Date Submitted: 12/28/00
Title of Story: "Deja Vu: A New Love Ch. 2"
Author: shuis_4everinlove@hotmail.com

Chapter Two

Victoria took one last look in the mirror and smiled, pleased with what she saw. She knew she was vain, but she had always been drilled by her mother about her public appearance, and it had sunk in. her red dress looked fabulous on her, as did her make-up. She had decided to have her hair pulled back in a bun-like do, and she had on red lipstick that matched her dress, shoes, and necklace. She had put on a dark eyeshadow, and her eyes were rimmed with a thin line of liner, giving her the mysterious eyes she was known for. She had the Crane eyes, same as her Grandmother Crane, and her Aunt Sheridan. For Alastair’s wife they had been wide and innocent, Sheridan’s eyes were very emotional, and Victoria’s were full of mystery. Everyone she had ever dated, or even flirted with liked to compliment her eyes, so she had quite an ego when it came to them.

"Victoria, if you don’t hurry up we’ll be leaving without you," Julian’s voice called up from the foot of the stairs.

"I’m coming." Victoria rushed out of her room, and quickly descended the stairs. When she reached the bottom she noticed Ethan and his ex-fiancée but still girlfriend Gwen Hotchkiss. She rushed over and embraced her oldest brother.

"Ethan. It’s so great to see you!"

"You too, Vicky. It’s been too long!"

Victoria broke the embrace, and turned to Gwen. "It’s nice to see you to Gwen."

"I’m glad you’re back, and I hear you’re staying with us for awhile."

"Yeah, I’ve moved back. So we can catch up on everything, have some good girl talks, all right?"

"That sounds good."

"Well, we’d better get going," Ivy told them.

"What about Sheridan? Is Luis driving her?" asked Ethan.

"No, they are coming with us in the limo," replied Julian in dismay. "Sheridan’s car is being repaired."

"Did she hit anything?" asked Ethan.

"No, she only runs into my police cars," said Luis as he walked in with Sheridan.

Victoria looked at him in confusion. "I think I missed something while I was gone. Sheridan ran into you police car?"

"Twice."

"Ah, I see. Great driving skills."

"Can we get going now," said Julian. "We don’t want to be late."

"OK Father, we can go."

The Cranes, along with Gwen and Luis, climbed into the silver stretch limo that was going to take them to the Taylor mansion. Everyone sat in uncomfortable silence until they reached their destination.

"I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were coming to Harmony!" exclaimed Amy Taylor. "What kind of best friend doesn’t tell when they’re moving."

"Obviously the kind I am, which is yours," replied Victoria. "Besides, half of the fun of this party was seeing your face when I walked into the room!" They both laughed.

"So, what shall we do now?" Amy asked.

"Oh, I don’t know. My mother said something about eligible bachelors, but that’s not very interesting, is it Am?"

"Oh, no. Not at all. The interesting ones are INeligible!"

"As long as they aren’t married at least."

"Well…"

"Am!"

"Oh, all right Vicky, only the unmarried ones."

"Good. Now that that’s settled, where are these so-called bachelors, and how eligible for us are they?"

"Oh, I think I saw some cute ones in the lounge. Shall we go see?"

"We shall indeed."

They two best friends walked off, joking and laughing, in search of men.

The first group they found we indeed in the lounge.

"Hello boys," Amy called out to them as she and Victoria entered the room.

"Hey Amy, who’s your friend," Tobias Johnson asked. The Johnson family owned the Harmony Country Club, the place to be for Harmony’s high society.

"Oh, nobody special, nobody special at all," she replied with a wink at her friend. Victoria smiled, and took a step towards Tobias.

"Hello. Am’s right, I’m nobody special at all, hardly even worthy to be at the same party as Tobias Johnson, the son of the country club owner."

Tobias was surprised that she knew his name. "Have we met?"

"No, I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I would remember someone like you, even though I’m pretty forgettable myself."

"Now, I wouldn’t say that. Looking like you do, I’m sure no one would ever forget you."

