Sage Slade

I HATE HEELS

These weren't meant for someone like me who loves sneakers and flats. Being on the ground is where I belong why would I want to distance myself from it with painful shoes?

The worst part about this all is seeing how much Greyson seems to enjoy my stressful evening.

Scratch that

The WORST part is seeing how freaking good he looks tonight. As usual Greyson is nothing but impeccable to look at. His hair is slicked back and he looks like he came out of a Calvin Klein photoshoot just with clothes on. Unfortunately his freshly shaven face was the only problem I had, I prefer the usual scruff.

WHAT AM I DOING?

"Come with me." Greyson says, reach out his arm. What was I supposed to do? He notices my confusion and sighs. "Grab my arm, I'll lose you in the crowd otherwise." That made sense, if he's taking me somewhere it's better I hold him so that I don't get lost. Especially with all the pain in my feet right now I'd probably wince then lose him.

We walk through the tangled crowds of people and I realize that he's taking me outside of the hall. Minutes later we end up at the longue and he takes me towards the antique chairs. "Sit." He commands and I look at him surprised. "You're in pain right? Take a break." See it's moments like this where I can't tell if he's honestly being a good guy or faking it for appearance sake.

Either way I don't hesitate to take his offer. I was immediately grateful for the sudden relief and basked in the short amount of bliss I have left. "Thank you."

Greyson seats himself on the chair diagonal from me, then grabs a glass of wine from a waiter who approached him. The waiter looks at me and I deny the offer given that I am of course underage. "You wanted to try?" Greyson asks me. I stare at the dark red liquid and kind of want to try it just not at the cost of someone's job.

"I'm too young and I don't want to get any waiters in trouble with my Grandfather." I explain to him, then drop my eyes. This is weird, having a normal conversation with him because I can't possible show my hatred towards him in a public event like this. "Here." He says handing me the glass, I look at him confused like I have been all night. "Just drink it."

"How's it going to look if someone caught you giving me an alcoholic beverage. Wouldn't that be bringing suspicion towards us?" I asked him. Greyson laughed as if what I said wasn't a serious matter. Then he looked at me and answered. "You're not the one who needs to worry about that, if you want to drink it then do it."

"No, it's alright." I deny it. Whether Greyson cares or not he has an image to uphold and him giving me this drink will draw bad attention to him. He nods nonchalantly, then scoffed. "When I attended my first gathering with my Father and siblings I got drunk. My Father was never angrier than he was until it ended up on the tabloids. 'Youngest Blackstone is an alcoholic?' or something like that."

That was the first time he's told me a story from his past, is he drunk?

"Anyways, it's good that you know how to decline these kind of offers. Shows you're mature and ready to take on the hardships of being an Emerson." He imbibes the drink, then places it down. "Ready to take on being the wife of a Blackstone too."

Whatever he was pulling I didn't like it. "Are you okay?"

Greyson studies me, he looked sober for the most part but was acting strange. "No I'm not, I need to go. You should meet up with your Grandfather, he'll get worried not seeing us within the crowds." He stands up and before I could say something a female approaches him, with a giddy smile on her face. Her dress showed way more skin than a swimsuit could, this is exactly the kind of women that Greyson would sleep with.

"You're Greyson Blackstone right? I've seen you all night and wanted to speak to you." She says happily. "I'm Christina."

He smiled. "Hello, it's a pleasure meeting you Christina." Is he really going to flirt with her right in front of me!? I should have known everything that just happened was an act. If I weren't surrounded by thousands of people who knew my Grandfather I'd throw a fit and tell that woman he had herpes or something.

Greyson grinned wickedly when she leaned in close to him showing more of her cleavage. Who knew even rich girls were sluts. I officially hate all Christina's. "Why don't we go somewhere more private Christina, there's far too many people here to talk." That's a lie he just brought me here to talk in public, ugh such a manwhore I swear!

Without even acknowledging me the two walk away, not towards the grand hall either but the hotels. I'm burning with fury right now at how much of a jerk he is towards me, I'm right here! Me—his fiance is right here. Sometimes I wonder if he has a decent bone in his body, or if he's even capable of being a decent guy.

I slumped back, frowning.

