The Clandestine Assistant

7. Night Out

I had finally settled on a dress, after trying on fifteen others when Charlotte walked in. She looked at the dresses laying on the bed and laughed. "You are always so indecisive." She looked at me and smiled. "Wow! That red dress, it looks amazing on you!"

"You really think so?" I asked turning to the side, looking in the mirror.

"Yes! Va va voom." She shook her shoulders back and forth. Walking over to me and pushing me down on the vanity seat. "Chris wont be able to take his eyes off of you."

"What?" I asked, feeling my cheeks heat up.

"Don't pretend with me, I am your best friend. Do you really think I can't tell when you have a crush on someone?"

I shook my head. "Great was I that obvious?"

"To anyone?" She smirked. "No. but to your best friend yes. Don’t worry I doubt anyone else noticed."

"It doesn’t matter anyways. Chris will never see me like that. He see's me like a little sister, always has."

"Well. Lets make him see you as a woman tonight." She winked, as she started fixing my hair.

Half an hour later we were ready. We made our way out of the room and to the living room. Mark and Chris were sitting on the couch facing away from us, talking with Dad and the witch. Elaine looked up and smiled. "Charlotte that is a magnificent dress."

Charlotte smiled. "Thank you." Mark and Chris stood up and turned to us.

"Wow." Chris smiled. "You both look amazing."

I took a deep breath, willing myself not to blush. He had on a button down shirt and black pants. Every trace of that teenage boy I had a crush on, was gone. He was way out of my league, no way he would ever be interested in someone like me. I smiled. "Thank you." At least I knew I would always have him in my life, even if it was more of a big brother.

"He's right, you guys look beautiful. Shall we go?" Mark asked.

Charlotte and I nodded.

"You guys have fun. But be smart, and not too late. We're leaving the house at 7am in the morning to head back into the city."

"Ok dad." I ran over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Love you."

Dad smiled. "Love you too honey."

Elaine looked up at me, then scooted closer to dad. "Have fun. You guys watch drinking too much, impairs your judgment." She looked at me. "It can really make you bloat if you're not careful too."

I rolled my eye's and turned to the door. "You know I don't drink."

"Alright!" Chris hollered as we walked out. "Let's go have some fun." He opened his car door, pushed the seat up, and gestured inside with his hand. "Ladies, your chariot awaits."

Charlotte and I climbed in the back, as Chris turned on the car and headed into the city. We arrived at The Brick House. Chris pulled out up front, climbed out and offered his hand to help me out. He handed his keys to the valet. And we entered. It was crazy. I was surprised to see it so busy on a Tuesday night.

"Let's find a table." Mark hollered over the music. We followed him and Chris towards the back until they found a table.

"Who want's drinks?" Chris asked. "I'm buying."

"I'll take a jack and coke." Mark replied.

"s*x on the beach for me." Charlotte said.

"Just a ginger ale for me." I answered.

 Mark looked at me. "Seriously?"

"What" I shrugged. "I don’t drink."

He smiled and headed to the bar. Coming back a few minutes later. He handed Mark and Charlotte their drinks, then put a cup with a pink liquid, and a cherry on top in front of me. "Chris. I told you I don’t drink."

Chris laughed. "Don’t worry. It’s a Shirley Temple, it non-alcoholic. You can’t go out with us and drink something boring like a ginger ale."

"Well what's in it?" I asked, twirling the straw around.

"Ginger ale and grenadine." He replied.

I took a sip and smiled. "Well thank you. That is pretty good."

"You’re welcome." He winked at me.

"Let's dance." Charlotte said, grabbing my hand. "You boys will watch our drinks?"

"What if we want to dance?" Mark asked.

"Well then." Charlotte took a big gulp of her drink. "We better finish our drinks." She smiled and gulped down the rest. Then looked at us. "Well?"

Mark and Chris smiled, then downed their drinks. Charlotte grabbed my hand again as we rushed onto the dance floor. The four of us dancing in a circle. We danced and danced, laughing and having a good time. The DJ came onto the speaker. "Alright you partyers. Let's slow things down shall we? Grab that special lady friend, or the girl nearest to you, and pull her in close." The music changed to a slow song.

