I walk up the stairs with the driver, who acts like a robot. If I walk slowly then he does the same, quickly he does the same too. It’s as if he’s a reflection of my steps. He’s not used to what I expect of a driver. I tend to think of them as old men. Ones that were in the army. Then again, maybe I’ve been reading one too many books, and that’s the way they’re all stereotyped because he’s the complete opposite of Marco.

He’s younger, smiles whenever I talk to him and makes me feel comfortable all the time. Whereas Marco goes hot and cold at the flick of a switch. One minute, I think I want to be with him for the whole of the night and the next I feel as if I’m kidding myself. That maybe he won’t be as easy to seduce as I’ve been planning for far too long. I need to think about what I’m going to say to Olivia. I’m not going to work for two days and not only that, but I’m letting her down tonight. I didn’t even call her to say I can’t come out tonight.

“I can go inside with them.” I smile as I take them from David, the driver. He’s about to insist; I can tell by the way that he’s grabbing the bags. It’s as if he wants to take them from my hand, but I have no intention of letting him do that. No, I need to tell Olivia, in my own time without the pressure of feeling as if I’m walking into the life that I’ve been dreaming about doing with only one thing on my mind. Taking it over and destroying it.

“Wow, someone’s been busy,” Olivia says with her arms folded.

Crap!

She’s all dressed in a hot black number ready to go out. Then I hear another voice screaming from behind her and realize that she’s invited her friend, Veronica to come along and that can only mean one thing. Olivia suspected that I was going to let her down. It should make me feel better, but only makes me feel that much worse.

“Yes, we’ve been waiting for you, Leah, but it looks as if you’ve been busy. Gucci. Prado. Damn, did you win the lottery or something?”

I laugh as I shut the door hoping that David is headed back downstairs and not waiting outside the door.

“No, she must have scored with the richest client in the diner.”

Veronica gasps, “Not the hot-blooded Italian!”

She holds her hands up and starts waving them around, Veronica and Olivia went to the same school and they’ve been friends ever since. She’s great for going out clubbing and knows about every party that’s worth going to in town, but when it comes to keeping a secret, Veronica’s the worst person to tell, she can’t keep one and to make matters worse, she’ll never volunteer to do it. She knows she’s terrible at doing it and wouldn’t even try to pretend she’s anything but crap at it.

“Tell me,” Veronica says rushing to help me.

My eyes dart to Olivia, who’s too busy finishing the contents of the bottle of wine that they’re sharing or maybe Olivia was drinking it alone in the first place. Either way, she’s annoyed with me. Her body language says it all as she folds her arms and sits on the couch.

“Well, he saw that I was looking sad because I was talking to my sister and—”

Olivia blurts out, “He came in the diner looking for you. I told him that you were walking home and that must be how he tracked you down.”

She’s not looking at me. More my feet as I draw closer to her, but it all hits home why she was calling me so much and how Marco managed to track me down so easily. I had a vision of him following me, and now I feel silly. “Anyway, he wanted to cheer me up and brought me all these clothes. I know that we’re probably the same size so I was thinking we could share.” I try smiling at her, but she’s still avoiding my eyes, and this means she’s really mad. Not that I blame her.

“Leah, that was crappy what you did. I was calling and hoping that I did the right thing when I told him where you were. Then mom’s on my case like, ‘Just say he’s a mass murder.’ I wanted to see if you were okay.”

I bite back a retort, thinking that she’s trying to make it seem all innocent, when she was still getting ready to go out. “Right, so that’s why you’re dressed to go out?”

Veronica blurts out, “Yes, when she had a call from him saying that she didn’t need to worry and he sent a picture of you trying on dresses. That’s when Olivia started to get pissed and stopped calling your ungrateful ass.”

I shake my head thinking that I can’t win. I came here on a mission, and I’m not going to give it up. I’m getting too involved acting as if Olivia is my girlfriend or something. I need to draw the line… it starts and ends here.

“Guys, he says that he wants us to spend the weekend together and I was wondering if you’ll cover for me, this weekend?”

Olivia says, “Consider it done. You have a new boyfriend and when it’s all over, because believe me with men like that they can have whoever they want all the time,” her words cut like a knife, as she points, "just make sure that you don’t come crying to me.”

I nod my head as I leave by the same door that I came in a few minutes ago. I pick up one dress, it’s a red cocktail dress, and I should go to my room and pick up a brush and some bathroom toiletries, but the idea of staying here any longer than necessary at the moment feels as if it’s too much to bear. I need to leave now. Not only because of the sad puppy dog look that Veronica’s giving me, but because of the cold shoulder Olivia is giving me. She’s reminding me that we’re not friends. I know that she’s hurting now, but it’s nothing compared to if the truth came out. At least this way she hates me, and when it’s over, she’ll not hurt even more about her supposed friend not being around. I know Veronica will look after her. She did it before I came on the scene and she’ll continue to do it long after I’m gone.