Greg
I jumped when Fiore placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw her smiling at me, but anyone who knew Fiore always looked to her eyes. I recognized the mischievous planning look in her eyes instantly. "How may I help you, milady?" I asked, turning toward her. She gave a look at Eliza, who cocked her brow questioningly. Fiore's gaze turned back to me, with an identical expression.
"I'll be back in a minute, Eliza. I haven't yet had a dance with Fiore." She nodded and I walked with Fiore to dance. She hadn't said a word yet, so I simply pulled her close and began dancing, waiting for her to start. With Fiore, there was always a purpose behind her actions. I simply had to be patient.
"So, how was New York?" She asked me, politely.
"Dirty," I answered simply. "But exciting."
"It must have been much more than that. You stayed away so long." Her voice was even, but I heard the hint of anger behind it. I knew Fiore had been supportive of my need to leave, feeling stifled in my own environment. But she also wasn't happy with how I'd left things with Christine.
"I don't regret my trip, Fiore. I learned a lot about myself. What I want in life. But I will admit that I made a mistake in how I went about it."
Fiore sighed. "As much as I would like to, I'm not here to berate you for leaving. You're an adult, you wanted to leave, so you did it. I've known you almost as long as Christine, and care about you too. I know how badly you needed to leave. You had to let your father know you wouldn't just be his stable hand forever, you are capable of much more. I was upset that you hurt Christine, but you didn't do anything wrong. She's a big girl."
"Then please enlighten me, Fi. You're scaring me with that delightfully eerie smile of yours." I joked and she gave a light laugh.
"You know, I missed you too." She admitted. "You rarely kept in touch."
"I did try. But I was an idiot. I got swept up by the city and forgot to keep my family in mind." She didn't answer, but I caught her eyes sweeping the room.
"So why now? Was two years your limit? Or did it have to do with a certain ring?" She asked me. I tensed under her probing gaze and frowned.
"Fi..."
"Don't act as if I'm supposed to be clueless."
"I never have."
"Good," She smiled. "She's still just as beautiful as ever, right?"
"I can't argue with that." I admitted. "Just as wonderful too, I imagine."
"A bit more hardy, actually. A tad more cynical." Fiore informed me. "You broke the heart of the hopeless romantic. What did you expect? She's grown up, Greg. She still loves pink frilly things, of course." We shared a laugh at that. "But she's not going to fall at your feet because of something that ended two years ago. She's too...guarded for that to happen."
"Why are you divulging this all to me?" She sighed and didn't answer my question.
"I hope you didn't come all the way back up here just to screw everything up." She finally said.
"So you think pursuing her is a bad idea?"
"Is that what I said? I merely said don't screw up."
"Vague, as always, Fi."
"Am I supposed to spoon feed you everything?" She asked, her eyebrow raising again.
"No, I guess that would be a lot less exciting." I replied in an amused tone. Fiore scanned the room once again and finally settled her gaze in one area.
"In about two minutes, an opportunity will present itself. Don't squander it." She pulled away just as quickly as she had appeared and was gone. That was Fiore, all cryptic messages and vague hints.
Katie
"Chad, would you excuse me for just a moment?" I asked and he smiled.
"I had a feeling. Go do whatever it is Fiore asked of you." He chuckled, taking a sip of his drink. "I'll be right here."
My head was still fuzzy and coming up with a way to distract Christine was difficult to concentrate on, but I eventually settled on simple as I probably couldn't mange anything too complicated. I moved in Christine's direction, swaying slightly, regretting Eliza's shoe selection for me. Heels and drunken walking did not go together.
Christine was standing with who I recognized from pictures as her fiancé, though I had yet to meet him. I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned, her expression one of surprise until she saw it was me, and her mouth settled into a polite smile. "Hi Katie. Oh, Micah, this is Katie. She's Guili's new nanny and here with Chad. Katie, this is Micah, my fiancé."
I reached out and shook his hand, trying to keep myself from swaying on my feet. "Whoa, are you okay there?" He asked as I stumbled a little.
"I'm glorious," I drawled, 'accidentally' spilling all of my remaining drink onto my dress. I gave a squeal as the cold liquid seeped through the fabric onto my skin. Christine immediately reacted, grabbing the cup away from me and holding me at her side. "Oh no..." I gave a low sob as I looked down at my (actually, Eliza's...) dress that was now soaked with what I think was beer that I had snuck after Eliza and Chad had tried to cut me off.
"Micah, I'm going to help Katie. I'll be back." He nodded as I was guided in the direction of what I believe was the restroom. I looked back in Chad's direction who had his eyebrow cocked in an amused fashion and witnessed Fiore moving in Micah's direction. In all honesty, I really didn't want to know.
When we reached the bathroom, Christine laughed at my little "accident" as she grabbed a towel and wet it before starting to dab the dress. "I don't think this is really helping at all, is it?"
"Eh..." I shrugged, "It is pressing the cold beer onto my skin, which is slightly unpleasant." She and I both laughed and she gave a grimace as she looked down at the dress.
"I have some clothes I keep here upstairs. Let's go get you changed."
"Oh no!" I felt so bad now. I had wanted to make sure I avoided spilling anything on her, but I didn't want to become a burden. "That's not necessary, really!" Christine brushed off my comment with a wave.
