Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"How was it?" Atlas asks as Tara chomps down on the Pain au chocolat in her hands that Poppy- no, Cai had given her. Once the pastry was swallowed whole, Tara responds,
"It was really nice, I don't know why y'all were so worried." She mumbles and Atlas creases his eyebrows, letting out a guilty chuckle,
"What do you mean? I wasn't worried." Atlas's voice goes up a pitch, telling Tara that he was lying. She rolls her eyes, turning around to face him for a second,
"Sure you did." She turns back around, trying her best to locate where Maurice is,
"What's next?" She asks, not knowing who else to meet in this ball event. Maurice catches Tara's eye and motions for her to come to him. Tara notices this and elbows Atlas softly,
"I'm gonna go see what Maurice wants." She stands on her tippy toes and whispers into Atlas's eyes, cupping her hands around her mouth. Atlas nods, putting his hands on her back,
"Ok Piglet, have fun." He nods muttering the last part of his sentence underneath his breath,
"Stay safe."
He watches Tara go towards Atlas as he feels a hand on his shoulder. He whirls around, clearly startled, his expression changing when he notices who was behind him,
"Sirius? What are you doing here?" He mutters, his hand going towards the knife in his pocket. Sirius tuts a bit, pulling out his blue bandana with a pin at the end showing that he was in fact allowed to come. He smirks seeing Atlas's reaction and tucks the fabric into his pocket,
"Your sister got me the ticket into my role." He whispers, walking back to where he came from as if nothing happened. Atlas sighs walking over to the bar, knowing he was going to need to get a little tipsy to not blow up.
*
Tara walks towards Maurice, a bit uncomfortable since she felt all eyes on her. She lets her head fall hoping that that would prevent any more eyes from falling on her. Once she's able to see Maurice's dress shoes she looks up, seeing Maurice drinking whisky in a small glass. He offers the glass to her,
"Want some? It looks like you need it?" He asks and Tara itches to accept his offer and gulp the drink down, but she didn't want to gather any more attention. She shakes her head,
"Nah, I'll probably break into my collection of pink lemonade at home and get drunk on that." She mutters, tucking a hair behind her hair, her earrings jangling. Maurice nods, chuckling a bit after he hears that statement. Suddenly his eyes shoot open and his grip on the drink tightens,
"Hey, how would you feel about meeting one of my close friends?" He asks and she shrugs, no doubt in her mind.
"Why not?" She asks and starts following Maurice up another flight of stairs, groaning at the pain that was starting to form in the balls of her heels. He shows her the door and knocks on it for her, hating the fact that he couldn't do anything to stop this. The door creaks open and he tries to give Tara a smile,
"I'll be waiting out here okay?" Maurice smiles, which gives Tara some suspicion that something was at hand that was more than just her. Tara clutches her purse and swallows thickly,
"Okay."
Her hand pushes the door open and she's greeted with a room that looks very similar to the one where she met Cai. The door slams shut behind her and Tara clenches her hands into a fist, ready to punch anybody who isn't wanted right now.
"Hey." The lights turn on and a familiar female voice greets her, making Tara's ears perk up. She slowly turns around to see Sienna sitting in one of the couches across from her. Tara's eyebrows draw together as she tries to place where she's seen her.
The University?
No, the cafe!
"Si- Sienna?" She asks, trying to remember the name that Sirius had told her. Sienna nods, her hair agreeing with her,
"Yup, Tara right?" She asks and Tara nods, happy to be meeting someone familiar,
"You're Maurice's friend?" Tara beams and Sienna presses her lips together, shaking her head. Tara bites her lip as Sienna's expression softens,
"It's my boss. I think that you'll like him a lot. He's a really cool guy." Sienna's face becomes almost child-like and Tara starts to feel at ease.
"Do you want to meet him?" Sienna asks, trying to give Tara some choice when in reality she had no choice and had to meet Max no matter what. Tara nods, slowly starting to settle into one of the couches near her.
"Would you mind moving the tiniest bit?" A new, French-sounding voice asks softly, causing Tara to slowly get up from her seat. A hand circles around her wrist and Tara freezes, ready to yank her hand out of the foreign person's grip.
"I meant moving to the left, not off the couch." The voice speaks to her again and she does as it says. Once she finally gains the courage to look the man in the eyes, her jaw drops.
The man had blue crystal eyes that you could get lost in and he had freckles dusted across his nose which was scrunched up currently. She pulls back from his lasering gaze and waves shyly,
"Hi, I'm Tara." She mutters, her gaze going to the tulle of her dress. The man frowns,
"Max."
She feels a slight tug at her bandana around her arm. Tara looks up to see Max pulling at the bandana, making eye contact with her for the first time,
"Can I change where this is?" He asks, his voice deep and gravely, reminding her of an opera singer. The gaze left Tara stumbling for words as she nods meekly,
"Sure."
His hands quickly work the knot out of the piece of fabric and starts to re-roll it firmly. Tara sideyes what he's doing and notices how quickly he rolled the bandana. He circles his finger, motioning for Tara to turn around and she does as told, hoping that it wouldn't come back to bite her in the butt.
Tara feels his hands start to work the bandana into her hair and she drops her shoulders, the feeling of his hands combing through her hair relaxing her. A new knock snaps Tara out of her sleepy trance and her back straightens as she flies off the couch,
