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Damien stepped over to stand with them and said, “Lena! Lola! And little man!” with a big smile on his face.
Lena said, “I told you to come early.”
Lola said, “I asked him to give me a ride!”
“Whoa! Hey, hey,” Damien stepped back abruptly. “Calm down, angry women! The thing is, a last-minute meeting came up. I didn’t even have time to text you the details except to cancel that lift,” he continued, staring at Lola. “And I’m sorry for that.”
Lena seemed thrilled. “A new deal!”
“Good job, Dami boy!” Lola clapped him on the shoulder.
Damien jumped. She may have put a little more effort into that apparent act of praise.
“No, it’s not a deal,” he said, shaking his head and smiling. And then they said, “For the first time ever, a top advertising agency is going to make an ad for us!”
“Really? That’s great!”
“Whoa! Oh my God!”
At the same time, Lena and Lola shrieked with joy. Dave lifted his small hands over his head and yelled, joining in on such an important and happy topic.
Lola said, “What agency is it?”
“Chimera,” Damien said, his eyes shining.
“Chimera!” Lena’s brows wrinkled in profound contemplation; she looked like she was searching her memory for knowledge.
“You’ve heard of them, right? They’re that well-known. And they only pick businesses that look like they have a lot of potential.”
Lena’s eyes suddenly got bigger. “Oh, I’ve worked with them before, not just heard about them.”
“What?”
“What!”
Now it was Damien and Lola’s turn to shout at the same time.
“I modeled in one of their ads,” Lena said, appearing a little apprehensive. She blinked, turned aside, and embraced Dave tighter.
“You used to be a model!” Lola couldn’t help but say. It seemed like someone had let me down. She had a buddy who was good at a lot of things, but he never told her about any of them. How many additional skills did Lena have? Really!
“Ah—it’s not like that, actually,” Lena said with a giggle that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I wasn’t a professional model. I just had to stand in front of the camera once and go through an experience I’ll never forget. Anyway—” she immediately shifted the subject. “Chimera has really great people working for them, which is why they are so successful. I’m so happy for you, Damien. You deserve the best.”
Damien smiled and nodded. “But not what I want the most.”
“Eh?” Lola’s face wrinkled in surprise. Why did it seem like she was missing out on some important information? What did Damien want the most? What did he never get? Why was he so vague?
Lena looked a little surprised and moved Dave to her other hip. Then she looked at the time on her watch. “We should cut the cake now.” Then she went to the hall to get the cake.
Lola looked at Damien and gave him a hard look.
“What?” Damien said, moving his feet and looking at Lola with an uncomfortable look on his face.
Lola instantly grabbed his tie and pulled him toward her. “Tell me what I don’t know.”
Damien jumped. “How can I know what you don’t know?”
Lola was quite angry. “Are you kidding me? You put hints in your answer to Lena.”
Damien grinned, but he was nervous. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Look over there—we’re missing out on Dave’s greedy attempts to reach that cake. I need to click some photos of this moment to show his future bride. Let’s go—” and he successfully ripped his tie out of Lola’s stone hold after absurdly failing twice.
“Don’t you dare run,” Lola said, and then she quickly turned around to catch Damien, but someone grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“Hey, crazy woman,” a man’s voice questioned. “Why are you trying to find that poor guy? What did he do to you?” His voice was rough and warm, much like his touch.
Lola looked down and back at the long fingers that were curled around her thin arm. The man wore a silver watch on his wrist. She looked up at his face as the hand moved higher.
“Ryan!” Damien started to fade from her memory. “What are you doing here?”
Ryan lifted his eyebrow, which made a line on one side of his forehead. “It’s my best friend’s party,” he said without any emotion. “And I’ve known her longer than you have. Why shouldn’t I be at this party?
Lola muttered, “That’s not what I meant.” You went back to Brooklyn.
“I can always come back when I want to,” he said with a big smile. “Velden is not anyone’s father’s property.”
Lola laughed.
So, he was giving her what she wanted—in her own words—what a cheap jerk.
While they were cutting the cake, Dave took a handful of cream before Lena could stop him. “Oh no!” “Oh no!” Lena said.
But everyone else appeared quite happy. They smiled, clapped their hands, and sang a baptism hymn that they had written and practiced ahead of time.
Even though Lola told them not to apply makeup with the cake instead of eating it, a too-eager, half-drunk employee from the shop placed the cream on Lena’s face nevertheless.
Lola was really angry. She quickly brought things back in order by pulling the worker by the shoulder.
Ryan’s voice said, “There’s no need to be so violent.”
“That’s how you set up law and order, you idiot,” she shot back.
They laughed at the answer.
Lola ran to the bathroom right away to wash her hands because the employee had been sweating a lot. But when she got there, Lena was already there at the sink, of course, to wipe the cream.
But why was she clutching onto the sink like her life depended on it? And why did she appear so pale and like she was about to pass out?
“What’s wrong, Lena?” “Lola quickly ran to her friend’s side.
She had seen Lena like this enough times that she didn’t want to remember them. That was a path she didn’t want to travel down, like a nightmare.
“It’s nothing,” Lena had the nerve to remark. She was even sweating a lot.
Lola quickly took her scarf out of her bag and held it under the cool tap water. Then she rubbed the wet scarf against Lena’s forehead and the back of her neck.
Lena sighed and said, “It feels good.”  I’m feeling better already.
“Let’s see the doctor,” Lola said.
“What? No. The party—
“F**k the party!” Lola was really angry. “Don’t tell me otherwise; your health comes first.”
Lena laughed. “I’m simply saying that we don’t need to spoil the celebration because I have an appointment with Dr. Robert the day after tomorrow. Also, this event must be what happened when I took one of those pills I had to take every day a few hours ago.
“Why would you get sick from taking the medicine you’re supposed to take every day?” Lola was completely lost.
“Uh, because I did what the instructions said not to do and took it on an empty stomach.”
Selene put her hands together and slapped them together in a mocking way as if the sky had suddenly become gloomy. “Wow. Wow! “Why the hell would you do something like that?” she said in anger.
“Forgot to eat because I was so excited about getting ready for the party.”
It was obviously an explanation that couldn’t be expected. So Lola yelled at her some more and told her to eat supper right after she got out of the bathroom. The party went well, with Damien and Ryan stepping up to take over the major roles from Dave.
Before she left the party hall, Lola made sure Lena was feeling better.
“Stay a little longer,” Lena said.
Lola shook her head. “I would have, for sure.” But I have to get on a bus before daybreak and head to town tomorrow. We need to get ready for the audit of the making of our handcrafted clothes.
Lena knew what Lola had been working on lately because they shared an office, so she didn’t try to stop her anymore.
Lena, on the other hand, tried to get Damien or Ryan to take her home, but Lola firmly refused. “I don’t want anyone’s fun to be cut in half,” she said. “Don’t worry, Katie, I’m a big girl, and to top it all off, I still have my secret weapon with me.” Always.