Under Control.

chapter sixteen.

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Nfter their woebegone phone call, Nora doesn't hear from Julian again until next she sees him.

Albert had shown up out of the blue at the gallery this morning, all hugs and long overdue hellos. They'd been back in town for a few days, he'd told her, but they'd basically just stumbled right off the plane and headed straight into the studio. And that, which was where they'd all been holed up for the better part of the last week.

Nora hadn't been sure how she was supposed to feel about anything Albert had told her, and so she was relieved when he took his leave swiftly, and without her having to convince him to go. He had a lunch date, apparently. However, in typical Albert fashion, she couldn't quite be rid of him until he'd managed first to get Nora to all but pledge a blood oath that she'd turn up to their Welcome Home party, tonight. It was at their managers place, he'd said, while scribbling the address and a makeshift map onto a scrap of paper. And then he'd kissed her on the cheek, and practically skipped back out the door again from when he'd came.

Nora's vexation about the party and about seeing Julian again after what seemed like an age — and both despite her not having heard so much as a peep out of him since he'd landed back into the city — sat heavy in her gut like a miserable stone all day. She didn't want to go. But also, she kind of did. And so after a healthy amount of umm-ing and ah-ing, Nora had formulated a plan. She was taking the new gallery assistant along for backup, for starters. And as well, she'd pre-prepared an exit strategy just in case she did need to split. And that, she figured, would be easier at a strange new apartment than it would ever have been at Julian and Albert's, anyway.

Eventually, from the moment she left work to the time she slipped into a cab outside her place, Nora had managed to convince herself that everything was going to be just fine. But then, she arrived, and the stone was back, and it took all of her willpower not to just tell the cabbie to keep driving and drop her off anywhere else but here.

Fab was the first one to spot her from across the throbbing room. He launched himself across the tide of bodies that stood swaying between them and wrapped her up in his overzealous arms. And then, without waiting for her permission — or any words from Nora really at all — he stole her with him back from whence he'd came, all so that she could be properly greeted by everyone else, as well.

Or, almost everyone.

Nikolai patted her warmly on the head and Nick made eyes at the friend she'd brought along with her, while Albert introduced her to the pretty blonde who he had tucked into his side. But still, no Julian. Nora didn't ask after him, even though she wanted to do little more that just that, and she settled instead for promptly ignoring the knowing glances that Albert was shooting her way while she made nice with his lady friend. She was lovely, and since Nick seemed like he was about to steal away the friend Nora had brought for moral support she was glad to be getting to know someone new who was also, quite distinctly, not a boy. Although, she was in a band, apparently. But, Nora figured, one out of two wasn't bad.

Midway through their perfectly lovely chat about Albert's clean freak tendencies and how they were in absolute conflict with literally every other aspect of his personality though, Nora noticed the guitarist-in-question's eyes bulge, before he quickly settled again behind a poorly put-together mask of nonchalance.

'What's up with you?' Nora managed to get out, but only just, before she saw the reason for his bug-eyes herself.

Julian.

Julian had finally appeared, clearly already hammered, and with his belt hanging undone around his hips. He wasn't alone — his very pretty company and her roaming hands seemed to be the culprit for the belt — and the nearer the pair of them got to the bathroom they were heading towards, the less they seemed to care about who could see them or might make a guess what it was exactly that they were sneaking off to do.