Zara was going up in the elevator, trying to get rid of her nervous energy by bouncing on the balls of her feet. The album release party was being held at some fancy hotel she'd never been to before, and she'd had enough forethought to get an Uber there. There was no point in driving since she would need some liquid courage and didn't know where she was going anyway. Trying to find a place to park her car in unfamiliar places always annoyed and stressed her out. She'd done her best to look nice and hoped she wasn't underdressed. Fancy events like this weren't really a norm for her, so fingers crossed that she would blend in.
She'd pulled half her hair up and done it in chignon style to make it more elegant. The rest of her red hair had been straightened, and she fell down her back. Her make-up was surprisingly well done, but she'd had plenty of time and hadn't felt rushed. Her usual style was dark, smokey eyes framed with eyeliner and mascara. She added white and silver accents to make her hazel eyes pop slightly. A light covering of foundation evened her skin tone and hopefully covered the dark circles under her eyes. She rarely wore make-up, not bothering with it daily since she always went for comfort over being fashionable. Her friend, Abigail, had been on a video call the whole time she was getting ready, suggesting hairstyles and make-up tips to help her get ready since she had a good eye for these things. She had also spent much time asking about Dane and whether Zara would do anything about the flirtatious interludes they had shared throughout the recording process. There were also some pointed questions about Leon. Abigail was always in her corner, cheering her on to live her best life and encouraging her to make a move of some kind.
When she'd changed into her dress after putting on her makeup and doing her hair, Abigail had wolf-whistled at her through the phone as they'd video chatted while she got ready. It was black velvet, as most other colours clashed with her hair. The dress was form-fitting around the bust and the hips, with a long split reaching high on her thigh. A V-shaped neckline was flattering with her ample bust, and she wore a black teardrop-shaped stone on a silver chain.
"Someone is going to want to rip that dress off you! Hopefully, Leon!" Abigail had exclaimed wholesomely, boosting her confidence since she was far more dressed up than she was used to.
Keeping her rousing words in the back of her mind, the hotel doors opened, and she was directed around the corner to where the party was being held in the largest room in the hotel. Aside from Leon, Aaron, Dane, Rhys and Mattias, Zara didn't know anyone who would be in attendance here tonight. She briefly spoke to a few people from the band's record label via phone and email but never met them in person. Her eyes darted around the room to try and find a familiar face, but someone spotted her first. Mattias was on the left side of the room and had seen her over the shoulder of someone he was chatting with. She was grateful when she saw him excuse himself and come over to greet her.
Mattias wore a navy blue suit, making his blue eyes look more piercing than usual. His white shirt, brown belt and shoes perfectly accented his look, and he had his blonde hair slicked back. He was very tall and would be somewhat intimidating while looking so sharp-dressed if it wasn't for his cheery expression upon seeing her.
"Hey! Good to see you." Mattias's slightly accented voice put her at ease.
"You too." She smiled and accepted his one-armed hug, holding a drink in his other hand. Being so tall, he leaned down quite a bit to reach her.
"You look great!" he complimented her kindly, and she smiled despite constantly feeling awkward about receiving compliments.
"Thank you. You look very dashing in your blue suit. Really makes your eyes pop." Zara responded girlishly and gave him a friendly clap on the arm.
"Aw, shucks… I have no idea where the others are. Let's go find them and get you a drink, hmm?" Mattias kind of shielded her and created a path through the crowd while they looked for their friends/bandmates.
A waitress walked around with champagne flutes on a tray, and Mattias kindly reached his long arm over to grab one for her, turning to hand it to her at the same time as she spotted Aaron. Leon appeared to be standing beside him, judging from the physique of the man on his right, but she couldn't see his face from the angle she was on. Aaron waved at them after spotting her much larger companion through the crowd, but a hand on her shoulder from her left drew her attention. Dane and Rhys had found them, and Rhys gave her his reserved smile, but Dane did not spare a second to pull her into a friendly, crushing hug, beaming brightly.
"You look incredible, Zara! Glad you're finally here." His voice was bright and bubbly, as usual, and made her smile.
"Finally?" She questioned, making him laugh. "Something, something, fashionably late." She continued and noticed Dane's eyes roving over her but wasn't bothered.
Zara had been aware of his being overly friendly with her, erring on the flirtatious, and wasn't exactly giving him signals to suggest she minded otherwise. She thought she'd responded in a friendly manner, but that must have been enough to encourage him. He was a good-looking, nice guy, so she didn't mind but wasn't interested. Someone else had her attention, and she glanced around to try and find him again but couldn't see him from her vantage point. Aaron wasn't in her line of sight either, so she just continued chatting with Dane, Rhys and Mattias.