"Well since one of the two closest girls to me is my sister." Mark smiled. "Would you like to dance?" He asked Charlotte.

Charlotte smiled. "I'd love to." She grabbed his hand, putting the other on his shoulder as they danced to the rhythm.

"Shadow?" Chris held out his hand to me.

I shook my head. And grabbed his hand, as he pulled me in and put the other hand on my waist. "If you really hate the nickname that much, I will stop using it."

I looked up at him and smiled. "I guess it's ok. I just always hated it. Made me feel like you guys didn’t want me around."

"I was always fine having you around. It was your brother that hated it. Although I think once we got past like sixth grade, he didn’t mind as much. But at that point, the nickname had already stuck."

"I never had a lot of friends, you and Mark were really the only ones I hung out with growing up."

"What?" Chris laughed. "That can't be true what about….." He looked to the side. "Evelyn."

"Huh. Evelyn?" I laughed. "She was never a true friend. She just liked to copy off my homework. It took me a long time to realize she was only nice to me when she needed something from me. If anyone else was around she would ignore me."

Chris looked down at me and frowned. "Ava I'm sorry I had no idea."

I shurgged. "It's alright. People are cruel when you're different and don’t fit the mold, or stop giving them what they want. I should have wised up sooner. I was never going to fit in with the pretty skinny girls. I wasn't pretty enough." I turned my head and looked away, fighting back tears, as floods of memories came rushing back. Evelyn and her friends tormented me once I stopped helping her with her homework. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, as I remembered the day they cornered me in the bathroom. I felt a hand on the side of my face. I opened my eyes as Chris turned my face too look at him.

He wiped a tear away that escaped. "You are pretty, you always have been."

I could feel my heart beating in my chest, and my breath quicken as I stared up at him. The slow music stopped and the normal club music kicked back in.

"Uh guys?" Mark said breaking us out of our staring contest. "What's up?"

I turned and looked at him and Charlotte taking a step back. "Nothing." I replied. "I'm um going to the bathroom." I turned and walked off.

"I'm coming too." Charlotte said running up and putting her arm in mine. "Uh what was that about?" She asked as we got to the bathroom.

I shook my head. "Nothing. We somehow got on the subject of friends, and I had a little flashback of some mean girls. He was just trying to make me feel better."

"Evelyn?" She asked.

I nodded my head. "I let myself cry in front of him. I must have looked like an i***t, crying about stuff that happened years ago." I leaned against the wall letting out a sigh.

"I don’t know." Charlotte smiled. "The way he looked into youy eyes." She smirked.

"Char, let it go. I am telling you, he only see's me as a little sister."

She laughed. "Whatever you say."

"Lets go back, they'll think something up if we're gone too long."

We walked out and saw them standing at the table with new drinks, their backs to us.

"Is something up with you and Ava?" Mark asked Chris. Charlotte grabbed my arm and made me stop, eavesdropping.

"What?" Chris laughed. "No. Come on Mark, you know Ava is like a little sister to me. She was upset, I feel protective of her just like you do."

"You sure?"

"Mark I assure you, I have nothing but brotherly love for your sister."

Mark nodded and patted him on the back. "Ok."

I looked at Charlotte and smiled. Raising my eyebrows. "Ok fine." She mouthed to me, letting go as we walked back to the table.

"I got more drinks." Mark smiled. "Should we down them, then hit the dank floor again?"

"I'm going to sit for a minute." I smiled. "So I will watch the drinks."

"What you're not going to dance with us?" Charlotte frowned.

"I will." I smiled. "I just want to sit and drink slowly this time."

"I can sit with you if you want." Chris offered.

"No. Go find you a hottie and ask her to dance." I winked at him.

He looked at me and nodded.

"Ok suit yourself." Charlotte walked out on the dance floor and started dancing with Mark and Chris. A guy walked up and asked her to dance. She nodded and turned to dance with him. Mark and Chris also found people to dance with.

A man walked up. "Would you like to dance?"

I smiled. "Oh, not thank you. I'm on drink duty."

"Oh come on, what is a pretty girl like you doing sitting all alone. Just one dance?"

