Selena Frost vs. Tommy Valentine

[Thomas Valentine]

OOC: I intended this one to accompany my second rp for RTG but didn't get the time. Good luck! Always a pleasure!

Friday the 23rd of July
The Valentine Residence
Santa Barbara

Today was the day.

Today was the day that Kandis and I threw the party to end all parties in order to simply allow us to kick back, have fun and suitably unwind before we went to war in order to take the Tag Titles back where they belonged. I wasn't normally one to get super paranoid about something as straight forward as party preparations, but I seemed to be making an exception for this one. Perhaps it was simply because we hadn't really hosted that many parties and this one in particular was special as it was the first party we had hosted at our house… Then again it probably added a tiny amount of pressure that it was the first time both our individual and collective friends and family were going to be in the same place. I mean it was surely good for me to be wary with the rogues gallery attending, right? Thomas Watson… Gable Winchester… And of course Ashley himself were all going to be in attendance, the latter taking his sweet time of course to let us know that he would "Probably" be attending… Throw Kandis' cousin Sydney and my girls recently discovered sister, Coral into the mix then it's certainly a potential powder keg given the way Ashley and Sydney broke up unexpectedly and the 'extrovert' that was, Coral to the point it was almost like having two Kandis' around and all I had to ask myself was what could go wrong?

I'd not long since finished checking that Thomas Watson had arranged for enough alcohol to be delivered from the Starmaker when the guests had slowly started to trickle in. I walked outside and looked at the individuals that had arrived when I spotted one of them that I was more than curious about, given our last conversation at the meeting I'd held at Ante Up to invite everyone I could summon. I grinned as Gable Winchester spotted me a few moments after I'd seen him and we approached one another, shaking hands. "Hey Gibbles! Glad you could make it!" I exclaimed after we'd shook hands.

He nodded and smiled. "Thanks again for the invite man, this is the first time I've visited your place surprisingly… And it's incredible!" He said, even as he was still looking up at the house and then the yard with blatant admiration written all over his face.

"Glad you like it my friend!" I said, grinning proudly as I watched the look of awe on his face for a few more moments.

After a few seconds, his expression suddenly switched to one that was a bit apprehensive if I had to describe it the best I could. "So yeah, about my plus one…" he started as my grin widened upon hearing the words.

I looked around expectantly before fixing him with a smirk. "Oh yeah, where is she? Knowing your taste in women I know she'll be a knockout" I exclaimed as the look of apprehension remained firmly on his face which I was beginning to think was a bit strange.

There was an uneasy smile on his face as he replied to my comment. "She's just gone to ask Kandis where the bathroom is and for somewhere to get changed as we were running a bit late" Gable said as I frowned and looked towards where Kandis was now and saw there was only Thomas and Tory in the vicinity.

Thinking I'd just missed the mystery woman I looked at him curiously. "Ah cool… She could have just asked me…" I retorted, insinuating that I was really thinking this was odd when I was pretty much the first person Gable had seen since they got here, I assumed.

That troubled look hadn't left his face as Gable looked even more nervous somehow. "Yeah…" he said trailing off as he was now gazing over my shoulder.

Before I could even turn around, I heard a voice that I hadn't heard in a while… A voice I hadn't WANTED to hear ever again to be honest. "Gable? I brought you a beer to save you the trip" I turned around to have my suspicions confirmed as Harmony fucking Fisher was now stood in front of me, a skimpy bikini on and two beers in her hands. She cast me a disinterested look before walking past me and holding a beer out to The Man Of Win.

"Um thanks…" Gable said, looking everywhere but at me.

All I could do was look between the two of them in complete disbelief that this was really happening. "What… The… FUCK!?" I almost shouted as my stare zoned in on Harmony.

"Hello to you too, Tommy" Harmony said as I noticed an amused smirk on her face that was gone before I could comment on it.

Folding my arms I glared at Fisher. "What the hell are you doing here, Harmony!? Did Kandis invite you or something?" I demanded to know as she just stood there next to Gable and took a sip of her beer.

"Erm dude…" Gable murmured as I held a hand up at him, saving the man from having to make excuses for the bitch that was somehow in my yard.

Scoffing in Harmony's direction I looked at Gable "Look, I filled you in on what happened Gable… No need to play the White Knight this time, she doesn't deserve it!" I exclaimed as a few of the people nearby looked over in our direction as I raised my voice.

"It's not that-" Gable said hesitantly as I was caught somewhere between angry and confused at this set of unforeseen events.

My glare was then turned on Winchester. "Then what is it?" I demanded as I looked at him expectantly.

"I invited her…" he said quietly as my eyes almost popped out of my skull in that moment I was that shocked.

Laughing with no humour, I shook my head. "For a second there, I could have sworn you said that YOU invited her…" I declared as Harmony sighed and Gable just looked downright sheepish.

"I…" he attempted to say before Fisher rolled her eyes and stepped closer to him.

