Before you dive into this story, have you read Welcome To Hawaii
“Welcome home everyone!” Adriana said as she made her way down the winding staircase.
Adriana stepped off the last step of the staircase just as a waiter floated by, offering up a glass of champagne.
Grabbing the glass, she thanked him before turning her attention to the contestants, who were now gathered in the sunken living room.
Twenty-one pairs of eyes focused on Adriana, and for the first time in over two decades, she felt a little nervous.
Sure, she’d spent over a decade walking runways in Milan, Paris, LA, New York, and countless other runways all over the world, but this was different.
Adriana often thought of herself as two people in one; there was Adriana, the model turned fashion designer and scouter, and then there was Adriana the person. To the public, Adriana Romano wasn’t a person; she was a brand, and she conducted herself accordingly.
When it came to being public facing, for Adriana, that was easy, all she had to do was show up, tend to her models, take a few pictures, do a couple interviews, and then she was free to lock herself away in her office and continue working on her designs.
But when it came to love and romantic relationships, well that was a whole different ball game. After her engagement to her ex-fiancé, Ronald Matthews, went up in flames, Adriana built a wall around her heart.
‘Heartbreak is the risk that comes with falling in love. When you wall yourself off from ever having your heartbroken, you’re also walling yourself off from ever falling in love too.’ Katy often said.
It took time, and a shit ton of therapy, but as she looked around the room, Adriana knew that her mother was right; if she was really serious about finding love, then she would have to let her walls down and be vulnerable.
As Adriana looked over the huddle of contestants, she felt a sense of excitement, mixed with a bit of nervousness swirl in her stomach.
“Is anyone else like really nervous?” She asked with a laugh.
A few champagne glasses rose up in the air, causing Adriana to let out a sigh.
“Alright cool, so it’s not just me.” She said, causing the contestants to laugh.
“Well how about we get some tunes going, and we can all do a little mingling and get to know each other?” She suggested.
The crowd erupted into cheers, causing Adriana to laugh once more, and after gesturing to the DJ in the corner of the room, music began to flow through the speakers.
Corey took slow sips from their glass as they floated around the living room.
Despite their obsession with what wines paired best with what dishes, Corey had never been much of a drinker. While friends and family drank to help them unwind and get a little loose, Corey preferred to sip water, or sparkling cider, as they watched friends and family get drunk and make fools of themselves.
“Drink?” A woman in a black vest asked as she presented Corey and a woman with a tray.
“Actually do you have any water?” Corey asked.
“I don’t but if you head over to the bar, the bartender can get you some.” She said with a polite smile.
Corey thanked the woman before making their way through the crowd and over to the bar.
While Corey went off to get their drink, Adriana was making her way through the crowd when a tall red headed man, dressed in a black suit made his way over to her.
“I heard the sky is like crazy clear right now to the point where you can see the Big Dipper.” Said the man.
Holding his arm out, he smiled a big cheesy grin, reminding Adriana of a little kid, and wiggled his eyebrows, a silent plea for her to accompany him.
“Okay!” She said, placing her hand in his.
The man’s hand was warm, reminding Adriana of the first sip of hot coco after coming in from playing in the snow all day.
Lacing his fingers in with hers, the man turned around and began leading her through the crowd.
Bobbing and weaving through the contestants, Adriana couldn’t help but chuckle as she heard a few ‘come ons’ and ‘you don’t waste time’s’.
The man seemed completely unfazed as he led Adriana through the crowd, muttering excuse me’s and apologies as he dodged contestants and wait staff alike.
The man pulled the massive sliding glass door closed, causing the chatter and loud music of the house to fade into a dull thumping against the glass.
“You alright?” The man smiled as he turned to her.
Standing at five foot seven, Adriana had to crane her neck all the way back just to be able to look up at the man.
He smiled boyishly, the small dimple in his cheek just begging to be poked.
His ocean-colored eyes shined brightly against his sun kissed skin and jet-black hair.
He was pretty, Adriana wouldn’t deny him that, but in her line of work, pretty boys were a dime a dozen. While Adriana did enjoy looking at a pretty face, she needed to know, was this man simply a pretty face, or was there more to him?
“Yeah, I’m just not one for big parties.” She said.
The man’s brows bunched together, as a frown took over his face.
“But isn’t partying and looking hot what being a model is all about?” He asked.
To Adriana, it was unclear if the man’s question was sparked from genuine curiosity, or if it was intended to be a dig; but it definitely felt like the latter. But she would let that slide.
“Well nowadays, I spend more time running my agency than I do modeling, but even when I was modeling, I still wasn’t that into partying.” She said.
“What?! You mean to tell me you didn’t party it up after fashion shows or whatever?” He asked in disbelief.
Adriana shook her head.
“Didn’t have the time. If I wasn’t working then I was studying.” She said with a shrug.
“Studying? Studying for what?” He asked.
“For a while I wasn’t sure about modeling. I didn’t know if I could really turn it into a full-time thing, and even after I did, I didn’t know how long it would be my full-time thing. So I went to college for business.” She explained.
The man opened his mouth to say something when a tall blonde, in a red strapless dress came walking over with two glasses of champagne.
“Hi! It looks like your drink is getting low, so I thought I’d come over and bring you a new one.” The woman said with a smile.
A look that shouted, are you kidding me, took over the man’s face, and Adriana had to curl her lips inwards as not to laugh.
“I think I’ll go get something to eat.” The man muttered, more so to himself than anyone else.
“Bye.” Said the woman as she turned to wave the man off.
“Oh, and I’m Kevin by the way.” The man said just before pulling the glass door open.
Kevin slipped back into the house, and as he pulled the door closed behind him, Adriana and the blonde locked eyes.
Sooo, what do you think of this series so far? Are you enjoying it? Do you hate it? Do you have any critiques or any predictions? Leave all your thoughts and feelings in the comments below! Also, if you want to stay up to with this story, and any other stories that will be posted in the future, be sure to follow this site! Lastly, consider supporting RBN by buying a cup of coffee. Buy me a coffee is a tip jar service that helps me create more and promote this site to even more people. So if you’d like to help out with that, click the button below! But if you can’t or don’t won’t to, simply liking this post, and sharing it with a friend or two also helps greatly. Thank you so much-C
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