Fancy-shmancy

— Lilith POV —

When I finally found where Riley and Jade had snuck off to to grab a cup of coffee and snacks, I slumped on the empty seat and waved a waiter over to give my order.

The two women looked at me, confused by my reaction.

"You won't believe who I ran into after you left," I announced, rolling my eyes at them.

"A certain insufferable cousin of mine?" Riley teased. 

"No," I sighed, crossing my arms on my chest. "Though now I wish it were just him."

Jade raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and looked at Riley.

"Now this is bad," Jade commented. "Who would be worse than Al—"

She stopped mid-sentence as a familiar group of people arrived. 

"Paparazzi," Jade grumbled as she turned sideways. 

I knew that they hounded Riley and Jade non-stop even before news of the engagement broke out. But I was well aware that it was getting worse, escalating since we made the news public. 

For some reason, it had gotten out that the pair were not just associated with Alexander and Lexington but were my best friends as well.

"So what were you saying, Lili?" Riley was twirling her hair, an obvious sign of the anxiety she was suffering. 

I knew she was also trying to hide her face from the group that had just entered.

They may be seated a little bit further and we were in an obscured section of the restaurant, but the paparazzi were like hounds when it came to finding people that mattered. 

"Oh right," I said, sitting up straight. "I was Jason and Janet Young."

"Wait, your ex?!" Jade gasped a little too loudly, making me turn around, painfully aware that she might have drawn unwanted attention to us.

Luckily they seemed so engrossed with whatever they were discussing that they didn't even lift their heads to our direction. 

"Yeah, he was there with his sister—"

"Step-sister," Riley said, correcting me. 

"Why does it even matter," I told her, rolling my eyes. 

"I just feel like it does," Riley chuckled. "But go on."

I went on and recounted our encounter to them and my ever-supportive friends laughed when I told them about the shock on Janet's face when the store manager sent them away. 

Just as I ended my story the group of paparazzi suddenly stood up.

"I need to go to the toilet," I told my friends.

Riley quickly reached out and held my wrist.

"Are you sure?" she asked, questioning my decision. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"I'm just curious," I said with a shrug, my free hand feeling for the engagement ring on the gold chain. It was tucked under my shirt but I needed to make sure that it was well hidden. 

"Be careful," Jade warned, keeping her head low.

I gave her a lopsided grin and said, "I've got an army of bodyguards, I'll be safe."

My two friends nodded and smiled before turning away again. 

As I passed the table one of the paparazzi, a man about my age crashed right into me.

I began to panic, worried that my bodyguards would come running over, luckily they seemed to know their intervention would not be appreciated. 

"Woah, miss, better watch where you're going," the pap said as he helped me up.

"Thanks," I grimaced. "You ran into me, not the other way around."

"Sorry, I owe you a drink for that," he said, smiling. "Why not give me your number so I can make it up to you."

"Smooth," I chuckled. "So do you crash into women when you hit on them?"

"A one-time occurrence, I swear," he said, laughing, 

"I guess I'm that special. What's the rush anyway? Your entire table seems flustered," I craned my neck, pretending to be the too-curious bystander.

"Well, it's not every day that the most eligible bachelor in New York is caught making out with his fiancée in a jewelry shop," the papa chuckled awkwardly.

"Excuse me, but who?" My voice was a little bit too loud, making his friend turn in our direction.

He laughed at me as if I had said the craziest thing. 

"Do you live under a rock or something?" he asked me. 

"Let's just assume that I do," I shrugged. "So will you tell me who?"

"Alexander Harris, the CEO, and his fiancée, that secret heir of the Durfort family, Lilith Durfort," he told me, making me go pale.

"Oh," I was at a loss for words. 

Alexander and I have never made out, at least not since I came back.

"Yeah, it was at some fancy-shmancy jewelry shop that the Harris' are known to frequent," he explained. 

We didn't make out, but I could imagine from a certain angle it looked like we were.

"She must be a lucky girl," I grumbled. I'm pretty sure any woman would want to be in my place.

"I wouldn't be so sure," the pap said, catching me off guard. 

"Why not?" I dared to ask him. "Isn't Alexander Harris like loaded, and I bet if she's a Durfort she is too."

"You're interesting, Jonathan by the way," he said as he offered a hand for me to shake. 

"Lily." I supplied. 

"Anyway, loaded is an understatement," Jonathan said, shaking his head. "This is the CEO of the Harris Group and THE heir to Durfort Inc., they are business royalty."

"Okay, so how aren't they the luckiest people born?" I asked. Something about his opinion intrigued me. 

"Well for one we aren't even sure how Lilith Durfort looks," he answered. "For all we know she could look like something that crawled out of hell."

I wanted to slap the man, but I held myself back. He didn't know any better.

"And if she isn't?" I asked. "I mean if you have all that money I doubt she couldn't find a skilled enough plastic surgeon."

I mean, I did have a few things done, mainly with a dermatologist. I had the worst acne growing up and my grandpa and nannies constantly told me not to scratch. 

"Who knows," Jonathan shrugged. "Mr. Harris could be gay for all we cared and Miss Durfort is entering a loveless, sexless marriage."

Oh, I was certain that Alexander Harris was not gay, but Jonathan didn't need to know that.

I was about to speak when the manager of the restaurant approached me.

"Can we help you, sir?" Jonathan asked surprised that the Manager approached. 

"Miss, your friends are looking for you," the manager completely ignored Jonathan knowing who had asked for me.

"I guess I should join them," I gave the man a smile, I was certain he was nervous. 

Turning my attention back to Jonathan, I handed him my phone. 

"I enjoyed talking to you, give me your number." I knew it would be to my benefit to have a pap in my contacts. 

"Wow, you called me smooth and you're even better," he chuckled as he saved his number on my phone.

"It was nice meeting you," I said with a wink before going back to my friends.

"This is dangerous," Riley grumbled. "I'm sure he's watching you."

"He'll leave, they have a story to chase," as I spoke their group quickly got up and ran out, but I knew that Jonathan left a lingering gaze on me as he followed the other paparazzi out.