Claudia tapped her foot impatiently as Alyssa just kept blabbing at her. All of the words that came out of that cow's mouth were supposed to make Claudia tick, and they did... to a certain extent. Alyssa was one of the few people who knew (and cared) that Claudia was born and raised to be a lower-middle class Italian woman who would have six children and argue with her husband every night. She was by no means raised to live the life she was pursuing now. And yes it was strange that Ric and chosen little frizzy haired Claudia over smart Alyssa, but he had. Now Alyssa just needed to get over herself and accept that. For God's sake, Claudia and Ricardo had been married for eight years and Alyssa still wasn't over it. Somethings just need to die, and Alyssa's love for him is one of those things.
By now Claudia was used to the jabs that Alyssa took at her. Instead of furthering the irritation between the two of them Claudia, for the first time in a long time, decided to keep her mouth shut. Claudia did nothing as Alyssa barged into her and made her way down the stairs. Claudia stood in Ric's office for a moment, taking it's paperwork and metal kind of smell. Then she returned to the party. Her hazel scanned the guests as she defended from the staircase. A jumble of people Claudia didn't remember inviting were here, but that wasn't something unusual. Everyone was trying to get into these parties. Then she spotted the handsome devil on payroll.
"Nicky!" She exclaimed, swigging down the last of her champagne and putting it on a servers platter. Claudia cupped his face with her right hand and gave him a quick peck on the cheek on the other side. Pulling away she said "I wasn't expecting to see you here." If Claudia had lived another life she would have married someone like Nick Quinn. He was charming and had one of those cute little accents. He would have been something of a prize to her and her girlfriends back home. Something a little exotic, and if he wasn't involved in the mafia, something stable enough to raise kids with.
Claudia did a quick scan of his clothes. Underdressed, but she didn't mind. Nick Quinn never seemed to understand that these sort of things were a fashion statement for women and a time to show off for the men.