"I'm not letting you walk around all night in a wet dress. It's really no trouble at all. It's actually a main reason I have clothes here. I haven't used any of it in a long time too." She led my upstairs, keeping our arms looped as we moved upstairs. I caught sight of Fiore and Micah speaking in the kitchen, but I noticed she briefly caught sight of Christine taking me upstairs. I could swear I detected a hint of a nod at me before she looked back at Micah, her expression serious once again. It was so brief I could have imagined it.
Fiore's house was huge and extravagant, I was already lost as Christine opened a door and ushered me inside before closing the door. Without a word she moved to the closet and pulled out a very expensive looking black cocktail dress with capped sleeves and a low cut neckline in a form fitting cut. It looked like it would reach me just above my knees.
"Here, try this one. It actually might fit you a bit better than me. It was always really short on me, but you're a bit smaller so it should be perfect. Although..." She smirked, "not to seem inappropriate, but your chest is a lot bigger than mine so we'll see what happens there." She chuckled before moving toward the door. "You change, I'll wait out here in the hall for you."
"Thank you!" I managed before she shut the door. I looked at the beautiful dress and started squeezing myself into it. I may have been shorter than Christine, but I was definitely curvier, so the dress was a little tighter on my physique. After struggling for a good five minutes as the combination of being drunk and the dress being tight made it difficult, I looked in the mirror. My eyes widened. Christine had been right. My chest size and the low cut top combined made my cleavage very prominent and distracting. After deciding if I liked the exposure or not, I made my way for the door, but froze when I heard familiar voices.
Christine and Greg were talking outside the door.
Was this Fiore's plan? I didn't want to know. But I also didn't want to interrupt whatever was happening out there. I let myself fall onto the bed and felt myself start to drift off.
Greg
Chad was starting to worry as to where Katie had gone off to with Christine. I told him I had seen them disappear up the stairs so I went to head up. This had to have been what Fiore had meant by an opportunity. She was such a schemer...
I went down the hall that Christine and I used to stay in whenever we were here late, and froze as I witnessed Christine coming out of a room and closing the door behind her. "Chris," I said, moving slowly in her direction. She jumped as she turned in my direction and her eyes widened before she recovered, murmuring a quiet hello.
"What are you doing up here?" She asked.
"Chad had me helping him find Katie." I replied. "Have you seen her? She's pretty drunk." I joked, trying to make light conversation.
"Oh, yes I realized." She giggled, leaning against the doorframe. "Poor thing spilled beer all over her dress. I brought her up here to change into something of mine."
"That was very sweet of you. I'm sure both she and Chad will appreciate it." She nodded and cleared her throat.
"Eliza seems nice." She finally said, cautiously meeting my gaze. I smiled in reply with a nod.
"She is. Her and Katie are best friends so it seems like Chad and I will be going on quite a few double dates."
"We could do triple dates too." She said quickly. I noticed by her expression she regretted saying it as quickly as she had mentioned it. But she had said it, and I planned on banking in on that idea.
"That would be amazing. I'm sure it would make both Katie and Eliza feel more welcome into the group that way." I smiled a bright smile and she returned it with a half-smile, more nervous than excited. "Micah seems like a great guy too. Ian and Chad said he's fun to hang out with. You seem happy." I probed, and she shrugged.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She avoided my eyes, and I think she was asking more for herself than me.
"Well, that's all I ever want for you." At my words, her expression turned from unsure, to angry.
"Really? Was leaving us all your way of ensuring my happiness?" She snapped, still not meeting my gaze with her fiery expression, her fists clenched at her sides.
"Christine, you know that hurting you was never my intention. I admit now that what I did was stupid and impulsive. I see now I should've just tried to drag you there with me." I looked down, my hands in my pockets as I leaned against the doorframe across from her. When I looked back up she was watching me with glossy eyes and trembling lips, her fists still clenched. I fought the urge to move toward her and take her in my arms. I knew this wasn't the right time. She wouldn't accept that kind of affection from me, not right now. "I did something stupid. But it's already done. I can't change what I did, Chris. I can only apologize for what it did to the people I love."
I cleared my throat in the thick silence. "I'll let Chad know where Katie is. She's probably passed out in there." I said, my voice gravelly as I tried to fight the urge to beg her to take me back.
"Greg," I heard her voice behind me and I turned to see what was wrong. She looked like she was about to say something, but stopped herself. "I-...I understand...why you did what you did. And I forgive you." She finally said slowly.
I moved back toward her and pulled her against me into a tight embrace, shocking her.
Christine
I stiffened as Greg wrapped his arms around me, but I melted into it easily. Everything I remembered about him was the same. Same cologne, same bristly beard against my cheek. He held me tight and I relished every moment of it, not realizing just how much I'd missed his touch. I felt him begin to pull away too soon and I took a deep breath, inhaling his scent before it was lost to me. It belonged to someone else now. He pulled back just enough for us to look at one another. "Thank you, Chris."
There was a moment. A short moment where our lips parted and we moved toward one another. But Greg pulled back, and wiped a tear from my cheek I hadn't realized was there. "I'll see you later, Chris." He surprised me with a soft kiss on my forehead before leaving the hallway quickly. I felt myself slide down the wall and tried to control my breathing.
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D'awwwww, WE WANT ACTION, right?
Too bad. Wait till next chapter for some action, but between who? *wink wink*
Hope you all are enjoying, and I hope you all have been checking out Heather's (Punkrockpenguin) Fiore story, Royal Bitch. You'll all love it!
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