2

A Night at Rose Bar

I place my coffee cup on my desk and look around at everyone. Everyone held their own set of notepads and folders as we speak about the events for tonight.

"Alright, tonight is precisely the night we've been planning for all week." I step behind my desk. My finger is in mid-air and looking for Kevin, my party planner associate. He declared himself that title, so I took him up on the offer.

When I find him in the gathered colleagues, I extend my arm so that now my finger is further into the space between us. "Kevin," I start. "What do you have for me?" I put my arm down.

He steps forward and flips through his folders. I pick up my coffee and take a sip as I wait. He looks up anxiously every few seconds. I sigh, set my coffee back down, and walk around my desk so now I'm standing before him.

"Kevin," I place my hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me. "Take a deep breath, and release." I gesture for him, and he follows along.

"Alright, now find what you have for me. Laury, do you have the seating chart ready?" Laury nods as she makes her way through the others. I grab the seating chart and analyze it. I nod and look back up at her.

"Okay, this is good, I like who you've seated together." I nod again and hand her the chart back. "Just do one thing, or four, leave four empty spaces for our special guests."

I glance over at Kevin, he's looking at me now. "You got what I need?" He nods and extends his arm. I take the folder and open it to see the names of the caters, servers, photographer, menu, dress code, etc. I nod and look up at him now. "And they agreed to come right? This isn't just a list of possible companies you jotted down?"

He nods, "Yes, I interviewed them all as you asked, and they said yes briskly."

I nod, close the folder, and give it back to him. "Appreciated, now do we have Tory Burch, Rosie Assoulin, Shane Gabier, and Christopher Peters in our confirmations?"

"Yes, I called Shane and Rosie," Amber calls out. I nod and wait to hear the two other names. I put a hand on my hip and hold the chair beside me with the other.

"Oh, I got Tory," Sofia says.

"I called Christopher, still waiting for a response," Diana says.

I nod. "Alright, well I'm going to need him there, so go to his building, do whatever you have to do, email him." I nod. "You can all go now."

Everyone leaves my office, and I go back to my chair. My phone rings, and I pick up.

"Ciao Sorella, so I heard about your party, can I come and bring a friend?" My brother, Marco says. I lean back on my chair and turn to face the wall behind me that was filled with all the party plans for tonight. I recalled seeing something of importance on the wall, relating to Christopher.

"How did you even hear about that?" I stand up and step closer to the wall. Inspecting every paper, until I come across his name, rip it off the wall, and read through it.

"I went by your place the other night, but I hear you were on a date with some Liam guy. Your boyfriend?" I roll my eyes and sit down turning it back to my desk and setting the paper down.

"Yes, and he's going to be there, so don't do anything idiotic. And be on your best behavior, now I have to go, bye." I hang up and pick up my office phone to dial my assistant, Sara.

"Come here." I hang up and pick up the piece of paper that had Christopher's private number.

"Yes?" Sara walks up to my desk, and I hand over the paper to her.

"Call this number immediately, let me know when you got him on the phone, and transfer the call to me." She nods and scurries back to her desk. I lean back again and cross my legs.

Meanwhile, I rechecked that our NYFW duties were in place. For this year's fashion week, we settled on a skater core theme. My designers and I have gone through the designs we had in mind, and what vibe we were planning on setting.

Our designs this year are very much hip and casual at the same time, and those two designs go perfectly together.

A few minutes later I get a tap on my glass wall and see Sara pointing at my work phone.

I pick it up. "Hello?"

"So I hear you want me at your Feature Party?" I hear car horns on his line like he was jammed in traffic. Which meant he was either on his way into New York, or he was in Times Square.

"That's right, I'm hosting a party at Rose bar, you know where that is?"

He hums a yes. "I'll be there," he says. Kevin waits by my door and I wave him in. He walks into my office with this year's fashion Vogue magazine, where our new clothes collection was being featured. Which is the cause of our party tonight. We gave them some great content. "And congrats on your featured collection."

I hang up and take the magazine from him. "Page?"

"Right, pages 20 to 25." I look at him astonished.

"Wow that many pages, we're on a roll huh?" I flip through the pages until I get to our featured pages. I stand up in a quick move and smile at him. "Now this is why I do what I do."

I turn my wrist and read the time on my watch. 4: 30. "Alright," I say as I swing my coat over my shoulders and loop my arms in the armholes. "I'm going to go home and get ready."

He nods and walks out.

