Be Prepared

Mauro’s POV

Work was horrible. The hours were long and even if Mauro was boss, he was annoyed by the paperwork and the silence. The silence was unbearable. Even in the silence the guy could only imagine what would happen if he went back to Monaco, to the thrill of being with the F1 drivers, the fancy cars, the noise and her.

“Mr. Flores?” said a woman as she knocked on Mauro’s office door, “May I come in?”

“Of course,” Mauro stood up out of respect, “What is it?” He said, folding the sleeves of his shirt.

“Your mother is here,” explained the woman, “She wishes to speak with you.”

He nodded, “Send her in.”

From the framed glass doors a woman in a beige dress and heels was seen. The dark curls of her hair were neatly tucked in place as a bandana adorned her head. Mrs. Flores was a fair woman, her dark skin as perfect as it could be. It was not a lie that the woman took a great deal to maintain her beauty, even after the unexpected death of her beloved husband, Mrs. Flores dared not look as disastrous as she felt, at least not now that her kids were high on mourning.

“Mamá,” greeted Mauro walking up to her and kissing her cheek, “¿Cómo estás?”

Mrs. Flores shrugged, “Could do better if I am being honest,” one of her hands flew to the pearl collar around her neck, the last gift her husband had given her, “Ahora cuéntame, ¿cómo estuvo tu viaje?”

The CEO rolled his eyes, “Of course you would go straight to ask about it.”

His mother folded her arms over her chest raising an eyebrow at her son, “Well, you avoid telling your mother that the friend whom you accompanied to Monaco was no other than Aurorita Lagos.”

“You would have misunderstood the situation.”

A cold laughter was the woman’s response, “Please, I did. Poor Aurora had to explain it to me. I could have avoided the embarrassment, Mauro.”

Mauro walked back to his desk and poured some lemonade into two squared glasses, “Ice?”

“Please”

He dropped two ice-cubes into one of the glasses, “She mentioned the fact that you thought that we were a couple,” Mauro smirked, then handed the glass to his mother, “In all fairness it did look suspicious.”

“You are right about that,” smiled Mrs. Flores, “So, how was Monaco?”

The images flashed through Mauro’s head as he recalled the trip to his mother. The day at the beach, the shopping, avoiding the fact of a single purchase, the La Rouge party, the modeling with Silverlane, the night at Jimmy’z, the qualifyings, the race, everything was like a dream. So many memories and a smile, a smile that haunted Mauro’s dreams. One so simple, yet so memorable that Mauro would sometimes consider just calling, yet he never did.

“You got pictures?” Wondered the woman seated across from Mauro, “I did see some of your instagram posts and Aurora’s, but you must have more.”

Mauro pulled out his phone and entered his picture gallery, “Oh,” he did have photos of the trip, but pictures of Rory flooded his gallery. He swallowed, “I don’t have many, I did download them into my apartment’s computer.” He couldn’t really show his mother that the last hundred photos were pictures that Rory had asked Mauro to take of her. It was just too incriminatory.

Mrs. Flores waved her hand before her face, “No te preocupes Cielo, me las enseñaras otro día.”

Mauro smiled at her. He might have had lied to his mother, but the truth was that Mauro really knew that his mother could smell a lie a mile out, “Cambiando el tema” he cleared his throat, “Have you seen Dany’s latest work? It has really improved.”

Rory’s POV

The flashes and the shouting were enough to make Rory smile as she walked down the catwalk. The dress she wore was made of the softest fabric and as Rory placed a foot in front of the other, and her heart could not beat any faster.

Rory modeled for Monique Lhuillier, though they were only starting June, the 2022 Fall collection was already on display. The blonde dressed in an elegant long sleeve embroidered gown. Dark blue embroidery decorated the nude colored dress as it caressed its way up to Aurora’s shoulders making it look as if the embroidery by her shoulders were a part of a long and extendable necklace. Even in the dress Aurora felt so giddy with excitement.

The heels beneath her feet clicked on the catwalk as she reached the edge. She squared her shoulders before turning back and sneaking a simple glance over her shoulder before running a perfectly manicured hand over her hair. This is why they loved her, the passion, the teasing. And that was the reason why she loved modeling, the power, the sense of being untouchable, well all that besides the fact that she wore dress pieces as beautiful as they came. Rory rather be on a catwalk than a party. She was the center of attention while not being accessed by the attendees, she was untouchable, she was admired by afar and the more people got closer to her the more anxious she got, so Aurora thrived in modeling.