"Why, aren’t you sweet Toby. Do you mind if I call you Toby?"

"Not at all."

"Good. My name’s Vicky, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Vicky. What’s your last name, by the way?"

"Oh, nothing you’d recognize, I’m sure."

Victoria looked over at Amy, who had attached herself to Mitchell James, one of the best looking guys here. Although, Toby was a pretty good catch herself. She turned her attention back to reeling him in.

"So, what’s it like at the country club? I don’t go often, as I’m not really high society."

"Oh, it’s great! You should go with me there sometime."

"Why, Tobias Johnson, are you asking me out?"

"Only if you say yes."

"Well…how could I refuse. Maybe it will raise my standing, plus you’re really sweet and all."

"Then it’s a date, all right. Here’s my number, call whenever you’re available.

"Oh, I will."

Victoria and Toby flirted for a little longer, until Ivy walked into the room.

"Victoria, there you are! Everyone’s been asking where you were."

"Oh really Mother? Well, I’ve been here the whole time."

Tobias’ eyes widened as he realized the girl he’d been flirting with was Ivy Crane’s daughter.

"Hello Mrs. Crane. Your daughter and I have been talking."

"So I see. Well, I’m afraid I’ll have to steal her away, but as I said everyone wants to see her."

Victoria got up from the couch that she had been seated on. "That date’s still on, right?" she asked Toby. "I really want to see what’s new at the country club. I haven’t been there for years"

With a smile she walked off with her mother. Tobias got off the couch, and went up to Amy.

"That wasn’t very nice, Amy Taylor! You could have warned me she was a Crane, I bet I sounded really stupid to her!"

Amy laughed. "Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Tobias Johnson. From what I saw she seamed pretty interested in what you were saying. Then again, that could have just been the act!" She laughed again at Toby’s shocked face. "I’m kidding. She would have stayed there if you were boring her. I should know, I’m her best friend!"

Victoria and Amy laughed later that evening when they talked about Tobias.

"That was so much fun Am, too bad I can’t do it again. Now everyone knows I’m back!"

"Yeah, well, I don’t think you’ll need to worry about getting a date for awhile, until Toby bores you."

"I’m sure that will be awhile. He seems nice, I think we could go out for a few months. But no one every can keep me interested for long, you know."

"Someday you’ll meet someone, Vic, don’t worry. Your family seems to be lucky right now, they all have one or more people to love."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there’s you brother, Ethan. He is in love with Gwen, and this other woman, or at least he must be in love with her, or he wouldn’t have called off the wedding. And, then there’s your father, who always has his mistresses. Even your Aunt Sheridan found someone, that bodyguard of hers is a hunk!"

"Yeah, he is. I’m not sure what’s going on with them, but I picked up on something between the two of them. I think Ethan said that they went out a few times, but Luis did something, but I don’t know what. Ethan had his own life to worry about too. He doesn’t want to hurt Gwen or Th…the other woman."

A waiter came up with some wine. "Red or white, Ms. Crane?"

"I’ll have red, thank you very much." She took the glass he handed her, and took a sip.

"What will you be having, Ms. Amy?"

"I’ll have some white wine Matthew."

"Very good miss."

Matthew gave Amy her glass, and went off to serve the other guests.

"Am, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make sure my make-ups still picture perfect, I think I saw someone from the press here."

"Vanity, vanity," Amy scolded. "You look fine, never better."

"You know I am a perfectionist when if comes to appearance. I have to check for myself." Victoria smiled at her friend, and walked off towards the washroom.

After Victoria was satisfied with how she looked, she went back towards where she had left Amy. She was walking around a corner when all of a sudden she ran in to someone, and her wine spilled on his shirt. She zoned out for a few seconds, and then look up to see who she had run into. At first, she had thought is was Ethan, but she quickly realized that it was just someone who looked like her brother. This man was about Ethan’s height, but had a more muscular build, she thought he must work out. He had brown eyes, and darker hair than Ethan, but other than that the two were very similar.