I grab my purse and then with a determined stride to my door, I walk out to Sara's desk. "Put Christopher's number on my list of contacts." She nods, and then I walk over to Diana's desk. When she looks up I say, "Put Christopher on the V.I.P list asap."

"Got it." I walk to the elevator. Tonight is going to be a good night.

"Thank you, George." I walk into my building and scurry to the elevator. Before I can press the up button, the doors slid open, and an elderly couple steps out. I swift in and press the close door button. As it closes, I lean against the wall and close my eyes.

I felt so accomplished today, I got my team to be collective with their planning and we got so much done. I was just glad I found Christopher's number just in time. I wanted him there so bad because he's one of my inspirations.

Looks like I still have my magic.

A few minutes later, I land on my floor. I walk through my foyer and see my brother lounged on my Chesterfield Leather sofa in my living room. I stop abruptly and give him a look of surprise yet disbelief.

"Welcome home sister." I walk further in and see a guy, his back turned to me and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Two idiotic boys. How great.

"Whatever, just don't break anything." He shrugs and I decide he wasn't worth getting annoyed over. I had a party to go to, and I was the host so I needed to look presentable and be in the right headspace. Well, that's if I don't die before I arrive.

I run up the stairs and disappear down the hall and into my room. I flick the lights on and toss my purse and coat onto my bed before barging into my walk-in closet.

On a hanger, I see the dress I told Minda, my housemaid, to hang up for me across the island in the center of the closet. I walk over and bring the dress to my bed.

I glanced at my watch. Only an hour and a half until the party begins. As I stepped in for a quick shower I wondered how everything will go. If my brother would ruin everything seconds before I could make my toast, or after. If everything was planned and bisected the correct way.

Did they spend the right amount of time poring the menu? If this party disintegrated before my eyes, I wouldn't know what to do. It'll be all over the news, and on the socials.

Although I had hosted many parties before this one, I always worried just as much. I was simply a perfectionist. If the number of guests was uneven, I freaked out. My mother hadn't raised a girl who makes mistakes.

I did everything flawlessly. Some people said I was work-obsessed. That I needed to step back for a few seconds to see that I already stood at my top, but what people don't realize is that a boss, especially an Ambrosia, never quits. There was no telling when someone will come and try to knock down all the boxes you piled just to get up here.

I step out of my shower and wrap my towel around my body. In fifteen minutes I managed to zip myself into my dress, do my hair, put on my accessories, and put red lipstick on. I toss the lipstick in my clutch and grab my heels before I run down the stairs.

"Marco?" I call out. I place all my stuff on the table beside the staircase that bisected the space. I walk into the living room. Marco wasn't in the living room. I just see his friend. He sat with his feet in front of him facing the ceiling, where they hid under my live-edge wood coffee table.

As he hears me approaching he glances up from his phone and I look away glancing around the room for my whimsical brother. I turned back to the guy and sat down beside him.

"Where's Marco?"

He looked surprised, agape like he had just seen something that amazed him. I tilt my head. His blue eyes looked into mine. Was this guy deaf?

Before I can ask him, he speaks. His voice was deep and soft at the same time. Chills crawled through my body, but they left just as fast as they came.

"He's in the restroom." I nod and look over his shoulder out the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked New York. "You're monotonous."

My eyes flew to his. "Excuse me?"

His lips lifted to one side in a smirk and licks them with amusement. "You're like a robot, no emotion."

I give him an indifferent facial expression. "I have emotion, I'm annoyed right now."

He chuckles and puts his left arm behind me on the couch. "You're beautiful, but your heart has yet to open."

His words came unexpectedly, causing my face to heat up and in the process probably giving me a pink tint on my cheeks. I clear my throat and stand up. "You don't know me," I say as I smooth down my dress just in case I muss it up.

"I don't have to know you to see the truth."

I scoffed. "Whatever, tell my brother I'll be downstairs if he wants a ride."

I turn and walk back to where I left my heels and my clutch. I grab them and walk over to my elevator. I hear footsteps behind me, but I ignore them.

"Who's ready to party?" Marco says.

The elevator dinged and the doors slide open. I step in, and they follow after me. I press the first floor, and the doors slide closed. I bend forward and put on my heels as my other hand held onto the railing that framed the walls.

I whipped my hair over my shoulder as I lean back up. I glance at the time and stared at the elevator's doors simultaneously thinking about how cretinous my brother's friend's words were.

It was pointless even thinking about it. It wasn't something I did unless it had to do with my work, but otherwise, nothing affected me this way. Not even my boyfriend, who I was sure was already at the bar.