A man in an expensive suit approached their group, greeted the guys, and shook their hands. Dane took it upon himself to introduce them, and Zara had immediately pegged him as a higher-up from the record label. He took in her appearance with a lingering gaze that she didn't miss.
"Vaughn, this is Zara Hargreaves. She works at Ritual studios. Zara, this is Vaughn Toledo, the Golden Sky Record Label owner and CEO." Dane gestured to each of them as he spoke.
"Nice to meet you," Zara said first, shaking his hand firmly.
"Likewise, Miss Hargreaves. The guys have given your studio outstanding praise." Vaughn said with a smile. He was likely about ten years older than her and was an ordinary, albeit well-manicured, man.
"Ah, I don't have much to do with recording or production. I just answer the phones. Leon and Aaron are the experts." She didn't want to take credit that rightly belonged to Leon and Aaron, who were incredibly talented and deserved all the praise.
"I've heard your name mentioned fondly from my staff and the guys. Not just Leon and Aaron." Vaughn specified and seemed to notice something behind her. "Here they are, now."
Zara felt eyes burning a hole in her back, and she turned to look, expecting to see Aaron and Leon. They were there, about 3 metres away, but Aaron was furrowing his brow as he looked at Leon, who was on his left. Leon was staring at her with his mouth open and widened eyes. His gaze was intense and sincere, and she could see that his breathing was shallow and faster than average by the rise and fall of his chest. Aaron was talking to Leon, trying to get his attention, but he just couldn't get him to drag his focus away from Zara. It took Aaron grabbing his shoulder and physically turning his body toward him to draw his attention.
Although she was sure her cheeks were flushed with colour, she didn't dare look away from him, even as Aaron quietly berated him, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. Leon wore a black suit with fine silver threads that made a Victorian-style floral pattern on the jacket. The pants were plain, as were the white shirt, black tie, shoes, and silver pocket square. He must have gotten a haircut, and she could see that the sides and back were freshly cut, and his facial hair was neatly trimmed. As expected, he looked fucking gorgeous. Leon briefly scowled at Aaron but ignored whatever he said to him as he rotated his head back to look at her. Leon watched her candidly, and he swallowed thickly and chewed his bottom lip. He kept ignoring Aaron's words, even as they both began walking over to their group.
"Pleasure to finally meet you both, gentlemen." Vaughn greeted them once they got closer, even though everyone could clearly see Leon was not paying attention to anyone but Zara.
"Nice to finally meet you in person, too." Aaron shook Vaughn's hand, smiling cheerily. "Just ignore him. It's like he's never seen an attractive woman before. This is Leon Salter." Aaron said jokingly and laughed, after glancing at Zara to get her attention, then smiled. "You look great."
Vaughn wasn't offended by Leon being distracted; judging from his knowing expression, he understood, which made Zara feel a little odd. Usually, she wasn't the centre of attention, thus it was a strange feeling. With Dane flirting with her and now Leon's blatant staring, this all felt like an episode in a sitcom. She sipped her champagne nonchalantly as the guys spoke to each other, and Leon eventually snapped out of his trance and began to talk and interact as well. His amber-brown eyes barely left her for more than a few seconds, though.
The group all chatted together and eventually moved to sit at a table to prepare for the speeches that would happen in about ten minutes. Vaughn, Dane, Rhys, and Mattias would be making their thank yous and whatnot before the party, which would continue into the night. All four of them headed to the stage and got ready while Leon, Aaron and Zara sat at the nearby table. Zara had taken the seat closest to the stage, Leon had sat next to her, and Aaron was on the right. She'd turned her seat to face the stage front on, and both Leon and Aaron had done the same.
"Good evening, everyone," Vaughn said into the microphone, and the crowd began to quieten down and turn to watch him speak.
"Zara," Leon whispered quietly from behind her.
"Yeah?" She responded, turning her head to look at him.
"You look so beautiful." He complimented her softly, and she could hear the warmth in his soft voice. Maybe a hint of something a little darker and more seductive, too. Or maybe she was reading into it too much.
"Thank you all for coming." Vaughn's voice sounded through the speakers, cutting her off from saying anything back to him.
