A Night To Bare All

“It’s nice to meet you.” I said shaking her hand

“Ryan has told me so much about you, it’s nice to finally put a face to the  amazing Lauren he goes on and on about.” She said as she used her perfectly manicured hand to toss her perfectly curled hair back.

“I’m glad you two seem to like each other..” Ryan inserted happily

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, it’s barely been a minute.” I blurted, I instantly felt guilty as Ryan bore a stare into me, “Let’s go in and have dinner, shall we?”  I said gesturing to the restaurant behind us.

 I dragged my feet sluggishly, letting them lead the way, it was always the same routine. Ryan would introduce me to his new girlfriend and I was meant to give an honest opinion on her, not that my opinion mattered anyway because he always dated them after I exaggerated their flaws. But most times, I just wanted him to be happy and I gave my go ahead in the end. 
Ryan was a wonderful person, he was sexy yet cute, he spoke up but was never in your face, a gentleman with a bad boy’s touch, firm but not forceful, loving not clingy, he possessed a low slung sense of humor and a laid back self confidence. He was literally perfect. Every girls dream.  And he was my best friend.

One thing about Ryan, I thought as the waiter waited for my order, “I’ll have what they’re having.” I smiled and went back to thoughts. One thing about Ryan was that he was all about commitment but only to “the one”. He believed that there was one person out there for everyone, and he was determined to find his. The one that would be there for him and the kids, the one that would never leave like his parents did, the one that would see he was a good person, the one that he could finally commit to. And he got believing me in that nonsense too, good thing was I already found mine.

“…..I don’t know what happened next,  all I know is that I woke up in Vegas: no credit card, no shoes, and a cheap wig on” Mandy said…I think that was her name. I couldn’t remember if it was Mandy, or Marcy, or Miley, or maybe Molly, (despite the fact Ryan won’t stop talking about her) who cares, she’ll be gone in about a month.

“It sounds to me that you’ve seen ‘the hangover’ one too many times.” I said.

“Excuse me…” she said in her hinted British accent.

“Oh, you haven’t seen it? It’s a good movie.” I said taking a sip from my glass of white wine…when I had ordered that? When did it even arrive? Had I been that lost in thought?

“You’re being rude,” he whispered to me “What is wrong with you?” he asked

“You know you’re not really whispering, she can hear you.” I said pointing to Mandy or Marcy.

Okay, now I was just being downright rude and I could tell she was uncomfortable, I bet she really wanted me to like her cause Ryan must have gone on and on about how I’m such a huge part of his life and how my opinion really mattered to him.

I smiled, “I’m sorry, I had shitty day and I’m just taking it out on you guys. Can I get a do over, pretty please?” I said sweetly.

“Of course,” she said “I understand” she patted my hand.

Don’t touch me, I thought as I withdrew my hand from her, I hate you as much as I hate every other girl that has sat opposite me on this stupid “get-to-know” date. I flinched inside as I felt the intense feelings I always kept bottled up rise to the surface as it always did when I was around him. Why couldn’t he see, how couldn’t he tell that I was in love with him? He was my “one”. 
Why did he made sit through these excruciating dinners to decide whether these girls had what I had with him?

I noticed Ryan staring at me, trying to figure out what was wrong with me. What made matters worse was that if I told Ryan how I felt about him and he felt the same way, we would still never be together. He was my other best friend, Jolie’s ex…that’s how I met him. He was the love of her life, when he had broken up with her she had felt so devastated, crushed, used. I thought he was a scum but she urged me not  judge him, she told me he had commitment issues and where they came from, and begged me to be his friend, he had needed one back then, he was somewhat of a loner if I remember correctly, who am I kidding, of course I do.

At first, I refused to but she told me he had no body but she had her music, she was a singer-songwriter and a talented one at that. And she seduced me with words of how I’m an amazing person and how he needed a friend like me. Jolie was a good person like that. As I got to know Ryan, I understood him the way she did…and loved him the way she did.

