Chapter 2 With the girls

It was Ria's last night in Vegas. She had been in the city for an entire week, working at a fashion expo where she modeled along with some of her college friends.

One look at Georgia's aunt, Miss Rosalie, and it was obvious where Georgia got all her traits from. She was as fierce and unrefined as Georgia was. She was a multimillionaire fashion designer, but she was dressed like a glorified peasant for the duration of the time Ria worked with her.

When Georgia had told Ria that her aunt needed armature models, the latter had wondered why. It wasn't as if the multimillionaire fashion designer could not afford professional models to walk her brand down the runway, so why did she need untrained models?

The answer to her question was revealed within the first few minutes of their meeting Miss Rosalie, even without them requesting for an explanation.

Turns out that the agency she worked with who provided her models on a regular were trying to get on her nerves, so to teach them a lesson, Miss Rosalie recruited armature models at the last minute to do the job, just to spite them.

"I'll show those skinny assed fucks that I can put up a show without their lazy asses!" Miss Rosalie had cursed.

Subsequently, there were a lot more alteration of curses and a series of unfiltered and unprintable name calling from Miss Rosalie as they worked with her for the week. Most of it was directed at her ex agency, but then, Miss Rosalie swore at literally everything. She had the name and look of a lady, but her mouth was as foul as one of those old grannies Ria knew in Downtown, LA. Those grannies who were gathered at her grandma's porch whenever she went visiting, playing cards, smoking weed and drinking liquor. Those old folks cursed as if they were not afraid of heaven, even as they were the nearest to heaven. It often made Ria marvel.

Now, listening to Miss Rosalie cuss through those dainty lips painted in blood red lipstick, she didn't seem so different from the grannies on Ria's grandma's porch. And she wasn't so different from her niece, Georgia, either.

After a long week of working hard and glaring cameras and walking lines, Ria and her friends were finally done with work. They had just received their pay and Miss Rosalie was generous enough to give them complementary samples of her designs as souvenirs for working with her.

Their flight was scheduled for the next day, so they had the evening to themselves. Georgia was spending the night over at her aunt's, so Ria was stuck with Georgia's friends, who were also her friends, but she wasn't very close with them as she was with Georgia. She only hung out with them because of Georgia, so being left all alone with them without her friend, Ria wasn't sure how to behave around them. They had been working close together for the whole week, yet they felt like strangers to Ria, even though she had known them for two whole years. It was her first time being this close to them without Georgia.

The girls were celebrating over a bottle of wine, but Ria sat to a corner of the room, watching them cautiously.

"Ria! Come over here and join us!" One of the girls invited her. It was Camila, a blondie with heavenly blue eyes. She fit the role of a model the most and Miss Rosalie kept giving her compliments during their short training period before the show began. Miss Rosalie had also promised to continue working with Camila subsequently and a talent scout had approached Camila after one of their shows to offer her a movie role.

Clearly, Camila was the happiest among the girls as she had more to celebrate.

Within Georgia's circle, Camila was one person Ria was close to and could relate with because the girl was as free spirited as a wind. She was always fun seeking and engaging, not as uptight as most of the other friends seemed to Ria.

"Come on over girl! Join us for a drink! You can't be sitting in the corner like that when we're celebrating! We're in Vegas baby! No time to be sad or thoughtful! Come on over!" Camila urged Ria.

Ria got up reluctantly and dragged her feet towards the girls. Another girl offered her a glass as she reached them, and Camila filled it up.

"Thank you." Ria said.

"Go on bitch! Drink up!" Camila yelled excitedly.

With a weary smile, Ria obeyed and putting the glass to her lips, she drank every single drop of wine. It tasted sweet, but it was definitely intoxicating because Ria felt a little dizzy as soon as the drink touched her tongue.

"That's more like it, bitch!" Camila congratulated her.

"It's strong." Ria winced, and the girls broke into laughter.

"It's just wine girlie." Keisha, one of the girls said. "It's not even alcoholic, just fermented." She said in amazement.

"So, you don't drink?" Sonia, another girl said.

"She is horrible at holding her alcohol!" Camila said. "The last time she got drunk at a club, she cried for the rest of the night! Georgia had to carry her home." She said, reminding Ria of the embarrassing day. It was Ria's first time of trying alcohol, and she threw up severally. Till this day, she still couldn't recall a single thing that happened after she got drunk. She just blanked out and Georgia often taunted her with all the things she did that day which she still couldn't remember.

"I acted like that because it was my first time! I've gotten better after that." Ria defended herself.

"No, you didn't get better." Camila said. "Georgia only got more protective."

The rest of the girls broke into a laugh.

"Yeah, that's true. Georgia has always been very protective of her. You would think she were her guardian." Sonia said.

"She has always been and will always be Georgia's baby girl." Camila said and the small group laughed again.