CRASH (A Logan Brothers Novel) (9 page)

She laughed to herself as she
walked over to her desk and popped the cork, sending Alice a knowing
look as the top of the bottle issued a wisp of mist. “You see,
that's the way to do it, no frothing foam on the floor!”

“
God she's insufferable
sometimes,” said Alice, sitting down next to me on the bed as Tess
filled the glasses. “I don't know how I've put up with her for so
long.”

Had I just moved in I'd probably
have thought she was serious. But I'd spent enough time around the
two of them by now to realize that this was just their relationship.
Tess was the playful one, Alice the serious one. It made for some
amusing comedy from an onlookers perspective.

“
So you look hot,” Alice
continued, eyeing me up and down. “Your hair looks amazing, did you
get it done?”

“
Today, yeah. Needed a bit of
color.”

“
Well it looks great babe.
They'll be lots of young eligible guys there tonight, so good
timing!”

I smiled. There was only one guy
I was looking to impress.

“
Here we go girls.” Tess
handed us each a glass. “Happy birthday to the twins. Hopefully
Zack will enjoy my present for him.”

I saw Alice's face screw up a
bit. “You got him a gift?”

Tess had this cheeky grin on her
face. “Kind of.”

“
What is it?”

“
It's not for public
consumption Alice, let's leave it at that.”

“
OK, say no more,” said
Alice quickly. “I really don't wanna know.”

Tess smiled as she took a sip of
her champagne. I mean, I didn't want to use the word slut, but she
certainly had a voracious interest in guys. It looked like Zack was
just her latest target.

I felt kinda odd to have been
invited to be honest. I mean, I had only met the twins once the night
I'd arrived, and we didn't exactly hit it off. Alice had told me that
she could bring some friends, though, so invited me and Tess. That's
if Zack hadn't invited Tess himself. I wasn't sure if that was the
case or not.

Zack and Cade were hosting a
birthday party at this fancy hotel in town, the Globe or something. I
didn't know much about it, except that it was a black tie affair. As
soon as I'd learned about it I was straight into town to buy a
suitable dress. It almost crippled my budget for the month, but hey
ho, needs must. The money these guys had I didn't want to look out of
place. Alice and Tess certainly wouldn't the way they were dressed.
They both looked stunning.

We sank our champagne and
listened to music for the next hour. I must have had a smile
plastered on my face the entire time. It was just so liberating to be
sat here with these two girls. They were funny, popular, sweet, and
two of the friendliest girls I'd ever met. I was just grateful that
I'd landed on my feet so well coming here. I hadn't expected things
to turn out like this.

We took a limo to the hotel,
paid for by Tess. Her pockets seemed to be endlessly deep. Rich
parents I guess.

Alice went slightly quiet as we
arrived, her eyes dropping a bit as we entered into the hotel lobby.
I thought about asking her but, frankly, I knew she'd give me
nothing. I'd never met someone who bottled things up so well. Or
maybe I was just imagining it.

A glass and a half of
champagne down. I've done a lot more on a lot less.

The hotel was magnificent. It
had this aura of total luxury about it. Everything on the inside just
oozed money. The crystal chandelier, the lush red carpet, the golden
lighting fixtures: it was all so grand.

I could see Alice's eyes stay
low as we continued into the lobby, her head drooping slightly, as if
she was trying to obscure her face. She dropped back behind Tess and
I as we walked in, the both of us looking around at the amazing space
within. Alice didn't seem in the slightest bit interested.

Tess waltzed straight up towards
the front desk and spoke to one of the reception staff. I followed,
leaving Alice to wander off to the left.

“
We're here for the Logan
birthday,” Tess said, “where is it?”

“
Ah,” said the girl behind
the desk, “it's just over towards your left there. Down the
corridor towards the main hall.”

We walked off and joined Alice
as she loitered at the side of the room, casting her gaze over a
painting on the wall.

“
This way babe,” Tess said,
grabbing her attention.

We
walked down the corridor and towards a door at the end. There was a
man outside holding a chart.

“
Names.”

“
Tess Taylor, Alice Newton,
and Elle...erm Elle, what's your surname?”

“
Harper.”

“
And Elle Harper.”

The man ran his eyes over what
seemed to be a very long list and ticked our names off as he went.
“OK, in you go.”

He opened the double doors and a
wide space appeared before our eyes. It was a ballroom of some kind,
a stage at the end and a number of tables set up in the middle. Right
in the center was a champagne fountain, the golden liquid trickling
down into waiting glasses. Waiters shot this way and that, some with
trays of champagne, others with a range of canapes.

I ran my eyes over the other
people there. Most were young, attractive women and men standing in
groups and couples. The women wore all sorts of stunning dresses,
many sparkling in silver and gold jewelry. The men stood in their
well fitted tuxedos, most of them clean cut and looking sharp.

It was a scene of beautiful
people, one that I knew Alice and Tess would fit right into. I wasn't
so sure about myself. This wasn't the sort of thing I was used to, or
overly comfortable with.

I could feel the nerves tingling
in my body as I looked out over the scene, and was grateful when a
waiter approached carrying a tray of champagne glasses. I quickly
snatched one off it, with a couple of funny looks from Alice and
Tess, and gulped down a generous portion.

“
Easy now Elle,” said Tess,
“you've gotta pace yourself here. Come on, lets take a look at
where we're sitting.”

Tess turned towards the board
positioned near the main doors and eagerly searched for her name. I
glanced back at Alice, who gazed into the crowd. She seemed seriously
preoccupied with something.

