chapter forty nine
florence thompson
song: señorita - shawn mendes ft. camila cabello
After a long morning of debating what I was going to wear, I finally found myself ready to go, dressed in a blue summery dress that had spaghetti straps - and pockets - and a pair of white slip on shoes.
I threw my hair back into a ponytail and decided to brush on a little mascara and swipe on some tinted lip balm before I called it good.
As if on cue, a knock sounded at my door, startling me slightly as I stood in front of my mirror. With a sigh, I flattened my hands over my dress and then headed in the direction of my door after grabbing my phone and keys and pocketing them both.
Freaking dresses with pockets, my dudes.
I swung the door open, a polite smile on my face as I came face to face with none other than Sebastian Vanderbilt who was looking rather handsome, as per usual.
He was in a pressed suit - also as usual - and his hair was just as curly and beautiful as I remembered it, along with his blazing eyes.
"Florence," he greeted me, a smile on his lips. "You look beautiful," he complimented me, glancing over my dress.
"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself," I smiled softly, gazing over his face.
I stepped out and made sure to lock the door behind me before we silently walked down to Sebastian's car, sitting in the parking lot that looked much dingier since the sun was setting. Of course it was a black SUV with a driver sitting in the front, looking stern and honestly quite grumpy.
Sebastian politely held my door open for me, ushering me in before closing it and rounding the car and slipping into the vehicle himself. It was oddly silent as the three of us pulled back out onto the main road and started in the direction of our mystery destination.
The days leading up to today, I had been so busy dreading the day itself and wanting to fight Rico, that I'd completely and totally just brushed off the fact that I had absolutely no idea where we were going. Sebastian mentioned it was an event of some type, but he hadn't expressed whether it was casual or dressy, so I was praying that my sundress was not about to embarrass the living hell out of me even though ninety percent of my wardrobe embarrasses me when I'm around these people.
"So, where are we going?" I decided to break the deafening silence in the vehicle, turning to face Sebastian who's gaze was trained on my face.
"A friend's birthday party, it shouldn't be too long," he informed me, looking rather bored with the information himself. "Thank you for coming with me, by the way, I appreciate it."
I nodded, smiling tightly.
"Of course, it's no problem."
Just kidding, it's a big problem, and I'd much rather be in my Olaf onesie back at home but apparently thats not adulty enough.
It took us roughly thirty minutes to arrive to our destination. In those thirty minutes all I could think about was a burning blue and brown gaze that was partnered with brown, tousled hair.
No matter how hard I'd tried in the days since leaving Vincent's apartment complex with tear stained cheeks, I couldn't get him out of my mind. I thought about him just as much now as I did when I laid in my bed crying for days. I was just getting used to it, I was able to hide the pain more.
So imagine my complete and utter shock when we pulled up to Vincent freaking De Bellis' apartment complex.
I'll admit, when we got closer to our destination, I was thinking about how similar the route was to the one I used to get to Vincent's but figured I was just being paranoid, it's freaking Chicago, for christ's sake, theres more places than just Vincent's apartment complex.
I wanted to groan loudly at the sight of the building but instead my eyes just bulged, my mouth opening slightly as I stared at it. I could feel my heart pick up in my chest, and it was that exact moment that I wanted to slap Rico Martínez harder than I've ever wanted to slap anyone in my whole life.
I wanted to say something to Sebastian, but I knew it would be weird and out of line since I'd never talked to Sebastian about Vincent. It was an unspoken thing that they knew each other since Vincent had put in a good word for me, but I wasn't even sure that meant he knew him, maybe he just knew the right people who could pull the right strings.
So instead of asking, I clamped my mouth shut and with my last sliver of hope, I prayed to whatever god there was as Sebastian helped me out of the car that we were not about to see Vincent De Bellis.
"You okay?" Sebastian asked, glancing at me warily with his electric blue eyes, his hand still on mine as he guided me inside the building that I'd become much to familiar with, the building I'd run from not that long ago.
"Yeah, yeah," I breathed, nodding with a fake smile on my lips. "I'm fine."
He nodded, glancing over my expression once more before turning back to watch in front of us, wall while keeping his hand on mine. We walked through the lobby like that, and while I had the overwhelming urge to pull my hand away, the last thing I wanted to do in that moment was annoy Sebastian in any way since he was the only thing right now that wasn't making me feel like I wanted to get ran over.
When we approached the elevator, I quickly realized there was a large group of people trailing us, waiting to get in as well, which was shocking since any time I rode this elevator, I was normally the only one.
We moved into the elevator, going to stand in the back as everyone else piled in. I sighed, very aware on my hand in Sebastian's and the people crowding us.
Someone pressed a button, and the doors to the elevator began sliding closed. My heart immediately climbed to my throat since I had absolutely no idea if I was on my way to Vincent's apartment and honestly that seems like the worst surprise ever.
