Chapter 14 - The County Club

Saphira

I went upstairs, to get a magazine and a towel to sit on. I wasn't about to get my carefully picked out clothes dirty.

The day started out great, I got another mystery unraveled. The 2nd staircase In the front yard, let straight to the beach.

I sat myself down, on one of the comfortable chairs with parasols above them, giving shade. Then I started reading my magazine. The magazine contained a quiz. You could actually check if you were a match with Edward Cullen, the vampire from a book series.

I wasn't a fan of reading, but I had watched the movies a hundredth times.

I didn't count this love affair as a fairytale though. Because of course, I didn't do fairytales. I was above all that nonsense. Besides, Bella didn't marry no prince charming. She married a bloodthirsty vampire. That was totally different.

After I read through the first two pages, my phone buzzed.

"Hi, mom."

"Saph, Grandma is waiting for you on the driveway."

"I'll be right up. "Have fun sweetheart!"

"Thanks mom, good luck today."

Somehow, for some reason, I got really nervous. I stumbled my way upfront while my stomach twisted.

Grandma smiled at me as I walked toward her mini Cooper. I hoped that was a good sign.

"You've got better taste then your mother." She said in a teasing tone. "Err... thanks." I replied, and bit my lip.

I couldn't think of anything conversational too say, and the trip to the country club was too short to give it a longer thought. I was glad when we opened up our car doors because this time, the silence was awkward.

The country club was hidden in the Santa Monica mountains. The view was most definitely. Without a doubt, ridiculously stunning.

Grandmother held my arm and walked with me, into a very large building. While we walked through a pretty hallway I heard classical music playing in the background.

"Dear, feel free to look around. I won't be long." Grandma said as we stepped into this great round room. She kissed my cheek and disappeared behind the very long wooden bar.

I realized the music I heard was live, because someone played the white grand piano, sitting on a platform. It sounded incredible.

I loved music, so I wanted to walk up closer. Then all of a sudden, I was stunned by the smell of cologne, that was lingering in the air.

It smelled exactly the same as in my dream. The closer I got the stronger it became. Was this real?! I had been searching for this fragrance for days now.

I was so mesmerized that I stopped walking altogether. I just stood there. Brainlessly staring at the grand piano.

"Saphira." Grandma said as she placed her hand on my shoulder. "Come, Let me introduce you. I have waited so long for this." She said with a bright smile on her slightly wrinkled face.

We walked away from the grand piano and walked through these big glass open doors. They reminded me of my bedroom wall.

Outside there was a terrace filled with women. Lunch party guests I thought. I hope this introducing ritual didn't take long, I badly wanted to smell the cologne again.

We were an our early though. Only, I didn't spend that much time with grandma, besides her introducing me to a lot of people. She introduced me to everyone really, except for the person playing on the piano.

I tried to put a friendly smile on my face and be as polite as I could possibly manage. I learned that grandma was actually hosting the party, so she was quite busy all the time.

I was waiting at the bar until the grand lunch would begin. Nervously fidgeting with a strain of my hair, while staring at the piano. I know it was silly, but somehow finding my treasure wasn't enough. I wanted more.

I wanted to see if the face was anything like the smell. But the person kept his head down while playing. This really frustrated me.

When I finally found the courage to walk up to him. I sucked in a deep breath of air.

Only then I saw that grandma was walking towards me with two girls beside her. They looked like runway models.

One was exactly as tall as me and wore a tight, white knee length dress. On her feet she wore these white heels, that showed off her pretty figure. She reminded me of my mom in a lot of ways.

She had the same deep black eyes and long black hair that matched them. Even her skin color was exactly the same.

The other girl had brown curly hair that rested on her shoulders. She didn't wear a dress though. Instead she wore a Khaki pants and a polo on top. She seemed to be a bit more my age then taller one. Who was probably the youngest.

"Shoot, what to say, what so say." I mumbled to myself. If only I won't make a fool out of myself, I thought.

"Hi, I'm Lynn." The girl with the curly hair said, introducing herself first. "Saphira, nice to me you." I said shaking her hand. The taller one was either as shy as I am or she didn't want to shake hands with me.

She kept looking into another direction. It made me feel very self conscious.

Finally grandma decided to introduce us. "Saphira, this is Sierra." Grandma said while gesturing her hand from me to her. "Sierra, is your cousin." She added.

That explained her appearance a lot. Sierra smiled a very awkward smile. It almost seemed forced. I smiled back, trying not to let it bother me too much.

Obviously this was all in my head right? Why wouldn't she like me? She didn't even know me yet. Still it made me feel a bit insecure. I tried to repress the feeling. I was being ridiculous.

I decided I would try to see his face, first thing, when lunch would be over.

Gran sat on the head of the oval table, that was set with the prettiest lavender china. I took a seat on the left side of her and Sierra took the chair on her right.

Lynn joined the table too and sat right next to me. She seemed very nice and easy going. We chatted a bit.

"What are we having for lunch?" I asked Lynn. "Lunch? We're having a high tea." She said frowning.

I raised one eyebrow.

"We're going to drink tea?" I asked dubiously. Lynn rolled her eyes at me. "Your hilarious." She said snickering. "It means we'll have different courses of sweets and sandwiches."

"Sounds good."

I was shocked to admit, I didn't have any trouble making conversation with her at all. Sierra was a different story though. She didn't give me the time of day and only looked at me, when politeness was required.

what did I do wrong? I could hardly think of anything.