starter for cassio. ( @ofrcveries )
– LUCY’S NEVER BEEN FOND OF THESE TYPES OF PARTIES. the hollywood guys and their dick-measuring competitions, schmoozing for connections – usually to their newest drug dealer. corbin maxwell, her date, has been balancing his time between trips to the bathroom with his buddies and keeping his hand firmly placed on her ass, which at this point, is hardly sexy and feels overly possessive. she already knows what he expects at the end of the night. he’s one of those guys that showed an interest immediately after her playboy cover came out, the worst sort, but she wouldn’t be with him if there wasn’t a benefit. corbin is producer gideon maxwell’s son, and as a result, she’s got an audition next week. she’s just got to keep playing her cards right and … drink enough to keep herself too peacefully subdued to snap at him the next time he says something stupid.
her humbled beginnings don’t keep her from being high-maintenance. there’s not a hair out of place, blonde cascading down the back of an emerald green silk dress, designer, that she convinced corbin to buy for her before the event. perhaps it’s her beginnings that make her even more drawn to the opulent, drawn from one shiny thing to the next, attention fickle – after all, she knows what it’s like to not have these things, and so she’ll make the most of every red carpet event, voraciously chasing the next. light eyes dart around the room with a certain level of alertness that measures that above that of her peers, observing everyone, calculating. there’s no advantageous reason for her eyes to rest on his – cassio. she knows him mostly through who his father is, too, leagues more famous, but his band’s taking of – apparently. lucy read that in a variety piece on them last week, found the devil-may-care reckless attitude in the tone of his interview oddly charming. she’d recognize the alluring frontman in any crowded room, but of course, she doesn’t know him. he might be a total dick like the rest of them.
he’s the only person here that she genuinely wants to meet, not for ambition or career advancement, but just out of curiosity. nothing more, nothing less. as a result, they’ve shared a couple glances throughout the night, intermittently.
lucy is not naive or even vain enough to think she’s special for that – he’s the sort of person that commands an audience, presence as bold in any party as it is on stage, and she can feel the corners of her lips tug into a smile just looking at him. she gets the sense he’s as disinterested in the peacock show as she is, because if he was, he’d be pitching some bigwig rather than looking directly back at her. she raises her glass in a sort of salute, but her eyes are more inviting, a coy, come-hither sort of expression. she’s probably got oh, about ten to fifteen minutes until corbin comes wandering back from the bathroom, white residue stuck to the tip of his nose.
“ i was wondering when you were going to come talk to me, ” she remarks when he finally approaches. that’s the thing about lucy ; while overflowing with confidence, none of it is false. she was sure he’d approach her, because she’d wanted him to, just as sure as she was that the sun would rise in the morning – because she wanted it to. “ your timing is good. i’ll probably be leaving soon, ” she takes a sip from her glass before she holds out her hand to him, eyes glittering with intrigue. “ lucy merchant. ”
THERE'S AN AIR of arrogance to cassio khatri, the way it wraps itself around him like a storm cloud and follows him like a forbidding shadow. riches and glamour, attention and performance, it all is nothing but a familiar taste in his mouth and everything about his demeanor shows it. eyes that scan the parameter through quite literal rose-tinted glasses ( even at night, which would be weird for the average person but predictable for cassio ), doing a poor job at analyzing the room, only due to the fact that he could do all of the people-reading to his heart's desire and it wouldn't make him adjust anything about him. a somber room wouldn't inspire him to lower his voice, a birthday party wouldn't mean he'd tone down his otherwise booming personality and ability to draw attention like a true artist.
nonetheless, his scanning of the room while twisting at a ring around his thumb on one hand and sipping at a drink held in the other is managing to keep cassio pretty quiet. the red carpet event was FINE, at best. a line of cocaine grasped his attention much better than the movie in question; it was a miracle that no one had asked cassio for his unwarranted opinion because surely, he would gripe about how the first half proved to be WEAK until the second, what with some creative assistance he had the liberty of taking during a particularly loud scene so his sniffles were masked. but such is life, and what a life to live when your last name is identical to one sanjay khatri, a legend of a guitarist who has left such big shoes to fill, he's constantly tripping over its laces. of course, with that came a golden light that casts over cassio, one that he regularly basks in and reaps the benefits of.
it proves to be hard not to let your gaze settle on one lucy merchant. so stunning, it almost takes your breath away, lucy has a look to her that just SCREAMS old hollywood. there's a sense of poise, elegance, pure magnetism that radiates off of her and cassio can't help but let his eyes linger a bit longer on her than anyone else. he's heard of her a bit— just a bit, if only because of his own busy schedule and narcissism that he would otherwise deny— but he knows enough to set himself onto her. if earning her attention is a conquest, cassio would fight, no questions asked. he's also aware that she'd come to this thing with someone else, some boyfriend-maybe-not-boyfriend type thing but regardless, it doesn't strike cassio as a situation in which he SHOULDN'T indulge.
and so, his feet lead him right to her like he's gliding across the floor, drink still in hand and glasses perched on his nose. a side smile plants itself firmly on his lips as he approaches her; a gentle touch of her elbow with light fingertips is enough to silently beckon for her gaze. her question presses its lips against cassio's and breathes cold, crisp air into his lungs and he swears, he feels himself light up. "had to make sure the moment was right," he answers simply, cocking his head to the side. the mentioning of leaving the party only piques his interest and soon enough, she's holding her hand out to shake his.
he takes it gently, almost as if he doesn't ACTUALLY know how to properly hold someone's hand. his fingers wrap around hers and he brings her hand to his lips, then pecks softly at her fingertips with his eyes stuck on her. "cassio khatri," he responds. "tell me, lucy..." he drops her hand and rolls his shoulders back, then glances around the room before returning his attention to her. "where is it you and i are heading to next, then?"
titsay
stormborns
gummygunk
