𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐃 | 𝟏𝟖+

fifty-two; gratitude

A U R O R A

"In your eyes, I see there's something burning inside you. Oh, inside you. In your eyes, I know it hurts to smile but you try to. Oh, you try to. You always try to hide the pain."

. . .

I walk back into the ballroom, now heavily aware of Riccardo's presence.

Alex and I continue to walk around the room, talking to people. But now, Riccardo's eyes and mine keep on meeting each other through the room.

Every time my eyes meet those honey pools, I avert them and look elsewhere.

I take notice of Alex drinking more and more champagne, his voice becoming a bit louder as well. I don't particularly like drunk people.

Whenever I get drunk, it's with friends or at a party, letting loose and purposely becoming drunk to have a good time.

Never at public events like these.

I never see the point in drinking just because. I'm not fond of alcohol and the taste is horrid. But telling people that I drink 'with purpose' sounds extremely weird and I'm not even sure if that makes sense.

At one point, I'm talking to this elderly couple when Alex beckons at someone to come. And my heart freezes when I see Riccardo heading our way.

I swallow and straighten up, trying to be as impassive as I can be.

"Riccardo Silvestro," he says to the couple, introducing himself and extending his hand. "Ah, you're the lawyer," the man says as he shakes his hand.

Riccardo lets out a chuckle. "I suppose so."

"I've heard good things about you, some friends of mine work with you and..."

Alex leads me away from them. Without knowing how to stop myself, I spare Riccardo a glance over my shoulder and see that his eyes are already focused on me.

My breath hitches in my throat, and I look away, noticing that Alex is getting a little bit more drunk as time passes.

After a few more minutes, I decide to having had enough. "I think it's time for me to head home, I'm tired," I tell him.

He turns his head to look at me, and I see that he's indeed a bit gone. "Yeah, sure. I'll call you an Uber."

I'm a bit surprised that he didn't offer his driver to take me home or for him to at least accompany me.

I nod with a little smile. "No, thanks. I'm good. Thank you so much for tonight, I appreciate it. I'll talk to you soon, okay?" I ask.

He nods. "Okay, I'll call you tomorrow," he says. With another grin sent his way, I turn around and head for the exit.

My stomach is rumbling and I feel like on the brink of starving. I didn't eat a lot right before coming here, expecting that we could get something to eat here.

But there were only appetizers, and I'm craving a bit more now.

Once downstairs, I call my dad's driver and ask him to come to pick me up, then retrieving my coat and standing by the entrance of the building to not go outside.

I didn't like the fact that I was caught off guard. It felt like I was losing the fragile grip I had on control.

I already order dinner from my phone, asking for a burger and a lot of fries to be delivered.

New York is doing nothing good for my eating habits.

Checking my messages, I see that Kimberly has sent me a text an hour ago. I click on her name.