First love (Pedri & Eric García)

Chapter 1

Laia got inside the club, noticing how packed it was. The two "friends" she was with started to walk away from her after she got distracted for just two seconds and she had to almost run after them. There were so many bodies she had to avoid on her way there and apologizing when she pushed someone was worthless because they wouldn't hear her.

"Want a drink?", asked Virginia.

"Sure. Maybe just a beer".

"Or something more fun. Come on, Laia. When was the last time you got out and had fun?"

Good question, she thought, accepting the cocktail they gave her. It was strong and disgusting but she couldn't be the boring friend again. Even if she really wanted to.

One cocktail was followed by two more and that was when Laia said she would stop. She had never been a big drinker and could feel the effects of the alcohol already. And she wasn't sure Marc and Virginia were going to be able to help her if she got too drunk so better to stop before something bad happened.

But it didn't. Not at first. They moved to the dancefloor and started to move along to the music. It was fun. Liberating. Laia had worked very hard the past few years and hadn't allowed herself to just be a young woman who got out on a Saturday night to drink and dance. So she was going to that day.

As expected, it didn't take long for Marc and Virginia to be so into each other that they forgot there was a third person there. Laia started to feel a bit uneasy. So many guys were approaching her and she rejected them all but they didn't seem to understand the word no. Until someone who worked at the club, based on the uniform he was wearing, started to walk towards Laia. For a second, she worried she had done something she was going to be told off for but...she didn't scream at the guys or anything, just asked politely that they left her alone. If anything, she was too polite.

But she wasn't going to be told off. And neither were the men bothering her.

"Hi darling", said the guy, smiling at Laia. "You alone?"

"Um...no. I'm here with my friends...", she looked at said friends who were making out and ignoring her. "But they might have forgotten I'm here".

The man laughed and offered his hand so Laia could shake it. "I'm Francesc and I work in the VIP area. Would you like to go there?"

"What? I don't have the money to do that...", she did, but what was she going to do in the VIP area? Wasn't that for famous people?

"No need for you to pay. It just seems like a place where you'd fit better than around here. Follow me?"

Normally, Laia would have said no. But the drinks, and the fact that her "friends" were ignoring her again, made him follow him. To at least ask what was going on.

"Sorry, but why do I fit there better?"

"The people there...they like being surrounded by pretty girls like you".

"So it's your job to find who you think are pretty girls to take them there for the rich men to look at?"

That didn't sit right with her but it was his honest "yes" that really shocked her. "It's how this world works. But I also make sure nothing bad happens. Don't worry. I'll probably look after you better than your friends over there could. I won't let men bother you if you don't want to be bothered by them".

Laia's stomach felt like a mess. Between the drinks and the proposition...but she had told herself today was a day to try something new. To go out and have fun and...just stop being so hard on herself for a couple of hours. And if she didn't like it, she could just leave.