I plopped onto the bed and then regretted it immediately when one of the teeny tiny crystals on my bodice decided to poke me in the belly. My belly full of champagne. My alcohol belly. It should be round and it should provide a protective layer to take the impact of physical attacks. But no, it failed to do so.

I'm so disappointed in my belly. You would think it would help you in some way, but it just makes the dress feel tighter.

I pull myself up again, even though my body had gone into a nice equilibrium with the stabby crystal, my skin had made itself comfortable around the region, but I knew that pajamas would make my body feel like heaven on earth.

As soon as I get up, I feel woozy. The vertigo of the champagne had finally began to hit and I hate it. I hate life. But I like the painting of sheep that is currently stashed in the Cadillac in Marina Towers. It's giving me three hundred grand after all.

As I am about to pull my zipper down, my door opens and Rey walks in casually. Has she not heard of knocking?

"What?" I ask curtly.

"Watch the tone sis. Some of us wanna go grab something to drink. Maybe grab a bite while we're at it. You in?"

Wasn't I just making fun of my belly full of champagne? 

But then, I do miss that scotch I drank a few days ago. That shit was smooth.

"Who all is coming?" I ask.

"Yuri, Kai, Alby and Cassandra tapped out and are sleeping already. Everyone else is on board. Oh well Pandora is still considering."

"I'll make her come," comes Ariadne's voice from outside. Oh well considering Ariadne's powers of persuasion, Pandora is definitely coming.

I sigh and look down at my dress, "I'll change into something more comfortable."

"Oh honey everyone's gonna wanna hookup with you in that dress though," Ariadne decides to poke her head into my room along with Rey. Very subtle appreciation of her work.

"True, true, you look hot," Rey adds.

"Maybe I don't always wanna hook up with people Aria," I say exasperatedly.

But then, all of us have learnt over the years, that Ariadne is always right.

So I leave the dress on.

****

"Bourbon is much better than scotch," Pandora said to me as soon as I ordered my drink.

"Oh hell no, Tequila is the God of drinks," Minji says, and then proceeds to drown her glass of tequila like she was drinking a glass of milk. How is she not feeling it.

"Okay, okay, let's raise a toast," Monique holds her drink up, "To a job well done."

I raise my sixty dollar drink, "To a job well done!" And then I clink my glass with Dharuna's.

The bartender looked over at me, Larry, I think, "Hey! Good to see you again!"

Did I mention we ended up at the same bar as the one I had previously attended.

"Hello Lawrence," I say sweetly.

"Please, it's Larry," he says then slides a Pina Colada towards me, "On the house."

I grin at him and finish my scotch before taking the glass of the yellow coloured drink which makes you float in a tropical paradise, where the sunset is always the backdrop and the birds don't shit on you.

"Okay, so tell me all about the food at the auction," Minji asks me, while sipping on her own little cocktail.

We need to have extremely mundane conversations in a public place like this so I smile at her and start, "There was a shit ton of champagne, in so many flavours. And crab cakes. And tiramisu. And those cute finger sandwiches."

"I love crab cakes!" Minnie grins happily, "Did you see cute boys? I know you saw hot security man, did you meet anyone else?"

"You really need to stop referring to him as 'hot security man', he has a name," I scowl at Minnie.

"Someone's getting defensive," she winks at me.

I ignore the side comment as I  consider telling her about the encounter, "As a matter of fact I did meet him. And he had a friend who hit on me."

Rey decides to join into the conversation, "Look at Alicia stealing all the men."

"I'm not interested in any of them!" I protest.

"I can smell your hormones in the air," Rey counters.

"You are just like us, but unlike us, you're in denial," Minnie adds.

"Hell yes sis. Preach," Rey raises her hand and Minnie obliges with a high five.

I decide to jump out of the conversation and focus on the others. Ariadne is already in a tidy corner of the bar, having a very intense makeout session with this man.

Okay....

Pandora has gone to fix her makeup in the bathroom mirror, and Dharuna and Monique are sitting to my right, chatting softly.

