I updated quick and this is one of my longer chapters! I think I deserve a review for that at least!

Thankyou to all you guys who have left reviews. I didn't do to bad last chapter, even though I only put it up yesterday.I'm pushing for a few more this time though! Go on, leave a review! You know you want to!

I'd been keeping busy in New York. I'd been shopping, maybe being just a little too careless with my money. I'd been down to Harlem, to visit my mother. It didn't go brilliantly well, but then me and my mother never really got on. I'd met up with some of my old friends. I'd laid flowers on my Dad's grave. I'd done loads of things.

Well, it wasn't everyday that I was in New York, I was just trying to make the most of it while I was here, or at least that's what I kept telling myself. Maybe I was just trying to keep my mind off Tony. If that was my real agenda then it had been working pretty well, as long as my eyes were open.

He'd invaded my subconscious. I don't think there had been a night where I hadn't dreamed about him. They weren't exactly clean dreams either. They were dirty, filthy dreams, dreams where I let or even wanted Tony to treat me like his little love slave,and I hated myself for having them.I always felt bad in the morning ; ashamed, disgusting. Well I say always, but there had been I few days when I'd woken up and wanted to go back to sleep again,back to the dream,I'd felt bad about it later though.

Sometimes, when I was just about to fall asleep I'd find myself wanting to be with him, wanting him to wind me up the way he always did, wanting to be able to smell him again, feel his skin against mine,wanting to get lost in his deep dark eyes, like I was actually missing him, I mean how screwed up was that? God! I hated him so much! I mean I'm 2500 odd miles away and I still can't be free of him.I hated him for doing this to me, messing with my mind.

That night was one of the worst, the dream was so vivid, so real.I could still hear myself saying, well, moaning the treacherous words when I woke up 'I love you Tony!I love you!'.I felt angry, not with myself, with Tony. This was his fault! Couldn't he just leave me alone?

We'd finished shooting in New York.I'd be back in California tomorrow, there was a possibility I might see him again. The dreams tonight would be worse. I wasn't looking forward to it. I was going to kill him for this when I got back!Obviously I wouldn't let him know about the dreams, he'd be feeling really pleased with himself if he knew that he'd got inside my head. I would sort this out. Hopefully it would just go away when I got back to CA, but tonight! Oh God! I really wasn't looking forward to tonight!

My mind was occupied the whole day. We'd left the whole of the last day free, for sight seeing and although I'd grown up in New York I decided to tag along anyway. I didn't have much else to do, and I knew that if I left my mind to its own devices I'd just be thinking about him. Bastard!

It was about 5 when we got back. I'd packed away most of my stuff, we'd be flying back tomorrow morning.I'd already decided that I was going to have to go out tonight, get as little sleep as possible, try and avoid the inevitable. I'd have to find a good club. It had been a long time since I'd been clubbing in New York, but hey, I had all night! Well that's what I thought, until I got a phone call from Lilly and Poppy.

I picked up the phone. 'Ria! You're in Now York right?' it was Lilly.

No hello then? 'Hi, Lilly. Yes I'm in New York.'

She practically screamed when I said that. 'Oh my God! That is so cool!'

'OK,' I was thinking,'What the hell?'

'Told you so,' I heard Poppy say in the background.

'Are you busy tonight?' Lilly asked me.

'Not really.' I wished I was.

'Oh my God! You have to come to this party. It's gonna be like so awesome and...'

'Wait! I'm in New York,' I said.

'Yeah! So are we!'

'You're in New York?'

'Yeah, we flew over for the party tonight.' They flew over for a party? There were more than enough parties in California. That was just crazy, but then this is Lilly and Poppy we're talking about.'You have to come, please, please...'

'Yeah OK, fine, but ...'

'Seriously?' asked Lilly.

I usually wouldn't agree to something like this, but the alternative was going out clubbing on my own, which didn't sound like much fun.

'Yeah seriously, but you need to give me details; Time, place, dress code?'

'I bet she doesn't have a dress,' I heard Poppy say.'We can get Ricco to lend her one. We need to go get ours anyway.'

'Can we meet you at six, go get you a dress and stuff? You're in Manhattan right?'

