After a few more minutes of catching up with each other, Audrey soon became irritated and exasperated with the party’s vibe. The DJ seemed to had been playing just a handful of old dance hits in between boring ballroom music, and this was clearly doing nothing for the guests. Although an older crowd, their faces expressed the desire for something a little more upbeat. Of course, these disgruntled faces would soon change, as Audrey confidently made her way to the DJ and instructed him on what playlist to play out. In no time, the room was filled with pop music from the 80’s, 90’s, early 2000’s and today’s hits. No sooner had the music reached Miranda’s ears, Audrey received a death glare from her grandmother. But upon seeing the reaction her guests had to the change in music, the potential situation was soon under control. Now completely in her zone, Audrey had been busy dancing her heart out with Lila and Christian when Analise arrived.
“Anna, darling!” Audrey exclaimed, waiting patiently for her turn to hug Anna and making sure to also hug her extra-tight in return. When they let go, she offered her friend a wide smile.
“I’ve missed you as well! Even though it’s only been like a week since I last saw you.” the brunette teasingly added.
“Soooo… Tell me all about your winter break so far.”Before Anna could reply, an unrecognized velvety male voice greeting them reached their ears out of nowhere, Taken completely by surprise, the group found themselves staring at a stranger in their midst, looking elegant and just plain exquisite in a navy suit. However, the unknown male had started off his approach on the wrong foot by purposely ignoring Christian. As if that wasn’t enough, he’d shot each women in the group a smirk and a wink before offering them a drink, once again failing to acknowledge Christian’s presence. Audrey, although greedily taking in the handsome man’s features, raised her eyebrow and scoffed in disbelief at the man’s insolence.
‘The nerve of this one…’ she thought, ready to intervene and put this man in his place. But it seemed destiny had other plans.
“Excuse me, girls, but do you hear something?” Christian asked them, a concerned look in his face. Her pretended to clean out his ear before continuing.
“I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m hearing some sort of pestering buzzing. Would you all mind if we relocated away from this unpleasant noise?”There was a moment of silence in which the girls just stared at each other for a few seconds. Delilah couldn’t help but break out in nervous giggles, while Audrey merely smirked at her best friend’s antiques. Leave it to Christian to make sure those disrespecting him were quickly put in their place, with Audrey backing up his actions. In all honesty, it had been a rather douchebag move of this stranger to interrupt a conversation among a group of friends without even having the manners to introduce himself. To add to the sin, ignoring one of the members of the group? It had only increased the douche-bag factor, so the girls followed Christian in the search of a new spot.
Instead of following her posse right away, Audrey waited until they were just out of earshot to turn to take this handsome stranger head-on. She’d be damned if she didn’t give him a piece of her mind.
“I don’t know who you think you are, interrupting into our conversation like that as if you owned the place.” she began sternly, hands crossed in front of her. However, the sides of her pout lifted into a smirk.
“But you’ve managed to intrigue me, if for only a moment.” Audrey said non-nonchalantly, never once taking her chocolate brown gaze away from the man’s sea-blue one.
“Give me ten minutes. I’ll be back for some proper introductions and a drink.” And with a parting wink, Audrey quickly followed her friends and cousin, teasingly swinging her hips at every step. Let the guy have something to think about.
The young foursome located by a nearby column, and no sooner had they picked this specific spot, that they were joined by two others: a beautiful, blue-eyed girl with long dark brown locks, holding the arm of a taller, handsome Asian man. They complimented each other to perfection.
“OPHIE!” Audrey cried out, embracing
another one of her best friends as tightly as she could. Ophelia Bergman and Audrey had been placed together in one room at the Delta Gamma dorms, and the two had become fast friends right away.
“I’ve missed you so much! My room kinda feels so empty now that I’ve gotten used to sleeping with someone else in the room.”Ophie chuckled at that, and Audrey gave her friend another affectionate squeeze. The blue-eyed girl proceeded to introduce herself to Christian and Lila, and then did the same with her date: a man by the name of Harvey Rayner. As he smiled and greeted the group, Audrey couldn’t help but smirk.
‘Ophie sure did good with this one!' she thought proudly, feeling incredibly happy for her best friend.
She was brought away from her thoughts as Harvey Rayner addressed her directly by name, then did the same for Analise. He was a total gentleman, and a sure 180º from the blue-eyed stranger from earlier. He seemed genuine, charming, and truly happy to be there. In Audrey’s eyes, the way he treated Ophelia only added to his charm.
“Seems like you’ve done your homework, Mr. Rayner,” Audrey commented, satisfied with the young man’s first impression so far.
“I’m delighted to have you with us this evening, and thank you so much for accepting Ophelia’s invitation to join us.” Smiling, she turned to Christian and Delilah, who had been hovering alongside Anna after Ophelia had introduced herself.
“Allow me to introduce you to some guests. This is my lovely cousin Delilah Duclerc, and my best friend and date for the night, Christian Maxwell.”“Hiiiii!” Delilah greeted in her usual enthusiastic way, waving at Harvey with a bright smile.
"Nice to meet you!" Christian, now back to his usual charming, goofy self, also offered the man a smile while extending his hand.
“Pleasure to meet you, Harvey.” he said confidently.
Audrey stuck around for a little longer after that. She made sure that her friends and cousin were busy mingling before she discreetly slipped away, muttering the cheap excuse of freshening up. She discreetly navigated around the crowd keeping her eyes peeled, stopping from time to time to greet guests before continuing on the hunt for the handsome stranger. And when her eyes found him, overlooking the night sky in the balcony, she couldn’t help to hold back the smirk that overcame her features. Grabbing two champagne glasses from a passing dirty-blonde waitress, Audrey slipped into the balcony and took position alongside the stranger.
“Here you are, as promised.” she began, holding out the champagne glass to the blue-eyed man.
“ And as promised, a proper introduction. I’m Audrey Huntsberg, and it’s your pleasure to be in my company this evening.”
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