Oh man, another one of these damn PR parties. A new club was opening up in New York City and it was my firm's job to help promote it and get all the big celebrities to come out to the opening. Not to say that these parties weren't fun and I loved being able to get into virtually anywhere I wanted, but this had just kind of been a bad month for me. I had been having some money issues, having huge blow-outs with some of my closest friends and I was really feeling lonely. I didn't feel like being out at all, I just wanted to eat a pint of ice cream and sit in front of the television watching some VH1 countdown by myself. I tried to make the best of the night, drank a couple of drinks. Well, several drinks. But I just couldn't get into it. I found a relatively empty room in the VIP section and I sank into a huge loveseat. I sat my cosmopolitan on the table and laid my head back into the chair. I closed my eyes and just tried to relax. A few moments later I was awaken out of my half-consciousness.
"Hello. Renee?" An accented voice said.
I opened my eyes and lifted my head to see Adriana Lima staring back at me. Her beauty made me so taken aback that it took me a few seconds to respond to her.
"Hi," I barely mouthed.
She smiled and extended her hand, "Hi, I'm Adriana."
"Of course," I said, shaking her hand. "I'm a huge fan of yours."
"Really?" She asked, looking a little puzzled.
"Um," thinking of a way to make it not sound weird that I'm a fan of someone who models lingerie, "well I really like Victoria's Secret. In general. Like, their clothes and stuff." Made that awkward enough.
"Oh, I am glad then," she said. "I saw you come in here and wondered why you sat alone?" Her english was so cute.
"To be honest, I'm just not in very much of a party mood."
"I am sorry to hear that. I wanted to tell you that you threw a very good party."
"Thank you so much, but I really must tell you I didn't do this alone. There were a lot of people who helped me."
"But you planned this? You were in charge, no?" She asked.
"Well, yes, I guess so-"
"So YOU, planned a great party!"
I smiled and said, "thanks." I couldn't stop blushing. Why would this beautiful woman ever pay attention to me?
"I wanted to ask you about your next, um, account. The P. Diddy party, I believe?"
"Oh." And I just found the answer to my question. "Okay."
"Where exactly is it to be held?"
"It's going to be in the Hamptons."
"Oh, I did not know that," she said looking down.
"Is something wrong, Adriana?"
"No. It is just that I have to go to that party, I am obligated, and I do not know anyone who is going. That probably sounds stupid but," she laughed, "to be honest I do not really like parties that much either."
"You don't?
"No. There are so many fake people that you meet in the industry and I am just really sick of the whole thing."
"Yes, I understand."
"Oh no, I am very sorry, I was not referring to you. I- " she paused. "I am sorry, I made a mistake, I did not mean to offend you."
"No, no. You didn't offend me. I know exactly what you mean. I'm a little sick of some facets of this industry myself."
She smiled at me, "Thank you."
"And if you want, I'll be at the party. I don't know how much fun I'll be but, you can hang out with me."
"Yes, I would like that very much."
I talked to Adriana for the rest of the party. I was supposed to mingle and do a lot of other things for the party, but I couldn't leave her. And having her conversation was amazing. We talked about everything β what it was like for me growing up in Manhattan, what it was like for her growing up in Brazil, ex-boyfriends, cool celebrities we had met, bitchy celebrities we had met, everything. We exchanged numbers at the end of the night and continued to talk over the two weeks that led up to Diddy's party. She was on location at various photo and commercial shoots though, so much of our communication happened through text messaging. We would send messages about how our day was going, dumb jokes or just random comments that could be seen as borderline flirting. I wondered so much if she felt the same way I did, I was really starting to like her. I even found myself looking at my cell phone every ten minutes to see if I had gotten a new text from her. She was all I could think about.
By the time the party rolled around I was so excited to see her. I had to get there kind of early to help put on the finishing touches and make sure everything was perfect. Hours later, once the party had already been going for a while, I finally saw Adriana. She walked in wearing a tight mini-skirt, loose tank top and heels that made her nearly 6'0; all in white (it was one of Diddy's white parties). I watched her walk in and was nearly mesmerized by her beauty. Goodness, those legs went on forever. When I snapped back to reality I hurried off to a bathroom to check my make-up and hair and make sure my appearance looked good enough for her. I walked back out and found her. We locked eyes almost instantaneously. We hugged and she told me she had missed me very much.
"I missed you too," I said, smiling. "Um, would you like something to drink?"
"Yes, please."
We walked over to the bartender and I ordered our drinks.
"So how were your photo shoots in all those beautiful, exotic locations?" I asked her.
She laughed, "They were okay, I guess. I missed New York though."
"Really? But the weather's been so ugly here lately, you haven't missed anything."
"Well," she paused, "maybe I missed you most of all."
I was shocked she said that. But I laughed and mumbled "Yeah right," as I looked away from her. It was impossible that she was coming on to me. Wasn't it?
We sat together talking for most of the night. Occasionally a guy would come up and ask one of us to dance, sometimes we would accept and sometimes we wouldn't. Whenever I would dance with a guy I would look back at Adriana and she would be staring back at me, watching me dance. I knew what she was thinking, or at least what I hoped she was thinking, so I tried to give her a little show. I used the guy as a prop and danced and grinded on him as sexily as I could. One time I looked back over at her and I could have sworn there was a smile on her face and she licked her lips. I was a little drunk, so I figured it was just my imagination. When I went back to sit down she didn't say anything about my dancing or anything like that, but I could tell her vibe had definitely changed. She was a touching me a lot more, on my knee or my hand or wherever. The look in her eyes was different. She WANTED me. And I say that with no conceitedness, I couldn't believe it either. I had rode to the party with one of my associates, but Adriana said she could take me back in her limo. So her driver began the nearly hour ride back into Manhattan. For a while we sat in silence and looked out of the windows, then she scooted closer to me.
"I am sorry, but I am very tired," she said, as she laid her head on my shoulder.