Roommates

PART 16 : last one left

Here's a photo of Zack, I found this on WeHeartIt and I can't find his name so if anyone knows please tell me so I can put it here , thanks x

Sienna's P.O.V

It had been a couple of weeks since starting at MOD magazine and I had adapted well into my new assistant role. The other interns were nice and friendly and we went out for lunch on an occasion. One girl, Eliza, had invited us all out with her on Friday night, and I accepted to be polite, but I was unsure of what to expect. The other interns were not like people I knew, most didn't come from the same background as me and so I was scared I would make a fool of myself given the right opportunity and some alcohol.

"You should totally go!" Jessie squealed when I told her about my uncertainty. "The gala night soon, and we're all bringing dates! You're the last one left without one!" She coaxed me as we lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Oh god." I moaned. "I really don't want to have to go on my own." I whined. I was not looking forward to being stranded for the night as Jessie and her mystery man, who I would meet that night, Chelsie and Zack, and Morgan and Brendon all swanned off hand in hand. It would be miserable.

"Get that booty out there and get yourself a man!" She chirped. "Or a woman, or whatever you're into." She added hastily at the end. I giggled.

"I'm straight." I informed her. She nodded.

"Well there's plenty of eligible bachelors in New York City who would die at the chance to take you on a date, I'm sure." She reassured me.

"Wow. The city is my oyster then." I replied sarcastically.

She got up off of the bed. "Well, I have to get going, I'm going on a date soon." She said bashfully.

"Are you really gonna keep this guy a secret until the gala?" I asked.

She tapped her nose. "Yep." She smiled.

She bounced out of the room like a ballet dancer and I heard the door slam shut a few seconds later. A feeling of dread creeped into my stomach. I did not want to go to the gala alone, and I didn't have anyone that I could ask to be my date. I didn't really know any guys, other than Zack and Brendon, who I had seen a lot lately as they had been attached to Chelsie and Morgan like very large handbags the last few times we had hung out.

I wanted the ground to swallow me up. My mother had heard news of the gala and had given me money to buy myself a nice dress to wear to it. And so that was my main concern for the minute. Jessie told me it was be very fancy, black tie. I was used to black tie events, but I usually had Peyton and my family to rely on to keep my company, but I had already asked Peyton to come with me, and she told me she was going to the Bahamas for that entire week so I was all alone.

There were only two guys who were interns at my job. Justin and Seth. The rest were girls. But above all of that, I didn't feel close enough to any of them to even consider asking them to come with me. I was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Quincey has also been invited, but she declined as she said that it wasn't her kind of thing and she would just feel uncomfortable the whole night. Which was understandable, because I knew where she was coming from. But I knew if I told my mother I wasn't going she would fly over here and drag me there personally. She was delighted that her daughter was going to a Hale party. Without even speaking to her I knew she had already told everyone she knew about it. So there was no escape.

The next few days were spent thinking about the gala and becoming filled with more and more dread every time I did. What was worse is I had not even mentioned my background or financial situation to any of the other interns at work, and I doubted any of them would be pleased to hear about it, let alone want to hear about my predicament. I wanted them to accept me and like me for who I was, without knowing about how my father was one of the richest men in my whole city. It had caused a lot of people to take advantage of me in the past, and I was nervous the same thing might happen here.

Of course, they would find out eventually, but the longer they spent time with me without knowing it, the better.

On Thursday morning on our usual 11 am coffee break, Eliza piped up again about the night on the town.

"So, guys!" She squealed excitedly. "Are we all excited to be hitting the town tomorrow, on our first pay day?!"

"I am so ready!" Another intern, Meghan piped up. "I'll probably miss my rent this month but who cares? I'm finally not being paid minimum wage anymore!" She beamed excitedly.

I couldn't imagine how that felt, or how she was okay with putting her home at risk just to go out, but everyone seemed to think it was funny and began laughing so I joined in.

"So who's in?" Eliza asked, eyeing each of us up.

"Me, obviously!" Meghan raised her hand.

"Yeah I'll come." The intern from accounts, Daria added.

"It's a yes from me!" The photography intern, Heather said.

Justin and Seth both nodded.

"Sienna?" Eliza looked at me, a hint of suspicion rising in her eyes.

"Um, yeah. I'm in!" I said quickly, and she cracked a smile.

"Great! It's going to be so much fun!" Eliza squealed again.

She set up a group chat so that we could all organise where to meet.

"Add me on instagram!" Heather sent in her Instagram handle into the group chat.

A panic began to rise in my stomach. I tried not to be the kind of person who showed off on their Instagram, but there were plenty of pictures on it from trips and such that I had been on that I liked to have on my account as documentation, and they included things like a trip to Bali I took last year with my family and a photo of me on my father's yacht. So they would definitely find out what I had been hiding from them.

Justin and Daria sent in their handles too and as we were all sitting next to one another, everyone began to follow each other. I had no choice but to also join in.

"Oh my god!" Heather almost screamed in the middle of the staff canteen.

"You're friends with Jessie Hale? THE Jessie Hale?!?" She turned to me, wide-eyed.

"Um yeah, we've been friends a little while." I said, trying to provide as little information as possible.

"So cool! She's like, flawless! I heard her family is really rich and that's why she made it as a model." Heather informed the group. They all looked at me to provide the actual information on the situation.

"Yeah, I mean she kind of does it as a hobby, she's in college too." I said, trying to not reveal too much.

"Woah! I never knew that! She must have the life!" Heather said, going off into a daydream, fantasising about Jessie's life.

"And so do you, Sienna. Holy fuck is that you on a yacht?" Daria gasped, looking at the photo of me on the yacht I now regretted ever posting.

"Oh, um yeah. It's not mine though." I tried to distance myself from it, but it wasn't working.

"And you went to Bali?! Oh my god?! It's like, my dream to go there!" Meghan exclaimed.

The girls grilled me on everything on my instagram and I tried to be as vague as possible as I attempted to get away from the situation.

As I got up to leave, Justin shot me a look of sympathy and called me aside.

"They're like the FBI." He joked.

I laughed nervously.

"Look, I get it. My dad is a well known businessman and I get people all the time asking me about him, and me, and my life and it's so invasive and I hate it. I try to distance myself from it as much as possible, because I don't just want to be his son forever. I want to be my own person, and I think you might be in the same boat." He told me.

"Yeah, that's exactly it. Thank you." I said appreciatively. We parted ways and I walked back to my office, feeling slightly less dreadful.