Victoria saw her wine on his shirt, and snapped out of her reverie. "I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you coming. Oh, this shirt is going to need to be dry-cleaned. I promise I’ll pay for it, it’s no problem."

"Hey," he said, "don’t worry about it. I should have been watching where I was going. It was my fault, don’t worry about the dry-cleaning."

"No, it was my fault. Of course I’ll worry about the dry cleaning." He opened his mouth.

"No, don’t argue with me!" she said, cutting off what ever he was about to say. "I’m going to pay the bill. End of story. OK?"

"Fine, I’m not going to argue anymore!"

"Good, now let’s get you cleaned up." Victoria grabbed his sleeve and quickly pulled him into the coatroom. She scanned the room, and went over to where her purse lay, and pulled out a stain remover.

"Never leave home without something to get out those unsightly stains," she said with a smile as she pushed back his suit jacket to get a better look at the damage she had done. "Hmmm. This is one tough looking mess. Maybe you should do this, it’s going to take a good scrubbing before it’s not too noticeable." She handed him the remover pad. "By the way, my name is Victoria."

"Noah."

"Nice to meet you."

"Same here. Although I think my shirt would disagree."

"Well, I doubt my wine appreciates being stuck in fabric, so we’re even."

Noah laughed. "I guess we are."

"Good. Try to scrub the middle of your shirt the best, the rest can be covered with your jacket. So, what brings you to this party, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before?"

"You probably haven’t. I’ve been at school for the last few years, and mansion parties aren’t really my scene anyway."

"Me too. I mean, I’ve been away at school since forever. Unfortunately, I can’t get out of parties at mansions, so they are my scene."

"Well, if that’s what you’re used to. How is this side looking, I think my chest is going numb?"

"It’s better, but you’re not done yet. So, do you like school?"

"It’s okay, but I wish I’d been able to stay in Harmony."

"Yeah, this town grows on you, doesn’t it? I just moved back today, actually. My whole family was totally shocked to see me! I didn’t even tell my parents I was coming."

"Why not?"

"I was afraid that they’d say I couldn’t come back, or something. Actually, that was pretty dumb of me, my family may not be very close, but we do, sometimes at least, enjoy each others company."

"Yeah, my family’s real tight. Well, my sisters have this whole rivalry going on, but they do love each other."

"I’m the oldest girl, so I put my sisters in their places. I have an older brother, but we get along great. I think you should probably stop scrubbing so hard, you’ll put a hole in your shirt, and then I’ll feel so guilty for staining it that I’ll have to go and buy you a new one!"

"I can’t help it. Does it look OK? Honestly"

"Honestly…it looks horrible. But I think that we can get it covered up nicely, no one will every notice, unless they’re looking for it. Just in case you should try not to have any pictures taken of you, or at least not on that side."

"Fine, lets see if we can salvage this mess!"

Noah put his jacket back on, and he and Victoria figured out how to place it so that the stain wasn’t visible. When they were both satisfied, Noah went to the door and peeked out.

"The coast’s clear, let’s go before someone comes and asks questions"

They hurried out of the coatroom, unseen, and calmly walked back to where they had run into each other.

"Well," said Noah, "I guess I better go, my parents will be wondering where I am."

"Yeah, my friend is going to think I ditched her. I’ll see you around."

"Yeah, bye Victoria."

"Bye Noah. Sorry again."

Noah shook his head as he walked away. Victoria stood there, watching him, how he moved, she couldn’t stop staring at him. He looked back at her over his shoulders, and she looked away for a second, so it didn’t look like she had been staring at him. Then she met his gaze, and Noah smiled at her. She couldn’t help but smile back. He turned away, and went around a corner. Victoria almost ran after him, but was able to restrain herself. ‘What am I doing’ she thought. ‘It’s like I’m in love or something. But I’m not, I mean I

just met the guy, and I don’t believe in love at first sight. Or at least I didn’t…

This page has been visited. Since June 19, 2001

Back to: Passions Fan Fiction
Back to: Passions Central