't comfortably sit down and she'd have to stand the whole night, so she moved on to her next option.
It was a slightly longer dress, but bright orange. It ensured that she would stand out, something which she really did not want to do. She didn't think she'd ever wear any of the two dresses but throwing them away would feel ungrateful, so she put them back into the closet.
Her eyes finally landed on a soft pink cocktail dress. It didn't look half bad so she tried it on to see how it fit her.
When she looked in the mirror she was surprised to find it didn't look half bad. The soft pink accentuated her skin tone and the dress was tight around the waist but flowed outward at the waist until reaching just above her knees.
There were still a good few hours to go until dinner so she took off the dress and put it on her bed. Contently, she looked at the garment and smiled. She only hoped Sébastien liked it the same way she did.
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Hi guys!
Another exciting event coming up for Ava, hope it goes well this time...
And I hope you liked this chapter! Let me know your opinions?
Chapters 1 to 39 are available on my Patreon! Please check it out if you have the means :)
xx May