WHITE MUSTANG / chapter four
——— ₊ ⊹ truth hurts 🪩

( 🏙️ ) manhattan, new york city

————— THE THREE GIRLS marched around salem's room, running their hands in her closet and rummaging in her vanity. indiana curled her hair in front of the full-length mirror, the heavy curler tightly in her hands as she focused on each dark curl. she was wearing a bold brown dress, showcasing her beautiful figure, while cleo wore a short tiger print one.

salem stood in front of her closet, desperation written all over her face. after an endless time trying to pick an outfit for the party they were heading to, salem opted for a long dress, a silvery gold print with light sparkles on it. it was elegant, yet simple, exactly what she loved.

"cleo, could you hand me the white bag down there?" "the miu miu one?" the girl asked with her delicate voice, moving her long wavy hair on her shoulder, "no, the valentino one."

the girl let out a soft noise when she located the right bag, handing it to salem, who was standing next to indiana in front of the mirror, "thanks, babes" she smiled at the youngest, placing the bag on her shoulder and checking if it went well with her sparkly dress.

cleo reached behind her, sending her a toothy smile through the mirror, "you look gorgeous, sal!" cleo said, throwing her arms around her friend's neck, making the girl laugh

salem looked around to where cleo was, "girl, did you see yourself?" she smiled, before suddenly frowning and throwing her bag on the half-done bed, "no, i don't like this one."

indiana turned to them, "why don't you try the black one? i think it'll suit the dress better." "are you sure? isn't it... too much?"

cleo laughed, going towards the vanity and sitting on the fluffy chair, adjusting her hair and applying the finishing touches to her makeup, "sal, we're going to a luxury party. what is too much anyways?"

"right!" indiana exclaimed, finally putting down the hair curler and running a hand through her freshly made curls, "these people will serve champagne that costs thousands of dollars and you're worrying about a bag?"

the girls laughed, as salem examined her big collection of bags. after a long debate on which one to pick, the girls were ready to leave.

indiana walked down the stairs before the other two, heading towards the kitchen. she looked back at her friends, a playful grin plastered on her face, "what if before going we..."

salem rolled her eyes, watching the girl take out a bottle of champagne, "indie, seriously?" she laughed, "we're going to drink tonight anyways!"

cleo punched the blonde-haired girl on the shoulder, reaching towards her cupboard to take out three wine glasses, "oh, c'mon, sal! don't be a buzzkill!"

salem rolled her eyes, once again, not hiding the growing smile on her face. she bent on the counter, resting her elbows on it and watching indiana pour a glass for each of them.

four men stood on the small stage of the rooftop lounge bar, playing a soft and melodious jazz rhythm. thankfully, that night was not particularly cold, so salem took a sigh of relief at the fact she hadn't brought a jacket with herself. "it will ruin my fit!" she said when cleo reminded her to take one.

the girls pushed their way through the crowd. for that being an exclusive party there were a lot of people. they walked towards the bar, as indiana ordered the second round of champagne for the night.

"slow down with the alcohol," salem warned her, knowing how badly her friend handled alcohol. indiana shrugged, pushing her long curly hair away from her shoulder, "don't worry about me, sal. i'm tryna have fun."

"it's not gonna be fun for us once you're drunk though," cleo said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, resting her head playfully on indie's shoulder. among the three of them, indiana was the tallest, and so cleo would always rest her head on her shoulder, "i don't see how that's my problem!"

salem fazed out the conversation as the other two girls bickered over indiana and her alcohol tolerance. she looked around the room, taking in the beautiful panorama from the balcony. the whole city was lit up in its distinctive and breathtaking way. she loved new york, how the city was never asleep. she was born and raised there, and knowing those avenues and crowded squares like the back of her hand was what thrilled her the most.

she took in the decorations of the place: on the walls there were beautiful silvery drapes, hanging from big chandeliers and sparkling in the room. a glass fountain stood in the middle of the room with gourmet food and wine on top of it, the sound of the water giving an even more relaxing atmosphere to the lounge bar.

she got lost in her own thoughts, looking around with her sharp eyes. men and women of all ages strolled around the lounge room, some of them listened to the live music, others sipped on their thousand-dollars champagnes. salem liked watching people, noticing their habits or their attitude.

