Ethereal

Chapter 3: Fated

Bradley pulled a black t-shirt over his head, met Stefani's eyes in the mirror. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

She frowned, putting on a pair of earrings. "Why not? The party tonight will be shared, so why not lunch too?"

"Okay." He turned, made his way to her, eyes hungrily drinking her in; she was in white shorts and a black sleeveless top with a tantalizingly low-cut cleavage, long golden earrings and about twenty slender bracelets around her right wrist. Platinum blonde hair was pulled onto a high ponytail, her only makeup a touch of mascara.

"My God, you are beautiful."

"Thank you." She leaned into his kiss, caressing his neck gently. "So, we should probably keep this, us, hidden whilst out there; this city is full of paparazzi."

"I suppose that will be best," he agreed, sighing. "Even though I'm sure your sister at least will see right through us. She was definitely onto me last night already."

Stefani laughed. "Don't worry; I will handle Nat."

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Despite her words, he was in trouble immediately; Natali took a seat on his other side at the restaurant, staring at him intensely and Bradley swallowed. "What?"

Stefani leaned across him, narrowed her eyes at the brunette. "Stop that."

Natali grinned knowingly. "Why? You know I love to torture you."

She rolled her eyes, touched his arm. "Let's change seats; you'll never be able to enjoy lunch if you have to sit next to her."

"It's fine, really." He looked at Natali. "You clearly have something you want to say, so please, feel free to do so."

"Nah." Natali turned her eyes back to the menu. "Everything's clear just from looking at the two of you. Had a good night?"

Bradley waited until she looked up again, met her gaze coolly. "Very good, thank you."

She stared at him for a long moment, then laughed, shaking her head. "Well, yeah, that much is pretty clear, considering Stef can barely walk and sitting seems to be a little difficult too. Good on you, Mister Hollywood."

The blonde blushed scarlet red, shifting a little in her chair. "Jesus, Natali!"

He looked at her, worry drowning out all embarrassment. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she muttered, burying her face into her hands. "It's just the... sheer quantity of it that..."

Natali was in stitches, her shoulders shaking with uncontrollable laughter, and Bradley felt his own face heating up now too, slid a little lower in his chair, wanting very much to hide under the table. "Right."

"Oh my God. This is absolutely priceless." Natali took a deep breath, attempted to calm down, looking around for a server. "Can we order; I'm starving and about ten seconds away from puking at the same time."

"Wonderful." Stefani sighed, arched an eyebrow at him. "Now do you want to change seats?"

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No one puked and the food was absolutely wonderful; even Sarah managed it despite looking terribly nauseous, Natali keeping mostly quiet, just observing him and Stefani. They split into their respective parties afterwards in order to avoid creating gossip and he decided to walk back to the MGM, Matt falling into step with him.

"Mind if I tag along?"

"No," Bradley sighed, prepared himself for a third-degree cross examination; Matt nodded towards a Starbucks close by.