C1 New beginning

~ CHAPTER 1 ~

Claire POV

I exhale loudly as I try to readjust myself in the uncomfortable seat of the airplane for the tenth time within the last thirty minutes.

Although I have been sitting here for over five hours with two more hours to go, I could not stop the rush of excitement in me as I anticipated my reunion with my best friend, Anna.

We have been friends since we were kids. We were raised in the same orphanage home, attended the same high school, also the same college. This has been the longest we have been away from each other. She graduated one year ago and moved to the biggest city in the country because of a new job opportunity.

That was a terribly long one year away for her, which I would really hate to live again. Unfortunately for me, with my lack of social skills I couldn't make a single friend. I basically relied on the weekly FaceTime Anna and I had to get some sort of friendly communication. Otherwise it was just me and my canvas I filled up with paintings I had no plans of actually showing anyone... except Anna of course.

Now that it's just 2 hours away from meeting my only friend,( I know it's very sad) I just can't help the giddy feeling.

~ 2 hours later ~

"Claire!!!!" My best friend screamed my name over the crowd, while ignoring the unwanted stares she was receiving because of her loud antics.

"please don't scream" I shyly replied feeling my cheeks get hot from the unwanted attention we were receiving.

"Oh shut up! I know you missed me too" She chuckles as she pulls me into her insanely comforting bear hug that I missed so much.

I feel my eyes water from the happiness I feel right now. "I missed you so freaking much" my voice cracks.

"I know bestie, I missed you a lot too" She sniffles, which makes me aware that she is crying also.

"Okay enough of this! let's get you settled in" Anna says excitedly as release me from the hug and goes to grab my bags.

"I can't wait to see where you live!" I replied. She rolls her eyes and says "what do you mean where I live, it's our place now remember? also you should be excited because trust me it's luxurious!"

We entered the taxi. Anna gives the driver our address as I turn to stare at the window. I can't help but admire the busy streets we pass by which is a big contrast to the calm and quiet environment I was familiar with.

"You're going to love it here Claire" Anna brings me back to the present with her comforting voice.

"I really hope so" I turn to look at her, seeing a big smile on her face. It immediately relieved my doubts about this new place. I smile back at her as we welcome the comforting silence.

~ moments later ~

"Welcome to your new home!" Anna squeals excitedly as she opens the front door and leads me inside the apartment.

The apartment has a white theme setting, which is expected considering Anna has an insane obsession for the color white. I definitely agree with her choice of the theme because of how modern and luxurious the house actually looks.

"Damn girl! you really went all out with the decorations" I chuckled as I rolled my bags to the corner of the room. I was just too tired to start unpacking. "what did you expect?" she replied with the look of satisfaction on her face which quickly changes to a mischievous one.

"Anna, what are you scheming now?" I asked hesitantly knowing just exactly what that looks mean. "Oh nothing! just getting excited for us to hit the club later tonight in order to celebrate your long awaited arrival" she says still having that mischievous look and I definitely do not want to see that right now.

"oh Hell no! I'm so tired because of the jet lag. I can hardly keep myself awake right now" I say tiredly. "No excuses Missy" Anna rolls her eyes, which I think is now a new habit of hers. But I mean you gotta love this girl, even though she stresses the hell out of me.

"You have a lot of time to sleep and don't worry about your luggages, because I would unpack them," Anna continues.

"Well guess what? I don't have any party clothes" I replied back with a matching smirk. "We wear the same size, remember? now why don't you start sleeping because we leave by 8pm" She smiles proudly as she notices my smirk fall.

"I forgot how pushy you can be" I mutter as I make my way out of the living room, following the directions Anna showed me which leads to my new bedroom.

I went straight to the bathroom which is connected to the bedroom. I stare back at my tired brown doe eyes through the mirror assessing myself. I would say I'm actually an average girl, nothing too fancy except I have pretty great curves that just makes me look more feminine.

I ran my hands through my naturally wavy brunette hair as I watched my face. I feel the need to freshen up some more so I decided to take a shower.

Afterwards, I changed into a silk nightgown and fell flat on the really inviting soft bed. Letting out a deep breath as I welcome the much needed comfort I am receiving from the bed. Slowly I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

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"Claire... Claire?... Claire?!!" Anna continues shouting my name as I blink repeatedly, trying to bring my focus to what was happening.