"hello? earth to salem," cleo's manicured hand waved in front of the blonde, making her snap out of her trance to look at her friends, "yeah, sorry—" she said, but something behind cleo caught her eyes.

she moved her head to the side, noticing a young man through the crowd, his expression stoic and his hair neatly combed. a small smirk tugged at her lips, noticing the man walking through the crowd towards the bar opposite to hers, a taller man separating from him after whispering something in his ear.

"guys, give me a second," she said to her friends, ignoring what they were saying to her, and walking away. she confidently strode through the lounge, her louboutins clacking on the floor as the sound created a soft symphony along with the jazz music. she noticed nicholas at the bar, watching the men playing on the stage, a glass of scotch in his hand.

she couldn't help the smile growing on her face, watching him so relaxed. "would you look at that?" she cracked a little smile, leaning on the counter bar next to him.

nicholas' eyes went on her, immediately losing the sparkle they had as he watched the live performance. he sighed heavily, salem could already notice a vein pop on his neck, "gosh..." he muttered through gritted teeth, his gaze going down to his glass, finding it way more interesting than the girl in front of him.

"didn't expect to see you here, nicholas," she said, a challenging tone in her voice. the barman stood in front of her on the opposite side of the counter, as she simply waved at him to bring her a champagne glass. at this rate i'm going to end up worse than indie, she thought.

nicholas scoffed, bringing the glass towards his lips, "oh, we're using first names now?" he hissed with a light vein of irritation. salem found it amusing. "oh, sorry. do you prefer mr chavez?" she curled her lips, watching him through her long lashes as the barman placed a tall glass of champagne on the counter in front of her.

nicholas sighed, "just call me nicholas." he waved her off, finishing off his scotch in a gulp, "what brings you here? talking to me?"

"the flow!" she joked, looking up at him as he finally decided to look at her. she shrugged, "i saw you from across the room, thought we'd finish what we interrupted."

nicholas frowned, "that sounds weird." for some reason, he couldn't stand the playful grin on her face as he said that.

"you're the one making it sexual," she joked again, knowing that would get him even more pissed at her. she silently cheered seeing how worked up and flustered he was getting, "jokes aside, did you think about the deal? cam said you'd need time."

nicholas nodded, ordering another scotch. if he was going to have this conversation right now, he knew he had to be at least tipsy not to give in to her charm, "i did, you can forget me if you believe i'll agree to that."

salem tilted her head, questioning what was going on inside of him. she wouldn't have liked to admit it, but she was still thinking about that meeting, even after talking it out with logan. she wondered what there reality was between the two. so she just took advantage of that moment.

for logan it was just banter because of nicholas' cranky attitude, was it the same for him?

"let me ask you something," she said, dropping her joking nature to become more serious, "what's between you and logan? what was all that tension?" she asked calmly, her expression relaxing as she waited for an answer.

nicholas looked straight at her, his grip tightening around the glass as she noticed how tense his muscles were. he was trying not to burst out in front of her, after all, she did nothing wrong. well, except proposing me such a fucking deal, he thought to himself.

"you wanna know what happened between us, huh? wanna know what logan did?" he hissed through clenched teeth, his gaze darkening as he placed the glass down aggressively, "last year when we first started working together, he thought it would be a great idea to steal my original designs and sell them to a rival company, just to get a higher-paying job. and the bastard got the job, incredibly!" he finished off with a fake round of applause and a bitter expression, "does that explain it to you?"

as he spoke, salem's eyes widened, her soft expression falling into a frown at his words. her arms fell along her waist, as she looked at him almost disgusted, "wait, are you serious?" she asked, genuinely shocked by the amount of information he had dumped on her in just a few seconds.

"truth hurts, darling." he said, finishing off his second glass of scotch, looking at her upset state in almost a contentedness that invaded him. proving her wrong on a person that was so close to her brought some sort of satisfaction in him, "your sweet logan isn't as you had imagined?"

she looked away, taking a chug of champagne down. she needed something to distract herself with, "i've known him for so long, i can't believe he lied to me."

