The air smelled of a recently mowed lawn and had a hint of a barbeque scent that Chloe could detect fairy easily. The setting sun played games with her shiny golden locks- they seemed to switch up their colors every second and appeared more and more attractive with every turn of the head. She had planned on hurrying towards the enormous mansion that was obviously built to be hidden by the giant exotic trees but instead found herself slowing her pace down to almost a stroll as her curiosity overcame her. The garden that preceded the rich man’s palace was already more than she had ever expected. Plants of all sizes, shapes and colors adorned her as she dazedly followed along the winding stone path- it was designed seemingly exactly with this purpose. From leaning palm trees to charming magnolias, the atmosphere was more that of a fairytale story than that of an actual transpiring event.
As she eventually neared the end of the mesmerizing garden, she could finally glimpse the mansion. Far away echoes of laughter and music immediately followed this event, and this was what finally began to push her into reality and out of her spellbound world. Drawing out of her dazed state, Chloe realized with a jerk that she might be late now- after all she had arrived promptly on time, but how long ago that had been she was unsure now. It could not have been much longer than a few minutes, but on the other hand, the garden walk had caused her to lose all sense of time and she was no longer positive if it had only been a few minutes or weather that duration had already extended to hours. In a state of distress now, no longer feeling relaxed at all, Chloe glanced at her new watch- a present from Damian, no doubt. It was white and stylish- obviously rather expensive, though she was not privy to its exact cost, but no matter how wonderful a gift it had been, what its hands displayed was another matter altogether- and it was not a comforting thing.
She was already ten minutes late to the party! And Damian, being the time obsessed business man he was, would most certainly not be pleased. Of course, he would forgive her, of that Chloe had no doubt, but he would likely stay on top of her for the duration of the entire party because of this slip up, never allowing her to stray out of sight for even a moment. She sighed at the thought- how difficult this new life was, here in Paris. Not that she had expected it to be easy. But this was a completely different story.
“If you don’t want this, you can always go home,” she repeated to herself under her breath. The phrase had by now become her sort of motto- words of encouragement. With another deep breath she was already tramping along towards the voices, approaching them with the most speed she could allow for it her fancy new high heel Prada shoes (yet another gift from Damian).
She was so focused on not ruining them in the process but still making the hastiest arrival possible that she was completely and entirely lost when she bumped against something- or rather, someone, right in front of her and was forced to halt. She took a few unsteady steps back and then fell over clumsily. No matter how book smart this girl was, she was definitely not a pro at speed walking in high heels.
On the other end of the reception of the collision, there issued a loud clattering sound and then a loud metal clang. This followed by the sound of dishes cracking and the smell of a delicious unidentifiable dish.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry,” Chloe offered in distracted French as soon as she sat up and began trying to clamber onto her feet. One look down at her pretty sparkling azure dress reassured her that it was indeed ruined quite badly. She was so focused on trying to get up that she didn’t even realize at first that she was being helped with the process. It was only once she was steadily on her feet that she noticed the man whose arm she was gripping, and who could it have been but the waiter from the very restaurant she had first attended with Damian.
“It’s not your fault,” the waiter replied with an apologetic smile. “I should have been more careful- and more attentive, too. Besides, it’s your dress ruined, not mine.”
“Oh, but the food! It’s splattered everywhere!” Chloe persisted like an insistent young child.
“Yeah, well, I shouldn’t get fired just yet,” he responded soothingly. “Your dress on the other hand- it must have been pretty expensive. But luckily I think they must have a dry cleaners here somewhere. In the meantime, maybe you can find something to cover the stain.” His voice was like a melody- fluent and smooth French flowed from his lips like a gentle waterfall. He had an air of simplicity about him- his words sounded so genuine and well-wishing to Chloe that she was nearly ready to cry.
“Oh thank you,” she sputtered, biting her lower lip to prevent the tears of gratitude from flowing in. Why was she breaking down all of a sudden? What was she- a little kid again? So her dress was ruined: nothing traumatizing. But despite the fact that these words kept on repeating themselves inside her head, the tears kept coming and coming, building up behind her eyes until eventually, she could no longer stop them from drawing miniature rivers down her cheeks.
“Are you okay?” the waiter questioned with concern as he led her inside the kitchen. To her surprise it was empty at the moment- save for the overcrowding pots and pans that were cooking up something extremely tempting. The air was thick with the saliva-inducing smell of various spices, dishes and separate foods. It was hot and the atmosphere overwhelmed Chloe’s senses. She managed a nod, but no more. Tears were still raining down her cheeks and pooling at the top of her tomato sauce splattered dress.
“You don’t look okay,” he continued, taking her gently by the arm and helping her into the kitchen’s only tiny chair. “Do you want something to drink?” Without waiting for a response, he began rummaging in the fridge. After a few moments, Chloe had recollected herself enough to manage a meek agreeing reply.
“We’re out of water,” the waiter soon answered, emerging from the fridge with a juice jug and a bottle of red wine. “I don’t recommend drinking from tap, so I’m sorry, but your choices are limited.”
Chloe considered the juice for a moment and was almost all set for reaching for it when a tiny voice poked her in a different direction.
“I’ll have the wine,” she spoke with surprising confidence of herself. The waiter looked a bit caught off guard as well- he had surely expected her to go for the juice, judging by her personality as far as he’s seen it. In fact, he had almost wanted to replace the wine and just pour her a glass of juice before she fainted, but now all of a sudden he saw a fire of rebellious determination in her eyes. He popped open the bottle and handed it to her along with a large wine glass without a word. Then, with a similar air of shock, he watched her pour a brimming shaky glass and then down it all within mere seconds.