It all started with a kiss

Chapter 1

- Connie -

Connie placed the curling iron down on the side table. "Fiona? Can you come and check if the curls in the back are good?"

"Coming!" Fiona entered the narrow hallway of their hotel room, walking sideways as the large black wings on her back made it impossible to walk regularly. She handed Connie her drink and placed her own on the table. "You're missing a few strands. Stand straight."

Connie sipped through the straw as Fiona fixed her hair. "We should leave soon, or we'll never get in."

"Yeah yeah, it's just the finishing touches left," Fiona said as she grabbed the golden leaf crown from a plastic bag on the table.

"Are you sure I should wear that? Isn't it going to be too much gold?" With the golden belt and hems on her Greek goddess dress, the shimmering gold eyeshadow, and the sandals, Connie was thinking that it started to get tacky.

"It won't be too much. The gold really compliments your green eyes!"

"Ha! My eyes won't really be seen anyway if I'm wearing that mask."

"We can always skip the masks?"

"No! I don't want to make a fool of myself tonight just to realize on Monday that some of my new co-workers were at the same bar. I really want to at least seem like a professional at this job."

"You'll do great. You are an amazing event planner and as long as you keep your cool around the guys, they'll love you."

'The guys' as in the five members of one of the biggest pop boybands ever, the Volt. Thanks to her boss Grace at Hemmet's Events, back home in Dublin, who knew the tour manager Jackie Thomas, Connie had gotten the opportunity to work as Jackie's assistant during the tour next year. Even if the tour didn't start until May, Connie would have her first day tomorrow. She would have two months to just shadow Jackie and get into the game before even meeting the band for the first time. Hopefully, she would have gotten her professional act together by then and not behave like a total fangirl.

Tonight, was all about having fun though. Taking this job meant that Connie had to leave her home, family, and best friend Fiona for a whole year. But it was an opportunity she couldn't pass. Fiona had flown with her down to London, spent the week with her, and tonight they were going to a Halloween party at one of the biggest clubs in London before Fiona had to fly back home tomorrow.

***

Connie was dodging devils, demons, and semi-naked nurses on the dance floor as she made her way back to the table they had claimed as their base for the last hour. Someone stepped on her dress and she got jerked back a step. Her dress was released just as fast and she continued towards the table, muttering curses under her breath.

"A long dress was not the smartest choice for a club like this." She said as she handed Fiona her drink.

"Maybe not. But damn, you look good!"

"Thank you!"

Connie did feel pretty. Something that wasn't really a common feeling when she was sitting with Fiona. In Connie's eyes, Fiona was perfect. Always had been. With her almost white, blond hair, porcelain skin, and blue eyes, she had always drawn attention from the boys around them. Even when they were young. Connie had grown up, being the pretty girl's best friend. And she really didn't mind. It wasn't that Connie wasn't pretty, she just never had the finesse and charm that Fiona did. When they were teens, Fiona would find some boy and they would make out on the couch as Connie joined his friends playing videogames — and crushing them. She was so used to just being that friend, that when they started college and boys had started to notice her too, she couldn't see it. It had happened on several occasions that Fiona had pointed out afterward that a boy had tried to make a move, but Connie had unknowingly shot him down. Fiona had given her a dating for beginner's course, to show her how to see the signs and after a while, Connie did learn. But it made her extremely awkward instead as she had no idea how to act when someone was interested in her. And here she was, twenty-four years old and still a virgin.