BOOK TWO: Dreams Die, But Life Goes On

~Chapter 9~

~June 2010~

The newly polished floor cast a glossy glow under the bright lights as the sound of my heels clacked across them. I felt my breaths start to come faster as I hurried down the long hallway, walking as fast as my 2 inch heels would allow. I pulled down my blazer as I went and adjusted my skirt, clip board in hand. I heard the tiny beeper in my hand go off again and my pace began to pick up.

Only a few doors away from the great hall, I stopped to check my appearance in a mirror hanging off the wall. My naturally curly hair was straightened and fell a little below the shoulders. I adjusted the clip sitting in the back of my head that kept the top half of my hair up and the other half down. I brushed my bangs out of my face, so my chocolate eyes could be seen, and I stared back at the 23 yr-old version of myself…

The beeper sounded again and I hurried back down the hall. I had a job to do; my career. I was the event planner and organizer at the L'hotel de Cullen in downtown Manhattan. I had gotten a job at the ritzy hotel when I first came out of college. I had finished a degree in business and a minor degree in party planning in just two years because I loaded up on courses in the summer semester. I graduated from NYU and immediately got a job at the L'hotel de Cullen as a desk clerk. I soon worked my way up to an event planning assistant and to officially the head, 8 months ago. It was pure luck I had gotten that job, being that I was fairly young, but the manager was impressed with my dedication and hard work, so I was offered the job.

Of course, the name of the hotel was one of the things that worried me most. When I was first interviewed, I even asked if the Cullens, the family that owned the chain of 5 star hotels, ever came by. The manager, Rick, a nice man in his 40s who didn't seem to care for money as much as the rest of the rich, told me that the Cullens hardly ever came to one of their hotels. If they did, they would go to the ones overseas. Even if they were staying in New York City, it was highly unlikely they would ever stay in their hotel. His words comforted me and I was able to gather up myself enough and start working at the family's hotel; the hotel of the man that I was once in love with. My manager's words had held true; never once did I have any kind of encounter, face to face or other, with a Cullen at work or anywhere else for that matter. My history with Edward Cullen had stayed tucked away and I intended to keep it that way.

As I came around the corner, I saw the apprehensive smile of my short, spikey haired co-worker waiting for me outside the door to the great dining hall where most of the hotel's events took place.

"What do we have, Alice?"I asked to her as I got close. She handed me a folder full of tons of paper work and pages of design patterns that I began to flip through.

"Ms. Tanya Claudet," replied Alice in her bell chime voice, "She's a famous model and her father is a billionare. She's starting her own line of designer clothing and is having a convention to honor the grand opening of it." She rolled her eyes at the word 'billionare', signaling to me that we had a pure diva on our hand. Alice was my assistant in the event planning part of the hotel, and like me, she had come from more of a middle class background. We were both amazing designers and decorators, but when it came to the rich, we fell flat. All in all, we were a perfect team.

"Well this will be fun," I said to her sarcastically, smiling.

"Oh yes, it's a shame you had to come and interrupt our meeting, we were having such a marvelous time," she replied back, sarcasm running heavy.

I laughed and yanked open the door to the great hall, and we strutted in, adjusting our blazers and skirts as we went, trying to look as professional as possible. A small crowd of the hotel employees were gathered in the middle of the wide open floor in the circular room, showing pieces of fabric and decorations to a tall woman in the center. Her back was facing us as we strolled in and her long strawberry blonde hair flowed down her butt.

She turned when she heard the clacking of our heels down the tiny stairs. I noticed her sparkling blue eyes that caught the glimmer of lights from the chandelier above her. Her pink lips against her fair skin gave her an essence of innocence. She was dressed quite simply, wearing only a pink sundress that went off the shoulder and a pair of strappy sandals. She held her tote in hand and wore a vain expression upon her flawless face. Tanya Claudet was the picture of billionaire heiress.

"I hope you are finding everything to your liking, Ms. Claudet," I said smiling brightly at her, holding out my hand for her to shake it.

Instead, she completely ignored by welcoming gesture and said unhappy, "They don't have the right colors."

"I'm so sorry," I said taking my hand away and still smiling brightly, "It was our mistake. Tell me, what colors did you want? I have your portfolio here of some samples."

She huffed, crossing her arms over her slim figure, "I wanted a light rose pink and champagne, but instead, they gave me pale pink and this ugly cream color!"

"Oh well, that can be easily fixed," I stated cheerfully, trying to brighten up her mood. I dealt with rich divas every day, and they were all the same; stuck up in their ways and looking down upon the rest of us who tried to help them. "I will have new samples drawn up immediately of napkins, and tablecloths, and what not," I finished and Alice ran to my side, taking back the portfolio and hurriedly writing down what Tanya wanted. "Now," I began again, looking into her unhappy face, "Would you like to discuss table settings?"

"No," she retorted back, and I was taken aback at her frustration with me. "I have other things to attend to and you were late."

"My apologies," I stammered, "I had several other meetings today and I was busy."

"Well so am I," she rubbed into my face and I glanced to the side to see Alice smirk and roll her eyes. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "You think this is funny that my party will not be ready?"

"Of course not," I said back reassuringly, "I just had a little cough, that's all."

"Whatever, I must go," she said back in hostility, pushing me as she made her way up the stairs to leave the ball room. "I will be back with my boyfriend tomorrow. He was not able to come today. I suggest you get me the right colors by tomorrow at 10 am, sharp!" she finished with a last nasty look, and turned on her heel to storm out of the ballroom.

"Of course," I called back to the leaving figure of the rich beauty. "Well that went well," I said turning back to Alice.

She smiled and nodded her head, "We better get those samples ready or she'll have our heads on chopping blocks for sure. God only knows what her boyfriend is like. He must be pretty big and strong to put up with that witch. We don't want him after us."

"No, we wouldn't want that," I laughed back to her.

Sorry this chapter was kinda short. I had it with the next one, but it seemed to long with it. Keep reading though, it gets better! comment please!