 Over the years I managed to keep them from each other while spending an equal amount of time with both of them. But whenever Ryan’s name accidentally came up, I could see she was still very much in love with him. How do I tell  my best friend that I am in love with the love of her life, the guy she still secretly wishes would come back to her, my other best friend.

I saw Molly or is it Heather (where did the name 'Heather' come from, I meant Mandy) put her hand on Ryan’s and squeezing his gently. She smiled at him and he smiled back and I wondered if they had shared anything as wonderful as the rainy night Ryan and I had shared in my apartment almost two years ago. We had been talking, drinking, and a little playful stripping, we were just joking around, it wasn’t meant to mean anything. I may have said I had a crush on him in the past and he may have said the same thing, and we might have wondered why neither of us had said anything, and us being amazing friends might have come up. But we definitely had earth shattering sex, the best I ever had…and will never have again.

It was magical in every sense of the word and we had gone all night long. The cuddling and joking and playful teasing in-between was almost as beautiful as the sex itself. I thought that was it, the moment we became a couple, and pretended we weren’t because we did want to hurt Jolie’s feelings. Almost poetic, don’t you agree?

 But by the time I woke up the next morning he was gone, leaving a message on my voice mail, telling me he had gone to see his adopted family and he needed to figure things out, he wanted to define what we had between us, but he hoped we could still be friends when he returned. The agony. He was breaking up with me and we weren’t even a couple. I spent about a month, crying over him and mourning what we never had, I suspected that Jolie had suspected that my spilt tears were over her ex, but I was grateful that she never pursued it. When he returned…three months later, neither of us spoke about that night, or made reference to it. We carried on like nothing had happened [at least he did, I relived that night very moment in my head] we even managed to become closer than we already were.

I deserve a standing ovation for my acting, my going on year in, year out, pretending that I don’t feel what I feel for him, that I don’t love him more than life, pretending I wouldn’t screw Jolie over  if he asked me to. I deserve an Oscar for treating him like an ordinary everyday Joe, just a normal guy friend. Give me a fucking award [any award] for being painfully close to him as much as I am and still keep my cool. Damn you, if I don’t deserve a Golden globe knowing the one I love will never love me back and still remain strong about it. Better yet, give me a doctor that can mend a broken heart.

Now watching him with Miley or Missy or whatever the fuck her stupid name was, I wondered if he ever remembered the night, the night we spent together, if it had meant so much to him, as it did to me. It was clear that he didn’t, I was just another in a long line of one-night-stands.

Sitting here I felt foolish, how could I have been so careless, so clueless….and I let him get off the hook like that. I always thought what we had was too painful for him to let go and he didn’t want to talk about it. That all the girls paraded in front of me was him pretending to be moving on but really wasn't, i thought it was just a charade. Watching him and Michelle, I knew it was no charade, they ‘might’ have something between them, the kind he had with Jolie. I mentally kicked myself over and over again till I had an actual migraine. A stray tear slipped from my right eye, why here?? Why now??

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked concerned…sure, now he was concerned, “You barely touched your food, on second thought you haven’t touched your food.”

I hadn’t even seen the food arrive, I looked down at my plate and for the life of me couldn’t fathom what I was looking at. Were those snails?

“Boy troubles?”  Maureen asked, who fucking cares what her name is, as long as it starts with an ‘M’.

“It’s nothing” I said as another rogue tear escaped from my left eye. “Waiter, “ I called to the nearest one, “please bring the whole bottle.” I said pointing to my glass

Neither of them knew what to do as they watched me awkwardly try to stifle my tears while attempting to finish a whole bottle of wine in record time. 

“I can’t take this anymore.” I blurted out “I just can’t  be here.” I said as I got up from the table and grabbed my purse and walked away…no love was worth the humiliation. It was raining outside, I was standing carefully at the door trying to make sure I didn’t get wet when Ryan and Marissa rushed out. I was tear free by that time, “I’m sorry I cut our evening short, I’ll make up for it I promise.”

“That’s okay,” she said “I look forward to having dinner with you again.” she continued as Ryan ran under the rain to hail her a cab, how romantic.