"i'm sure he convinced you that i was the bad guy," nicholas snickered bitterly, standing up from the counter, "well, now that you heard both versions, you can come to your own conclusions."

salem watched, still astonished by the harsh reality of facts, how he was about to leave. she stepped on, grabbing the sleeve of his elegant suit, making him turn confused, "wait," she started, suddenly halting in her tracks.

nicholas glanced down at her fingers, holding onto the hem of the sleeve of his dark blue suit. her manicured hand crumpled the expensive fabric of his shirt, before she immediately removed it, "i think— i think we should talk this out."

nicholas composed himself, fixing the hem of his suit, pretending that contact didn't spark the tension between them even more, "i don't think this is the right environment to talk something like this out."

salem nodded, holding the glass of champagne in her hands. she felt her cheeks growing hotter, blocked on what to say. thankfully for her, nicholas talked first, "we can meet in my studio, if you wanna talk. tomorrow, after work."

for once he was actually listening to chandler's suggestion about talking this out with her only. there was even no manager involved, so it was easier than expected.

she looked at him, about to reply, but he swiftly turned away, disappearing into the crowd, leaving her with a billion questions in mind, and not a single answer for any of them.

————————— ‧₊˚ 📸
INSTAGRAM : salemreid
⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .🐆𖥔˚ 𐙚

liked by cleo.miranda, indiegrimes & 935,849 others...
—— salemreid don't mind us living our best life ♡

COMMENTS

cleo.miranda my bestest girls in the world <33
⠀⠀⠀salemreid ❤️
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀user i love their friendship 😭

indiegrimes girl you better give me my earrings back
(love you sal ❤️)
⠀⠀⠀salemreid I FORGOT OKAY 😭😭

clara.briggs is that my best girl i see right there ??
⠀⠀⠀indiegrimes i love you babe <3
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀salemreid my mothers

user next vs angel???
[ liked by salemreid ]

user girl drop the vogue beauty secrets vlog !!! WE NEED IT
⠀⠀⠀user LITERALLYYY SHE'D BE PERFECT
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀salemreid @ cleo.miranda @ indiegrimes you
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀hear them? call your boss !! 🙇🏼‍♀️

tap to load more comments ...

cleo looked around, as she sat at the bar. after salem disappeared into the crowd, and indie did the same shortly after, excusing herself to go to the restroom, cleo was left by herself at the counter. she didn't mind, but after about twenty minutes that neither of them was back she started to grow worried.

she called the barman's attention, waving her hand to order a martini. if she was going to be left alone, at least she was going to drink by herself with class.

she sighed, stirring the liquid with the toothpick with the olives inside of it, resting her head on the palm of her free hand as a light huff left her lips. "why the hell do they always leave me alone?" she thought out loud, sensing a presence behind her.

she felt the chair next to her, the one where salem was sitting before her disappearance, being occupied by someone, "so i'm not the only one left alone by his friend."

the voice was lighthearted but confident. she turned her head to face the man sitting next to her. she smiled, she was always sweet with others, it was something her friends really admired of her.

she chuckled softly at his comment, "well, maybe it's not our night."

the man laughed along with her, fixing the collar of his white shirt and running a hand full of chunky rings in his buzz-cut hair, "i'm guessing not." he looked down at her, a soft smile cracking on his face.

cleo found him nice at first glance, noticing his expensive taste in fashion just from his clothing. if there was something she knew how to recognize, it was taste. i mean, you don't get a position as a fashion blogger for freaking vogue if you don't have a taste! something cleo gartens did not lack was definitely an impeccable sense of fashion.

"i'm cleo," she introduced herself, flashing a bubbly smile and stretching her hand in his direction. she exuded good vibes from miles away, and the man in front of her could feel it. he accepted her handshake, his warm and bigger hand engulfing her in a tight but gentle grip, "chandler."

LOLA SPEAKS .ᐟ 𐙚
truth revealed, logan is a bitch !! THIS CHAP
IS SO LONG 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

thoughts ? please don't be a silent reader,
vote and comment, it really motivates me !!

౨ৎ