The cogs started whirring in my mind and then it all suddenly clicked into place and the horrid reality hit me. "Wait a minute…" I mumbled before looking between them. Once again Harmony sighed and then slipped her hand in his, confirming my worst fears for the conclusion to the conversation. "No, surely not… SHE'S your plus one?!" I yelled indignantly, once again causing a few people to look our way, Kandis must have been out of earshot as she would certainly have been asking questions about my outburst if she HAD heard. "Fuck" I hissed as I looked between the two of them.

Gable shook his head and looked at me almost imploringly. "I'm sorry if it felt like I tricked you or something, man… But yeah she is" He admitted, his voice lowering towards the end of the statement but there was no hint of regret or anything like that in his voice.

I tried to think of something to say, but just ended up shaking my head. "I'm speechless" I managed to say finally.

Once again, Harmony scoffed and folded her arms. "Makes a change" she sneered as she looked me up and down once more with disdain.

Winchester turned to her, his eyes narrowed. "Harm…" he said, probably urging her to stop being a first class bitch to the host of the party I was suddenly regretting inviting him to.

In turn, Harmony stared at her… Boyfriend? Yeah guess that's what this was; and then sighed, tilting her head back. "What? I get that the two of you are bosom buddies or whatever, but this is ridiculous" she exclaimed haughtily.

"You got that right" I muttered as Gable looked between the two of us helplessly.

"Look, we'll go. I don't want us to create an atmosphere" he finally said after probably scouring his brain for something to say and more than likely drawing a blank.

At first I was on board with the idea, but then I figured that we needed to somehow get past this mammoth in the room, otherwise it would taint our working relationship. "No… Stay" I found myself saying against my better judgement.

Both of them looked at me wide eyed but it was Gable who broke the awkward silence between us after what I'd said. "You sure?" He asked me carefully as he could probably feel Harmony's animosity towards me for everything I'd done in the last year, radiating from her very core.

Letting out a massive sigh of my own, business nodded. "Yeah, you're my guest… guests apparently. I'm not going to revoke the invite for something so petty" I responded, though the last bit was said through almost gritted teeth.

To his credit, a look of relief had washed over Gable's face after I hadn't given them both their marching orders. "Well I appreciate it, we BOTH do" he said, glaring pointedly at Harmony who half turned away from me.

"Whatevs" she declared as Winchester looked at me almost apologetically. If he thought this was going to be one of the worst outbursts that woman was going to have now we were all reacquainted… He was in for the shock of his life… But it wasn't my problem now, not in the slightest.

Sighing again for the millionth time, I smiled at Gable. "Beers are in the kitchen as Harmony already knows, and I'm sure there's enough stuff to create some cocktails too" I stated, trying not to let my look at Harmony give away just how pissed I was… For the sake of keeping the peace of course.

Gable smiled and patted me on the shoulder. "Thanks dude, we'll let you mingle with the other guests since they're starting to flood in now" he announced, looking around as I realised he was telling the truth. In that small amount of time, a fair few of the guests had arrived. I smiled and nodded as Tish waved over at me as she sat down on one of the loungers we had by the pool and I finally caught sight of Kandis as she was doing her own mingling with the guests.

I managed a slight smile before nodding towards the both of them. "Enjoy yourselves" I said as they walked away. I heard Gable murmuring something to Harmony and her irate response before I shook my head and once again folded my arms. Not the greatest start I could think of to the party but it wasn’t the end of the world, right?

I shook my head slowly once again before running a hand through my hair. The guy usually had great taste in women, but something must have gone wrong in his head in recent years… First Autumn who used and abused him once a presumably better offer came along, now Psycho Barbie? Jesus Christ!

"Well that wasn't awkward at all…" A sultry voice purred from behind me and almost made me jump out of my skin as I was immediately dragged from my thoughts.

I turned around to see Kandis’ sister stood there, complete with skimpy bikini that I couldn’t help but notice was almost identical to Kandis’ own choice in swimwear. In the brief moment we were looking at each other I couldn’t help but wonder if she was now deliberately starting to imitate her sisters look or whether it was a coincidence that they had similar tastes in fashion or whatever. Immediately after that thought entered my head, I began to wonder if she’d randomly done something to her hair that made it look eerily similar to Kandis’. Trying not to let my puzzlement show for too long, I smiled warmly. "Coral? Hey, when did you get here?" I asked her, my question being two pronged as I had no idea how much of the exchange between me and Gable, as well as Harmony; she had heard.

She looked me up and down in a weird way before locking eyes with me and smiling as if she was in possession of a juicy secret that I had no idea about. "Here as in your place, or here to witness that tense exchange?" she asked me innocently, though her specific retort to my question said she must have heard enough to develop somewhat of an opinion on the matter.

Not running the risk of falling into any potential traps I smiled politely once again. "The former" I replied, giving my answer in this volley of questioning.

She smirked and then shrugged. "Well I got here a little while ago, my GPS went crazy so it ended up making me late" she said in way of response and it made a bit more sense that she wasn’t here from the start like she’d told Kandis she would try her best to do.

"Ah cool, well you better make up for lost time then in that case" I said, suddenly in the mood to try and remove myself from this particular conversation. I started to walk away from her, ready with my excuse that I needed to go and greet some friends when she put a hand on my chest.