When he gave a goodnight kiss and literally shoved her into the cab he walked to me without precursor and said “what the fuck just happened in there?”

I was speechless. 

His voice was a little lighter when he spoke again "It’s not just today, this past couple of weeks you’ve been shutting me out of your life and I demand an explanation. I can’t take knowing that you’re withdrawing from me, that our friendship doesn’t mean as much to you as it does to me, I can’t stand knowing you’re pulling away from me.” Now his voice was like a blanket “I’m sorry I raised my voice, it just scares me that I might be losing you, it scares the fuck outta me…so tell me, Lauren, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it could be the fact that since you’ve been hanging out with Mabel, you don’t have time for me anymore.” I said

“Maryanne.”

“what?”

“Her name is Maryanne.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“You know what, I don’t care.” I said stepping into the rain and walking away from him.

He ran after me, I shuddered. Not just at the rain dripping through my clothes and making me wet but also at the thought of him following me in the rain. I winced as I realized that the rain was matting my newly made hair but I froze when I felt Ryan’s hand pulling me back.

Not for long, “Let me go” I said as I wiggled free from his grip and walked faster. Word of advice to the ladies, do not attempt to walk fast in heels…… under rain.

“Can you even pretend to want to fill me in on what I have obviously done wrong?”

The moment of reckoning, how do I tell him that I’m still not over a one night stand that happened almost two years ago, or explain my feelings for him that he never reciprocated? Where do I start? 

“It’s not you it’s me.” I said, “I don’t think we can be friends anymore, I’ll send you’re things over from the nights you spent at my place and I’ll expect my things back. Please don’t call me ever again. I know you don’t understand why I’m doing this and chances are you never will, but I want you to know it’s for the best.” I finished, I couldn’t see his face clearly because of the rain but the fact that he stood there immobilized, speechless was a message, had I hurt him? Even if I had, it wasn’t as much as he hurt me. All I could do was walk away.

“I love you.” I heard him scream from behind me I paused mid step and turned around, tears of joy flowed from my eyes but were mingled with the rain against my face.

“What?” I asked astonished.

He jogged up to me, “I love you” he said again, I was about to say it back to him when he decided to finish his sentence “I want to say that phrase to Maryanne, I was going to tell Maryanne today, that I loved her, and ask her to marry me, but you don’t care, do you? I’ve never used those words before, not to my foster parents, not to you, not to anyone, do you even care that she might be wrong for me?” he asked.

You have no idea, I thought to myself.

“I was going to tell Maryanne today, I think she’s my “one”. If I say “I love you”,  what do you think she will say?” he continued when I didn’t answer.

“I love you too” I said, now tears of pain took over, it was only wishful thinking that made me think he was talking about me “she’ll say ‘I love you too’.”

“Don’t leave me Lauren” he sniffed and placed his forehead on mine

“Stop it, stop it for Christ sake.” I cried out “I can’t take it anymore.” I said before dragging him closer and kissing him. He froze for a second before he took over, he kissed me lightly before breaking it off, he searched my face and kissed me strongly this time parting my lips gently, tasting my lips, he kissed me passionately, the kind of kiss that was only imagined, I felt his hand on the small of my back, teasing, he pulled me closer as though he wanted more of me, couldn’t get enough of me, it was the sexiest kiss ever, straight out of a movie scene. Perfect. 

Suddenly, I jerked back to reality, it was the rainy night from two years ago all over again, complete with the rain. I don’t where the urge came from but it took a lot of courage to break free from his lips and slap him. Yes, I slapped him.

“Why are you doing this, kissing me back?” I asked. “Leading me on only to hurt me again, and again, and again?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, I don’t know, let’s see, having sex with me then running away for three months or saying “I love you” only to be practicing to say to it someone else, how can you not tell that I’m in love with you, that I would give everything up to be with you. It hurts, you know.” I cried, my voice shaking as I spoke.

He had nothing to say. What happened to ‘don’t leave me Lauren’ or maybe ‘ I love you too’... how about ‘I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time’ but he had nothing to say.

