Chapter 77

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Tae's skin glowed against the flashing lights. She was among fashion icons who were thirty-plus years knee-deep in the fashion and modeling industry and she was only pushing twelve years, she felt as if she was thirteen again completely clueless surrounded by big names, but for some reason, she couldn't help but smile.

She felt at ease, she felt comfortable. Standing next to one of the biggest and powerful woman, Anna held onto her arm as she guided the small woman out and onto the red carpet.

Tae was pulled aside for interviews. Vogue New York, California, Entertainment Tonight, E News, all the large outlets lined the carpet. The nonstop chattering carried on for many yards as celebrities gushed about whatever latest project they had going on, asked endless questions of who was wearing what.

One of the bigger news outlets Tae would be giving an actual interview to was E News.

The bright lights beamed down as a tall slender brunette woman holding a microphone with a large gold 'E' on it stood waiting as the personal stylist team made sure Tae's look was still perfect. Lipstick was touched up, cheeks were blotted to keep makeup in place, and hair was kept from frizzing. Tae was handed the same mic and was greeted by the woman with a huge smile, the woman pulled Tae into a hug as if she'd known her all her life.

"Hello! And welcome to an exclusive broadcasting for E News! I'm Maria Menounos and we are coming live from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for Vogues Annual Midseason fashion show. I'm hear with the beautiful Tae Heckard."

Maria spoke with a permanent smile, holding the mic with one hand and using her other hand for more excitement looking directly into the camera.

"How are you!? You look gorgeous! I had no idea you were this tall!" Maria's excitement made Tae laugh as she spoke to her.

"I'm great! Thank you, thank you. I'm 5'8 but I have on six inch heels right now, so I'm pushing 6'0 if not 6'1. I'm like a Drag Queen! All this hair and makeup, and I'm just strutting down the carpet."

"You're a Amazon."

Tae fell into a laughing fit, throwing her head back. "Exactly! Bad Bitch, from Sri'Lanka..... Can I cuss?....." Tae stopped to look around then back at Maria who was still laughing. "Oh well ... It's to late for that."

"I see you have replaced Drake with Anna for the evening." Maria teased as she placed a hand on Tae's arm.

"Hahahaha noooo! I'm HER date. She BROUGHT ME!" Tae joked back.

"Now, you are wearing an Anna Wintour piece correct?"

Tae was surprised that Maria didn't ask any more questions regarding Drake, yet she was relieved at the same time. As the interview went on Tae's attitude got better and better, she was dreading the interviewing phase of the night. All she could think about was being interrogated about Drake, her semi-nude photos, Melissa, and Open Relationship drama.

She got none of that. She realized people just didn't care about it. Well, at least not this side of the industry didn't. They wanted to know what shoes she had on, what necklace she was wearing, who did her makeup and hair if she was getting back into modeling or staying in the background. A small portion of the interviewers didn't even know she was dating Drake until they were updated by their producers in their earpiece.

As Tae made her way further down the carpet, the screaming and demands of paparazzi got louder, wanting shots from this angle and that angle. A familiar Bajan accent filled her ears, Tae looked down at a small tattooed hand with gold rings on every finger that was lightly wrapped around her wrist.

"Hello beautiful!" Rihanna's green eyes sparkled as the flashing lights reflected off of them.

Tae's mouth dropped, and her eyes got big. "Oh my gosh how are you gorgeous." She said as she was pulled into a hug.

The paparazzi began to go crazy, and flashes went off ever second. Two beautiful women with over a thousand dollars worth of apparel and their only common denominator were one's Ex and one's current boyfriend. Drake.

The awkwardness between the two women was quickly covered with Rihanna's compliment on Tae's outfit, and the comment was quickly returned back. Rihanna's beauty was striking, her signature green eyes and lips seemed to be even stronger once you were in her presence as opposed to just looking at a photo of her. It was almost hard to look at her, she was so pretty.

"I saw you, and had to come over and meet you! I just had too." Rihanna said with a genuine smile. Tae couldn't stop looking her in the eyes.

"I had no idea you were here!" Tae said back, still in all of the women.

Though the two women had never met face to face until this moment, it was no doubt that they didn't know of one another, Rihanna's label as being the "Bad Gal that Broke Drake's heart." and Tae's label as being the "Good Girl that Drake is willing to settle Down For." The two women were very aware of one another.

Yet even with that label, Tae seemed to be a tad bit star-struck. I mean let's not get it twisted, she wasn't Beyoncé, because if she was Tae would have passed out by now, but Rihanna held her own.

"We have to get together! Talk fashion!" Rihanna held onto Tae's hand as she spoke in her ear so she could hear her better.

"Of course, I'm always down if it involves fashion." Tae said back into Rihanna's ear.

"How long are you going to be here in New York!?" Rihanna asked as she leaned in closer.

The two women spoke hand in hand inches away from each other faces as photos were being taken back to back. No denying that this made for a great photo. Tae could understand it, looking at it that way. Two fashionista's posing on the red carpet for a Vogue Event, but for Rihanna to actually come out of her way to introduce herself, and then want to hang out with a woman who now has a very strong hold on a man she uses to have seemed a bit far fetched.

Or maybe it was simply she truly wanted to pick Tae's brain about fashion, she wanted to actually hang out with her because she seemed cool, maybe it had nothing to do with Drake, she probably wasn't even thinking about Drake.

Tae held her breath as she stood shoulder to shoulder with the Bajan Beauty, arms around each other's back. The exotic features of both women put the paparazzi in a frenzy. Both women put on their meanest 'Bitch Face.' knowing they'd be the topic on every website within a few hours.

Tae seemed to not mind having dinner with Rihanna after thinking about it, as long as fashion was the topic of discussion. And even if Drake did happen to come up in their conversation, Tae had no problem with putting a fellow island Gal in their place.

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