If you remember, I wrote a Fanfic called "Riveau" about two months back. I never finished it because I've been entertaining this new idea of mine. Enjoy!
I couldn't believe that this was happening. It was a year after I'd graduated from Easton- I was nineteen, and a law major at Harvard. It was on scholarship, of course, but that really didn't matter. I was here today, miraculously. With the history I'd had, living high society for the summer was totally my speed. Noelle, Kiran, Taylor and I were spending all summer readying ourselves for our upcoming school year. Dash and Noelle were broken up, and had been for six months. Taylor had returned from public school in Chicago, and was finally back where she belonged- with us, and at Harvard with me, studying neurology. Kiran had finally quit modeling, and had moved on to being a fashion major at FIT. Noelle was at Yale, and was also majoring in law.
Kiran, Noelle and I were sitting on Noelle's massive bed in her house in New York. Taylor booted up her little Mac laptop, and set it down as she waited for it to load.
"Where are we going today?" I asked, kicking my feet in the air.
"I don't know." Noelle said. "Possibly to the meatpacking district. We have yet to get your school bags."
"As in plural bags?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"Ah, Reed, you have so much to learn yet." Kiran said. "Of course. You can't tote the same bag around-"
"Oh my god." Taylor squeaked, looking at her glowing laptop. "They found the body."
The body. Of course we knew what body. Her body. Ariana's body. She'd escaped from the correctional facility not three months ago. She'd drowned in the lake near the jail, but they hadn't found a body.
Until today.
"What?" Noelle asked, pulling the computer onto her lap. I peered over toward Noelle, and my mouth fell open. There were headlines all over the homepage. Pictures of the body. Noelle clicked on the first article, and pushed it off her lap.
"Well." Noelle said, always cool and composed. "Now that it's confirmed that she's…gone, I guess we have to see when the funeral is."
"You actually want to go?" I blurted. Everyone stared at me, and Noelle sighed.
"I have to go. Even though she turned out to be a killer, I value the time I spent with her. It sounds horrible, but it's true." Noelle said, and grimaced.
"Me too." Kiran said, sounding far away.
"I guess I should." Taylor said. "She was my friend."
"Reed?" Noelle asked.
I pressed my lips together and shook my head. "No."
Noelle nodded. "I wouldn't either. But seeing as though she didn't try to kill me…"
"I need a drink." Kiran said, and pulled a flask of god knows what out of her mint green Alexander McQueen bag.
"Kiran!" Taylor said, and knocked the flask away from her mouth. Kiran spat brown liquid all over Noelle's Marc Jacobs blouse.
"Lovely." Noelle said, and pulled the now stained shirt away from her body. "Ugh. When is this thing?"
Taylor looked at the laptop. "Day after tomorrow at eleven."
"Damn. That means I'll have to go straight to see my parents from there." She tossed her shirt in the laundry and pulled out a new one, this one a Chaiken cashmere tee. "They're at the house in Nantucket." She explained.
"Mm." Taylor murmured. "Seriously. We can't let this ruin our summer."
"It didn't even ruin five minutes." Kiran muttered as she popped a piece of gum in her mouth.
"Kiran!" Taylor reprimanded again. "Don't speak ill of the dead!"
"Sorry." She said, as Noelle picked up her red Balenciaga motorcycle bag.
"Are we going or not?" She asked, obviously impatient. Kiran rolled her eyes, and crossed over to the door. Taylor looked at me.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, going for an elated smile. She must have noticed that I couldn't quite manage a smile without it becoming a grimace. Though I hated Ariana, she really hadn't deserved to drown like that. But she did.
"Come on, Glass-Licker!" Noelle said as I ambled towards the door.
Some things would never, in a million years, ever change.
0-0-0-0
At about noon, Noelle, Kiran, Taylor and I sat at an outdoor table at a gorgeous little bistro on the south street seaport. The four of us genteelly sipped iced green teas and iced macchiatos, and picked at several different appetizers.
"So. What are the lovely results of this morning?" Noelle asked. Kiran whipped a pair of super high round-toe floral Stella McCartney boots out of one of her many bags.
"Those are gorgeous!" Noelle said, and went to grab them from Kiran's toned arms. She turned halfway around, and shook her head.
"Uh, I don't think so!" She laughed. "Your fat feet will ruin my new boots!"
Noelle laid her manicured hands on her chest, and opened her mouth, but was cut off by a boy's voice.
"Well, well, the bitch is back!" I turned around, and saw Gage Coolidge, Trey Prescott, and Josh Hollis behind us.
Josh. We hadn't spoken since we'd left Easton, and completely lost touch. He caught my eye, and smiled genuinely.