 “I just can’t do this anymore” I finally said.

Still he had nothing to say. “You suck.” seriously? Was that only thing I could come up with? I thought but nonetheless I still turned on my heels and walked away, hoping the raindrops would drown the sound of my heart breaking.

He didn’t call me back to proclaim his undying love, he didn’t dramatically run after me, and tell me he can’t live without me, nothing, nada, zilch. Instead he let me walk out of his life, just like that.

I cried myself to sleep that night over him…again. The next morning, a box of all the things I’d ever left  at his place was waiting for me at my doorstep when I went to get the paper. He didn’t have the decency to return them personally, the jerk.

But for the life of me I couldn’t fathom why I couldn’t bring myself to hate him, I was only capable to love him more, to rationalize his behavior, I probably scared him off with my declaration of love.  The same thing I saw Jolie do and pitied her for it, now it was my turn. To feel the curse of a bleeding heart, to fully understand the meaning of the phrase ‘lost love’, it was my turn to let go and move on.

 I never returned his things, I held on to them as they were to be the only memories I will have of him for years to come.

XXX RATED

Dinner Date With Death

I sat there staring at him, he stared back. Okay…this was awkward. I reached out to touch him but he pulled back.

“Let’s just get this over and done with.” He said.

“Don’t be too hasty, I want to get to know you.” I said.

“No, you don’t.” He resisted.

“Uh, yeah, I do.” I said "for starters, why do you do what you do?"

“Because, I have no choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”  

“Not this time there wasn’t.” he said

“Hmmn…” was all I said as I got up from his dining table and walked over to his bar and poured myself drink. I could feel him staring at me.

I was gorgeous and I knew it. I had blonde hair, blue eyes, full breasts, long hair, flawless skin….I was everything a man could wish for…but not him.

“You don’t understand, I don’t want to do this, I’m not ready.” He said finally.

“I understand.”  I said as I watched him battle his feelings. I understood his feelings but he stubbornly wouldn’t let me understand him. “But a deal’s a deal.” I said as I walked up to him. “Are you ready?” I asked.

I saw tears well up in his eyes, just like I saw in the others, “I’m ready.” He said with shaky voice, trying his best to be brave.

I placed both hands on his temple and began breathing at a slightly more exaggerated rate. I concentrated on what I was doing. I was, literally, dragging the life out of him.

Don’t judge me, it’s not easy for me either, being death. You absolutely have no idea how many people die in a day. The only perks that came with the job was that I could transform myself to look like anybody I wanted. But what good does that do?

It is said, “just before you die, you entire life flashes before your eyes. Every single memory, action, or decision comes flooding back.” Let me tell you now... that's not true.

First of all, I drag out all the energy from your life force, as I do this, your vision dims, and then as the whole process becomes more intense, your sight brightens, almost at blinding, but only you can see it. Then slowly your mind clears. Most times, peoples’ last thought usually concerned the afterlife, “Where am I going after here? Heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Reincarnation? Who am I going to be if I come back? Will I remember anything?”

Truth is, your life will eventually begin to flash, but not in front of your eyes…in front of mine. I begin to see everything; your whole life, your fun times, your pain, your happiness, your sadness, your tears, your joy. Everything.

Now as I held his head, I watched his life. I saw his first birthday.

 I saw his mother run into the middle of the road to save him from being hit by a car when he was about six years old.

I saw him get bullied all through junior high. And it didn’t get any better for him in high school.

At 18, he joined the army to serve his great country. To make a difference. But at 24, he barely got out alive.  I saw the people he killed in the line of battle. I saw the nightmares he had because of it.

I even saw the first day she met his wife. She was his psychologist’s assistant. She had turned him down the first time he asked her out, but his persistence eventually paid off.

Ever since the first day he saw her, he loved her more with every breath. And he never had the urge to look at another woman again.

And I felt it, I felt his love for his wife. I Stumbled briefly as it overwhelmed me.

But not just his love, I also felt his pain, his joy, his frustrations.

