“I don’t bite.” Mandy said with a smile as she held a hand out to Adriana. “And I promise that my friends don’t either.” Adriana hesitated for a second, sparing a moment to glance over her shoulder at Brandon as if to make sure this was okay. He responded by handing over his credit card, and she tucked it away, then took Mandy’s hand. Mandy smiled again and pulled Adriana to the door, and led her to the car.
“I’m going to call Ilyana and Trish – make sure they’re available.” she took a few minutes before starting up the car to call the other girls, and agreed that they would meet up by the fountain at the mall. Mandy started the car and drove in that direction, trying to initiate conversation with her.
“Where are you from?” she asked.
“Venice, Italy. I’ve lived the nearly the entirety of my life.” she responded, her accent light.
“I’ve yet to be out of the country. I’ve been to Vegas, and I’m originally from a small town in California.”
“The only other place I’ve ever really been is Boston, and that was only for a short time.”
“Ilyana is from that area, I think. Well, Salem more specifically.”
“Why did she move here?”
“To be with her brother. He and his best friend decided to settle here in an effort to get away from their former life.”
“I;m going to guess Bratva.” she stated. “I had heard they had a new head though, by the name of Sergei.”
“Sergei is Timur’s friend. I honestly don’t know how that all came about – you’d have to ask him.”
“Not being in control of Boston any longer, I have no need to know more about the Bratva.”
They drove in silence the rest of the way to the mall, and they headed inside after parking. Adriana surveyed her surroundings after entering, finding the facility to be rather welcoming. They took a brisk pace, heading for the fountain.
“Look – there they are.” Mandy said, first pointing at and then waving to two blondes sitting at the edge of the fountain. When she got up to them, they greeted one another with hugs. Mandy seperated from the two of them after a moment.
“Grils this is the one I was telling you about – Adriana. Brandon’s daughter?”
“You’re kidding.” Trish exclaimed. “I didn’t know he had any relatives.
“Well….I’m not actually his daughter. I suppose at one point I would have been his step-daughter…” she trailed off, feeling shy around the other girls.
“Oh, honey, I didn’t mean it like it was a bad thing – just a surprising one. I’ve never seen Brandon proudly claim anyone before.”
“You mean anyone except Jett and Lucas.” Ilyana pointed out.
“Well, yes.”
“Let’s have some fun – get Adriana some things. Adriana, did you move here with much?” Mandy asked.
“No.” she admitted. “Just a couple suitcases.”
“Wow. Then you really need a wardrobe, don’t you?”
“I guess?”
Ilyana hooked an arm around one of Adriana’s. “What’s your style? Favorite color?”
“I’m a pretty simple girl, honestly. As for favorite color…hmm…I’d have to say blue.”
Trish took in Adriana’s business casual look. “You want to go more for like what you’re wearing, or more like the jeans and shirts we’re wearing?”
“I’m not against skirts or dresses. I honestly just want to be comfortable.”
“We can work with that.” Ilyana said, and they began walking.
“Are we looking at a budget?” Trish asked.
Mandy snickered. “No – Brandon gave her his credit card.”
“Ah – so sky’s the limit then. Gotchya.” she said, winking at Adriana. Adriana smiled and began to relax. She was starting to like the girls, and being part of something normal was kind of exhilarating after the upper crust life she’d been living. The girls took her all over – from Hot Topic to the Gap and Aeropostale, Bath and Body works and Victoria’s Secret, and just about anywhere in between – taking breaks to head for the car and drop stuff off if their hands became too full.
After a while, Trish began to yawn. “I’m sorry – I should really get home. Chance is alone with the baby and I should relieve him.” she hugged them all.
“You’re a mother?” Adriana asked.
“Yes. My little girl is three and a half months old.”
“She sounds darling.”
“So far, so good.” Trish admitted. “I’ll catch you all later.” she said, waving at the other girls on her way out.
Ilyana sighed. “I should probably go to. I told Timur I wouldn’t be long, and here it’s been a couple of hours at least.”
“Go home, Ilyana. Give Timur a hug for me?” Mandy asked.
“Sure thing.” she said, giving a wave and then headed out.
Mandy looked over at Adriana. “Well…anywhere else you’d like to go? Or just home?”
“I think home, perhaps.” she admitted. “Though I would very much like it if you visited more often.”
“Hey, no problem.” she said with a smile. The two girls walked out, and headed for Mandy’s car, making the trek back home mostly by Adriana asking questions of Mandy.
“I’ve got an idea.” Mandy said, when they were most of the way to Brandon’s.
“What’s that?”
“Well, the older group of in-the-knows around town typically do a poker night once a week.”
“I was at the last one – Brandon introduced me.”
“Okay. Well, those of us who are younger – like myself, the girls you met tonight, and a handful of others – try to get together once in a while and have fun. Sometimes it might be a movie, or a game, or just talking, but it’s away from the older people, and we feel like we can more be ourselves. Would you like to come the next time?”
“Yes – I think I would.” she said, smiling.
“Great!” Mandy said as she pulled up in front of Brandon’s. They both got out of the car, and gathered up some bags. Wordlessly, Emilio appeared and took some in as well, depositing them in Adriana’s room.
“It’s late – you should head home.” she said to Mandy, after the other girl helped her put things away.
“You’re probably right. Want to get there before I get too tired.” she hugged the other girl. “See you later.” she was halfway to the door before she stopped and turned around. “Let me give you my number.” she said, and rattled off her number as Adriana entered the info into her phone. “Okay – now I’m going.” she said with a little laugh, then left.
Adriana was smiling. She went through her purse, and removed Brandon’s credit card, intending to take it back to him, though she didn’t know where he was, so she asked for Emilio.
“Si?”
“I wanted to give this back to Brandon. Do you know where he is?”
“I believe he is with Jett right now.”
“Oh. Well….I’ll just hold on to it until I see him again. Thank you.” she said, and Emilio disappeared. She took the opportunity to head into the attached bathroom to run a bath – she wanted to soak and use some of the new scents she’d picked up that evening. She soaked for a while, and when she got out she toweled off, then wrapped the towel around her as she headed into the bedroom to search for pajamas. She dressed in what turned out to be a really cute and comfortable pair of shorts and a slightly oversized tee.
She took a few minutes to write out her day in her journal, and then climbed into bed, getting ready to sleep for the day.