"Mother! Mother!" Zoe came running into Audrey Bourgeois's presence, wearing the mask of innocence she'd perfected so well. "I need to speak to you urgently!"
"Hmm? Who is it? Oh it's you, Zooey." Audrey absent-mindedly referred to her second-born, a common problem she shared with her other daughter's title. "Haven't you gone back to New York yet? What possible reason could you have to stay here? Unless you need some fashion advice, which I would be more than pleased to impart, based on your appalling wardrobe of late…"
"D-Daddy said I could stay, remember?" Zoe reminded her often estranged birth-parent. " By the way, it's okay if I call you 'Mother' and 'Father' while I'm here, isn't it? It's just that… things haven't been going so well with my other folks of late back in America, and I really feel ever since I've returned here we've made a true connection."
"Do what you like, as long as you don't get in my way. Otherwise, you'll be fired." Audrey rolled her eyes at this emotional outburst from the pink-striped girl. Moments of sentimental sincerity were clearly not her thing. "Was there anything else you wanted? The old fool might've allowed you to remain here, but somehow I doubt I'd give you permission to bother me whilst I was waiting for an essential phone call…"
"Oh, s-sorry! I had no idea I was interrupting something important!" Zoe hated being chewed out by this dreadful woman who in reality she couldn't stand, but for now would have to play nice with. "It's just that something happened with Chlorine you might want to know about."
"Hmph. Is that so?" If Zoe's mocking of both Chloe's first name and Audrey's bad habit of getting it wrong bothered the older female, her trademark icy glare didn't betray any expression. "If the two of you are having problems can't you just, I don't know, sit at opposite sides of the hotel, or something? It's a big enough building you know, Darling. If you wanted to, you'd never have to see her again. It's a trick I learned from dealing with your stepfather, until even that became too much and I was forced to return to the States for an extended period…"
"Yes, yes. I know all that already. I-I mean, no of course there are no issues between me and my 'precious' sister!" Zoe accidentally let her true nature shine through for a second, before she hurriedly restored her fake personality to default settings. "I-It's just she just said something quite concerning which I think you should know about. I was sworn to secrecy, but I think this is one of those situations where if I kept quiet about it, it could do more harm than good..."
"If you've got something to say, spit it out, Dear. Follow my example: Never hesitate when it comes to speaking your truth. After all, who's going to reprimand us? The mayor?! I'm married to him!" Audrey shared a rare moment of mirth (mostly with herself) before turning to glance at Zoe for the first time. "I'd make the most of this rare opportunity, because if this business deal goes through like I expect it to, you'll be seeing even less of me than you do right now. A shame for you and Coral, but that's how life goes when your multi-million fashion empire couldn't possibly function without you."
"O-okay dokay, if you say so…" Zoe paused for dramatic effect, before delivering the big news. "Chloe is…"
…..
"What should I do, against that awful sister of mine? Make the first move? Find out what she's up to before acting? Go shopping to take my mind off things? I'm thinking that buying out an entire floor of outfits at the boutique might do the trick. Or, two."
Chloe had been pondering her next course of action for the best part of an hour, and was still no closer to a resolution. She'd already thrown out all of her bananas (after recent trauma-inducing experiences, she'd never be able to unpeel one again) and reached the conclusion that her back-end, like the rest of her profile, was indeed flawless.
"Making me think I of all people am putting on weight, considering the miniscule amount of carbs I consume every day and my dedicated yoga routine. She's good… I'll give her that." Chloe reluctantly gave her sister credit for being a world-class manipulator, but drew the line at actually admiring her for it. "Which just means I'm gonna have to work hard to be even better. Now, what are her weak spots again? She's a bit shorter than me, this is a fact. Maybe I can use that against her… oh, and she has the most embarrassing birthmark on her upper thigh that looks just like Iceland! If I leaked that confidential information to the press, you can bet she'd flip…"
"Chloe Juliet Bourgeois! Front and centre, right now!"
Huh? Chloe's train of thought was unexpectedly cut short by her mother's harsh words inside her room, and even the incredibly rare occasion of the uptight woman getting her daughter's full name correct couldn't hide the sheer anger contained within the sentence.
"W-What's the matter, Mother?" Chloe began shaking like a leaf for some reason, even though she knew she hadn't done anything wrong. Not in the last few hours, anyway. "I thought you were waiting for a very important business call…"
"Never mind all that for now!" Audrey raged, her eyes in the shape of drawn daggers. "Have you any idea the potential harm this could do to my reputation if this leaked? To your father's position? All of the two of us ever worked for, reduced to ashes… because of your… primitive urges?!"
"M-Mother, I swear. I have no idea what you're talking about…" Chloe spluttered, though I do have a pretty good idea who put you up to this. "Just tell me what's going on, and maybe we can…"
"Don't you smart-mouth me, young lady!" Audrey was apparently in non-listening mode (as per usual) and instead threw something on the floor. "What do you call these, then? Because they sure don't look like candy to me!"
Chloe glanced down in confusion at the dropped object… and straightaway it was obvious what was being implied, why Audrey seemed so pissed off….
And what Zoe's game was in planting them on her in the first place.
Birth control pills… oh no.
….
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well that was fun. This is now officially my 'passion project', and hopefully I will be updating daily if things go well. But we shall see about it. No promises… ;)
