Sip of Assistance

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

By December 30th I felt beyond comfortable with the whole family. William and I had spent time together watching obscure films I loved but had never heard of previously while James was bonding with his mother and Nana. Other times Caroline and Nana taught me –hands on- the recipes to some amazingly delicious foods that just so happened to be James’ favorites. We had wine and talked as we prepared a multitude of meals. Even Olivia and I had hung out some, though she still seemed to be probing me the whole time.

We had one day left because we had plans to go to a party on New Year’s Eve back in Los Angeles. Most of our time had been at the house or out to a few places for groceries or dinner so James thought the two of us should go out and have some drinks so I could see more of the locals. Being our last night, he insisted we hit up some clubs or bars even though he rarely ever ventured to those establishments. I agreed.

It was still cold out so I dressed in a pair of tight dark jeans, some tall high heeled black boots that reached just below the knee, and a glittery gold halter top underneath a tailored black leather jacket. I made sure to put on gold bangles to match my top. My long chocolate hair was down in loose waves and I put on more makeup than normal to give myself the smoky eye effect I saved for night time outings.

I knocked on James’ door and it opened to reveal his tall muscular body clad in a black and white flannel under a black hoodie with light jeans and converses. He looked handsome as always, but what caught my attention was how he was looking at me as if I were incredibly sexy. I blushed and headed for the living room with my passport and money zipped in my jacket pocket. I heard him follow behind and I swayed my hips infinitesimally more hoping he would notice but it wouldn’t be noticeable that I was trying.

“The taxi just called, he’s right out front. Don’t you just look beautiful, Holly dear! And James you look handsome!” Caroline praised as she hugged us. Olivia was smirking in our direction, but at what specifically I wasn’t sure.

We went outside and got in the cab. James told him where to go. We were heading only about ten miles away into the town to a new club called ‘Sounds’ which I thought was a ridiculous name, but James had talked to Tony earlier and he’d insisted we had to go because apparently it was ‘all the rage’.

When we arrived James grabbed my hand and pulled me up to the front of a long line of scantily clad women and flashily dressed men. I felt overclothed and James seemed underdressed compared to everyone else. Tony had gotten us on the list so we went straight in and were immediately taken to a V.I.P. spot. It wasn’t like the American V.I.P. spots I’d seen because it wasn’t private; we went about six steps up and behind a rope but that was all that separated us from the rest of the hundreds of people in the loud crowded club.

Generally it wouldn’t matter to me, but James was famous –even more so in Britain because that’s where he was from- so I was in assistant mode, worried about fans. James must have sensed that because he pulled me to the couch and looked me in the eyes.

“Don’t worry about anything. Remember you’re on vacation, let’s just have fun.” The bass started booming louder than before and people were screaming so I just nodded in agreement.

He ordered me a black velvet and a grog for himself. When the drinks came I sipped mine and it tasted like a sweet beer. “What is this?”

“It’s got beer and sparkling wine in it.”

“Mmm, it’s really good,” I said as I sipped some more. We surveyed the room and tried to talk when the music wasn’t blaring until finally I decided I wanted to dance so I asked James to join me. Before he could answer a group of three girls came barreling up the steps to the rope where a security guard stood. They were screaming and asking for pictures and autographs. James complied because he rarely said no to fans when they had such simple requests. Eventually they left, but not long after, more people took their place. Before we knew it a man with a heavy duty professional camera was taking pictures.