Another Night

Chapter 9 - Formal

"Are you sure you don't want to go as my plus one?" I ask Monica again as I look at her through the mirror.

"I'm sure," she nods. "Even if I wanted to, I can't look better than you in that dress."

"It's great isn't it?" I begin to cheer at my red dress.

"The leg slit makes it perfect," she says before I stick my leg out a bit and make a pose. "You're gonna kill them all."

"Is it too showy? Not classy-"

"It is extremely classy, Mara," she shook her head. "With a dash of sexy."

"More like inappropriate," I almost grunted.

"It's not! You're a professional business woman," Monica said before getting up from my bed. "Have fun tonight with all those executives."

"Ha, good one," I chuckled. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you, love," she spoke before leaving my room.

Tonight there's a fancy dinner with some FIFA executives and the German national team, the only people from the staff that get to go is me and Colin because of how high up we are, we work for FIFA everyone else was just simply hired for the island's needs.

I began to gather my stuff to put into my clutch as Monica's voice filled my ears again.

"Mara!" Her yells echoed the hall.

"What's wrong?" I asked a bit scared from her tone of voice.

I begin to ease up when she laughs.

"It's eight thirty," she says. "They left without you."

I widen my eyes and make a dash for it, I had to get on the next possible boat to even make it to the dinner.

I ran for what felt like hours in these heels and made it to one of the last boats off the island. The twenty minute trip to the coast of Cartagena gave me enough time to get all the grass off my heels and the inside of my dress.

I took a taxi to the restaurant and by the time I got there, I was only an hour late. Hopefully no big deal since I know these people socialize for about two hours before getting to the meal. I laugh a bit at the thought of all the guys in their suits, hungry and having to put a smile on their faces as they get their work from the last tournament praised.

I paid the taxi driver and then changed my stance before walking into the reserved restaurant.

Someone guided me up the stairs to the second floor and into the hall which was dimly lit and filled with old men trying to act young enough to relate to the team.

"Colin!" I whisper and get nothing from him even though he was about two yards to my right. "Colin!" I yell louder this time and get some attention.

I simply smile at the bewildered men.

"Mara," he chuckles and comes over. "What took you so long?" He says through his smile with gritted teeth.

I begin to do the same.

"You just left without warning?" I look around the room.

"What are you wearing? You look like Rudolph's nose."

"Not my fault everyone decided on the same black suit," I pinch at his waist as he brings me over to some higher ups.

I greet the men and speak to them about the tournament and Colombia, they even politely ask about Colombia's stance and chances and we have a bit of a laugh before dinner is announced.

"Fifteen minutes," a waiter says in an accent.

"If you'll please excuse me," I smile at the group and walk past all these men to get to the back of the room where double doors led to a balcony which I saw upon arrival.

The fresh air hit me instantaneously and it let all of the stress go. I tried to get rid of some of the ache in my feet and it worked momentarily before I decided to just go over and sit down on one of the chairs on the side.

"Don't ruin that lovely dress," Marco spoke when he arrived.

"Good call," I smiled up at him.

"You look," he stopped mid-sentence. "Wow."

"Best dressed, am I right?" I spun around after he took my hand and raised my arm to do so.

We kissed momentarily, before I parted and took a look at the shut double doors.

"You like to live dangerously," I chuckle.

"What's a life with no fun?" He says as he grips my hand a little tighter. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," I blush. "You look handsome."

"I try," he jokes making me chuckle.

"We better get back in there," I say as I let go of his hand and start walking towards the door.

"Give it a minute," he urges and takes my hand again. "The guys are all concentrated on the food. They had us waiting for hours," he explains making me laugh. "So this is what took you so long?" Marco asks referring to the dress.

"I didn't look at the time at all," I admit.

"It's a good thing you didn't because that entrance was amazing," he says before leaving another kiss on my lips.

I hear a champagne bottle burst open and step back.

"Wait a minute, then come in," I tell Marco as I leave him looking a bit disappointed.

I walk back into the hall and towards the long table. All the guys are sitting down and I make my way to a spot with two seats so Marco could sit down next to me.

"Mara," Thomas says as he pulls a seat out for me.

"Thank you," I smile at him.

"You look lovely, best dressed here," he jokes before sitting down on my right.

I look up and Marco is on his way over to the empty seat on my left, but not before Mario takes his seat.

I was about to say something, when Mario began telling me I looked great and Marco shook his head before sitting across from me.

"Thank you, Mario," I turn my attention back to him.

"Doesn't she?" Mario looks up and asks Marco.

Out of all the people he had to ask.

"Of course," Marco tightened his lips and nodded before a waiter came over to fill his glass with champagne.

I found myself looking at Marco for a second as he tried to ignore the fact that Mario was practically on top of me.

Then I realized Marco was just trying to hide his anger since I caught Mario winking at him as if something was going to happen between Mario and me.