"So you just drop kicked that dude?" Monique asks, surprise written over all her features.

"Well, you're kind of there. I used a roundhouse kick," Dharuna explains.

"Ah, taking advantage of the momentum," Monique nods, "That is so smart."

"Thank you!" Dhara's face lights up like a Christmas tree.

"You're honestly so cool. I'm just stuck indoors tinkering around with my laptop and machine parts all the time," Monique sighs.

"Hey you can go out whenever," I butt in.

"I don't have any skills to match the outdoors," Monique sighs again.

"Tomorrow morning, come with me on my daily jog. I found this cute park nearby, and it has this pond which has a cute duck family living in it," Dharuna suggests.

Monique smiles wide, "That's a great idea!"

Smooth, Dharuna Shetty, so smooth.

The both of them claim to feel uncomfortable on the bar stools and quickly run over to one of the booths that has just been vacated. Pandora and Rey head over there as well.

I wait for Larry to get me another glass of scotch when I hear a voice behind me, "We need to stop running into each other like this."

I turn immediately to come face to face with Luke.

"Then you should probably stop stalking me," I respond.

"Damn brother, never pegged you to be a stalker," comes yet another voice and we are now joined with William.

He takes my hands and kisses the back of it, "It is an absolute pleasure to meet you again."

I laugh, "The pleasure is all mine."

William turns his twinkling gaze on Lucas, "This, is how you greet women, idiot. Especially someone so beautiful."

I think I'm blushing a bit. What.

Lucas frowns, "You see, I'm not trying to get in bed with every woman I meet, thank you very much."

There are small wrinkles on his forehead as he scowls at his best friend. Cute.

"Didn't you like my greeting?" William asks me.

"I loved it," I smile at him widely.

Lucas scowls at me now. Then his eyes fall on Minnie who has been watching our exchange intently.

"Oh! Are you with Alicia?" He asks and Minnie nods wordlessly.

He holds his hand out, "Nice to meet you, my name is Lucas."

"Ah, it's good to finally meet Hot Security Man," Minnie turns a playful eye towards my burning face before taking Lucas's hand.

William's eyebrows shoot through the roof as he gives me the 'eyes'. He then takes Minnie's hand just as it leaves Luke's.

"My name is William. Commonly known as Will. Please don't call me Bill," he says before placing a kiss on her hand, like he had done to mine.

"Nice to meet you Bill, I am Kim Minji. You can call me Minnie," she smiles.

"It's so good to see that Lucas's attractive friend has excessively attractive friends of her own," William continues.

"You sure know how to turn on the charm," Minnie smiles. Oh Lord they're flirting with each other. Gross. Gross. Gross. 

The two of them head over to the jukebox to pick out a song.

I feel a cold hand on my bare shoulder and I flinch visibly as I turn back to Luke, who hastily takes the hand back, apologizing.

"Yes?" I ask, a little annoyed.

"You didn't seem to enjoy mine and Will's company at the, ahem, auction, and I couldn't find you after the auction was over, so is everything okay?" He asks, the blue in his eyes dimmed down, his mouth set in a small frown.

"Y-Yeah, everything is just fine!" I try hard not to stutter like a fucking idiot, "Did they find out who stole the painting?"

"Oh well my company was not in charge so I probably couldn't care less. I do want to know how they did it though, it will help me increase security in future," he exhales loudly before taking a sip of his drink. The sixty dollar glass of scotch. The one which gives you a sixth sense.

I hold back the smile beginning to form on my face because of that particular memory.

"Sure was an eventful evening," I mutter, staring down into my own drink.

"Are you an associate of the artist? Or were you his date?" He suddenly asks me and I nearly choke on my drink.

"Why would you ask that?" I deflect.

"I saw you with him earlier, and the two of you seemed interested in each other, that's all," he muttered, not looking at me.

"Nope, I am not interested in that guy in the slightest," I sip my drink slightly.

I think I've had too many drinks again.

"You don't have to deny anything. Yes I don't like the man, but I won't judge you."