For a split second it was as though I lived their lives with them. And sadly for me, that was the closest I came to knowing what a normal life felt like. And I go through this torment over and over again every day. What I wouldn’t give, just to live a normal life.

They got married at the bed and breakfast where they spent their first vacation together as a couple. It was a dainty but lovely ceremony. That night she told him she was pregnant, had been for three weeks.

The day his daughter was born, he cried his eyes out and promised to protect her as long as he lived and if possible for ever.

When she was diagnosed with cancer, he couldn’t afford the hospital bills, and his insurance couldn’t cover her treatment.

He borrowed money from a loan shark who required favors from him in return. These ‘favors’ ranged from robbing banks to dealing drugs and even smuggling into the country. Literally, anything you could imagine.

I shuddered cause I now saw it his way. He had to do what he had to do to save his daughter's life. He couldn’t stop or else the loan shark would have stopped paying for his daughters treatment or even killed his wife and kid. He really didn’t have a choice.

When I got the information on him a year ago, I was just told that he was a criminal and needed to be stopped. Guilt overwhelmed me as I continued to drain his life.

When I had first come to him, he begged me to give him an extra year with his daughter while she got better. Honestly, I still don’t know why I did it. I just did. It felt like I was giving the poor girl more loving memories with her father. But I couldn’t stall with his case again. His soul was being demanded for.

He decided not to tell his wife about his life of crime or about our previous encounter. He just wanted her to have good memories of him.

He already knew I was coming tonight and he sent them to see a movie.

I felt that regular chill that told me it was almost over. Then his last thought flooded me. “I just want them to be okay.” His wife and child. He loved them that much. He didn’t care about what happened to him after. He just wanted them to be okay.

I heard the door open behind me, it was his wife and daughter. No worries. Only the person I came for could see me.

That was it. The end. I let go of his head and let it drop to the table.

His wife screamed and rushed to his lifeless body, “Call 911” she yelled to her daughter who rushed to the phone.

“Baby, baby look at me. Wake up.” she cried “You can’t leave me, you just can’t leave me.” she said hugging his body tightly.

“Is daddy going to be okay?” His six year old daughter asked.

But her mother was to enveloped in grief to notice her question.

He rocked his lifeless body as she cried. “I love you, baby, please, please...”

“It was too late.” I thought as I watched the pain I had inflicted on this family.

But this was my job, what I did every day. It wasn’t easy and it definitely wasn’t worth it. Being death is obviously nothing like you imagined.

What Would Lefty Do?

“Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?” Michelle spun around looking at the scared faces of  the people sitting on the conference table. “Good job people, this week’s edition will literally blow the readers’ pants off.” She said looking at the mock-up of the most recent edition of the magazine behind her, “Now shoo, my little pets, I have a lot to do today.”

Michelle was the editor-in-chief of ROYALE, the leading fashion and gossip magazine in the world. It targeted all audiences: the old, young, men, women. It usually got sold out within the first couple of hours it hit the stands. And she was just twenty-four years old.

She sat on the edge of the conference table staring at the enlarged mock-up. It was perfect. “Miss Reyes.” Her assistant called, peeking his head through the conference door, she didn’t bother to turn around…. “Shhh, I’m absorbing.” She said gesturing to the atmosphere.

“It’s your mother.” he said

Michelle sat up, “Where is she?”

“In your office.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Her mother owned ROYALE, like owned it. ROYALE had offices all over the world: France, Italy, Spain, literally in every country that was relevant. And it all felt surreal to her, four years ago she was an aspiring singer trying to get through the death of her adopted parents, just one of its loyal readers and now she was basically running it. 

You can’t imagine the shock on her face when Sandra Wellings, better known as Lefty, sent for her and told her that she was her birth mother and would like to legally adopt her. There was no crying, no gushing, just “okay”. Let’s just say lefty, wasn’t one big on emotions. After officially adopting her, lefty explained her reason for abandoning her, she had only been sixteen at the time and was from a poor background and couldn’t take care of her, but three husbands later, she had the finances to take care of her and was going to. Lefty had never had another kid, after her first marriage, he began to keep an eye on Michelle, and when Michelle had lost her foster parents, she felt that was the best time to intervene.

