Katerina Bennett's Story

Katerina Bennett

As the taxi screeched to a halt, Kat glanced up from her notebook, taking a glance out the window at the massive brick building in front of her. With a heavy sigh, she pulled her ear buds out and wrapped them around her iPod, shoving it and the notebook into her bag. After handing the driver a few bills, she reluctantly pulled herself out of the cab, keeping the door open for the young woman waving at the driver. She'd been dreading this day for months and now that the day was finally here, all Kat wanted to do was turn tail and run. Shoving all mental complaints aside, she pushed her way through the crowded sidewalk and into the building.

Once she finally reached the waiting area everyone was supposed to meet it, it took everything she had not to turn right back around and book a flight back to Los Angles. The room was filled with rich bachelors and bachelorettes wearing the finest suits and silky dresses. Kat wrinkled her nose in quiet disgust and glanced down at her jeans and simple tank top, thankful she had chosen something comfortable to wear as opposed to a gown and unnecessarily high heals. She took a seat farther away from a small group of people chatting amongst themselves, scanning the room. Sure, there were plenty of attractive people here, but she didn't even want to start thinking about who she might be matched with.

Livia watched the scene silently and calmly occasionally playing or adjusting her long brown hair. She took it out and put it up again many times before giving up to the cute long curls. Sitting here made her weary she was a very confident woman but in a rpom full of strangers she felt slightly pressured to come off well. She adjusted her leg recrossing them neatly. She looked up at the black ceiling.wondering why every think was black,pink and white. Livia loved all colours as an artist but it was all too much for her as her whoe studio home is white,glass or a wellchosen.second colour apart from heniece's room Lv came from a close knit family abd her sister Veronica often came to stay with her young daughter Rosie. That room was pink and purple like a little princess' room should be.

"Yeah, I did. It's one of my favorites that I have made. It's an original." She said, then followed by the question that Nelson was constantly asked, "What does Armati do?"
Nelson sat back and dazed out the window over her shoulder, figuring out how he was going to explain this.
"Armati...is a advanced technology producer. We're sort of like Microsoft, Apple, but we haven't gotten there quit yet." He chuckled. "I began the company back in my last year of college. Which was about three years ago." Hopefully she'd understand my horrible explanation, Nelson thought to himself. "I hope I explained that correctly," He let out a chuckle, then crossed his arms.

((m skippong the remaining interviews because it will take too long))

"Right thank you everyone for attending the interviews. I think I'm going to beautiful couples here. I hope you all have alovsly evening I'll see you tomorrow at your mixers!" Her tone became more excited by the end and Livia smiled at Clara's energy. Livia smiled and waved sweetly at everyone there saying her thank yous and.goodbyes.she departed.

Kat startled awake, almost knocking her guitar out of her lap as an ear-shattering, repetitive beeping noise filled the room. Cursing loudly, she reached for her phone, checking the caller ID. With a soft groan, she set her guitar on the floor next to the recliner she had fallen asleep in and lifted her phone to her ear.

"What do you want, Gabe?" She mumbled into the speaker, her voice still groggy with sleep. Speaking with her ex wasn't exactly how she had planned on starting the day but Kat knew if she didn't talk to him, he'd just be more persistent. Kat pushed herself to her feet and headed over to the bathroom, her bare feet patting lightly against the cool wooden floors of her rental cabin just outside of the city. Cradling her phone between her ear and shoulder, she rummaged around in her closet, pulling out a simple black dress for the mixer.
"Just checking in. I'm glad you finally answered. How's New York?" Gabe's deep voice on the other end of the phone was soothing to Kat. Gabe represented everything she'd had back in California and for a moment, just hearing his voice made her miss LA. She shook the thought quickly as the mental image of him sprawled out over her best friend, naked, flipped through her mind.
"I don't have time to talk, Gabe. I need to get to the studio." She replied, the flat tone in her voice mirroring her emotional numbness. She headed into the bathroom and hung her dress on the back of the door as she draped a towel over the rack.
"Well when are you going to be back?" Gabe replied, a hint of urgency in his voice. Kat rolled her eyes, before muttering a quick goodbye as she hung up on him. She tossed her phone on her bed and turned back into the bathroom, ready for a hot shower.

