Worlds Apart

Chapter 10

Max's stomach did flips the entire ride to the party. Even before that, she had been nauseated, but this was a whole new level of stress.

She thought she'd be doing better than this. She was a strong, independent, and fun-loving woman, and she looked smoking hot in her little black, one-sleeved sequin dress and black heels, so what reason did she have to be nervous? It was just a party. A party hosted by one of the biggest names in this world and her own.

Yup, she was freaking out.

Pepper noticed fairly early on in the drive that Max seemed a little nervous, but hadn't brought it up. She'd hoped to take the attention off of the elephant in the room and talk about something else that might take Max's mind off of whatever thoughts were weaseling their way into her head.

However, nothing Pepper said seemed to work, so by the time their car pulled up to the venue, she figured by the look on her face that she was going to have to say something if Max was ever going to get out of that car.

"It'll be fine," Pepper reassured her. "You got this."

Max nodded and took in a deep breath, her heart beginning to pound uncontrollably. "I know. It's just...I've never been to a party this big before. A-And there are going to be some pretty important people here, I'm sure."

"Don't worry about that," Pepper insisted. "We'll start off slow. I promise I won't introduce you to anyone - important or not - until you've had a chance to get settled. We'll grab some champagne, dance it out on the floor for a little while...and then I'll introduce you to people, if you're feeling up to it."

Hearing Pepper's promise helped Max's nerves die down. She was still anxious as hell, but she didn't feel like she might vomit if she stepped out of the car anymore.

She felt silly for being so afraid - she was the sister of one of the most famous scientists of her time and was used to a little bit of attention here and there, so why was this so different? It's not like she was being singled out or put in front of a large crowd. She was just dancing at a party with her friend and maybe meeting a few people.

Max took in a deep breath and summoned as much courage as she could before nodding.

"Okay," she finally said, signaling to Pepper that she was ready. Well, as ready as she'd ever be, she supposed.

"Okay," Pepper repeated with an encouraging smile. She reached over to the handle, pulled on it, and pushed open the door. As soon as she did so, the loud sounds of bass coming from the venue rushed in, and Max felt that it weirdly reminded her of arriving at her prom. Even more so when they walked inside the hotel's event center.

There were four ballrooms they had a choice of roaming between, and each one had a dance floor, a disco ball, walls lined with black, white, and gold balloons with sparkles on the tops of each, a few festively decorated tables, and was lit up almost like a rave with all of the fun colored spotlights circling above. It also looked like the party was catered, meaning that there was a large table of food as well as servers walking around with trays of finger food.

"Holy..." Max stared through the open double doors of each room as they passed by.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Pepper commented above the music. "If Mr. Stark knows how to do anything, it's throwing a party."

Max nodded. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but this...this was impressive, to say the least.

"Here, follow me," Pepper instructed, and began walking into the ballroom furthest back on the left.

She led Max through a sea of people, until they finally reached the bar.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Pepper asked. "It might help you relax, a bit."