I could have sworn she let her hand run up and down ever so slightly on my chest before Coral smiled at me, once again locking eyes with me. "Oh I intend to… Was she an ex?" Kandis’ sister asked me, cocking her head to the side curiously.

Realising I had fallen into the trap after all, I went to my fallback… Feigning ignorance to what she was talking about. "Huh?" I said, narrowing my eyes in what I hoped was my best confused look.

"The girl that was with that stud" Coral said, tightening the net around me in the trap she’d laid out, intentionally or not. I figured that throwing her off the scent was my best option at that point.

"Ah… It's complicated" I said, shrugging as nonchalantly as I could and once again started to walk away from her.

Once again, Coral surprised me and stopped me from walking away once again with her words. "So you fucked then" she said, the matter-of-fact way she said it was quite unsettling, given the fact we weren’t exactly well acquainted outside of a visit to see her sister and where she lived a little while ago.

I shrugged once again, despite the fact that it hadn’t worked beforehand. "As I said, it's complicated" I repeated and this time didn’t bother trying to walk away as I knew it would probably fail once more.

Coral smiled to herself and then arched her eyebrows. "My my… Just when I think you can't get any more intriguing, you go and prove me wrong" she purred as my eyes narrowed with confusion. Was it that intriguing that I have a past?

Pasting another polite smile on my face, I shook my head. "I have no idea what you're talking about" I replied carefully, understanding that this was merely a token gesture. She knew that I was well aware of what she was talking about and wouldn’t settle for anything other than me admitting she had hit the mark so to speak with her guess.

Coral pouted and then the pout formed into a smirk before she nodded slowly. "Of course you don't… Well I'm always happy to listen to you vent if you need an impartial ear…" she said before the smirk turned into a knowing smile. I wouldn’t exactly call her impartial, but then again it wasn’t as if there was much I needed to talk about, not to Coral anyway.

I nodded and then smiled again, this time it was a genuine one borne of politeness. "I'll… Keep that in mind. Anyway mi casa su casa and all that" I said, attempting to get away once again.

"And I'll keep that in mind" Coral replied with a curious look on her face as I had no idea what she meant but not wanting to find out in any way, shape or form.

I nodded and then flashed her a smile. "Excellent, now I've just gotta go and make sure the alcohol is topped up, I'll see you later" I said before walking off in the direction of the house, not wanting her to stall my getaway any longer.

"See you later, Tommy" Coral said right after I passed her and I was lucky enough that she didn’t follow me to pursue the topic of why my mood had already taken a nosedive. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Harmony had even displayed a little bit of decorum or just a bit of civility since it was my damn house she was visiting… But an attitude like hers wasn’t going to be quashed simply for the sake of being polite.

"Harmony fucking Fisher…" I murmured to myself as I made my way into the kitchen and downed a whole bottle of beer in a few gulps.

I sighed with some contentment as I figured that the best way to forget about the drama was to consume much more of the good stuff! It was as I was cracking open a second beer that a voice spoke from behind me. "Hey boss, you okay?" Relief flooded through me as it wasn’t another unwelcome surprise, but Kandis’ friend and my General Manager at Ante Up, Tish Crossley who had spoken this time.

I smiled sheepishly as I clutched not only the bottle I had opened but another one, ready to the follow the first. "Hey, Tish… And yeah I'm good. Just suddenly have the urge to get blind drunk" I said, chuckling as I held up both beers.

To her credit, Tish smirked and held up a cocktail that she seemingly had just made for herself. "Well this IS a party" she exclaimed before pointedly draining some of the colourful cocktail in her glass.

"No shit haha… I'm gonna go dig out the Tequila" I said, deciding in that moment that since I had been a good boy and done all the adulting in the lead up to this evening, including ordering a metric fuck tonne of pizza so no one would have to go home hungry… And of course save yours truly or my beautiful partner from cooking anything; that I was going all out to really not have to think about much on this night that was all about fun.

Tish nodded and then a grin spread across her face. "Onto the hard stuff already? Wow… Well I'll keep you company for a bit since Kandis is playing the hostess with the mostest" she replied much to my surprise, I’d expected a lot of responses but not the ACTUAL one she had given… This woman certainly had hidden layers to her!

Figuring that Tish was a safe bet as far as not being one that pried in others business, I figured that having a few measures of Tequila with someone was a lot more sensible than being on my own where I would have been much more likely to finish the bottle… For some reason that thought made me feel a tinge of pride at making such a good decision… As far as drinking irresponsibly goes anyhow..."Sounds good to me, let's do it!" I declared as I rooted through all of the spirits in the kitchen until I found exactly what I was looking for. One of the most popular brands of Tequila I stocked at the Starmaker. I then unearthed a couple of shot glasses then gestured for Tish to follow me into the Lounge where we could do shots in comfort.

Hey… It hadn’t been the greatest of starts to a party that I’d ever had, but factoring in good company along with some potent spirits… The evening was looking more and more like it was saved… I’m sure Kandis was having a good time so after all the messing around I’d done to make sure this thing went by without a hitch, surely I deserved a tiny break. I mean what’s the worst that could happen?