Young and Beautiful

Chapter Three

Flo wasn't in the mood for a party anymore.

Hattie had run off after a temper tantrum, her disheveled hair falling around her face like the crooked brown halo of an angel, and had left her one and only best friend alone in the midst of a party at which Flo did not know a single person. Flo's goal was to become one of the most envious socialites in Chicago--which she had more or less already achieved, but there was still some room for improvement--and she knew that one of the best ways to do so was to mingle with those who she did not know. But mingling and talking and flirting ever-so-casually wasn't the least bit fun without her best friend.

"I won't let her hold me down," Flo promised herself, and tilted her chin upwards. She tossed her hair back and smiled confidently at no one in particular. Her name was Flo, she was respected, honored, and admired among the Chicago elite, and she belonged at this party just as much as anyone else. Perhaps more so than others.

Her mood had begun to lift slowly, and she tapped her foot to the beat of the music coming from the jazz band performing in the corner as she poured herself a glass of champagne. She held the glass carefully in between her thumb and forefinger and took a delicate sip, already starting to feel better. The music was lifting her spirits, and the champagne was most definitely helping.

As she stood at the makeshift bar, her glass flute held carefully between her fingers, a boy with hair even more lush than Hattie's and the most scrumptious chocolaty eyes slid his elbow across the surface of the bar and looked at her directly. His gaze wandered down to her champagne flute--stopping at her more feminine assets along the way but not lingering, just like a flirtatious gentleman--and then traveled back up to her face. "Shame," he said slowly, tilting his head to the right. "A pretty little thing like you shouldn't be drinking a glass of champagne alone at such a merry party."

Flo slammed her champagne flute down onto the bar, so hard that some of the fizzy pink liquid brimmed over the flute and spilled on the polished brown surface, but she could not care less about the glass of champagne. Her perfect mood evaporated, and she felt a hot fury begin to burn in the depths of her mind. "Laurence," she hissed, looking from left to right, then cutting her gaze sharply back to her former beau yet once more. She had always thought that it had been Julianna who had initiated the flirtations between them. But after what Hattie had said--that Laurence wasn't the trustworthy sort, and besides, he was no baby--she had begun to reconsider. "What are you trying to do here? Seduce me as you seduced Julianna? While you were courting me?"

Laurence laughed throatily. His arrogance and confidence came together to form an unbreakable personality, which was one of the traits that Flo had loved so much in the past but detested at the moment. "Flo, my dear," he said gaily, as if he were speaking about the wonderful weather they'd had recently, "you know that Julianna wanted revenge on you. She bribed me, my love, and told me that she would make up all sorts of horrific stories about me cheating to you if I did not comply and play along with the charade. You see, Flo, we never loved each other in the first place. Have you ever even seen us do so much as hold hands?"

Flo did not want to accept this explanation. She rocked back and forth on her heels, the jazz band's music irritating her more than soothing her now, and searched her mind. But then she realized that what Laurence was saying was true. She had never seen him and Julianna interact with more than a coy wink here or a small flirtatious joke there. 

Relief flooded her as hot and as bright as the summer sunlight. "You aren't lying to me, Laurence, are you?" she said breathily, leaning in closer to him. Suddenly, his handsomeness was almost too much to bear. She flung her arms around his neck and said into his shoulder, "Oh, Laurence, I knew it wasn't true! You would never love another girl while you had me. I knew you were true to me!"

"Yes, my love, my lovely, beautiful, Flo," Laurence said, hugging her back as tightly as she was, "I have always been true to you. And always will be. And I know your friend, Hattie--she doesn't like me..." He loosened his grip and pulled back, looking at her. "What are you going to tell her?"

"What am I going to tell her?" Flo raised her chin defiantly. "Well, it doesn't matter to me in the least what she thinks! I've always known the truth, and you've come back to me, and everything's good and perfect now. Her opinion doesn't matter, because I know she'll try to ruin what it is that we have now, and I never want to lose you again. Never."

Laurence smiled and pulled her in for a slow, long kiss that rocked her from the top of her head to the marrow of her ankle's bones. She pulled back from his lips feeling warm and flushed and beautiful and feminine. "Laurence, I love you," she whispered, and did not wait to hear his response, because they were already dancing to the music coming from the jazz band in the corner.