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I blink, reluctantly dragging my attention away from Amber and turning back to Rob. “What was that?”
“I was just saying,” he yells over the music. “We’d love to branch out into the States. If things go well here, what would you think about trialling us back home?”
I frown. Have I accidentally already agreed to this? “Send me your proposal and we’ll definitely look over it.”
Rob’s eyes light up and he immediately starts digging around in his pocket for his phone. “I’ll have my assistant send it over right away.”
“No rush,” I say, my gaze slipping back over to Amber.
Unsurprisingly, she’s been approached. I watch as she throws her head back, laughing freely and loudly at something this potential suitor has said. It’s a sharp contrast to the Amber I met two days ago. It’s like they’re two different people, and the Amber I’m looking at right now is a stranger to me.
That irritates me more than it should. What I wouldn’t give to be on the receiving end of one of those smiles. Though, that seems unlikely. She has her hackles up around me, and I’m not sure why.
Potential suitor pulls his phone out and hands it to her. On her other side, her friend grins widely and mumbles something, clearly encouraging her.
When we first met, I’d assumed that maybe she was just the kind of person who was always a bit standoffish, and I’d tried not to take it personally. But watching her now, smiling as she eagerly taps her number into his phone…I realise I’ve read her all wrong.
It’smeshe has the problem with.
Why does that bother me so much?
I can practically hear my sister, Nel, in the back of my mind, cackling the answer we both know to be true. I’m a people pleaser. Always have been. I want people to like me. Toseeme. To know I’m more than what their baseless assumptions might have led them to think.
Potential suitor takes his phone back and gives her a wave before disappearing back into the crowd. As soon as he’s gone, Amber immediately turns to her friend and they collapse into a fit of giggles. Her friend says something, nods in the opposite direction, and then hops off her stool, leaving Amber alone.
“…work with you. What do you think?”
“Yeah, sounds good,” I say absentmindedly. Before I can really give it much thought, I stand up and slide out of the booth we’re sitting in. “Look, Rob, I’ve just seen someone I know. We’ll continue this talk later, all right? You’ve got my number.”
I don’t wait for his response and immediately begin pushing through the crowd. She’s sipping on her cocktail when I approach, aimlessly tapping on her phone now that she’s alone.
I sidle into the tiny gap next to her. “Fancy seeing you here.”
She turns to me, that wide smile stretching her cheeks. The second she lays eyes on me, though, the smile disappears and a look of alarm replaces it.
“Mr Hawthorne?”
“Just Finn is fine,” I say, flashing her a smile of my own, hoping to coax her one back out.
No such luck.
She purses her lips as a hand floats up to her hair and twists a lock around her finger. “What’re you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing.”
She doesn’t respond, clearly waiting for me to go first.
All right. I’ll bite.
“We’re in talks with the owner about using this brand as our exclusive vodka supplier over here,” I explain. “He invited me and I thought this would probably beat sitting in my hotel room alone.” A lie. I’m only here out of a sense of obligation, but Amber’s presence has become an unexpected bonus.
She nods, seemingly satisfied with my answer.
“And you?” I ask when it becomes clear that she’s not going to offer up the information unprompted. “Is this kind of thing usually your scene?”
She snorts and shakes her head before pointing in the direction her friend disappeared. “Not at all. I’m here with my best friend as her plus-one. She’s an influencer and got invited by the brand to come and do her thing.”
An influencer. That’s interesting and good to know. I’ve got an influencer strand in our marketing plan, but I’ve not given it much thought beyond “should probably research some influencers”.