"And New Girl, Brainiac and Lange are here too! What luck!" Gage cackled. "So. How have you ladies been?"
"Just peachy." Noelle said. "How about the three of you?"
"Very, very well." Gage smiled slyly, and they all pulled chairs up to our table. "So! What's going on?"
"Not much." Taylor answered. "They found Ariana Osgood's body today."
"No fucking way." Gage said.
"Really?" Josh asked, looking straight at me across the table. I nodded.
"Jesus." Trey said, and shook his head. "I can't fathom that she'd drown herself. Or let herself drown for that matter. She was a really good swimmer. Remember at your sixteenth birthday party, Kiran? She dove right in and swam like a freaking fish across your pool."
"I do remember that. And she beat Noelle in a race. That's weird." Taylor said.
"Yeah. She…" Noelle said, and bit her lip. "Whatever. What are you guys up to these days?"
"I'm single." Gage said, gazing hopefully at Kiran, who grinned.
"I'm at RISD, and I'm majoring in painting." Josh said, and shrugged. "It's a great school."
"And I'm training for the Olympics at UCLA." Trey said. "I know, I know, it's a long shot but it's what I want to do." He laughed.
"I'm sure you'll succeed." Taylor smiled.
Trey grinned at her and she hid her face in her curls.
"What are you doing, new girl?" Gage asked.
"Law major at Harvard." I said coolly, and took a sip of my lemonade.
"Harvard? Well, obviously being in the barn wasn't so…" He cut off when Kiran and Josh went to slap him. Kiran made contact.
"Ow!" He said, and rolled his eyes. "What about you, Lange?"
"I'm at Yale, still doing law." She said as she picked at her baguette slice. "Kiran's quit modeling, and is doing fashion at FIT. And Taylor's off at Harvard with Reed. Now that you've done the full interrogation, is there anything else you need to know?" She looked right at him.
"No." Josh spoke again. "I think we're okay now, right?" He nudged Gage with his elbow.
"Right!" Trey piped up. "So. Heard from anyone else?"
"Vienna Clark is a model now." Kiran said. "We did a shoot together about a month ago."
"Tiffany Goulbourne did the shots." Taylor giggled. "And Natasha Crenshaw's at Dartmouth."
"Lorna Gross is going to the Olympics for Tennis." I said. "And Constance Talbot is still dating Walt Whittaker."
"Lance Reagan is pretty high up at Apple now." Trey said.
"How's Dash?" Noelle asked nonchalantly.
Gage frowned, Josh grimaced and Trey simply looked at the stores on the other side of the street.
"You see, Noelle, the thing is…" Josh said. "Dash is…engaged."
"What?" She spat. "To who?"
"To…Ivy Slade…" Trey said into a glass of water.
"No!" Taylor said incredulously.
Noelle's eyes widened to the diameter of bass drums. "Excuse me? Tell me everything right now, Josh."
"So, they met again at a bar in Boston, the night after you broke up with him. They kept talking, they were out on dates every night, and…two days ago…" Josh said, and shrugged. "I'm really sorry."
All the hurt that anyone ever could feel was in Noelle's eyes. She got up, and walked away, towards her car.
"Noelle!" Taylor called, and she and Trey chased after her.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Josh said quietly.
"It's not your fault." I said as Kiran and I got up.
"Wait." Josh placed his hand lightly on my shoulder. "Do you want to…do something with me tomorrow night?"
My heart swelled with immeasurable glee. "Yeah. That'd be great." I said, and fished my phone out of my white leather coach bag.
He pressed a sheet of paper into my hand. "I'll pick you up around…say, seven?"
"Yeah. That's perfect." I said, and he smiled at me, the way he used to every day before…
"Alright." He grinned. "I'll see you then." And he kissed my cheek ever so softly. I looked over as Noelle walked into a bar across the street.
"I have to go." I said, and my eyes followed Noelle. "I'm sorry."
"No, no. Go before she does something she'll regret." He pointed across the street. I ran after her, and raced into the bar. She was sitting at the counter, with old businessmen surrounding her, laughing like a maniac.
"You know…" She tossed back a glass of some amber colored liquid. There were 3 others sitting on the counter right next to the one she'd just discarded."Who needs men when there's alcohol?"
A look of terror crossed Kiran's face. Of course. She'd been at rehab for addiction. This was reminiscent of Kiran when she was drunk. Taylor bit her lip, and motioned for me.
"We have to get her out of here." She whispered in my ear. "She's making a scene."
"Noelle." I said in a controlled voice. "Come on."