'Yeah but...' I really just wanted to get the details off them, find out what kind of party this was.

'Meet us in Starbucks at 6, Lexington Avenue.' I wasn't really sure where that was, but I could get a directions, or a cab.

'OK, but you still haven't given me any details.'

'We'll talk about it then! Ria, this is gonna be so fun! See you!'

'Lilly...'

She'd put the phone down. I wanted to get some idea of what kind of party I'd just agreed to go to. I sighed, well at least I had something to do.

I left my room and headed off down to reception, to find out where about Lexington Avenue was.10 minutes by cab apparently. I went back upstairs, grabbed my credit card,a couple of notes from my purse and my phone. I didn't really want to be carrying much, I was planning on bringing a small bag.Luckily the doors to the hotel rooms were code activated so I didn't need to bring keys.

I left the hotel at about quarter to six. Lilly and Poppy were waiting for me when I got to Starbucks.

'You want a coffee?' asked Poppy.

'No, I'm good thanks.'

'Cool let's go then.' Lilly put her arm out for a taxi.

We got in to the taxi. Lilly gave the address.

'You still haven't told me anything about this party,' I said. I wanted to have some idea of what exactly this party would be like.

'What's there to tell ? It's just a party, ' replied Poppy. I sighed and was about to try and get some details out of them but Poppy spoke first.

'Anyway, how come you're in such a good mood?'

Such a good mood? What the hell? What I was thinking must have shown on my face.

'Oh come on,' said Lilly, 'You agreed to come to the party straight away. You never do that.The fact that you agreed at all must mean you're in a good mood about something. '

I laughed, they had no idea. 'Just 'cuz I agreed to this, does not mean I'm in a good mood.'

They both looked at me unconvinced. 'Come on, spill!'

They weren't going to drop it until I gave them an answer they were satisfied with.

'We finished shooting,' I said, hoping that they'd be happy with that explanation.

'No,it's something else.'

'Something else like what?' I asked. I couldn't think of any more excuses.

'Like...a guy.'

Tony sprung to mind. 'No,' I replied.

'Oh my God! It is! Who is it, do we know them?' Lilly asked.

I shook my head. 'There is no guy.'

Poppy smiled, 'Oh I see,' she looked over at Lilly. 'She's trying to take her mind off him.'

Oh my God. How did she figure that out?

'I'm right, aren't I?'

I looked away. There wasn't much point in lying, Lilly and Poppy could usually tell when I was, but no way was I going to admit to it either.

'Why would you wanna do that?' Lilly asked.

'You know what Maria's like. She's so stubborn that she doesn't even want to admit to herself that she's got feelings for this guy.So she's just hoping that if she ignores it long enough, it'll just go away.'

'That is not it!I do not have feelings for him!' I said, 'He's just a bastard OK ? '

'Bastard, that you have the hots for,' said Lilly under her breath.

'I do not have the hots for him!'

Lilly smiled. 'You so do.'

Poppy looked at her, 'Don't wind her up Lil.'

'He's a self centered, sex obsessed, low life, and I do not have the hots for him. Why would I ?'

We didn't talk much after that, until we got to Ricco's house.

A woman opened the door for us and showed us in. Ricco came through just a few minutes later. He was one of those men that you couldn't help wondering if they were gay.

He spoke with a strong Italian accent, 'So how are my lovely ladies?' He asked putting his arms around Lilly and Poppy. They kissed him on the cheeks.

'Hi Ricco,' they said in unison.

'I see you brought one of your beautiful friends with you,' he said looking at me.

I smiled.

'Maria needs a dress,' explained Poppy, 'and we were just wondering...'

'To have three beautiful models wearing my creations would be absolutely fabulous,' he said. I got it now. He was a designer.

'Oh, Maria's not a model,' said Lilly.

'Not a model? Then you're in the wrong profession. What do you do darling?' he asked me.

'I'm a film director.'

'Film director? Well, I wish you the best of luck, but if you are ever looking for a career change I'd be quite happy having you model my dresses.'

I smiled to myself. There was no way that I would ever be a model, considering that I was camera shy. It wasn't something that appealed to me in the least. I loved the job I had anyway, which was just as well, because I'd worked like crazy to get where I was.