Lefty had been Michelle’s role model over the years and now Michelle had only three rules in life, ‘live like lefty would’, ‘party like lefty would’, and ‘do as lefty would’. Lefty hadn’t given a big speech about how she regrets not being there for Michelle when she was growing up, but the gifts she constantly gave was more than enough.  An apartment In upper east side in New York, a mansion in the Hamptons that came with a Ferrari, an estate in orange county, that came with a Porsche,  a villa in Milan and a chateau in Paris, to name a few. Lefty really knew how to make up for lost times.

“Mother.” Michelle called as she entered her office.

“Precious.” Lefty said raising her hands for a hug.

After hugging her mother she said, “Have a seat” gesturing to one of the chairs around her spacious office.

“It has been ages...” Lefty said sitting, crossing her legs elegantly. Truth was, it was barely two weeks. No one had known where lefty was, it was in her nature to take off with an admirer, the one that could afford her. At forty, Lefty looked half her age and changed boyfriends more than Nicki Minaj swore in her raps.

“Work has been keeping me busy.”

“The youngest editor-in-chief ever in the world, a tough job for you?”

“No, I can handle it” Michelle said, not wanting to disappoint her.

“That is no doubt pleasant to hear, I’m looking forward to the next edition, you’re doing a good job. But that’s not why I’m here, but first, where is that metro sexual assistant of yours?”

Michelle ordered him in with her intercom and turned to face her mother, her assistant rushed in, “I’ll have an iced tea, long island iced tea, I mean.” Lefty said as though he was a bartender. “and what are you having dear?” she asked Michelle

“Gin and tonic” the young lad rushed to the built in bar that Lefty managed to stock with all sorts of drinks whenever she came over and began to prepare their orders.

“Always hire an assistant with a bartending degree I always say…” Lefty said “and onto business, I need a favor from you my darling.”

“Anything mother.” Michelle said feeling a bit silly calling Lefty 'mother' when they barely looked years apart.

The assistant brought their drinks over, “The Italian ambassador, I owe him a favor and his son is around,  so I promised his son dinner with you, who knows you might hit it off and finally have a boyfriend.”

“I have a boyfriend.” Michelle said.

“The photographer...I told you he’s nothing but a gold digger and a worthy booty call.”

“He has been my boyfriend since college.”

“The more reason you should change him, just say you will do this little favor for your mother and have dinner with my friend's son.”

“Fine, when?”

“Tonight.”

“But I can’t tonight, we have a new issue coming out in a couple of days…”Michelle said

Lefty turned to the standby assistant who’s name neither of them cared to know. “Take care of the magazine tonight would you.” His face beamed with excitement as the obviously large responsibility was handed over to him.

“Yes ma’am, thank you ma’am.”

“I’ve had a dress delivered to your apartment, why don’t you go home and get ready.” Lefty said before standing up, her model body still intact. “Don’t forget our brunch tomorrow.”

“We don’t have brunch tomorrow.”

“Now we do.” she said walking out of the office sending an air kiss in her wake. Michelle turned to the still beaming assistant “Get randy up here.”

“I’m sorry sweetie but I have to cancel dinner again today, my mom made an appointment for me at the Italian embassy that I cannot afford not to show up to.” Michelle explained to her boyfriend, Randy, who was also a photographer for the magazine.

“That’s okay.” He said kissing her. “Will you be out late?” he asked concerned.

“Maybe.”

“That’s okay too. I’ll see you tomorrow at work.”

“I miss you already.” she said before shooing him out of her office, slightly disappointed with the fact he was so understanding and not at all upset that she was cancelling dinner the third time that week, who was okay with being stood up that often?

At dinner that night, honestly, Michelle was having an amazing time with Adam, the son of the Italian ambassador, they were having dinner at a hot new French restaurant. She’d told randy, it was at the embassy to make it sound work related. Then, she suddenly felt a pang of guilt as she remembered Randy, her sweet, understanding Randy.

