Heart Of Gold (ATG Epilogue Challenge)

Heart Of Gold

Wealthy people liked to flaunt their wealth. This was not a fact lost on Quinn Barton. Sure, for a few months she was away from the most pretentious statements which where a staple in her life before college. It was hard to focus on attending a private trunk show with your favorite designer while cramming for an econ final. She had her priorities straight with school, but God help her from stabbing the middle aged lady sitting next to her. Mrs. Collingsworth was still going on about the resort in Maldives who refused to let her Pomeranian go canoeing alone - apparently Ms. Chauncey Wigglepuff loved all things water related.

She wasn't planning on spending Christmas in London until a few days ago. Some of her plans included spending the holidays in a lavish Italian villa surrounded by her close group of girlfriends, but those plans went down the drain when her father requested her to come home for the holidays. For a moment she had thought he was asking her to come back to Georgetown - over her dead body - before remembering that her old home was left completely empty since her mother had yet to stop smooching off of her parents. Quinn wondered how her mother was now. Other than a few messages from Livia asking her to watch her weight since quote 'no one wanted to settle down with a chunky girl' and 'thunder thighs were not ever in fashion' - Quinn had yet to have an actual conversation with her since starting at Harvard. She wasn't surprised since Livia probably didn't have single maternal bone in her body - Quin would be eternally thankful to the gaggle of nannies that practically raised her like their own.

Her father was an entirely different story. Mr. Barton called Quinn every Sunday evening and they talked about everything that happened over the previous week. Her classes were mundane at times; she had made a few friends and joined some clubs. It was nice for Quinn to have a routine with a parent - almost normal in a way - so she couldn't say no when her father asked to spend Christmas together. The Barton's weren't big on Christmas and her mother had flat out refused to join her husband and daughter. Quinn often wondered what her father once saw in her mother.

The Christmas break was slow moving since she didn't actually know many people in London. Her general lack of interest in people during her last few months of high school had left her somewhat friendless. Mr. Barton still had to go into work, but he was making an effort to be home earlier to spend more time with her. So Quinn spends the days shopping - mainly gifts for her father and herself - and reading through her list of classics. Even though it was a little bit lazy, she was content. Just over the past few days, she had bought three new pairs of Louboutin's, a bracelet from Harry Winston, and the entire collection of scarves from the Hermès winter collection. She was enjoying the splurges paired along with spending time with her father. Quinn may not have admitted it, but the holidays where going better than she would have thought.

Well - until tonight. Mr. Barton had a pre-Christmas dinner party which was more along the lines of an evening soiree and had begged Quinn to come along. She was leafing through a worn down version of The Count of Monte Cristo when her father dropped by and gifted a gorgeous deep purple Elie Saab gown. Quinn was a sucker for Elie Saab and her father knew his audience. She had accepted his invite to the party even though she knew she would have to spend the night smiling politely with socialites. She knew it would be mind-numbingly boring and she would try to drown her thoughts in rosé or champagne.

Looking around the room, only a handful of people around her age were present. Most of them were children of dignitaries or heirs to multinational corporations. She could make out who were dignitaries, businessmen, trust fund babies just by looking at them. Even royalty was rumored to be in attendance. Her eyes wandered over the dance floor and over the couples gently swaying. Quinn shook her head as an elderly woman covered in head to toe diamonds tried to dance with a boy around her age. They were in the center of the ballroom slowly swaying to the London Orchestra and Quinn could tell that he would rather be anywhere else.