“
Hey, here we are. Elle, you
and me are together. Alice, you're at another table with Kyle.”

We turned together to see that
she was no longer with us. She'd descended into the crowd, no doubt
searching for her man.

Tess smiled at me knowingly.
“Guess its just me and you then babe!”

Yeah, until you latch onto
Zack. Then I'll be all alone.

....

My prophesy came to pass.

Not long after Alice had
disappeared into the crowd the bell went for us to take our seats for
dinner. It was much more formal than I'd have imagined, kinda like a
wedding reception. I didn't think two guys turning 23 would choose to
celebrate their birthday in such a way.

But they did, and there I was,
sat there at a table, surrounded by beautiful people I didn't know.
They weren't like the people I'd met at college, or the girls I was
meeting in dance class. No, these people had a different air about
them.

One of money. One of arrogance.
One of superiority.

It wasn't directed at me, but it
infected the air, made me choke. They probably thought I was just
another one of them, another rich kid, another one of the gang.

Luckily I had Tess next to me,
so we spent most of the dinner chatting between ourselves. Call me
antisocial, call me what you want: I didn't want to talk to these
people much. Maybe the other tables were nicer, I don't know.

All I knew was that this one was
replete with the sort of people I'd avoided all my life.

But then, dinner didn't last
long, and soon the evening was descending into something more akin to
how I'd expect a 23 year old to bring in their next year.

The booze began to flow,
makeshift bars on either side of the room well stocked with alcohol.
People stood and mingled among the conceited masses, the noise in the
room beginning to build as the night wore on.

Tess abandoned me, as expected,
winding her way towards Zack. I knew she liked him, but I kinda hoped
that he'd give her the cold shoulder, tell her to do one. Then,
maybe, she'd come back to keep me company.

But she didn't.

A growing sense of awkwardness
began developing inside me as I sat there at my table, unable or
unwilling to mingle. I didn't fit in here, not with these people. I
felt completely out of place.

I poured myself another glass of
wine from a bottle on the table, filling my glass to the brim with
white.
When in doubt, drink.
It was my reaction in awkward
social situations like this.

I caught glimpse of Alice and
Kyle, the two of them sitting to one side. They looked so loved up,
it was kinda sweet. Or was she crying? I couldn't be sure from where
I was. She had her head in his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her,
a stern look on his face. That look never seemed to dissipate from
it.

“
I see you managed to replace
your handbag?”

The voice shot me out of my
stupor. I turned to my left to see Crash standing above me, a smile
showing off his beautiful white teeth. He looked incredible in his
tux. James Bond eat your fucking heart out.

A smile grew quickly on my face
at the sight of him. Someone I knew. Thank God.

“
Do you mind if I join you?”
he asked, his hand resting on top of the chair next to me, preparing
to pull it out.

I nodded. “Please.”

Please save me.

He sat down next to me, his
cologne floating across the short gap between us and drifting up my
nose. His eyes settled on me, a friendly look to them. Yet inside
those hazel browns I could see turmoil.

“
I wasn't expecting to see you
here,” he said.

I couldn't tell whether he was
glad about it or not. I felt an urge to apologize, as if I didn't
belong. That's how I felt anyway.

“
Um, Alice invited me. I hope
that's OK?”

“
It's not my party,” he
said, “I'm just a guest, like you. I have no control over who
comes.”

He took a sip of his drink, his
eyes staying on mine the whole time.

“
How come you're sitting here
all alone?”

I lowered my eyes and sucked up
some wine. I had no answer for him. I couldn't say it was because I
thought the people here were conceited and arrogant. I didn't want to
tell him the real truth - because I was a shy little girl with no
aptitude for large social functions like this. Someone who needed to
ply themselves full of wine to feel comfortable, often resulting in
embarrassment and humiliation the following morning.

No, I couldn't do any of that.
All I could do was lie.

“
Just taking a break,” I
said, my eyes still unable to meet his full on.

I glanced back at him as his
smile deepened. “Long break,” he said, his tone dry.

Was he toying with me, taking
the piss. And I thought my night couldn't get worse.

“
Well, it's been a long
night.”
Great, now I was on the defensive.

I took another gulp of wine and
forced my eyes to his. They didn't hold that burning fire like
before, yet they weren't completely relaxed either. A light frown
seemed to be permanently etched on his face, the weight of the world
heavy on his shoulders.

“
Do you wanna get out of
here?” he said suddenly, “you don't look happy.”

Holy shit. Did I really look
that glum. I bet everyone here thought the same. This random moody
bitch sat in the corner. What a fucking downer. Crash was probably
trying to remove my sucky presence from the room.

“
No, it's OK, I was about to
leave anyway. It's your brothers birthday, you should stay.”

“
Trust me, I'm not having a
great time either. The last thing I want to deal with right now is
small talk, but that's all these events are. The same fucking
conversations over and over. It's doing my head in.”

He arched one of his eyebrows up
a touch, awaiting my reply. “Come on, I'm leaving, you can follow
or not.”

I smiled.
What's the harm.

“
OK, give me a moment, I just
need to use the bathroom.”

“
Sure, I'll wait. It's over
there at the end of that bar.”

I stood and followed the
direction of his finger over into the corner of the room. Tess was
draping herself over Zack at the main table, his twin Cade and a
group of others all laughing and joking raucously. Tess clearly had
no trouble integrating herself into a new group.

I reached the corner of the room
and passed through a door. There were a series of doors down a short
corridor. I noticed the sign for the ladies and walked towards it, my
ears pricking up to the sound of raised voices through another door,
sitting ajar on its lock.