7. Giselle #2
She’s significantly grown from that mindset, but I can still see deep down she struggles with her image.
And the drama going on with her dad leaving her and her mom hasn’t helped.
The bastard just up and dropped my aunt for some woman, got her pregnant from an affair and decided he wanted to start over from scratch with her.
Alcina has been going through it badly, so I know tonight will be good for her to let loose.
And Reina . . . well she’s the happiest out of all of us. Perfect boyfriend, happy family, and she has a job she loves. We’re all so different, but tonight—we will be the same; drunk as fuck.
“So where are we going first?” Alcina asks as she downs the rest of her champagne.
“Uh, well I guess we can go to Plush first? I mean they usually play the best music so starting there might get us in the mood?”
I look around, and Alcina and Reina both nod in agreement, but Lyra just sits there looking at their reactions.
“Have you ever been there?” I ask her, and she looks like a deer in headlights. She shakes her head.
“What clubs have you been to?”
She nervously shrugs. “Uh, I haven’t really been to any bars or clubs before.”
Gasps from all of us around the table, and she immediately shrinks in her chair a little. “Seriously? Why?” Reina asks, and Lyra just shrugs again.
“I don’t know. I’ve just never been invited to one I guess?”
God, this girl hasn’t experienced life at all. How the hell is that possible? Are there really people this sweet and pure? I thought they only existed in books and movies.
“Well, that’s changing tonight,” I say with a smile as I stand, causing the other girls to take my lead and stand with me to go. “Tonight you have to let loose, okay?”
She nods timidly, and I can tell she’s unsure about the idea of it. We walk out of the restaurant, still laughing and talking loudly as I put my hand out to hail a cab. It isn’t a super far walk, but I refuse to ruin everyone’s night by making us walk everywhere in heels.
Plush is packed, but I’m able to secure a VIP booth with a little cash and a quick flutter of my lashes.
“Drink the hell up ladies, it’s party time!” I say raising my shot glass.
Alcina and Reina excitedly press their glasses to mine, and Lyra eventually follows suit a little calmer. I can see her face sour terribly after she takes the shot, and we laugh.
“Don’t tell me it’s your first time getting wasted too?” She nods, rubbing the back of her neck.
Oh, I’m going to fucking enjoy tainting her.
The night is taking us all away with it, and after a few more shots, we’re all just enjoying the dance floor.
I definitely haven’t been this loose in a long time; and I’m so thankful for it.
I desperately needed a release like this, between Artem and my family, I don’t think I’ve had a moment of real peace in the last two weeks.
Even Lyra is dancing a bit, which makes me happy for her.
Surprisingly, her and Reina hit it off well.
Reina has her hands intertwined with Lyra’s as they both dance together.
Well, dancing is a strong word. I’d say, it’s more like hopping around like crazy drunk girls, thinking they’re dancing to the beat.
“I’m going to the bathroom!” I yell out, and they all nod.
I push past the crowd, making my way eventually to the women’s room. Sitting on the toilet, the room starts to spin, and I feel like I’m on top of the world. After I get out and wash my hands, I lean onto the counter and look at myself in the mirror and try not to laugh. I feel fucking amazing.
We’ll ignore that I may or may not be sloppy drunk and stumbling, because it’s the night before my wedding and I deserve to go crazy, right?
I grab the gloss from my clutch and reapply, but now I just feel kind of guilty. I have to see Caesar tomorrow and even though we kind of talked it out, I think I was still mean to him. I know it’s hard for him, since he’s so expressive and full of love to give, but I’m just the opposite.
As a kid, sure, I told my family I loved them all the time. In high school after my mother passed, everything changed so much.
I don’t know if it was my own trauma from losing her or just the strain that slowly formed within my family; but at some point, I just stopped telling people how I felt.
I haven’t told anyone I loved them since I was fifteen, not even Reina. Not to their faces, anyway. I think it and I do feel it, I just can’t bring myself to say it.
But I think it’s selfish of me not to say it back, especially when Caesar tells me every time he sees me that he loves me.
I pull out my phone, deciding I need to text him immediately and tell him.
Heeyyyy, I know it late but, I, jst wanted t tell you I love you. Nd I’m sory for being a bitch alk the time.
Meh, legible enough.
He’ll get the point.
I clumsily start to walk toward the bathroom door when my phone rings.
“Yeeees?” I say happily into the phone.
“Are you drunk?”
“Duh!” I can hear his sigh through the phone and I laugh.