I look over at him, allowing myself to observe him. When he was standing up, he was pretty tall and well built, his brown hair was a messy mop of curls, but in such a flawless way. He wore a black suit with a black tie.

I looked up at his blue eyes, which now were on me. I look away and ignore his smirk. I stared at the numbers going down with an unpleased look.

The door dings and it opens finally giving me an escape from this tight space that was built between him and me. "Good Evening, Ms. Ambrosia." George glances over my shoulder.

"Hey G, how's it going?" My brother greets him. George didn't respond, just follows me to the car and opened the limo door.

"Thanks," I say and get in. The boys come in after me, and I lean forward to grab the wine I asked for in an ice bucket. I grab a wine glass and pour myself some. I pass the bottle onto my brother, who grabs two wine glasses and pours them both wine.

"To you're twentieth featured content, and so on." My brother says, with a smile, I clink my cup with theirs and take a sip. I gazed out the window watching the city blur past leaving me sort of dizzy.

I turn to my brother. "Hey," I say in a soft tone. He looks at me. "Thanks for being here, I appreciate it."

He nods with his smile. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Just as I asked, everyone delivered. Our most popular dresses and pieces were against the walls of our rented venue. The food on the table was neatly placed, and organized. The server's were walking around with a tray of wine, and champagne. Some walked around with cheese on a toothpick.

While the inside was glamorous, the outside wasn't, when I came I was bombarded by cameramen, reporters, as well as journalists. I spoke to some of them, and then made my way inside.

"Damn, you're famous," Marco remarked. I glanced over at him as I held a wine glass in one hand and cheese on a toothpick in the other.

"And you're behind on the news."

He shrugs. "I don't bother myself with that." And he didn't, he was too busy selling cars and trying to impress my father to care for what people had to say about others. I didn't understand why he didn't just focus on himself and forgot about my father's wishes.

"Well, I'll be at the bar." He walks away and eyes the bar like it was a girl who he's been looking at all day.

"Baby," Liam says as he wraps his arms around my waist from behind. "Congratulations on the featured pieces."

I turn around in his arms and wrap my arms around his neck. I watch as his blond hair flops on his face, covering one eye while the other looked greener than ever. "Thanks."

"So you got the four I hear?" I nod. "Excellent, I'm proud of you."

"I am too." I peel myself from him and glanced around. "I'll circle back to you, but right now I have to greet some special designers."

He nods and shoves a hand in his pocket. I turn and walk towards two big company owners in the field, well under me, of course.

"Welcome, welcome, how are your pieces coming about?"

They smile at me. One was a lady, with blond hair getting gray, and a man with ginger hair with an amazing sense of style.

"Not as good as yours," he says. "Congratulations, this is your twentieth collection being featured, correct?"

I nod. "Right."

"That's impressive, as a woman as gorgeous as you to come into this field and own it flawlessly, it's something to celebrate, especially since you're one of the new ones." I shrug and wave at him dismissively.

"Now, stop it with these amazing compliments, I mean come on you were featured on The View just last week."

"And I've worked my ass to get on that show." He says. His hand hangs beside him as he appraises everyone who walks by.

"And you," I say to the older woman. "Completed a whole collection within a month, that's truly impressive."

She waves me away, just as I did to the ginger head. "That was no big deal, I have an incredible team."

We say goodbye, and I greet others. An hour later I fall into step with Amber. She gives me another wine glass and puts the empty one on a tray as a server walks by. She nods her head to the right, where the four sat talking and laughing among themselves.

"They got here together, a few minutes ago."

I sipped from my wine glass. "I guess the word broke out, huh?"

She nods. "Yeah, they told me that they're excited to meet you. The big boss of Fasho."

"Alright," I say to her. "Shall we?"

She nods, and we make our way over to them. They sat in a group seating area. When we approached, Tory Burch was the first to spot us. He stood up from his seat and came to give me a side hug but with an unexpectedly big smile.

He gestures for us to sit, so we do. "I viewed your collection," Rosie Assoulin says now. "Very impressive, you and your team have outdone yourselves."

Amber smiles at her, and I cross my legs. "Very generous of you to say, dear," I say. "But your collections have outspoken the rest of us for years."

She waves me away, this was a thing fashionistas did when they knew what you said was true, but they played it off like they didn't believe a word you said. It was easy to read through people's actions when you do them too.

"Where did your inspiration come from?" Christopher Peters asked me. A nice sincere smile played on his lips as he sat with his legs crossed.

"Optical Illusion," I say. "How compelling clothing can be when you see them on others, how brainwashing society is, but yet wide awake."

