Fiddling with the elastic around one of the pigtails in her scruffy hair, Alice frowned at the reflection of her pale face in
Fiddling with the elastic around one of the pigtails in her scruffy hair, Alice frowned at the reflection of her pale face in the mirror. The suit she was wearing had been custom made for her and flaunted all of her 'assets' very well, but she'd just picked it out because she like the cut and the colours. She wiggled her toes in her boots and wondered how the other women at the party could bear to wear high heels and sandals for so long. Her fingers slipped and the band managed to get underneath her freshly chewed nails and begin painfully tearing the skin away from the underside, drawing blood a little. Giving up, she cursed the bands, pulled them out of her hair and stormed back into the enourmous golden-lit room where she was told on of her famous friends' birthday party was being held. She wasn't exactly whose day she was celebrating…
"Alice? Where've you been?" A commanding voice said close behind her, making her turn slowly to face her best friend and servant.
"Josh! Whose party is this..? I've had no idea the whole time, all I know is that Tony Stark is really annoying me…" Alice demanded to know, flailing her arms at him and pouting once she was done. He laughed and patted her gently on the shoulder, mockingly comforting her.
"Does it really matter? A party's a party after all…" He replied, using her own words from earlier against her.
Fine. She thought, folding her arms across her chest and stalking off. If Tony Stark wants to annoy me, I'll go annoy him back…
She found him without much trouble, at the bar as usual, and plunked down on the stool next to him, with head rested on hand and elbow rested on the bar. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and smirked.
I hate that stupid half sideways smile of his. Alice groaned in the privacy of her own head, but forced a slight smile onto her face and a pleasant tone to her voice.
"Hey Tony, do you have any idea whose party this is..? Josh won't tell me…" She asked, pouting like a moping child, not getting the biscuit she wanted, then frowning slightly when the grin spread across his face again. Tony pretended to watch his hand intently as he placed his glass back on the bench, and then sighed dramatically and turned to face her, looking resolutely into her bright blue eyes, now wide with surprise.
A serious look over took his face for a split second, and he leaned towards her. She leaned away from him and shot him a look that said 'You're a freak, stop it.', so he then adopted a position much like her own, propping his head on his hand, and looking at her blankly.
For a while, Alice just sat there, not quite knowing what to do in Tony's silence, it had never happened before. In her presence, there had never been a time when Tony Stark was not gloating or boasting or offering to bed one floozy or another. It was weird for her, and made her shift on the stool uncomfortably.
Eventually, he spoke:
"Alice, I need to talk to you, in private, if we could." He stood slowly and gestured for her to go ahead of him.
"Uh… Sure." She replied, shaking her head to reposition her mass of short disorderly hair and standing.