Hello, Privet! #1: Hello/Привет

Chapter 41

SOPHIE

An hour later, we are in Mac Duffy's house in Malibu. It's probably close to midnight. Waiters are circulating and serving drinks or appetizers, and guys dressed in board shorts and women in bikinis are milling about and they pointedly slow down when they pass by me and Anton. Madcon's remake of the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' song Beggin' is playing. And I think that's Madcon hanging out with the DJ and the Wolfson twins.

"Is that Madcon with the Wolfsons?"

Anton nods at the group of guys, who raise their glasses to him.

"You know them?" I stare at Anton blankly, who only smiles. "Of course you know them."

Mac Duffy and Kolya, both dressed in Hawaiian shirts and board shorts approach us.

"Anton, man," Mac Duffy calls and then hugs him.

"Hey."

"Thought you weren't coming?"

Anton shrugs.

"The bar's over there, and there are girls everywhere—" Mac Duffy glances at me. "Although I can see you don't need any encouragement—"

Anton only laughs, and I fidget.

He raises an eyebrow at Anton, who only smiles and shakes his head.

"She is Sophie Rosenbaum," says Kolya, winking at Anton. "She is the assistant."

"Oh, the assistant," Mac Duffy takes my hand in his and shakes it. "I heard a lot about you. Make yourself at home."

"Anton!" another guy shouts.

I turn in his direction. A dark-haired guy, wearing a leather jacket, holding a bottle of beer.

My eyes widen. "Don't tell me. You're friends with The Renegades?"

"No, just Liam," Anton answers.

"What are you drinking?" Liam Thompson asks, smiling at me. "Give him a drink!"

Kolya laughs and takes Anton to the bar to fetch drinks.

"Is this Sophie?" Liam asks.

"This is Sophie," Mac agrees.

"Sophie!" Liam shouts, grinning. He walks closer and kisses me on the cheek. I am so excited that I don't even flinch as I would usually do when strangers are too friendly with me. From the corner of my eye, I notice two girls pulling Anton away and laughing.

"I love your song 'Thinking About You,'" I gush. I immediately feel embarrassed. I've always prided myself as being the sort of person who never gushes, who always plays it cool around celebrities, but Liam's band is really good and he's so talented...And anyway, Liam seems like a very down to earth sort of guy, and his response to my gushing? He grins, just unabashedly happy that I liked his song. It's kind of adorable.

"I wrote it for Shannon," he says. Shannon Muller, the actress/fashion designer, is his wife. They just recently got married in Milan. I know this because of all those celebrity magazines I've been reading since I started working at Bergstrom and Bergstrom.

Someone hands me a drink, probably Kolya. He and Anton stand beside Mac Duffy. "She's a lucky girl," I say, drinking.

"She needs reminding sometimes." Liam nods at someone on the other side of the pool. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Have you?" I ask, gaining confidence. It's hard not to feel comfortable around him. There are some people I like instantly, and Liam's one of them. He's so friendly and open and sincere (at least I think he is), that I find myself at ease around him immediately.