Disclaimer: I do not own Bitten. I only own Cara and any other person I make up.

Chapter 2

The next day Cara woke up to the sound of her phone buzzing on the nightstand. "Hello.." she yawned sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Hey sleepyhead you better start getting ready I'm picking you up in 20 minutes." Cara groaned hearing Diane on the other end and looked up her alarm clock to see it was 11am. "Alright mom I will be ready by the time you get here" She said sarcastically hanging up the phone before her friend had a chance to reply. Cara stumbled into her bathroom and took a quick shower before she started to dry her hair letting it fall past her shoulders in its natural waves. She looked at herself in the mirror studying the bags under her eyes and applying foundation to her face to cover the obvious look of sleep deprivation. She then applied some eyeliner, mascara and some neutral lipstick before heading to her dresser and looking for clothes to wear. She opted for a pair of dark skinny jeans and form fitting green long sleeve that showed off her curves before adding a white fringed scarf and her brown leather jacket. She slipped on her boots as she heard a knock on her door.

Cara opened the door to see Diane waiting. "Just let me grab my bag and we can get going"

"How is it that you can wake up late and spend minimal time getting ready and still look better than me" Diane huffed looking her friend up and down.

"Whatever" Cara smiled rolling her eyes at her friend as they made their way to the car.

"Oh by the way we are going to my brothers place. Elena got 'the look' from my mother and now she needs a dress for the wedding too. I got some choices from some of my designer friends and you two will just try them on there."

"Well at least I won't the only one to be tortured by you today" Cara laughed earning a glare from Diane before zoning out as they made their way to Philip's place.

Once they parked the two made their way up to Philip's place. As they walked in Philip hugged both women and looked at his sister before telling her there was pomegranate juice and coconut ice cream in the fridge for her. "Bless you" Diane replied before turning to Elena and Cara.

"Ready?" She asked with a smile on her face. Elena and Cara groaned but Diane continued "So, my designer pal hooked me up with a little bit of everything for the two of you." She said handing a light pink dress to Elena. As Elena went to change Cara started looking through the dresses before a forest green knee length dress caught her eye. It was simple and form fitting with a slight v neckline. Holding it up Cara turned to Diane.

"I'm going to go with this one" She said

"I figured you would like that one. Do you at least want to try it on?" Cara gave her friend a look and Diane threw up her hands in defense and rolled her eyes. " Anyway, Elena I made sure all of the dresses would meet my mother's approval so if that one doesn't work… Wow" Diane trailed off as Elena stepped out.

"That one works" Cara said nodding giving her approval. Elena did a small turn and looked down at the dress. It was form fitting but had a conservative neckline and a ruffle at the waist making it look almost business professional.

"I think we are done here" Diane said looking Elena up and down.

"Really? The first one?... I do kind of love it" Elena said running her hands over the dress.

"When you find the one you love, you can search all you want and you're gonna come back to it." Diane stated with a smile on her face. Cara rolled her eyes at the comment but agreed with her that this was the dress for Elena.

"Alright then, you ready to try on your dress Cara" Elena asked.

"No I'm good this one is the only one that caught my eye so if it works it works. If not… I will fake a cold" Cara stuck her tongue out at them as they both rolled their eyes at her.

"Since the dress shopping is done… anyone for drinks?" Diane asked Cara grabbed her purse before taking her phone out of her pocket.

"Actually if we are done I really should get a cab to the studio and work on the pile of resumes at my desk so I can relax a little."

Diane shook her head "Come on Cara live a little." She groaned.

"I will after I get some employees to take over most of the classes" Cara said as she hugged Elena and made her way to Diane. "Fine but I will hold you to that." Diane said as hugging Cara goodbye.

" I know you will" Cara laughed making her way to the door and calling a cab to pick her up.

Once Cara arrived at the studio she took in her surroundings and couldn't help but let a smile grace her face. The past year seemed like a whirlwind. Buying the studio space was just the beginning after getting her masters. She had taken out a small business loan to buy a building just large enough to hold her office, an open area for larger rehearsal space and two private rehearsal rooms. The rooms weren't huge by any stretch but they were big enough and after only a few months she had enough business to start paying off her loan in substantial amounts. Now she had enough people in her classes to start hiring more workers and maybe even open a second studio. None of that would have been possible though without the help of Elena and Diane though. When Elena came to live with her a little over year ago she didn't know how she was going to keep the studio and her friend a float. Elena though had surprised her and after meeting Diane the two worked together and got her studio all the publicity she could want. Elena photographed her students and helped to create a webpage to get her name out and Diane had gave her students the opportunity to perform at event openings and artistic galleries. Between the two she gotten more exposure then she could have asked for. She knew she was lucky to have the friends she did and hoped to repay them in the future for everything they did.

Cara made her way to her office and started sorting through all of the resumes she received, sinking further into her chair as time went by. Hours passed by scanning through each candidate and viewing audition tapes when Cara felt her eyes starting to get heavy. She gathered her things together before starting off to her apartment a few blocks down the road. All the while thinking about how everything seemed to be coming together.