A Sunflower in Winter (GL)

Rich People (scoff)

"V! Come on, we have to go. I really don't wanna be late." You yelled up the stairs. "I'm coming." She whined, hurrying down the stairs, putting on her suit jacket. You were standing there waiting in a floor length dress. It was a bright line green with a beaded strapless neckline. You had a small bag that held your phone, some pepper spray, and whatever cash you had on hand. "Wow, you clean up nice." She said meeting you at the bottom of the stairs. "V, you literally have worn that a million times." You said looking at her in her usual small black heels, high waist straight leg dress pants, suit jacket to match, except this time she parted her hair the other way and was wearing a white corset top. "No this suite is baby blue, the one your thinking of is sky blue." "Get in the elevator." You said, shaking your head at her. "What you mean to tell me your not living for this corset right now?" You stared at her , waiting for her to join you in the elevator. "Fine, I'm coming." She said joining you.

You got to the lobby and Ellio pulled the car around. He got out and helped you into the car. "Good evening Ellio." You said getting into the car. "Good evening Ms.L/N, Ms. Black." He said closing the door.

You arrived at the museum and headed into the hall for the auction. "What exactly are we doing here?" You asked as you took your seats. "It's an art auction, I go to these things about once a month to keep in good with the rich people." She said fidgeting with the paddle that was given to her at the door. "So do I get to pick a painting or two then?" You asked sitting up in your chair like a three year old high on pixie sticks, kicking your feet back and forth like you were on a playground swing.

"You can get whatever you want, but fair warning there are some old friends of mine circulating around here. To put it lightly they don't take well to new faces so don't take anything personally." "I think I'll be fine." You said as the accounting started. "So how fancy is this really-" You cut your self off as the first painting was brought out. "Is that a velaskez?" You asked a little louder than you had planned, causing a few people to turn around and give some aggressive stairs of disapproval. Ivy was busy laughing at your not so subtle outburst.

"It might be a fit fancier than I lead you to believe." She said putting her paddle up "4 million going once, going twice, and selling it to Ms.Black" Tha actionair said moving on to the next painting. You were too busy being shocked and feeling out of place to notice the three other paintings she had bid on 2 of which she got.

This rigorous "who has the most money to spend on trivial things that none of us are ever going to use" went on for another hour and a half. After all the pieces had been sold there was going to be a cocktail hour where everyone who participated in the auction would pick up their art. "Alright I've made my point now we need to get to the reception hall before we get ambushed." She said standing up and walking out. Ellio was waiting for you in the lobby. He escorted the two of you to the dining hall where a server attacked you with glasses of champagne as if he knew it was the only thing that was going to keep Ivy sane.

"So what do we do now?" You asked for the flute from the waiter. "Now we go hide in a dark corner and attempt to form a sub party until we can leave." She said taking the champine back like it was a shot of rum. "I need something stronger than this." She said, pushing the flute into Ellios chest before walking off to the bar. You laughed at her efforts and were somewhat inspired by her efforts, somewhat. You made your way over to one of the standing tables and sipped on the bubbly liquid in your glass.

Ellio was no fun, if Sebastian were here he would be poking me about being here and saying things that would make Ivy mad but not so mad that she would fire him for the 6th time this week. "This blows." You said setting the glass down on the table. You didn't drink too much and you were really a fan of most alcohols.You didn't like drinking in public because you were a mess when you got drunk and it didn't take much to make that happen. You were a bit of a light weight who could only rely on cheap vodka from the bar. You stood there staring at the bubbles rising in the gas recalling when you learned about condensation in the third grade.

Thisevent was so boring that it had you reminiscing about middle school. Before you could get too bored Ivy came back with two drinks. "That's a bit much don't you think?" You asked as she handed you a tall glass filled with a clear substance on ice. You looked in the glass then back at her "I don't think I should-" "It's club soda, relax." She said taking in a mouth full of the whiskey she had brought back for herself. "Oh thanks." You said taking a small drink.

"Ivyory, Darling. You're looking well. How have you been?" A woman with a giant off white ball gown said as she got a little too close for comfort, kissing Ivy on both cheeks. "Lillian, I'm doing great, how are you?" She said being fake, and it was abundantly obvious, well to you at least. "I'm just peachy-" She stopped looking over at you. "Wow, it seems you've stepped up your game. Getting bold with our escorts I see." She said, eyeing you up and down.

"Now, Lillian , let's not jump to conclusions here. Your track record isn't exactly the cleanest either. No need to bring up only incidents in front of the company nonetheless." You could see her jaw tighten as she desperately tried to remain cordial. "Oh dear, well it sounds like your insinuating that I'm not as good as I may seem, If I do remember correctly it wasn't me who threw a beer in the chairman's face at the last event." She said with hostility laced through her words.

"You know Lilian you look tired, what husband are you on now, 5? That would explain the wrinkles." You almost choked on your drink when she said that. This is really happening right now. " I'm actually in a committed relationship." "Yeah for the second time this year, you know there is an age when you just stop." "Oh please don't flatter yourself, you pretend like your relationships don't end within 12 hours of the introductory conversation. You have no leg to stand on and the skittle beside you further proves that." She said, shaking her hand at you in an aggressively dismissive way.

"You know contrary to popular belief Lilian, I do have a heart. It's small and dark but there none the less, and i seguest you leave her out of this unless you want a replay of what happened at the spring ball." This was getting interesting and you were completely unfazed by her snarky comments. A life of trauma plus my superiority complex have prepared me for this moment exactly! You thought to yourself watching them go back and forth.

"If that is a threat I'm not sure you want to go there with me, you're on thin ice as is.You need to pause right there before you get yourself in more trouble than you can handle." She said looking a little more malicious than she did 8 minutes ago when this all started. You could practically see the steam coming out of their ears as their extremely forced smiles started to chip. You thought this would be the perfect moment to jump in which you may regret later.

"Oh Ivy doesn't pause." You said putting a hand on her shoulder. "She fast forwards, and she rewinds, but she doesn't pause." You said looking Lillian in the eye watching her beguin to fume. Ivy on the other hand had been snickering under her breath. She glanced over at you looking both thankful and amused by your comments. You then realized what you had said and started to blush immediately. You cleared your throat out of embarrassment only amusing Ivy more as you tried to look away to compose yourself.

"Disgusting." Lilian spat snarling at the both of you. "Listen I'm going to close my eyes, wall doing so you've got approximately 10 seconds to walk out of here willingly on your own two feet. Now if I open my eyes and you're still here in my face they'll be carrying you out in a body bag. It's your choice." I love it when she gets like this, you thought to yourself as she put a hand behind your back as she started walking you towards the door. "Oh and Lillian, stop wearing white to these things. We all know you're not a virgin, that one was a dead give away after husband number 3. Have a good evening." She said, waving back at her.

Ellio pulled the car around and took the two of you home. You arrived back at the apartment completely flabbergasted at how the night had unfolded. "That was the most entertaining thing I have ever witnessed." You said following her up the stairs. The two of you changed and Ivy was already in bed when you came out of the bathroom. "When is Sebastian coming back?" You asked getting into bed

"He's on mandatory leave, and what's wrong with Elliot? He's stealthy." "And mute, the guy doesn't say anything and quite frankly he's annoying to look at. He's too square." "Fine, I'll get rid of him." She said putting her book down. "No I didn't mean fire him you can't just-" "Nope you said the word, he's gone." She said shutting off the lamp on her bedside table. "No Ivy-" "Good night."