"Reed, you have so much to learn." She laughed manically. Apparently she got drunk very quickly. "Have a drink."
Hell, no. "Come on Noelle. We're going home."
Kiran grabbed her hand, making her slosh whatever she was drinking all over the floor. Taylor got behind her, and I grabbed her other hand.
"Come on, Noelle." Kiran said softly.
We towed her out the door, and put her in the back seat of the car with Kiran. Taylor climbed in the driver's seat, and I sat next to her.
We got her home, and put her to bed. She fell asleep instantly. Noelle, perfect, composed Noelle had burst in a big way. Her mind had gone totally AWOL when Josh told her everything.
"Wow." Kiran whispered. "Was that what I was like?"
Taylor nodded.
"I can't believe it. Noelle Lange finally burst." Taylor said.
"It wasn't pretty, that's for sure." I said. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Scott. He never texted me- was something wrong?
Hey I'm in NYC 4 school want 2 meet me 2morro?
"Whose the text from?" Kiran asked.
"My brother." I said simply.
"Can we meet him?" Taylor asked.
"Sure." I said, and we made plans to meet at the Starbucks on the corner of fifth and second the next day.
Noelle stirred, and opened her eyes. "What happened?"
"You got drunk." I said. "Do you remember why you got so drunk?"
"Because…because…" She bit her lip. "Dash is engaged to Ivy Slade."
"Yeah." Taylor said.
"I can't believe it." Noelle whispered. "I just can't. It was supposed to be Dash and I. Always and forever."
"Noelle, he's in the past." Kiran said, sitting on her bed. "You can't worry about him anymore."
"I can't believe it." Noelle repeated, and stood up. "Well, as Kiran once said, the best revenge is couture."
I made eye contact with Taylor. "What are you going to do?" She asked, grabbing Noelle's arm.
"We're crashing the lovely wedding." Noelle looked smug. "Now we just have to find the couture that will make Dash die."
0-0-0-0
That night, it seemed that Noelle and I were going to be alone for the night. Somehow, Kiran had gotten herself into a date with Gage, and Taylor had a date with Trey.
"What are we going to do tonight, Glass-Licker?" Noelle said as she pulled out of her driveway.
"Well, we could always go shopping for that revenge couture." I said.
"I like the way you think." She turned down Park Avenue, and made her way towards the glittering lights of the city.
"We're meeting my brother for coffee at Starbucks at nine tomorrow morning." I said.
"Alright then. What's he like?" Noelle murmured.
"He's tall, kind of thin, awkward and a bit lanky. He acts like a dumb ass, but he's actually transferring to Clarkson for his last year of school."
Noelle laughed. "What does he look like?"
"He's got darker hair than me, lighter blue eyes, and he wears a lot of polo shirts and jeans with converse all stars and vans. He's kind of weird."
"Sounds like it." Noelle smiled. "I think a bit of Scott Brennan might do me well."
Now it was my turn to laugh. "I don't think you'll like him much."
"I guess we'll have to see." She said, as we drove through Manhattan. "I have a distinct fondness for boys who are loyal and don't fuck up too bad."
"I know what you mean." I said, letting the wind muss my already voluminous and wavy hair.
"So, what's your brother all about?"
"He's actually kind of a smart-ass, but he's dependable, and he won't let the right girl down."
"That's good. Please tell me you aren't trying to set me up with him, Glass-Licker."
"I'm not!" I laughed. "I just want to see him. I haven't seen him in…forever."
"I get it." Noelle said as we pulled up next to the House of Chanel. "Now let's get some serious party crashing couture."
0-0-0-0
When Noelle and I woke up the next morning, Taylor was in bed. We'd gotten home before her, and Kiran had yet to be found.
"I wonder where Kiran is." I said. "It's nearly six o'clock."
"I think we both know exactly where Kiran is." She said slyly, as we heard someone race up the stairs. Kiran threw open the door to the bedroom, and saw us sitting there. Her expression was surprised-her clothes were mussed.
"What happened to you?" I asked calmly, with a demeanor much like Noelle's.
"I was…I…I slept with Gage last night." She admitted, turning beet red.
"Wow. Finally." Noelle said. "We've only been waiting for this for five years."
"It was amazing." She said, falling onto Noelle's bed.
"I guess it was, judging by the way you're acting." I said.
"Oh, Reed…I'm in love." She swooned, and smiled goofily.
Noelle rolled her eyes. "So, I say, today, after we meet Scott, we pick up Reed's and my gowns, and then we find gowns for you and Taylor. Do me a favor, next time you and Gage are at it, ask him when the wedding is."
"Absolutely." She said, grinning.
Lovely.