Lilly and Poppy got their dresses first. The dresses were identical except for the color. Lilly wore pale pink and Poppy wore baby blue.

'And now,' said Ricco, 'A dress for Maria.Colors, colors, colors...'

Poppy looked at me, I didn't realize I was supposed to be answering to that. 'Uh, how about... black!' Black was a safe color, I'd be OK in black.

He looked at me, 'Black? Why wear black when you can pull off almost any color? We could have you in green or fushia, or gold...' He looked at me. 'How about white?'

'White?' I asked. I wasn't really sure about that. I'd never worn a white dress before.

'Yes, white will be fabulous. I have the perfect dress.'

He brought out a short floaty white dress.

'I can't wear that!'

'Of course you can. Try it on,'

He left me to get changed. I looked at myself in the mirror. It looked better on than off, but I wasn't sure about white.

'Maria you look amazing,' Lilly said.

'Like an angel, no?' said Ricco.

'I'm not sure...' I started.

Poppy interrupted, 'That's what you always say,' she looked to Ricco, 'So it's OK if she borrows this?'

'Of course my darlings.'

'Well, we should go and get shoes,' said Lilly.

Lilly and Poppy spoke with Ricco for another 20 minutes before we left. We went and got shoes which took forever and a day and then back to Lilly and Poppy's hotel room. They insisted I let them do my hair and make up . I agreed, just to humor them

'I'm thinking au natural,' was the first thing Poppy said that made me wonder if I'd just made a huge mistake.

They washed my hair and let it dry naturally, which I rarely did. I usually blow dried it to get it straight, anyway I let that one go. It was when they got to my make up, or lack of it, that I started making a fuss.

'Is that it?' I asked.

Lilly smiled, 'Yep, you're all done.'

'But you haven't done anything!' I protested.

'Eye shimmer, lip gloss and mascara, which you didn't really need anyway cuz your lashes are so dark!'

I looked at them in despair, 'Foundation? Eyeliner? Blusher?'

'You don't need it.'

I shook my head and found some eyeliner.

Poppy took it from me.'No you don't!'

'Oh come on!' I didn't like this au natural business. It was fine for going to work, or if you were running late, but for a party?

'Time to go! We're getting a lift!' said Lilly grabbing my arm.

'You guys are evil!'

Poppy smiled, 'You have no idea!'

Our lift was a Rolls Royce, which made me wonder again exactly what kind of party this was, but Lilly and Poppy seemed to be insistent on not telling me. 'Well, its got to be better than the alternative' I reminded my self.I was wrong, so wrong!

'Your name's down on the guest list,' Poppy just as we arrived.

'OK,' I said, and then looked out the window. There were cameras, and lots of them.

'Oh my God!' I said. 'Oh my God! I can't do this!' Now I knew why they wouldn't tell me about the party. They knew full well I was camera shy.

'You're evil! Really evil!' I said

'It's good practice,' said Lilly, 'Come on.'

'No way! I'm not! I can't!'

Lilly grabbed my arm but I wouldn't move. 'I can't! You don't understand!'

'The best way to overcome your fear is to face it!' said Poppy.

'That,' I said, 'Is a load of crap. And you know it.'

They practically dragged me out of the car.

'Please don't make me do this!' This ,I imagined, is what a bunny in the headlights must feel like. I wanted to just drop dead.

'Maria, come on.'

'I'm not doing this!' I said. They tried to pull me along with them but I wouldn't, no,I couldn't move.

They looked at each other, 'Fine,' they said and walked off, stopping every now and then and posing for the cameras.

I couldn't believe that they'd just left me here. Some friends I had! I actually couldn't move. The lights, the cameras, it was just too much!I thought I was actually going to pass out.

'Dear God!' I prayed silently, 'I know that I don't go to church and that and I know that half the time I don't believe in you, but if you're there I really really need your help right now, please. '

At that moment someone, put their arm around me.

'Hey Maria,I wasn't expecting to see you tonight!'

'You have got to be kidding me!' I thought.I'd figured it out now though. God doesn't hate me! He just has a really warped sense of humor.