Vaughn continued speaking and talked about Broken Phase's success and how pleased he was for them. Dane, Rhys, and Mattias also spoke, giving their thanks to Vaughn and the label, then to Ritual Recording Studio, mentioning Leon and Aaron by name, and finally, their loved ones. After the speeches, the party kicked off in full swing, with the staff bringing food and more drinks.
Dane came over to ask Zara to dance, and she accepted with a smile. Although she really wanted to dance with someone else, she did want to celebrate with Dane. She could sense eyes on her the whole time and assumed Leon was watching her. It was exciting, feeling like he was so enraptured by her that he couldn't help but stare at her. It was unlikely it was for the reason she wished. Zara had never worn anything slightly dressy to the studio, mostly in comfortable clothing, so Leon would never have seen her dressed up. He must have been surprised by the change. All the while, when she danced with Dane, her mind was swirling with thoughts of Leon. She was surprised that he was still staring at her and wondered if maybe he was just making sure that Dane was being gentlemanly.
When the song finished, Zara excused herself to go to the bathroom and navigated her way there. After she'd finished and washed her hands, she tussled her hair to ensure it still looked good and checked her make-up, which was fine. Once she returned to the table where they had been sitting before, where Rhys and Mattias were seated, she grabbed another drink and chatted with them while they ate finger food.
Aaron approached them and leaned against the back of Zara's chair, thus partly on her. She smiled at him over her shoulder, and he affectionately put an arm across her upper chest and collarbone area and rested his chin on the top of her head. This wasn't uncommon since Aaron was a physically affectionate friend, and they worked in very close quarters every day. She fed him some of the food from her plate, and he thanked her with an appreciative grunt.
"So, you and Dane, huh?" Aaron asked her quietly so no one else would hear.
"What?" She replied, playing dumb.
"I thought you and Leon…" Aaron sat down on the chair to her left.
Before Aaron could finish, Dane and Leon appeared. Whatever Aaron was about to say was dead in the water now. If she had a chance, Zara would ask him about it later.
"I'm going to get everyone a cocktail. Don't go anywhere!" Dane exclaimed and disappeared.
Leon sat across the table from Zara and smiled at her brightly. She smiled back, beaming happily at him. He'd barely said a word to her all night, and this was the most he'd actively interacted with her. She didn't really count his intense observation of her either. Leon licked his lips, and it forced colour to her cheeks despite her willing it not to.
Thankfully, Dane appeared with a tray of different cocktails so everyone could choose what they wanted. Zara grabbed what looked like an apple martini, and they all chatted and laughed vibrantly together until they'd finished their round of drinks. The group separated as Dane went to the bathroom, and Vaughn came over to chat with Leon and Aaron about some more work for them while Rhys and Mattias went to find more food. Zara stood up from her seat, subtly adjusted her dress, and checked her phone idly.
It was around 10.30PM, and she was surprised that she wasn't more tired but was having a good time. Leon appeared to her right, his arms crossed over his chest relaxedly.
"Dane wants to take you back to his room, " he said after he moved close enough to speak softly next to her ear. She willed herself not to physically react to him being so close, the feeling of his breath shifting through her hair.
"Does he now?" Zara answered, raising an eyebrow and putting her phone down.
Leon was quiet for a moment before he blurted out. "Don't go with him."
"Why not? Is he actually an asshole?" Zara asked casually, trying not to show her joy at him telling her not to go with Dane, but was again doubtful that it was for the reason she hoped.
When Leon shook his head, she made a face of understanding but stayed silent. She wanted to tell him she didn't want to go with Dane anyway since she would much prefer to go home with him. Before she could gather the courage to voice these thoughts, he stepped closer to her and dropped his arms, his chest brushing against her bare shoulder.
"Because..." he started, leaning over to whisper directly in her ear, threatening to make her shiver. "I want you to come home with me." He said after brushing some hair away from her ear, then straightened back up.
Zara blinked with widened eyes a few times at his sudden abruptness but was so pleased to hear it. Did she actually hear him right? She steadied herself with a breath after sipping her drink to ensure that she'd not misheard him. Aside from his overt staring, she was still stunned. After tilting her head back and emptying her glass, she nodded once more toward him. Liquid courage.
"Well then...shall we?" She said with far more confidence than she felt.
"Wait, what?" Leon's startled response was adorable as if he hadn't expected her to actually agree to his proposition.
"Let's go, then." Zara smiled at him and stepped closer to him to show she was serious.
Taking her hand in his, she went with him as they approached the elevator…