I finally recall the trip and my new environment. "shut Anna, I'm trying to sleep here" I said in a sleepy annoyed voice. "We have only one hour left to get you ready! wake up already"

"What do you mean to get me ready? what for?" I stare back at her with annoyance because of my interrupted sleeping session. "umm... party? 8pm! remember now?" She replies.

It was then I noticed she already dolled up herself. She is wearing a really short black dress which reveals a lot of cleavage, but not too much to look like a slut. She did a smokey eye makeup look which made her really look the part of a sexy seductress. Her straight blonde (which by the way I'm absolutely jealous of) fell just below her shoulders. Overall she looked really really pretty.

"ohh..." I say getting up while stretching my arms. I definitely felt more energized than before. "yeah, ohh" she replied sarcastically. "Now get up, I'm going to transform you into a literal goddess," She says with a big smile. I can hardly keep up with how much she changes her mood.

"Okay, whatever" I say defeatedly. We walked over to her room, in order to get me ready since I'm going to be using her clothes and makeup anyway. "don't make it too much please… I don't think I'll be able to pull the look you have right now" I say shyly.

" common girl! I already have lots of plans for this look, please just do it. trust me you really have the right body and face for this" she gushes. "It's a once in a lifetime moment anyways, why don't we have fun with it?" she gives me her signature puppy dog eyes, and like every other time I fell for it.

"Let's just get this over with," I replied, already convinced. "Yess!" Anna squeals. I can feel the multiple products Anna puts on my face. I would have been worried about how the results would look, but seeing how pretty her make-up turned out...I don't think I should be worried.

"Can I take a look at myself now?" I ask as I look up to Anna's concentrated face. "Nope! I'm almost done with your makeup, but you have to change your clothes first before taking a look at the mirror" she replies as she applies lipstick on my lips. "Ugh," I groaned. "I'm done now, stop complaining" she hands me the dress to change into.

It's a bright red dress, too short for my liking... but I think I will look good on it so who cares. "oh my gosh Claire!" Anna exclaimed, "you look so freaking good! I'm so jealous" she gushes. "stop exaggerating, you are the one who looks like a goddess here" I can't stop the tinge of pink that makes its way to my cheeks.

As I look at the mirror I feel awe at the glow up Anna gave me. My hair was curled in a wavy style as it fell down to my waist. She gave me the same smoky eye look which changed my face, from cute to sexy. The red dress doesn't reveal too much cleavage thankfully, but it stops just right under my butt. It's a bit concerning but whatever. It emphasizes so much on my long slim tanned legs and I love that.

"wow" I exhale. "you're welcome," Anna says with a satisfied look on her face. "Now put these heels on, the time got to eight thirty pm already" I look over to see the shoe she has for me. "No way! I can hardly walk properly in a three inch heel. How on Earth am I supposed to walk in a six inch heel?" I gave her a bored look.

"But it would go so well with your outfit" she tries to explain. I pretend not to hear and walk over to her shoes section. Taking out three inch thigh high heels, I put it on and checked myself in the full length mirror again.

"You can't lie this doesn't look good too" I look at her with a smirk. "you win this time" she rolls her eyes in fake annoyance as she moves to sit down and puts on her heels. It is a six inch heel. We aren't even short either. I'm 5ft 7 inches tall, while Anna is 5ft 8 inches tall, but she knows how to rock a good heel. I honestly could care less about things like that.

"Now we are all dressed, let's get a bit tipsy so we can get more into the mood of partying" She says as we walk over to the kitchen. I take a seat at the island chair, watching her as she brings wine from the fridge, also taking two glasses from one of the cabinets. She turns the wine in both glasses and hands one to me. "Thanks" I say softly.

"Cheers to your new beginning and our long awaited reunion" she smiled brightly as we clicked our glasses together. "Cheers!" I reply. I can feel a big smile form on my face. We both finished drinking our wine, feeling a bit tipsy we knew we were ready to hit the club tonight.

We made our way out of the apartment. Anna locks the door. We got into the taxi telling him our address. We drove over to GLEAMS, which is the most famous club in the city where celebrities and wealthy important people hang out, according to Anna. She was able to get us inside since she is friends with a friend of the owner. Confusing? I know.

We arrive at the club moments later. It has a lot of red neon signs and actually looks really fancy. "Let's do this!" Anna says as she puts her hands around my shoulder and looks at me excitedly. Somehow I managed to feel just as much excitement. I'm guessing it was because I was already a bit tipsy now. I knew for sure I was ready to have some fun now.

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I hope you had fun reading my story, and I'm excited to show you more of this book so please keep reading :-)