The elevator began ascending, everyone packed into the small space was eerily quite asides from some people in the front whispering to one another. I was mildly unnerving thanks to the panic attack I was about to have when the number above the door continued to climb.
By the time we hit the last two floors, I knew I was doomed.
Sure enough, we stopped at the very last floor, and the doors slid open. I was hoping Sebastian would stay in the elevator and tell me our event was on a different floor, but unfortunately for myself, that did not happen. Instead he waited for everyone else to leave before tugging me out behind him.
Immediately I found that Vincent's apartment was packed with people. People in ridiculously fancy clothing, looking as posh as ever. I wondered momentarily if there was any of the people from the charity event that I'd attended with him, and I was coming to the conclusion that there must at least be some.
It was practically dark outside now that the sun had pretty much completely slipped behind the horizon, so thanks to his ceiling to floor window, the room would've been just as dark had they not flipped on the lights, illuminating it from within.
Music played over the speakers, the couch and coffee table had been moved out of the center of the room and more off to the side. Near the wide glass window was a long table of different refreshments that looked fancier than hell.
People grouped together just like at the charity event, or in high school, really. They all stood in their little groups, chatting lightly or laughing poshly. Most of them had drinks in their hands, and as I took in every single person, I felt my heart drop to my toes.
I know I am the last person that should be here, especially not only given the fact that the last time I was here, Vincent basically yelled at me, but also the fact that he most definitely did not ask me to come. He hadn't even mentioned his birthday was coming up, if this was even for him and not something he was hosting for someone else.
All I had wanted over the past two weeks was to see Vincent, speak to him, while simultaneously deciding he's the last person I wanted anything to do with for the health of my broken heart, but as I stood here in his living room, I decided on the latter. Here was the last place I wanted to be, and my heart that was attempting to escape my chest from how hard it was beating, couldn't agree more.
"Sebastian?" His name left my lips softly, my eyes still glued to all the people moving around the room, shooting to the new people that came piling out of the elevator with big, happy grins on their faces.
"Yes?" He asked, glancing down to me, hand still enclosed in my own and possibly the only thing keeping me upright at this moment.
"Whose birthday party is this?" I asked warily, finally looking up to him with eyes that I'm sure screamed my lack of excitement.
"De Bellis'" He clarified, looking down to me with a slight confusion swirling in his eyes. "Aren't you guys friends?"
I swallowed hard, tearing my gaze away from his and back to the bustling room as Vincent's words floated into my mind.
We aren't friends, or anything more.
He'd said it with so much disgust in that moment, and even though I'd been upset, I hadn't blamed him. I still don't. I understand why he was upset. If I was in his position, I would've been upset too but it didn't make the words hurt any less. It didn't make the pain dull when he didn't even try to reach out to me the two weeks following.
"I think they're about to start the toast," Sebastian's whisper pulled me out of my daze, and I glanced from him over to where he was staring.
There, smiling playfully as she pulled out a small step stool and climbed up onto it, holding her champagne flute into the air and gently tapping it with some silverware to gather everyone's attention, was Julia Kline.
"Are you and Julia a thing?" I'd asked, voice quite meek as I watched him closely. Instead of getting angry, he sighed, taking a sip of his drink before setting it on his thigh, hand still gripping the glass.
"Define a thing," he'd sighed again, running a hand through his wayward hair.
"Is she a sugar...baby?" I'd said the word with a fair amount of distaste since the title admittedly freaked me out a little bit.
He nodded.
"Yeah, she's in a financial agreement, just like you," he had admitted, leaning forward and placing his glass onto the coffee table before turning to face me more, just like I had him, one leg bent on the couch and an elbow resting on the back of it, hand supporting his head.
"Just like me?" I repeated, slightly surprised at this.
"Well," he'd bobbed his head from side to side. "Not exactly like you. We have intercourse and spend time together, not strictly the latter," he corrected himself, immediately making my eyes go wide.
The memory wasn't a welcome one, it was one that made a sour feeling curdle at the bottom of my stomach as I watched her gather everyone's attention. She was standing there, blonde hair in loose curls that fell down her back. She was wearing a white wrap dress with a plunging v-neckline that fell right above her knees. It complemented her tan nicely, go figure.
"Can I have everyone's attention, please?" She grinned, waiting for everyone to quiet down. When she finally caught the attention of each guest, she spoke again. "I wanted to thank you all for coming out tonight, as you may know, tonight was a long time in the making! I've been planning this thing for months, even if Vincent here was so begrudging about it," she teased, motioning towards her left with her hand that had the drink in it.
My gaze followed her motion to find Vincent leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as he looked up at her with a playful glint in his eyes, a smile on his lips.
That was the moment my stomach sunk to the point of no return.
• • •
q: favorite animated movie character?
mine is sid the sloth for some reason lmao