Money on Her

#2-First encounters

"Alice!!" calls a shrill voice which after a few seconds of processing, I recognize as Hannah(the gallery's owner)'s voice and am now vaguely aware of the fact that I'd been staring at elevator guy laughing with his group of empty headed, loaded and obnoxious friends.I make to stand from the chair I was sitting on to greet Hannah but she stops me mid stand "oh nonsense, sit down dear..I was about to join you for a drink anyways" she says while taking the seat next to mine "tiring night?" I ask while returning my eyes to their initial line of sight. Hannah sighs beside me "you don't know the half of it, I've had to pretend I know at least a million people tonight" she plucks my drink from where I had set it on the table and takes a huge sip..not sure how a sip can be huge but if anyone can pull it off, it's Hannah.She and I go way back, around the time I got talent scouted, she was starting up a museum...we met soon after at an exhibition in Moscow and hit it off instantly. She told me about her gallery, and I told her about my art and since then she hasn't let one of my projects pass by her if she could help it. Not only that but an unlikely friendship had formed between us two and despite being older, she was a best friend of sorts to me now. "You could've warned me I'd be walking head on into a college party instead of an exhibition" I muse referring to the amount of people here which earns a light laugh from her. "speaking of, you've been staring over there for quite some time now, do you....oh, Freddy's here" her voice goes from questioning to excited and before I can ask who Freddy is she's up and walking towards none other than...elevator guy. He doesn't look like a Freddy but then, millionaire faces aren't always what they appear to be.I had thought she would say whatever she had to say to "Freddy" there, but she's walking back to our table with him in tow...smiling at me. I swear this woman is evil. I know the exact moment his eyes land on me because I see a flash of recognition then amusement in his eyes before they finally reach me and he says "Still need that camera?" with a smile. "Oh, you two know each other?" Hannah says taking her spot beside me again and gesturing for Freddy to sit opposite us. "We met briefly in at the hotel.." I say quietly earning a sneaky look from Hannah "do I want to know?". "definitely no..." "does she always stare at people when she meets them for the first time"he cuts me off, so he's a talker eh? "not necessarily, just those with their heads stuck so high up their own asses it's hard for me to know if they're actually human" I shoot back, he smirks. Millionaires, stupid creatures.I don't notice the figure taking the seat next to Freddy until he's fully seated and I soon recognize him to be one of the millionaires too. " Oh great, he brought a minion" I say pointedly to Freddy, another smile. The other one though doesn't smile."says thumbelina" he replies sharply earning a laugh from Hannah, an amused chuckle from Freddy and a scowl from me "cute, he speaks English..I was worried I'd have to use Google to translate your gibberish" "the gibberish could be heard at least, unlike thumbelina on the other hand who I'd bet anything sounds like a mosquito next to actual humans" did he just....? "excuse my man..." I get cut off mid sentence by Hannah "oookay, that's enough of banter between you two..who don't even know each other's names" she looks amused again. Minion #1 lifts his eyebrows and opens his senseless mouth to say something equally as senseless as "thumbelina". Freddy chuckles again "Dante, chill" he says "mind keeping your dog on a leash?, he might rabid if he doesn't learn to keep his mouth shut" I saw sweetly to Freddy "good thing I don't plan on coming anywhere near you then, rabies avoided successfully" he bites back "guys!" Hannah tries again. "yeah, chill" Freddy says "I wonder if that's the only word you learned in school" I mutter loud enough to be heard by three of them. Hannah kicks me under the table, Freddy chuckles again."what's your deal anyways thumbel..." he starts "if you finish that sentence..." "you'll what? fly up his nostril and sprinkle pixie dust on his brain" Dante/minion #1 snorts. I turn my eyes ever so slowly to his unblinking ones shooting daggers straight to his forehead "I don't remember thumbelina having such a murderous glare" he continues "you probably sniffed a buttload of pixie dust before coming here and now have permanent amnesia" I shoot and make to stand up, not wanting to hear what he has to say in reply. Hannah stops me with a hand on my wrist "where are...?" "getting away from gru and his minion before they get a chance to plot how to steal my kidneys...a plan which would inevitably fail woefully but still..." I stand fully now with my purse in hand and step away from the table turning my back to it to walk away but not before tossing a "nice meeting you both" over my shoulder, deja Vu, isn't it?..I have a habit of saying this when I don't mean it..at all.

I spend the rest of my evening wandering around and staring at the paintings scattered around the gallery making it a point to avoid two certain characters from despicable me. Hannah finds me again sometime later and we catch up, laugh and discuss everything other than the last hour at the table. I can tell she wants to though, but she doesn't mention it because of the look I give her whenever she says "soo..." ,have I mentioned I love her?. Time passes as people begin to clear out of the gallery little by little. I've already said my goodbyes to Hannah so I decide it's time for me to leave. I walk outside expecting to see my limo already waiting for me but it isn't. I call the driver..multiple times but each one rings without an answer. I'm about to call Hannah when an unfamiliar jaguar pulls up in front of me, and when the windows roll down, distaste crawls up my spine just like the last time I saw them. Dante is the first to speak "If isn't thumbelina...what? do you need a ride?, got your wings wet or something?" I laugh lightly...not a genuine laugh obviously "please don't let me keep you from you worthless attempts to go steal the moon.." I look up to where the moon is supposed to be and find a crescent there "...unless you've already been beaten to it.you could still have that little piece though" I complete. He looks like he's about to dish back a reply when he's cut off by Freddy from the passenger side "oh dear lord, Alice do you need a ride?" I smile at him then "oh hi, passenger princess..." I wave then "no, I don't need a ride I was just going to call han..." "no no, don't bother her....just hop in and we'll give you a ride instead" Freddy says sensibly. He was making sense, Han would be with guests by this time..and bothering her to give me a ride because of my MIA limo didn't sound sound so appealing.I eye the monster sitting in the driver's seat wearily before getting in the backseat with a faint "thank you" directed at Freddy but then the dragon opens his mouth "no problem, wouldn't want your pixie dust to get all wet now would we?" "I was talking to Freddy, not you and please, you only care about the pixie dust because you need a hit of it everyday so you don't sprout your wings and tail". Freddy speaks up then "we're lodged in the same hotel anyway so it's no problem" not for long I think but I just stay quiet the rest of the ride back. As soon we reach the front of the hotel, I'm hopping out if the car and throwing back another "thank you" to Freddy. At least he's a teeny bit nicer than his minion. He's still a millionaire my subconscious tells me. As soon as I'm enclosed in the elevator heading up, I decide to check my phone and I'm met with a few emails and texts but one email sticks out immensely. I read just the heading and am dreading reading what the rest has to say. I resist the urge to scream in the elevator because my flight tomorrow has just been cancelled and pushed till the weekend....and today's Tuesday.