"I said, I'm not interested in him. And even if I were dating him, I don't know why it matters so much to you," I snap.

He looks taken aback, and he steps a little backward, flinching. His demeanor has shifter back to its original stiff form.

Damn it, he's been through some shit already, why am I giving him more?

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," are my parting words to him as I head out of the bar and into the street, which is primarily deserted, save a few passers by in either direction.

"Hey Yuri," I speak into the phone, "Can you pick me up?"

"Alicia, it's two in the morning and I need sleep," I hear a drowsy voice on the other end.

"Oh come on, please," I plead.

"You went with the Sedan. The Cadillac's in Marina. There's no other car to drive," Yuri answers back. Shit I forgot about that.

"Okay I'll walk," I tell her and she cuts the call instantly, probably going back to sleep.

"Mind if I tag along?" A voice behind me makes me jump out of my skin.

I smile, "Of course William. I would love your company."

He smiles, his golden hair selectively reflecting the moonlight, making it look like it's made of silver instead.

I think I might have been a bit too buzzed, but I swear I saw a tall silhouette by the door of the bar.

***

"You know I'm not... interested, right?" I tell William as we walk side by side down the road.

"I know," he replies simply, "I never pursued you in the first place."

"Oh," is all I say.

"Your pretty Korean friend though-"

"Minji is a tough nut to crack," I smile at him.

I rub my hands together, my breath forming little clouds of mist outside my mouth.

I remember when I was younger, and when Dad used to take us to New York during Christmas to put up a stall at the farmers market. I used to blow air out of my mouth and pretend I was a dragon.

I form my lips into an 'O' and heavily blow air out, and watch the wisps of mist come out. To relive those little moments of the past.

"Ah, I used to do that all the time, and pretend I'm smoking a cigar like my father," Will comments, as we walk down the dimly lit streets, with my airbnb being just down the street and onto the next.

"Ah I just pretended I was a dragon," I laugh at his comment.

The police posts were still up around the area, and they were still stopping vehicles and checking them. Little do they know that the painting is resting in a car in the parking of a building on the opposite side of the city.

"Why would I be a dragon, when," he blows a stream of hot air from his mouth, "I can be a gentleman with a fake pipe?"

I laugh, "Because dragons," I mimic him and huff out more air, "Are cool."

William laughs, and I can't help but notice the sheen of the street lights on his golden hair, making it look a nice shade of silver.

"I am not going to argue with that, who doesn't love dragons?"

I giggle a little before we fall into a comfortable silence together, just walking forward. There is no weird nervous energy between the two of us like there is with Lucas, and his natural smile just makes you want his company more and more.

"My friend was expecting there to be a robbery in Los Angeles, but it happened here," William says all of a sudden, "That was so unexpected."

My blood runs cold. But I put on a nonchalant face.

"Oh, are you a cop?" I ask curiously. No way he knows that I'm behind all this.

He just smiles warmly at me and I feel comfortable all over again, "No Ma'am, I'm just an honest lawyer."

"That's great," I smile back, and just like that, we are standing in front of the house.

I give him one last grin, "Thank you, Will, for accompanying me."

He wraps his coat tighter around himself, "It is always fun to make a new friend. Have a nice night," he turns around.

I'm about to turn around as well when he faces me again, "Oh, and, if you and Luke ever decide to jump each other's bones, use protection for heaven's sake."

"Wha-?"

And he's gone.

"OH MY GOD HE IS ON BOARD THE ALICIA AND HOT-SECURITY-MAN SHIP!" I distinctly hear Yuri squeal behind me, and I turn instinctively to see her dressed up in a leather jacket and blue washed jeans and holding a helmet to her side as she grins at me.

"I remembered that we still have the bike, so I was gonna come pick you up, but I can see you got a better ride home," she laughs with her tongue out.

I frown at her, "Don't you have to sleep?"

She shrugs and holds up a second helmet, "Oh well I am up and I have two helmets and two fake licenses, wanna go for a night bike ride through the city?"

⚜️