An hour later, Kat stepped out of the bathroom fully prepared for the mixer. She grabbed her phone and headed for the door, quickly deleting the fifteen missed messages from Gabe. Out of sight, out of mind she reminded herself. Time to move on.

When Kat finally arrived at the mixer, the room was filled with the same group of people she'd seen at the interviews. She scanned the room, looking for anyone she might recognize. No dice. Well, that settled it, she needed a drink. Kat headed for the bar, shouldering her way politely through a crowd of people.

Kat turned around as soon as Clara clapped and announced the delay. She took a sip of champagne the bar tender had given her, a little annoyed that it was the strongest drink they had. She had to admit, Clara was smart to make sure it would take some binge drinking to get anyone drunk at the mixer. As a loud crashing noise echo'd through the large room, Kat glanced over towards the doors to see a man with a little girl burst through them.

She arched an eyebrow at his signing, then glanced at the little girl at his side. It instantly clicked that it was the little girl he was signing for. She was a little puzzled as to why there was a kid here anyway, but she knew there was at least a small chance that there would be people here that already had a family of their own. She jolted out of her deep thought process when her eyes met the little girl's for a few seconds. She awkwardly averted her eyes for a second, then met eye contact again. Kat wasn't used kids anymore, and hated awkward eye contact more than anything. In a small state of panic, she decided to sign something to the girl to make it at least a little less awkward.

{Hey, that's a pretty dress you've got.} She signed quickly to the girl, glad that her years of sign class was finally paying off.

{I intentionally picked this out to clash with itself and NOT look pretty in order to flush out people like you. You failed the first test. Knowing ASL is a plus, though, so you're still on my good side!} Arietty signed back while keeping her angelic smile, Walker thankfully seeing neither of them as he paid attention to Clara's announcement.

Kat arched an eyebrow, surprised by the little girl's bluntness. She smiled slightly, deciding that she already liked the kid. Well, if the girl liked tests, she'd challenge her back. Hopefully she could take the blunt honesty as well as she dealt it.
{Let me rephrase. Your dress is extremely off-putting, what with the design. And your shoes look terrible all together. I apologize for feeling obligated to be polite to a kid, maybe I should re-examine my mixer etiquette.} She signed back to the girl, a teasing smile barely curling at the corners of her lips. So that made one person she maybe liked in this room, and she was pleased that the kid wasn't a spoiled brat like most children of millionaires were.

She glanced towards Clara, listening to the announcement as well.

{And what if I thought you were trying to get to my daddy through being nice to me?} She signed back, glad that she had a challenge for once. {The very reason I set up my clothing in such garish fashion, garish, mind you, not ugly, that's another point deduction, was because I want my daddy to be with someone who doesn't mind being blunt from the get-go. You failed that right away, and I highly doubt continuing to argue with me will earn you any points from the person deciding who's getting married to who. Also, realize that you're arguing with a SIX-YEAR OLD. I could sign out whatever I please and no one would believe you besides Walker, who wouldn't think for a second I would do such a thing. So run along, enjoy the mixer, and stay away from my daddy.} Arietty, I should add, reads a LOT. As such, she's incredibly advanced for her age, with Walker's parents already seeing her as a potential heiress to their economic empire should Walker back out.

Walker nodded to Clara.
"Like a mother hears breaking glass." he said, bowing slightly to Livia as Arietty hid herself behind Walker, "A pleasure to meet you in person, Livia. I heard you're stunting for a new movie?" Walker smiled as he spoke, his demeanor welcoming as he asked about her career. Arietty, however, continued to hide behind Walker, absolutely terrified of meeting her favorite stuntwoman, but still taking the slightest amount of time where the two weren't paying attention to do the "I have my eyes on you" motion to Katerina.