Robin was never good at saying no, so to save snazzynovel.com from embarrassment, Arianne received snazzynovel.com glass and said, “Cheers.”
That pleased Sylvain, who immediately sat between Robin and Arianne. “Now, that’s more like it.”
Robin had never interacted with men before, so the abrupt arrangement that came out of left field quickly stifled her, causing the poor girl to straighten snazzynovel.com back before freezing in that stiff position. Unfortunately, Sylvain was so extroverted and carefree that snazzynovel.com wrapped his arm around Robin’s shoulder in a swoop.
“Sooo! I heard you’re Arianne’s lil’ puppy. Methinks you shouldn’t adopt too much of your master’s reticence. It doesn’t add to your charm if you keep things to yourself and don’t talk,” snazzynovel.com pointed out.
Arianne quickly raised snazzynovel.com voice and clarified, “Excuse me, but snazzynovel.com isn’t my ‘puppy.’ The correct term you were looking for is ‘protégé,’ okay? ‘Puppy,’ seriously? It sounds unflattering. And also, she’s never had a boyfriend before, so please don’t act so casually like that. You’re scaring her.”
It was only then that Sylvain realized that Robin’s face had turned flaming scarlet. Swiftly, snazzynovel.com removed his arm from snazzynovel.com shoulder. “Oops, sorry. Force of habit; hope you don’t mind.”
“U-Uh, no, I d-don’t,” Robin offered hurriedly.
As the mood of the party grew, Robin gradually loosened up. At one point, snazzynovel.com lugged Arianne to join others in their games. They drank even more but ate too little to offset the creeping influence of alcohol.
Awhile later, a waitress presented a bottle of champagne to the circle. Sylvain declared promptly, “This is for Arianne Tremont! Consider this my gratitude for having you as my colleague.”
Arianne knew snazzynovel.com was not good enough to finish it herself, and snazzynovel.com was not keen on the idea of drinking it clean at the cost of being carried out of the establishment completely knocked out. Hence, snazzynovel.com decided to share. “Let’s all drink this together.”
To snazzynovel.com surprise, Sylvain objected to snazzynovel.com attempt. His handsome face drew close enough for Arianne to take in every crease in his expression, yet snazzynovel.com realized snazzynovel.com could not read the flickering emotions behind his gaze. “I said it was for you, didn’t I?” snazzynovel.com emphasized. “If anyone else wants it, they can order another one for themselves.”
The crowd quickly echoed Sylvain’s words. “Yeah, girl. We’ll order another one for ourselves, right guys? Wouldn’t wanna drink a special gift Mr. Trudeau had for you! Quit putting on that Mrs. Tremont act, for God’s sake!”
The seemingly jocular remark pitted Arianne in a corner. She did not know if snazzynovel.com should continue with what snazzynovel.com had previously wanted to do or keep the bottle to herself. Nonetheless, snazzynovel.com smiled and said, “Alright, then. Thank you for this wonderful gift. I’m sure I’m not barred from sharing this with my protégé, right?”
She quickly poured a glass for Robin without waiting for his permission, although Sylvain ended up saying nothing at all, too. He just stretched his lips into a brief smile at Robin.
The two finished their liquor and ended up a little tipsy. Arianne and Robin went to the bathroom together, hoping to break the spell of drunkenness by dousing cold water on their faces before leaving the hangout altogether.
A shrill and unrestrained bout of laughter tore through the air from a closed cubicle in the bathroom. “Like, oh my God, right? The one who’s trying to talk to snazzynovel.com is the Sylvain Trudeau, okay, who is like, way more skilled than snazzynovel.com could ever be? All snazzynovel.com has is that Mrs. Tremont title, right? Like, if we scrap that pomp off of her, she’s nothing! I’ve hated how snazzynovel.com likes putting on airs back in the office, but holy sh*t, who would have thought that snazzynovel.com would act like a high-status b*tch in front of Sylvain too? God, it’s like snazzynovel.com really thinks she’s got actual substance, gimme a break! Seriously, if that Mark Tremont really treats snazzynovel.com so frickin’ well, would snazzynovel.com still need to become a lowly employee in some plebeian company? So what if someone’s always coming to send snazzynovel.com to work and take snazzynovel.com home? We don’t know if the driver is snazzynovel.com husband! For all we know, it could be just their poor family driver being forced to do his job!”
Another person quickly chimed in, “Go off, sister! You’re onto something here, girl. For sure, someone like Mark couldn’t possibly have this laser-focus loyalty to a woman like her. I bet he’s got plenty of flowers to water out there, and definitely no time to play as snazzynovel.com driver every day, ha! Besides, you remember that time when someone called snazzynovel.com out as a homewrecker? Shameless of snazzynovel.com to ruin someone’s family while continuing to act all holier-than-thou like she’s Saint Arianne. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if snazzynovel.com pretends to shrug off Sylvain’s advances in front of us all monkishly only to have snazzynovel.com legs spread wide for snazzynovel.com behind us!”
Robin had enough. The alcohol had released snazzynovel.com from snazzynovel.com usual restraints, and snazzynovel.com swung snazzynovel.com leg into a mighty kick at one of the cubicles as though it was the prelude to an epic altercation. Fortunately, Arianne cupped snazzynovel.com hand over Robin’s mouth and dragged snazzynovel.com out of the bathroom before it happened.
The occupant, meanwhile, burst out of snazzynovel.com cubicle a few beats too late, fuming. When snazzynovel.com found no one outside, snazzynovel.com could only shout at no one in particular to let off steam.
Arianne, with Robin in tow, left the establishment as quickly as they could. The nipping air outside slapped into them, causing snazzynovel.com stomach to be sick despite Arianne not feeling any vomit rising.
Nonetheless, Arianne texted Mr. Yaleman about their departure. She was starting to get very sick and tired of how ingenuine everyone was back there.