The Darkest Days

16. Bitter Dreams Of Revenge

"What were you even thinking?" The girl released Audrey once they were away and demanded. "You know better than to argue with Casey Valentine, Audrey!"

"Casey Valentine accused me falsely in front of everyone and you expect me to-"

"Yes, I expect you to remain quiet!" The girl angrily said. "They're bigger than you and I. They have reputations to take care of. You know even talking back to them can be taken as an insult to them. You wanna know what they do to people who publicly insult them?"

"Oh so she publicly insults me but I so much as-"

"Audrey. I'm not your mother." She said slowly. "And you're not a child. You know how it works, I don't have to explain it you. It's better to keep your damn mouth shut than to get on their bad sides by calling them a liar. Something as small as that hurts their ego and image. People don't care about us, won't talk about us. They'll talk about them. They have to protect their images, we don't even have one!"

Audrey huffed and looked away. Angry tears filled her eyes but didn't fall.

"Just.. forget it happened, Audrey. Hm?" The girl went to touch Audrey's arm but she flinched back and walked away.

"Where are you going?" The girl called.

"To my room; thankfully this time, I'm not sharing it with anyone." Audrey replied without looking back.

Next morning, Audrey was woken up by a knock on her hotel room door. She yawned and checked the time.

It was 9:30AM, which meant that she had overslept. Quickly tying the strings of her black night robe, she got off the soft bed. Smoothening her hair with her fingers, she then opened the door.

"Sorry to disturb you, Miss." A male hotel staff member said politely. "Are you Audrey Pierce?"

"I am."

He smiled. "Very well. Miss Monica Heart wants to see you. She's in the room 1345."

Audrey's blood froze. "D-Did she happen to mention the purpose?"

He apologetically shook his head. "I'm afraid I couldn't ask her."

Audrey gulped. "Was she like, in a bad mood?"

He frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

"You know," Audrey opened the door full, "was she angry at me? Was she like, get that b*tch here at once?"

"Erm.. no?"

"Is Casey Valentine there with her?"

"Miss Pierce, I'd like if you'd just-"

"If she's there, I refuse to go." Though she knew she had no choice.

"Miss Valentine isn't there; she's not even staying in this hotel." He confusedly replied.

Relief washed over Audrey. "Alright, thank you. I'll, uh, I'll be there."

"Have a.. good day.."

"You, too." She said and closed the door. She was too scared to face Monica. She feared she'd be thrown out of the crew or worse.

As she showered and then made herself presentable, all her thoughts were on how she'd explain herself.

"Okay, Audrey," she said to the mirror, "you've flown the world with this woman. You've done things you never imagined you'd do. This is one of them. You got this. Stay confident, you didn't do anything wrong."

With that, she got in the elevator and walked out on the sixteenth floor. She tightened her ponytail, adjusted her black crop top and dusted off her black jeans before knocking on the room 1345.