"Greyson Blackstone, the black sheep of the Blackstone family." Someone says, seating themselves next to me. I look to my left and see a guy, a good looking one at that. He looked oddly familiar though, I wouldn't be surprised if he were a model. From his wavy blond hair to his sea-green eyes, he had a certain magnetism about him.

I clear my throat, trying to figure out if I should reply to that comment. Instead the guy continued speaking. "There's never a place I've seen him where there isn't a woman wrapping herself around him trying to get it on. He's known for being quite the lady-charmer, the bachelor who's heart cannot be touched by anyone."

"He's a lady-charmer alright." I scoffed. The guy chuckled and looked at me. "I've seen you around tonight Miss Emerson, your Grandfather seems to enjoy showing you off." That's not far from the truth, my Grandfather proudly showed me off to all kind of people. I'm surprised he's put so much faith into me, we've only spoken briefly a few times.

My eyes wander through the crowds, is this my life from now on? Am I going to be surrounded by such high status people from now on? Why am I even asking, I'm engaged to the Black Prince of the Blackstone family. The moment our engagement is revealed to the public is the day I lose any privacy in my life and I'll have no choice but to make friends with people like this.

"Miss?" The guy says, slicing through my thoughts. I look at him and it begins to bother me, he looks so familiar. "I'm sorry." I say. "Actually you look familiar...have we met?" The guy looks at me then laughs, from his reaction I either weirded him out or he can't believe I asked him that. Either way he better say something because I'm started to get a headache from thinking about this. "Well?" I push.

His laughter fades. "That's the first time someone has asked me who I was, usually girls your age and younger can spot me from a mile away." He explains and I stare at him with confusion, he smiles. "I'm Pierce Radwell."

Pierce Radwell...

Pierce Radwell...

Pierce...Radwell...

Pierce...

My eyes widened. "P-Pierce Radwell!" I yell and he chuckles, nodding his head. "You...You...You're the Pierce Radwell?" Right in front of me was one the hottest teen heart-throb out there, he's an actor, musician, and model. That's why he looked familiar, I've seen his face everywhere! And now he's sitting next to me!

"Nice to meet you." His smile was bright and almost hurt to look at. I shook my head. "No, the pleasures mine, I'm a big fan." How big of fan can I be? I couldn't remember his name for the life of me. Pierce nodded his head. "Thank you, I love meeting my fans, especially when they're as pretty as you."

I'm totally swooning right now about him, he just called me pretty! Pierce Radwell!

A guy in a suit tapped his shoulder. "Mr. Radwell, your ride has arrived." The man informs him. Pierce nods his head. "Thank you, Gerard." The guy—I'm assuming Gerard smiles and bows his head, then walks away. From the sound of that it seems like Pierce is leaving, there goes my two minutes of endless bliss.

"Well unfortunately I cannot stay, I wasn't even supposed to come, I've got to take a plane to Los Angeles to do a photoshoot for my new movie." Pierce explains, then stands up. "I'd love to see you again Miss Emerson. Maybe we could exchange numbers?"

I stand up. "You can call me Sage and I wouldn't mind exchanging numbers at all." My ears were burning if Cara (my best friend) was here to hear this and not in England studying abroad she'd freak out. She loves Pierce Radwell, I'm going to text her as soon as I get home about this.

I walked Pierce to the exit, giving him my phone number and Email, while he gave me his. When the doors opened a billion lights flashed in my face, catching me off guard. Pierce was unfazed by it, this must be normal for a guy like him. The paparazzi were yelling at him, asking him a million things and to pose for the camera.

"Hey can you two take a picture together for us!?" A man yelled in the crowd.

Pierce looked at me. "I'm sorry to put you in such a situation, but would you mind taking a picture with me?" I'm not sure how I could reject a request like that, besides I'm supposed to be associating with all kinds of fame and high social statuses. This is what Grandfather would want, he'd push me to take pictures with Pierce in front of the public.

So I nodded and Pierce smiled, then wrapped his arm around my waist. It was suffocating to be so close to a him like this in front of crowds. Somehow I managed to relax and take the pictures the public asked for. "You're doing excellent." Pierce whispered to me. The flashing lights left me in a semi-permanent daze, the yelling started to quiet down, and everything froze.

Excellent