Lust - Victoria

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4 months earlier

"Come on, it won't be that bad, Lou!", my best friend protested against my complaints. I couldn't remember the story behind my nickname, it never seemed to make sense. My actual name was Ameya and yet she had called me that once or twice in total ever since we grew up as childhood friends.

"You haven't met them, you can't say that", I replied. The thought of my new job tightened the knots in my stomach like a rope, adjusted to keep everything in place.

"But you haven't either", was her brief response before braking so harsh, that my bag hit the back of my head from where I had left it on the back seat.

"Dola!", I groaned while rubbing the spot on my head. She just flicked her black curls over her shoulder and flashed me her bright teeth.

"Hey if you critisize my driving skills you might as well get your license and stop being dependant on me driving you around."

She was right, of course. She was always right, that's why deep down I knew I had no right to judge them without having met them yet. Them. The band. My clients.

Before I had the chance to start worrying about the next two hours again, Dola interrupted my pondering.

"I love you, but if you don't hurry I'll be late to work", were the saving words. I grumbled inaudible anakoluths while I clumsily climbed out of the passenger seat, my hands full of papers and files, which I clasped against my chest.

It took a quick "Bye" for Dola to speed off way faster than allowed. I looked after her longingly. How I wished to go with her instead.

With a sigh, I forced myself to approach the large building, fitted with a bright glass front. I hated myself for loving the management's location. Not just from the outside, the inside was even brighter, kept in white and silver tones. It looked extremely rich and elegant.

My gaze wandered around the room, which turned out to be the entrance hall cornered by two giant staircases, and finally settled on a white leather sofa. I had been told to wait in here so I decided to place my materials there and sit down next to them.

Nervously I folded my hands in my lap, trying to keep my leg from shaking the way it usually did.

As soon as I heard the heels on the glossy white tiles, I twirled around at the same time as standing up, leaving me to almost trip over my own feet. In an attempt to hide the fact I had just barely escaped slipping onto the ground, I forced a warm smile onto my face and held out my hand to the lady approaching me. She was wearing a white blouse tucked into a marine pencil skirt. Her blonde hair pulled up in a simlpe hairstyle. She fit perfectly into these surroundings.

"You must be Ameya", she said while shaking my hand with a firm grip. Her voice was soft but steady, full of confidence. I nodded, feeling totally out of place in my jeans and T- shirt.

"Yes, that's me, I'm here for the documentary", I replied in an attempt to sound just as certain as she had. Without success. However, she smiled back at me and turned around.

"Follow me", the woman ordered, without sounding bossy and yet it felt as if nobody would ever dare to disobey her.

I collected all the files again and rushed after her, my sneaker making an uncomfortable noise against the floor. In that moment, I wished she would have told me her name so I would have had a way to ask her about where she's taking me. Without a name, I didn't find the courage to talk to her. She intimidated me.

We took the left staircase for two floors, to walk down the hall with doors on each side of the walls. We passed all of them, until stopping at the last door in the back. The woman turned to me and spoke again in the same demanding tone as before.

"This will be a meeting to exchange ideas, no specifications yet." She scribbled something onto the paper clipped to her notepad, leaving me to stand there without knowing what to do. I was extremely uncomfortable.

On cue, she closed her pen and walked back to where we just came from down the hall. Guess the conversation is over then. Rude.

I looked at the door uncertain, not sure whether to knock or wait. I moved the files to one arm and decided to knock after all, then open the door right away. The lack of motivation from before began to trump the anxiety this woman had temporarily caused me.

I looked inside, staring back into four faces. First a boy, long black hair. He looked nice, held back maybe. Another boy, blonde hair. I immediately noticed his eyes, they were really pretty. Then a third boy. I liked his tattoos. All in all they seemed alright, at least not as annoying as I had expected.

Then I met her eyes. These gorgeous blue eyes. She had her hair pulled up into a bun, wearing a white crop top and flared pants. Her head was slightly tilted to the side, eyeing me up and down. She reminded me of ancient greece. A goddess maybe.

The tattoo boy claimed something in a language I didn't understand, causing the other three to laugh with him. I only listened to hers though.

The same boy got up from his uncomfortable looking position on the sofa and approached me, holding out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Damiano", he said in a slight italian accent. As soon as I shook his hand, he pulled me into a quick but firm hug with it and I let out a surprised grunt. Italian charme, I thought to myself.

"Ameya", I answered briefly, smiling back at him, even though my full attention was on the girl. How she moved in her seat, how more strands loosened from her bun every time she turned her head, how she showed her teeth every time she smiled. How I wished she would gift one of these smiles to me. I couldn't think of anything else.

However, her steady gaze towards me unsettled me to an extend I hadn't even felt with the strange lady before. The other boys, who turned out to be named Thomas and Ethan, both greeted me in the same way and I payed the same little attention to either of them. Why didn't she stand up? Why didn't she say anything? I watched her bite on the nail of her thumb, curving her beautiful pink lips. Damiano pulled my attention back to him by speaking up again.

"Thank you for coming, feel free to sit down wherever you want!" For a moment my eyes flickered back to the blonde girl. I considered sitting down next to her, being close to her. She would probably be forced to say something then. But I didn't. Instead I sat down on a chair as far away from her as possible. Damiano spoke again. He was the only one that really spoke to me any way.

"Alright, so, we were told we could have a chat about the documentary? We just want to make sure our ideas match the vision of your project. We want to talk about things that are important to us, as well as mentioning..." The rest of the sentence seemed to blur in my head, not reaching my ears anymore. She stood up from the sofa, fixing her top briefly and walked over to the door I had just come from. Without saying a word she left. 

The boys talked in italian again, looking at each other confused. I didn't even care what they were saying at this point. After a heated discussion, the boy that had introduced himself as Thomas, got up as well and followed her through the door. Damiano switched back to english.

"Let's continue. Victoria just wasn't to keen on this whole thing, don't take it personal, eh?"

Victoria. The moment my eyes had met hers, I had fallen in love with Victoria. I maybe hadn't known it yet.