one night stand.

fifteen

It was the day of the art exhibit; Amber was nervous and felt all over the place. She only had a couple of hours of sleep, half a cup of coffee, and an Advil waiting on standby. Some vendors were late, and the band were rehearsing a little early, but she didn't care as long as they sounded good. Her dad dropped off some pieces to present as he had another event to tend to and a client interested in purchasing a piece from his collection. Shawn and Trey busted through the doors with their pieces and canvas on standby. Trey snuck a kiss on Amber's cheek and followed her directions on where to set up. She had him set up towards the front since she liked his art the best out of the artists, she chose to show off tonight. Shawn set up tent by the live band so folks could take a look at his work and listened to the music as they examined.

Chyna showed her support by helping with catering and keeping track of the menu and what was needed to be on the table. She requested they serve caviar crackers, small poke bowls, glasses of Chardonnay, and a charcutier board. Chyna wanted a fancy menu but in finger food portions since people were going to be walking around and be too focused on the art. Anthony brought in his team and began adding some plants around the given space, making it look like the garden of Eden. Amber watched as everything was starting to come into place just as she imagined it on her blueprint. A delivery man welcomed himself in and handed a bouquet of flowers to Amber, it was an arrangement of roses and gardenias, two of her favorites.

"These are to remind you how much I miss you and will be there soon." - Rio

She smiled into the flowers and took a big sniff of them. He remembered how important these flowers meant to her, and she couldn't wait any longer to see him. Amber placed the vase on a center piece and tied a white bow around them. Night fell and it was just in time for the opening. Amber welcomed everyone into the building and gave everyone a tour of what they'd be in store for.

"This area is where you can find Shawn Bradshaw's collection and somewhere to grab a quick drink from our lovely bartender, Quen." Amber announced as she pointed to the archway and the open bar.

While she was distracted, Rio followed into the crowd pretending to be an auctioneer while she gave the rest of the tour. The watch sitting comfortably in a gold gift bag and covered with white tissue paper. His heart beating out of his chest as he was so nervous about what he wanted to say to her. He rehearsed at least fifty times in the mirror before he came by to spend his last couple of minutes with Amber. Her smile brightening the room and shining to hundreds of people as she really put herself to work. The matching ring he bought for her sitting pretty on her middle finger as he caught glimpse of it. He bit his lip as he finally took the courage and grabbed a hold of Amber and pulled her to the side. Her smile widened as she realized who it was.

"You showed! I was afraid you'd miss everything before you left." she squealed. "Is that for me?"

"Yes, its a little something I put together as a farewell gift." Rio expressed while handing the bag off to her.

Amber excitedly rummaged through the tissue paper and pulled the box out of the bag. She opened the box revealing the watch and put her hand out for him to put it on her. Rio happily attached the watch to her wrist and turned it to the side so she could see the roman numerals of the day they met and her initials next to it. Tears fell down her face as she pulled him in for a kiss and kept him in a tight embrace for a good minute. Amber was overwhelmed by the thought he put into the gift and making effort to support her event even he didn't have to. While the moment was cute, Trey's jaw clenched as he saw the two embracing in the corner. His eyes were green as he watched Amber "Throw herself" onto that man and shed tears for him. Part of him wished it was him in that corner, but the other half was telling him to let her bet.

She wiped the tears off her face and pulled herself together before she had to continue working. The rapper booked for the event showed with his entourage following closely behind him with their chains blinding anyone ten feet from them. One of those faces looked oddly familiar to Amber, it belonged to Hakeem Woods, Amber's ex-boyfriend from four years ago. Her jaw dropped to the floor, and she ran to Chyna before she could reach the mic.

"What is he doing here? I had forgot about him for years and all of a sudden he's here." Amber quietly shouted as her eyes popped out of her head and the veins in her forehead were showing.

"Girl, I don't know! If i had known, that entire crew wouldn't be here period. Just chill and don't pay him no mind, He'll go away." Chyna mouthed while she continued to prepare to announce the rapper's name.

Amber took herself outside to take a breather and calm herself down from stressing herself out. Rio noticed and followed behind her with a bottled water in his hand, He reached her a couple feet away from the venue and sat beside her on the curb. Rio laid her head on his shoulder and opened the water for her to drink. She clenched her fists so hard; the skin began to turn snow white. As much as she wanted to cry again, she wasn't going to let him get those tears from her. Amber prepared to stand up before Rio grabbed a hold of her arm and sat her back down.

"You're not going back in there without drinking this water. Drink it." He demanded as he tried to pour the water in her mouth, but she kept shut and crossed her arms.

"Let me go back in there and I'll drink it when I come back." She agreed.

Rio nodded and twisted the cap back on the bottle, He helped Amber back inside the building and took a spot by the flowers he bought for her. He scoped as Amber navigated through the crowd and put her best professional voice on. She stuck by herself and kept ignoring Hakeem while he scoffed and acted like he was hot shit. He turned and whispered something into another member's ear as they laughed. She knew they were speaking about her, but she couldn't engage with them, or she'd get the reaction they wanted. Chyna kept guard by the stage and had her eyes on hawk mode over Hakeem, she wanted him to try something. She had her rings all over her fingers in case she needed to drop them hands off on him. Trey, still jealous, followed behind Amber like a predator, his hunger for attention spiraling as she didn't peep him breathing closely behind her.

His hands at reach where he could pull her around and suck the blood from her neck. Before he got a chance, Rio grabbed a hold of him and smirked.

"I suggest you watch them, or I'll do it personally." Rio requested as he had Trey's hand pinned to his chest.

Trey broke free and shoved Rio into a crowd member causing them to fall over onto the floor. He threw a couple punches before he was pulled back by Chyna, who had a look not too happy on her. She pushed Trey to the ground and helped Rio up, Amber felt somebody by her feet and was pushed on top of Trey. She pulled herself off the floor and helped Chyna grab a hold of Rio. Hakeem laughed and hopped off the stage landed a punch on Rio and knocking over Amber again. Right when she looked up, Trey accidentally elbowed Amber in her face leaving her to lay back on the floor. Security rushed to aid and threw Trey and Rio out the building. Chyna dragged Amber to the car and left her in there while she instructed for everyone to go home for the night.

Amber woke up gasping for air and placed her hands on her throat, she was handed a cup of water and quickly gulped it down. She grasped her surroundings and realized she was home and not in the gallery anymore. Amber looked at the watch on her wrist and seen it was passed the end time for the event. She laid back down and turned over to see Rio laid out with a bag of ice over his eye. The punch Hakeem threw at him knocked him clean out. She was glad Chyna was able to help all she could even though she didn't have it in her to knock everybody out.

"You a strong person. I wouldn't let nobody take me out like that." Chyna laughed as she put a bag of frozen peas over Amber's cheek and handed her some pain pills.

"I'm lucky to even have survived that, it felt like my head was cracked opened." Amber joked while rubbing the cold bag over her face and chuckling to herself.

"Oh, and one more thing, don't be alarmed but Hakeem said he wanted to see you whenever you were free."