There was not a single beat to miss as she headed back into the changing rooms where she was to change into the third dress of the night, a beautiful light golden colored strapless Sequin cocktail dress. Rory preferred cocktail dresses, they allowed more movement and though she might not be a very cocky person, Aurora did enjoy bragging about her legs, displaying them as much as she could. Her hair, her eyes, were nothing great of an achievement, Rory had been fortunate enough to inherit those gorgeous traits from her parents, but her legs, she had worked for them. Yes they were long, and yes that was inherited, however Rory had done so much to give them shape. As a teenager she did track and field, in her few semesters in college she continued with track and added a lit bit of pilates, but now, though she missed track and field, the model dedicated her time in pilates and in the gym.

“Ready?” asked Aurora as the modist finished the straps of the corset of the dress. The modist with a quick finger said no and rushed to the many racks and fished for a cape and ran back towards the Mexican. The woman gently placed the sequin embroidered cape over Rory’s shoulders and secured the button to hold it in place.

“Perfect,” mused the modist and gestured to Aurora to join her fellow models in the sparking lights.

After the small afterparty thrown by the designer Aurora was happily back in her apartment. She layed on the couch in her pajamas as she scrolled through her instagram, after all she wanted to swell in pride. Before the show Rory did one of her small blogs showing off the dresses she was to wear and joined some of the other models as they got ready. A simple post was uploaded with pictures of the catwalk, and Aurora couldn’t help but smile. Sal had managed to post it while the show was running. A thank you was in order. The likes and the comments were flooding the post. It was quick to spot Aurora’s friends’ comments, then some of the F1 drivers, for example Jean-Pierre’s and Yori’s. Tenderness swerved within the model’s heart. Marcos had also commented and Bela too. And still even after several verified accounts had been keen in showing their appreciation for Aurora, there was a simple like that made it all worthwhile.

“I got us Beringer!” shouted Sal walking through the front door of the apartment and jumped over the couch settling next to Aurora, “And I bring good news, Rory!”

Since the media knew about the contract between the model and the F1 team, Silverlane, sport reporters and pink media reporters had fallen over Sal and Rory like feral beasts. Thankfully, their apartment was a safe haven. Now with the comments of several drivers, the model’s popularity was growing. However Sal and Rory were prepared in case of the media shipping her with any of the drivers. There was a plan, their secret weapon.

“Please do share then,” urged Rory, taking the bottle from her friend’s hands and opening it, “The only problem is that we got all our wine glasses packed for Spain.”

“Covid is gone, we can share the bottle then,” smiled Sal, taking the bottle and drinking straight from it, “Cheers love,” she chuckled, handing it to the blonde.

“Cheers,” Rory chuckled and also took a sip, “Now, what’s the good news?”

The German doll then took Rory’s hands, “I managed to get you an apartment in Madrid, the thing is your flight is in a week and the apartment wouldn’t be ready until within a month and a half,” she bit her lip.

“Oh God,” mouthed Aurora.

“You might want to give Marcos Salazar a call,” Sal smiled guilty, “Talk to Isobela as well”

Rubbing her forehead Rory sighed, “Yeah, I’ll do that…tomorrow,” she took another gulp of the whine, “Right now I just want to rejoice in my beautiful success.”

“Oh definitely,” laughed Sal, pushing her hair off her shoulders, and snatching the Beringer bottle from her friend’s grasp, “Prost! For an amazing catwalk show and your wonderful million dollar legs Aurora Lagos!” Color flushed her cheeks as she burst out laughing.

Aurora laughed as well, but retrieved the bottle, “You are German!” giggled Rory, “You should control your alcohol!”

“Says the Mexican that gets drunk with a Margarita and a half,” shouted Sal

Sal ran behind the Mexican trailing her with a notebook, a pen, and a checklist, “Are you sure you’ve got everything?”

Rory nodded as she walked into her bedroom, “I have my suitcase done, I emailed Desigual like you asked. Bela said that Marcos would call me today to confirm, but I still think staying at the Salazar’s house is a mistake”

“Mr. Salazar doesn’t hate you”

“But he does. You weren’t there.”

Both girls then made sure that all the paperwork was correct, just in case they had to rush to the OfficeMax and get copies of anything. Finally the papers were neatly arranged into the purple folder that Sal carried as a good luck charm. If anything was missing Sal would email Rory and the blonde would have to get it printed…if needed.

“I don’t think I can handle being alone for a month,” sighed Sal dropping into Aurora’s naked bed, “I have grown used to having you around!”