I looked up at him and smiled. He was a cute guy, kinda nerdy looking, which I honestly liked. He had this Clark Kent thing going on. "Ok one dance." He smiled and held out his hand. I took it as he lead me to the dance floor. He intertwined both hands with mine as we moved to the music. Charlotte winked at me from across the way, I smiled. "What's your name?" He asked.

"Ava, what's yours?"

"Louis."

"It’s nice to meet you."

He smiled and pulled me in closer as we continued to dance. He slid his hands down my shoulders, then my back to my hips, pulling me in tighter. He leaned in as if he was going to kiss me. I moved  my face to the side quickly as he kissed my cheek and tried to push away. The smell of tequila assaulting my nose, as I tried to free myself from his grip. "Oh come on baby. I thought we were having fun." He said.

"No." I pushed against his chest as he tightened his grip, leaning in, he tried to kiss me again. I threw my head back trying to avoid his lips touching me, when suddenly he let go. "What The HELL?" I heard as I opened my eye's and saw Mark standing between me an him.

"What's going on?" Chris asked as he walked up.

"Relax man. What is she your girlfriend?" He laughed.

"No she's my sister douche bag!" Mark said through gritted teeth.

He laughed and shrugged. "Well she asked for it, the way she was grinding with me."

"I did no…" I started to say through tears, as I saw Mark step towards the guy, his hand in a fist. All the sudden Chris reared back and punched the guy right in the jaw. The crowd around us gasped and took a step back.

Charlotte ran over and put her hands around my shoulders. "What happened?"

Chris gritted his teeth and shook his hand out. "Dang Chris." Mark boasted. "You knocked him out cold."

"What is going on here?" A huge man walked up and asked.

"This a-hole tried to assault my sister." Mark replied.

The man turned to me and Charlotte. "Is that true?"

I nodded. "Yes I tried to pull away from him, and he wouldn’t let me."

"I'm sorry about that miss. We will kick him out, but I am afraid we have a strict not fighting policy.  I'm going to have to ask you guys to leave for the night."

I Wiped the tears off my cheeks and nodded. "Can I go to the bathroom first?"

"Of course miss." He replied. "But the rest of you need to leave now."

"I'll meet you guys outside." I told them.

"I'll go with you." Charlotte told me.

I smiled. "I'm fine, it's ok. I'll just meet you guys out front." I turned and walked to the bathroom. I used the restroom then looked at myself in the mirror. I pulled out my compact and quickly fixed my face as best as I could. I sighed and returned it, looking one more time in the mirror I sighed and walked out. Mark was leaning up against the wall, outside the bathroom. "What are you doing? I thought you guys had to leave."

He walked over. "I convinced them that you would need your big brother to walk you out. Are you ok?"

I shook my head. He pulled me into a hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"You were. But it still scared me. And Chris." I laughed. "That guy fell like sack of potatoes."

Mark laughed. "Don’t mess with Chris. He thinks of you as a little sister you know?

I nodded, hiding my disappointment. "I know."

"Mark?" A guy said as he walked out of the bathroom. He was a good looking guy with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Hey Sterling, how are you?"

"Good." He replied, then looked at me and nodded his head.

"Oh sorry. Sterling this is my Sister Ava."

"Hi, nice to meet you." He looked at me and then back at Mark. "Are you guys ok?"

Mark shook his head. "No some a-hole tried to make a move on Ava."

"So you punched him? I was wondering what happened." He laughed. "Good for you."

"Actually is was Chris. But it got us kicked out so we better go. It was nice seeing you though!"

"You as well. I do need a favor though if you're willing to help me out."

"What kind of favor?" Mark inquired.

"Mom is in charge of the Charity Gala this year and has decided to do a Bachelor, Bachelorette auction. She tasked me with finding eligible bachelors."

Mark sighed. "Do it." I smiled.

He looked at me and shook his head. "Ok fine, I'm in. I'll get Chris for you too."

Sterling smiled. "I appreciate it man." He turned and nodded his head towards me. "It was nice to meet you Ava. I am sorry to hear about that jerk."

"Thank you. It was nice to meet you as well." A smiled, as we turned and walked out