“Where the fuck are you?”
“Where am I? . . . I’m having fun!” I say, still laughing, walking out of the door. I’m sure he can hear the music and voices even louder now.
“That makes sense then, besides the fucking barely understandable text you sent, I was sure you must be drunk to tell me you loved me.”
My laughter ceases quickly. I can feel myself falling from the cloud I was floating on. “What?” I say anxiously, pulling the phone from my ear to check my texts.
Fuck! I did send it to him! “That wasn’t for you!”
“And who the fuck was it for exactly?”
Is he jealous? No, there’s no way. He just hates thinking someone is taking what he thinks is his.
“None of your business.”
“Giselle, I will come drag you out of whatever fucking club you’re at by your hair and I do not give a fuck who sees.”
I have no idea why I laugh at his threat, but I love when Artem is worked up.
“No need, I have someone else to pull my hair tonight, byeeeee,” and I hang up, and turn off my phone.
Ha. Fuck you, Artem.
I find the girls again, and I jump right back into enjoying the music with them. I won’t let Artem ruin my night, I don’t care how mad he is tomorrow. He’ll just have to grin and bear it all day and night until he can finally give me shit for it when we’re alone.
Fuck.
Alone.
With Artem.
In his bedroom.
I need another drink.
I see Lyra looking like she’s dying down a bit, so I smile and take her hand. “Let’s get another drink!” I shout to her, and she nods, following wherever I lead her.
We take a seat at the tall bar stools, and I get the bartender’s attention. “Two shots of . . . ” I say, trying to think but my mind is blank from being drunk I can’t even pick something.
“Anything,” I end up saying, and the bartender nods. He pours us some random clear alcohol in two shot glasses and she and I smile at each other as we cheers and down it.
Holy—what the hell was that? Disgusting. Her and I make a face at each other and laugh, pushing the glasses far away.
“Sooo . . . have you seen Roman at all this week?”
She immediately blushes when I ask that. “Am I obvious?”
I nod with a laugh, and she puts her face in her hand.
“No, it’s cute. Have you always liked him, or?”
She nods and has a soft smile on her face now. She tells me how she’s had a crush on him since she was in elementary school, although I was surprised because she’s five years younger than me, so he must be like seven years older than her.
“So? Have you ever told him?”
She shakes her head, sinking into her chair again. “He doesn’t see me that way, I don’t think.”
I frown. “How can he not see you that way?” She isn’t convinced, but this girl doesn’t realize how attractive she is. But I guess I can understand growing up around someone else’s family might cause something like that.
“I bet he would if you made him,” I suggest and her eyes widen.
“But how?”
“You know, dress a little sexy around him, a smile here, a soft shoulder touch there. Guys are easy, Lyra.” I chuckle but her face drains of color, and she stands up straight. I’m about to ask her what’s wrong, until I feel a strong hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah? Tell me more about how you seduce men, solnishko.”
I turn and I can almost see the rage burning in his eyes. Well, that ruined my drunk for sure.
“Lyra, go outside. There’s a car that will take you home.”
I abruptly stand from the bar stool, shaking off his hand from my shoulder. “We aren’t leaving, we’re having a good time.”
“Yes, you are. You’re drunk in a bar with a bunch of strangers; do you not care about your safety? What about your friends?”
I furrow my brows, crossing my arms. “Normal people go to clubs all the time, Artem, nothing happens to them.”
“You are not a normal person. You are a mafia heiress, and tomorrow you will be the wife of a pakhan. Do you even understand?”
I roll my eyes. “Well, tonight, I’m just me, and I want to enjoy my last night single.”
He narrows his eyes. “Yeah? And you think I’ll let you go fuck some man the night before you become mine?”
Oops. Forgot I said that on the phone.
“Jesus Artem, I was fucking with you, I don’t just spread my legs to anyone but I’m sure glad you think that I would,” I say annoyed, rolling my eyes. I’m thankful that at some point Lyra left us to this conversation, because I don’t want her to think I’m insane.
“Well I figured maybe Angelo, Bruno, or Jonathon might’ve obliged.” He says it with a straight face, and I’m confused.
Who is he talking about . . .
I burst out laughing when I realize what he means. He’s talking about the names I rattled off when I said I knew decent men last week. They are real guys I know, but I’ve never fucked them.
“You’re crazy, Artem. Have you been saving that outburst all week?”
He clenches his jaw and grabs my elbow, trying to drag me somewhere less crowded and loud.