The Thorn Of A Rose

Chapter Four

I walk over to Cora and her new friend, apologising for being gone so long. She doesn't seem to have noticed that I was gone for as long as I was, probably because she was too busy talking to Mr comb over beside her.

He's a good looking guy, with tattoo's and a gleaming smile. He definitely wasn't here for the day time ceremony, I'm almost certain that me and Cora would have noticed him in a crowd.

"Rose, this is Evan. Evan, this is Rose"

I smile, sitting down to drink the rest of my drink and join in on a little conversation. I somehow feel like a third wheel to two people that have only just met.

"Nice to meet you Rose" He says, his accent sounds more Northern than most of the people around here, I wasn't expecting it from him.

It's bizarre how we imagine how a person speaks before we actually hear them, wonder their name before we've actually met them. I'm so guilt of judging a book by it's cover, yet I'm not very good at staying away when the cover reads 'do not buy' or 'do not open'. I can't help but look in the direction of the book that I'm currently being told to stay away from, everything is telling me it's bad, I've heard it from Rob himself yet for some reason I'm even more intrigued.

"So, what do you both do for a living?" Evan asks, pulling me out of my daze.

"I'm an interior designer" Cora says with a small smile.

I swallow the drink that I've just sipped "I work in marketing" I announce, feeling like I need to leave this one to Cora. It's bad being a third wheel, especially to two people who are trying to get to know each other. I'm basically acting like a cock block right now. I stand up, excusing myself and lying as I tell them I'm going to go and mingle. I don't want to mingle, I'd rather take myself to bed than mingle but I want Cora to enjoy the new freedom that she has.

Archie, a man who was sat at our table shouts me over. He's sat with a couple of men, who look in their forties, all with dark hair. I approach them slowly, dubious as to why Archie's shouted me over.

"I was just telling the guys about your job with Solve Marketing." He starts "Ray here used to be the director"

I raise my brows "Oh, really?"

He nods "Yeah, I was at that company for almost fifteen years. Best years of my life" He says.

I don't know any different yet and I don't intend on for a fair few years. They're a good company and I'm content with where I'm at with life right now. I'm a driven person. I see challenges and I thrive, I do anything I can to achieve what I want to. You have to be a driven person to work in marketing, that's one thing that was drilled into me from the start of college, then even more so at university.

I dive into conversation with the men about the marketing world today, the University I attended and Ray seems interested in my background and how the company is doing at the moment. He soon tells me that he left to take on a new challenge. He felt like he progressed and made the company as good as he could until finally, there wasn't much more for him to do.

I find the right time to leave, using Cora as an excuse, although she seems to be dancing away with Evan. I already know where this is going, it certainly doesn't take a genius to work it out. I'm happy for her, happy that finally she's enjoying the life that she's watched her other friends- me included- live. I debate going over, joining in with the dancing but I decide against it. She's a big girl and she doesn't need me by her side for this whole thing. Tipsy Cora is a brave and outgoing Cora, she doesn't need my help to make any friends here. I walk through the tables, heading to the bar to get another drink, I'd drank the last one whilst talking to Ray about work. Eurgh, how dull. I'm officially the girl who talks about work outside of work. Who am I kidding? I've been that girl for over a year now.