Rory fell beside her friend, “I don’t think I can survive without you for a month either, Salilsa”

The manager lightly punched Rory’s shoulder, “Urgh. Don’t call me that”

“It is your name Sal”

“I know, Aurora”

As the girls returned to the living room there was a knock at the door. While Sal finished marking off her checklist Rory made her way to the door. She wore a sundress and remained barefoot. Carefully the girl opened the door to see a DHL delivery guy before her and a huge package beside him. “Aurora Lagos?” the man offered and Rory nodded, she would never get used to the way people pronounced her name in English. It really did sound better in Spanish, “Perfect sign here,” he then turned the clipboard towards her and handed her a pen.

Aurora signed and gently said goodbye to the delivery guy before pushing the package inside. It was not heavy, nor impossible to move. However she couldn’t imagine what it was. As far as Rory was concerned she had not ordered anything. Inside and with the door closed Aurora stabbed the top of the box cutting through the tape.

“What the..” she trailed off as she saw a dress sheath, before she pulled out the dress her hands grasped on a letter. Written in such bad handwriting Rory instantly knew who it belonged to. “Mauro,” she whispered, pulling the letter to her face, “Thank you for the invite. I really appreciated it.” read the model. Pocketing the letter, the girl pulled the dress out from the box.. It was the green halter-neck dress she had tried on in one of the stores of Monaco. “Oh God” she pulled the letter from one of her dress’s pockets and read it, completely this time.

Mauro had bought the dress for her as a thank-you gift.

Mauro’s POV

The phone rang in the middle of the night. And though Mauro could take any morning and handle whatever the day threw at him it was a completely different story if he was abruptly awakened in the middle of the night. Angrily he patted around the nightstand beside his bed and took his phone. He didn’t even sneak a glance at the caller ID, Mauro just pulled the screen to his ear and groaned, “Bueno”

“Mierda, te he despertado” answered a very familiar voice, “Sorry, Mate. I forget that we have different time zones”

“Marcos?” Mauro sat on his bed leaning against the headrest, “What’s up?” A good part of him hoped that it had been someone else calling. A certain girl who had called a couple days back to thank him about a certain green halter-neck dress.

The sound of vehicles was clearly audible for the Mexican, “I am picking Rory up at the Airport,” the Spainard explained.

“You are?” Mauro was aware that everything with Desigual had gone amazingly, he had even called Rory to congratulate her. However he remembered that her apartment wasn’t going to be ready when she arrived, therefore Rory was going to be a guest at the Salazar’s, “So responsible of you.”

“Yeah, yeah, so Bela is already inside the airport and I am parked outside,” said Marcos, “Do you have any recommendations?”

“¿Qué?”

“Yeah, like will she burn the kitchen?” Marcos chuckled, “Because if she is, I got to let my mother know.”

Mauro laughed and repositioned himself, “No, mate,” another chuckle escaped him, “She won’t burn the kitchen. She might play her music too loud, but the house is pretty huge and so your parents might not hear it at all.”

“You know, everything is appreciated,” urged the driver, “Literally anything.”

The brunet thought for a second, “She hates seafood.”

“¿Paella?”

He nodded, “She loves Paella, but she does push the oysters and clams away,” Mauro then ran a hand over his unruly curls and sighed, “She works out at night,” Aurora had mentioned that after him and Marcos were exercising that day at the Salazar’s gym, “She rather enjoys sleeping in.”

“Alright. Is she clumsy?” said Marcos, “Any dangerous things she enjoys?”

“Rory is everything, but clumsy” smiled Mauro remembering the trip, “And about the dangerous things… don’t allow her to drive any type of sports car”

“What? Why?”

“She loves speed,” Mauro explained, “Once we were at the Go-Karts in Guadalajara and she won, like even the managers were shocked. Later, probably that same year, she got her driver’s license…big mistake.” He chuckled, “Rory drove as if she was in Fast and Furious, I swear to God Marcos, one time I asked her for a ride and never in my life had I been so scared.”

“Adrenaline junkie then.”

“No, she hates heights, despises anything that is out of her control. Speed she loves as long as she is the one driving, as much as you actually,” A loud chuckle was heard from the other side of the line and Mauro knitted his brows, “What?”

“You basically know everything about her,” Marcos’s reply was not what Mauro had expected, “Are you still talking?”

“Yeah, once or twice a week.”

“Have you thought about what I told you?”

Mauro’s gaze dropped to the clock over his night stand 2 in the morning, “It’s two in the morning Marcos, don’t ask me questions which are meant to be accompanied by beer,” he chuckled as he heard his friend laugh as well.

“Puras excusas,” was the driver’s response, “Well gotta go mate, they are coming. Talk to you soon”

“Adiós Marcos”

“Adiós”