Rosie and Christopher looked at me in shock. "Wow." They look at each other as they say this. Shane leans forward.

"Now forget about the idea being compelling, your whole collection alone is compelling."

"It is, it's so captivating, one glance and you're drawn in," Tory adds.

I shrug. "What can I say, I know what the people want."

"That, she sure does," Amber says beside me. She lifts her wine glass. "Let's do cheers for this amazing yet life-changing collection for the youth worldwide."

We clink cups, and then the moment was over. It was time for my toast. I stood by my table and looked at everyone else sitting in their respective seats.

"Let me toast," I start. "A few years ago I was just a student at Parsons New School of Fashion Design, and here I am now only a few years older. I want to say thank you to my team. You all worked graciously, with such ambition and love for our work. This is not only my celebration, it's all of ours. To Fasho."

"To Fasho." The room repeated.

Now I sat with Amber at our table ten minutes later and she was talking to me about a cameraman who was being disrespectful. I'm only half paying attention.

Across the room, over the sea of people, his eyes land on mine. I look away fast and look down at my wine before looking at Amber. "He was such an ape."

I find myself laughing. "What?"

"I'm serious, he was such an asshole, I wanted to jab him in the eye. I'm extremely lax about personal space."

I shake my head and she continues to speak. But like before my eyes fall on him, where he was leaning against a wall with a wine glass in his hand talking to a girl now.

His eyes fall on mine again, and they stay on mine. Was he spaced out too, no longer listening to the words coming from the girl in front of him as I am next to Amber?

"Your brother is drunk," Amber says now. I glance over at him and see him stumbling as he tries to dance with the others on the dance floor.

"Hey babe," Liam says from beside me.

I shake my head. "My brothers going to ruin this for me." A long sigh escapes my lips. Liam looks down at me with soft eyes.

"I got him, babe." And then he was walking through the crowd before he reached Marco. He walks him through the crowd and disappears from sight.

"Do you think I'm monotonous?"

Amber looks at me. "Wait you didn't know that?" I blow air out and cross my legs before bringing my wine glass to my lips and taking a sip.

"But hey, you're kind and helpful." I look over at her with a jaded glance. "It's true, just last week, you gave Kevin a day off."

My eyes slightly squint at her before they unsquint. "For the reason that it was his day off."

Her mouth formed an 'o' shape and she looks away like there wasn't no helping the situation anymore. Unlike what she said just now, this just further proved what he said earlier. As my eyes move around the room they fell back on his.

The eyes that were already ceaselessly on me.

I stand up and look down at Amber who looks up at me with a nonplus expression, I'm guessing due to my unforeseen stands. "I'm going to see how Marco's doing." She nods, and I stride across the crowded room, cool and composed despite my rapid heartbeat.

I didn't understand this feeling, but I hope my brother's dumb ventures swap places with these mysterious feelings making their way through me.

When I walk the small steps that acted as an entrance to the bar, I spot Marco sitting on a barstool talking to Liam. When I approach them, they turn their heads.

"Oh hey, babe," Liam addresses me. "I've dealt with it."

I looked at them both, then settled on my brother who was drunk as a skunk and gaped at me like I wasn't human. His finger pokes my cheek and I swat it away.

"Alright, let's get him to my place." I rake my hair back in exasperation. I look over at Liam. "You got him?"

"I can help." A familiar voice came from behind me. I turned just in time to see, him, Marco's friend walk around me to wrap Marco's arm over his shoulder. His eyes lock with mine for a slight second before they move to Liam, who was on his feet now. "Come on."

Liam nods and he wraps Marco's other arm over his shoulder. I step back and let them by. I follow them to the exit, where George spots us and walks over to hold open the door. "Thanks."

He nods, and I walk out first and stand aside as I watch my boyfriend and my brother's best friend carry him into my limo. I get in afterward, the door closing behind me.

I look out the window thinking longingly about my comfy bed. Who would've known that peering at the city from my kitchen this morning would lead to this: A confusing puddle of feelings in my stomach.

I felt a touch on my arm and I glanced toward Liam who was looking at me with concern. A look I had to ask Amber about to understand it. Which only made me wonder if maybe I was an emotionless bitch after all. I was so unaware of the people around me. And no, I don't mean their presence.

"Are you okay?" He asks—and now that I notice with a glance down—with his hand on my forearm. I put my hand down on his.

I nod and turn back to the window where the New York lights flash by. Tonight was good, until the last seconds, when they were unplanned nor were these abnormal feelings that meandered their way through me.