City Lights
once upon a timeAurora Rittenhouse watched the gold doors to the elevator in her penthouse close, relieved that the last of the guests had left. She saw her reflection on the doors; her blonde hair piled high in a neat bun, her royal blue Alice + Olivia shift dress reaching mid thigh on her mile long legs that were in black Christian Loubutin pumps. She turned around and faced her normally neat apartment that was now a nightmare, filled with wine and martini glasses, plates and various accessories mistakenly left behind by guests.
The reason the penthouse had been filled with so many people, about fifty all of which were filthy rich, and now was in shambles was her mother, Genevieve, had offered to throw Aurora's obnoxious cousin Corinne an engagement party, even though the wedding was a week away. Corinne was Genevieve's late sister's twenty one year old socialite daughter, who had recently gotten engaged to a Greek oil heir, Demetrius, who Aurora thought she was only getting married to so she could be even more like her idol Paris Hilton, and more than likely the marriage wouldn't even last.
The reason Genevieve was planning the wedding was because Corinne's parents both passed away when she was ten and ever since had been taken under Genevieve's wing, but Aurora never liked her. So Aurora had been thrilled when Corinne moved out at the age of thirteen to go to boarding school; Genevieve sending her there convinced she was a prodigy and Aurora believed her mother favored Corinne. So two years after Corinne was shipped off her parents decided to travel around the world and since her brother, Paraas, had already gone off to Hollywood, her parents hired a live in nanny to watch Aurora, but only lasted a year since she convinced her parents to let her live alone.
"Thank god cousin IT is gone." Aurora declared to her brother Paraas. Paraas was twenty five and shared Aurora's hatred towards Corinne. He was eight years older than Aurora and a successful actor, having recently starred in a drama opposite Scarlett Johansson. All the girls at the party gawked at Paraas and were in awe over him being there, they all said to Corinne "I can't believe he's your cousin, you're so lucky…" and Corinne's response would be "Oh yeah, he's the best, we're super close." She claims they were inseparable when they were younger and that he always looked out for her, which was far from the truth.
The reason neither Paraas nor Aurora liked Corinne was because their mother had always favored her. She was the number one 'child', Paraas was number two, since he's famous, and Aurora would always be number three, the only way she could ever move up would be to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Aurora and Paraas figured their mother favored Corinne was since her parents died, so she got sympathy. The worst of it was she got an inheritance too. Aurora wasn't a greedy person at all when it comes to money, but she was shocked that Corinne got an inheritance on her eighteenth birthday that was exactly the same as what her brother got, $75,000. The party had been even more over the top than her sweet sixteen, which was pretty pathetic because you would think she would have grown up by then, the party was complete with spiked punch, totally '90s prom and totally gaudy, and Kanye West singing, she even tried to the people from My Super Sweet Sixteen to do an episode on it, but like Aurora told her, the show was beyond over.
"I know, did you hear her saying how we're like her siblings. Thank God we only have to see her one more time at the wedding, then she'll be on the other side of the globe, far far away." Paraas told his sister, while she gathered up any photos containing Corinne, which she put out before the party, and tossed them in drawer in the coffee table some of them shattering, but still hopefully never to be brought out again. All of the pictures though, were terrible shots of Corinne, who in Aurora's opinion looked like trailer trash Barbie. From her platinum blonde hair with brown roots, caked on foundation and pink lipstick, somehow she managed to look trashier than even Jessica Simpson, and used the world y'all, a la Britney Spears circa her bipolar days, Corinne thought the saying was cuter than a Hermes Birkin bag; Aurora got a migraine just from hearing the word.
"For you, I have to go to the rehearsal dinner. The worst part is that she picked me to be her maid of honor, me! How clueless can she be…? I mean have I really hidden my hatred that well." Aurora said, disgusted with her so-called sister. She had been shocked when Corinne asked her to be maid of honor, and her mother was delighted. So she had gone with Corinne and her fiancée to all of the cake tastings, meetings with the party planner and picking out of dresses, and hated every day of it. Now in a few days she would have to give two speeches, one at the rehearsal dinner, and the other at the actual wedding.
"Ooh look! Gifts Corinne left behind. One, two, three, four… fourteen. God she is so dumb, how does she manage to leave behind fourteen gifts, half of them are bigger than her? Let's open them." Aurora said excitedly, as her hazel eyes wildly searched the presents. She divided them into two piles of seven, one for her the other for Paraas.
"Don't you think she'll notice some of her presents are missing?" Paraas asked, opening up a large square box.
"No way. Look what I have, a little blue box… Tiffany's!" Aurora untied the ribbon on the robin's egg blue box and opened it to reveal a bangle of the exact same blue. At the same time Paraas opened his to reveal a wine chiller. The both of them tore through the rest of the gifts, like they were orphans receiving Christmas presents, relishing in taking what wasn't theirs. Aurora ended up with the bangle, matching ring, two platinum and diamond Montblanc pens, two Montblanc journals, cashmere throw, a Cartier watch, and a Bergdorf Goodman gift card. Paraas ended up with just as good of presents and probably equally expensive.
There were now boxes and wrapping paper everywhere in the before Pottery Barn-esque apartment. The penthouse, which Aurora had decorated herself, even though her parents offered to hire a personal decorator, looked like it was from the Elizabethan era, which surprisingly enough her mother approved of. The penthouse was filled with vintage furniture, brocade printed pieces and crystal lamps, all costing a small fortune. Across the walls were black and white photographs of old movie stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Catherine Deneuve, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck and others, all of which were autographed.
"Anyways Glenda the good witch will clean the mess the wicked witch of the west left in the morning. I'm going to sleep; I'm exhausted from all the fake smiling. 'Night Perry, see you in the morning."Aurora said climbing the spiral staircase leading to the second story. She always added the good witch to the maid, Glenda's name, and of course Corinne was the wicked on. When she got to the top, and got out of her imagination of seeing Corrine's size 11 tacky gold shoes under a mansion, she went into the library, which was, by itself, was three thousand square feet. The shelves were filled with Aurora's favorite books, including Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult books, along with classics like the Great Gatsby. Also in the library were books of poetry, from E.E. Cummings to Oscar Wilde. She glanced at the clock, squinting her hazel eyes to read twelve o' five. After Aurora grabbed the newest Sophie Kinsella book, which hadn't been released yet but got it through her parents' connections and she went into her bedroom.