“You are truly amazing” Adam was saying , still laughing to a story she just told. “A true daughter of your mother.”

“A compliment of the highest order.” Michelle said as her phone buzzed, it was a call from her assistant, she set her phone on silent. “One of my pets, its unimportant.” She explained.

“Do you really call them 'pets'?” he asked.

“They jump when I say jump, sit when I say sit, roll over when I say so…..trust me, they’re pets.”

“It’s like talking to lefty herself.” Adam said.

“Excuse me while I use the little girls' room..” Michelle excused herself exactly as Lefty would have done.

She hadn’t taken a reasonable number of steps away from the table when she saw one the models for this month’s issue seated there in the same restaurant as her...with her boyfriend. She stopped dead in tracks, she couldn’t believe Randy would cheat on her, the gold digger.

She didn’t even care how long it had been going on, she just wanted to teach them a lesson. She didn’t feel the urge to cry, it was more of “a walk over there and pour a drink on this face” urge, but that was unlady like. She didn’t move as she intently tried to figure out what her mother would do in a situation like this.

 Finally, She walked up to where they were seated with a smile on her face “Irene?” she asked “or is it Ireland," she gave a fake sigh of disappointment "Forgive me, What is that your name?”

She watched as their faces turned pale, “I can explain...” Randy attempted to say.

“I asked the lady a question.” She cut him off.

“Its Isabelle, ma’am, Isabelle Grobachev.”

“I don’t know who you are but I know you who I am, and I know you know it’s not very wise to be dating my boyfriend.” she said calmly almost whispering. “I am Michelle fucking Reyes, daughter of Sandra ‘Lefty’ the fuck Wellings. I can single handedly cut short your modeling carrier and send you back to the hellhole of a country you come from and make sure to you never step foot in this country again. On second thought, that’s exactly what I’ll do, and when I’m done with you the only modeling you’ll be doing would  in a chicken suit for whatever fast food chain that would still accept you.”

“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?” Randy said as tears began to well up in Isabelle’s eyes.

“And you…” She said turning on randy “My mother was right about you, by the time I’m done with you… you will flinch whenever you look at a model…"

“Stop,” Randy said “This is what drove me insane, You’re not Lefty, never was, never will be, you’re just her illegitimate spoilt brat of a daughter, do you think you would even be threatening people if she hadn’t reached out to you?”

Michelle smiled, “I may not be lefty but you’ll soon find out that I can cause as much damage to a person’s life as she can, as long as you’re in this country, no magazine or newspaper or online journal would hire you. Try me.”  she turned to the nearby waiter that had been eavesdropping. “My name is Michelle Reyes...”

“I know who you are ma’am…”

“This people are making me uncomfortable,” she said in an innocent voice, “I may never come here again.”

Shock crossed his face and then he turned to the seated couple, “I’m afraid I'll have to ask you to leave.” He said

“This is ridiculous, I’ll sue.” Randy said.

“I’ll cover your losses,” Michelle said to the waiter and walked away, that felt empowering. She paused and turned to Randy “And by the way, it’s over, and before that…you’re fired.”

“You’re making a scene, sir.” She heard the waiter tell Randy as she walked away.

As Michelle redid her makeup, she stared into her face, it was a younger version of Lefty, the same eye color, smooth skin, perfect smile and nasty attitude. Exactly like Lefty, she remembered the ambassador’s son waiting to take her to a yacht after dinner, who knows he could be her first husband. Lefty’s first husband had been wealthy Texan mogul that fell in love with her when he saw her on the run way when she was 22, two years later, she broke his heart and cleaned him dry in the divorce. Never catch feelings, Lefty always said.

 As she finished her makeup retouches, she thought , this night was the eye opener she needed to be the strong woman her mother was, she smiled as she remembered the fear she put on Randy and Isabelle’s faces. But she had to ask herself, is that what her mother would have done in a situation like that, and she was satisfied with her answer, yes, that is exactly what Lefty would do.