The Millionaire's 'Friend' - Natasha's Story

Chapter 12 - Selfridge's

The days continued to tick by, for some reason they were dragging and seemed painfully dull. Even a couple of long trips out of the city didn't help clear the cloud that had settled around me. Who knows, maybe I was coming down with something.

Thank goodness for Fliss. As though fate and Fliss were working together, she had the most amazing solution to pick me out of the doldrums. I returned home one evening to find her pacing up and down my tiny flat, like a caged tiger longing for release.

"Hurrah! 'Bout time."

"Sorry, didn't know you were coming around. What's up?"

"Ok...." She took a deep breath and dramatically pushed her hands out into space like she needed to balance herself before continuing. "Are you busy Thursday night?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Ha! You are now."

Without missing a beat, she dipped her hand into her open purse, and handed me two large, gold trimmed tickets. I looked down and read the fancy embossed text printed across the middle:

You are cordially invited to the

Telstar Annual Gala 2016

"What the hell?!!" My eyes widened and I must have re-read the words seven or eight times. "Are these real?" I flipped the little bits of card over in my hand, trying to spot the flaw that would reveal they were in fact complete fakes, and Fliss had somehow knocked them up on her computer in order to fool me. Only they weren't, they looked genuine.

Still wide eyed and unblinking I looked up into my friends face; only to have final confirmation that they were indeed real. It was written all over her expression. She spontaneously started jumping around my flat, from the sofa to the bed, to the coffee table and back again, while wearing such a huge grin it must have been making her face ache.

I on the other hand still couldn't compute. The tickets were still in my hand, and I re-read them once more, including all the fine print, the date stamp, everything.

Telstar – really??? This couldn't be happening. The Telstar Gala was like the UK version of the iconic Met Gala. A huge annual charity gala held by the UKs biggest entertainment magazine - Telstar. It attracted top A-list celebrities, as well as other rich and influential people. And me???

"How....what....where?" I spluttered, the wires between my brain and mouth fusing badly from the shock.

"I won them." Fliss gushed, excitement still boiling over and making all of her naturally pretty features light up with sheer joy. "You remember that raffle I entered at work?"

"Er, no."

"Yes, you do. Although it was a while back. Anyway, it doesn't matter. They did the draw today and I won the main prize."

"You won these?!"

"Yep!" She gasped, still struggling to reign in her giant grin. "Oh my god. It's going to be so amazing. All the celebrities, actors, models, sport stars......and us!!!!"

Wow. I silently mouthed to myself. My knees slowly buckled beneath me and I slumped back, still disbelieving, onto the sofa. Well, this would certainly occupy my thoughts for some time. Who needed sparkly blue eyes when there was a celeb packed ball to attend?

I'd never been jealous of Fliss' job before – but this certainly earned some brownie points. It didn't surprise me that Wetherby's could afford such lavish prizes. It's a hugely successful auction house, only slightly outshone by the world famous Sotherby's. I didn't remember Fliss telling me this was one of their prizes, though I did vaguely remember her disappoint a couple of years back when she missed out on winning herself a brand new Mini Cooper. The most I'd ever won in a raffle was a tin of Baked Beans.