A Christmas Party

**Hey guys, this is my first story here..do leave comments, please**

Chapter One

Jeremy Blair sighed deeply as he stared into his reflection in front of his bathroom mirror, his almost white blonde hair was disheveled, bluish gray eyes stared back at him, a straight nose and lips he had always thought couldn't quite come to an agreement because the top lip was thin, and the bottom one much fuller, completed the features on a face he had always thought was average looking, but many a women would disagree with him. He couldn't count how many times he had been told he looked like Chris Hemsworth or Orlando Bloom when he played the elf on Lord of The Rings, only with shorter hair and a more defined jaw- whatever that meant, he snickered to himself.

He groggily brushed pristine white teeth, he wasn't quite ready to leave his bed yet, especially not for what he was leaving it for- the office Christmas party. It was bad enough it was Christmas, but he didn't need someone- no, people throwing a party to rub it all in his face. He had hated the season and the festivities associated with it since his mother died in a car accident seven years ago on Christmas eve..hell, he even hated the fact that it snowed, everything about Christmas sucked, especially that silly mistletoe tradition...whoever came up with that bullshit, must've been some geeky, out-of-luck loser looking to hit it up with a hot girl, what better way than to make it mandatory for people to kiss when they get under a freaking leaf, he thought.

He rolled his eyes as he thought of the tons of women at the office party that would scheme up some really goofy plan on how to get him under that darned thing...one too many times, he had been the scapegoat, and one too many times, he had damned the tradition and walked away without giving said girl so much as a peck, it wasn't like he'd have seven years bad luck if he didn't do it....hell, he didn't even believe that story. He stepped into his shower after making sure the water was as hot as it could get. The sprinkler was a lot higher than the average one to accommodate his 6ft 5" frame, he had made sure of that after he had bumped his head against his shower one too many times.

He stood in the shower, watching steaming hot water flow down his toned body. He hadn't always been this buff, but his mother's death led to a lot of changes in his life. In an attempt to rid himself of the memories, he had begun to spend more time than advised in the gym...it helped him forget even if for a while, but in the process he had built a body that would make David Beckham cringe with jealousy and send Tyson Beckford into retirement, but Jeremy didn't care to notice the difference, his mind was occupied with thoughts he found far more important.

Just as he finished his twenty minutes shower, he heard his phone ringing...he was in no hurry to answer it, only his father would be calling at this time—or Claire, but he wasn't interested in speaking to either of them, he just wanted to fast forward his day. Before he could reach his phone, it went into voicemail, sure enough it was his father's voice that came from the speaker

"Jeremy, it's me, I just called to remind you that the office party's today, and you know how important it is that you make it...and it would be nice if you smiled a little this year, I don't want to have to explain to Susan that you don't have a flu again"

Jeremy gave a lean smile on hearing Susan's name, she was an elderly lady who had been working as his father's secretary since the company had only been a dingy one-room apartment, after his mother, she had to be the only other woman he cherished, and she had actively played the role of mom to him since his mother's death...she could get very worried if she found him ill.

He opened his closet and smiled once his eyes caught the outfit Susan had picked out for him for the party, it was a well-tailored Armani suit and a nice white shirt, she hadn't gotten him a tie because he absolutely hated those, but had tucked in a red, silk handkerchief in the pocket of the suit to add to the mandatory touch of red, his mummy Susan always did have style.

He was ready for the party in ten minutes, staring again at his now put-together reflection from his vanity mirror, he found his reaction to his appearance quite indifferent. Perhaps the ladies would think otherwise when they saw the closest look-alike to Narcissus walking on the planet, but as he got into his 2010 Chevy and drove to the office, he hoped they saw the boring, uninteresting, douche bag he had been trying to sell himself as for the past seven years.

******

Kachi stared at the blood red four-ich stilettos that was to be her footwear for the entire evening and grimaced, oh if she were just five inches taller she'd happily slip on a pair of flat sandals and damn it all, but she wasn't exactly one of the tallest people in the world at 5ft 3", and her petite frame didn't help things much, heels seemed the only way to be noticed anywhere, but they would be off the minute they got too uncomfortable.

She slipped the heels on small feet and stood in them for a few minutes to test how comfortable they were knowing that she would be standing for the most part of the evening. How she hated formal gatherings, but she had to be present for this one, she had only begun working in the construction company a month ago, it was much too early to be making bad impressions by skipping social gatherings, besides, maybe she'd finally be able to find someone she got along with at work. Most times the office felt like some sort of headquarters for air-heads and bimbos, neither of whom made her list for favourite people to hang with.

She took one last look at her reflection and smiled at her blend of the West African green and red printed ankara material and a green chiffon shirt, she lived for those looks of admiration she got every time she wore the colorfully printed material. She particularly loved this skirt because it had been sewn by her aunt in Nigeria as a birthday gift, this would be her first time of wearing it since she got it, she preferred to show off her African style in her daily life, she couldn't stand the pretenses that went on in some of those town meetings where Africans would gather with the best African clothes they could think of, which they would never be caught dead in on a normal day.

As she grabbed her coat from her bed and looked around for any items she might be missing, she heard the sound of a car horning, followed closely by her best friend's deep, masculine voice, "Kachi, have you broken your ankles before you can even rock that shoe?" he asked, his tone one of amusement.

She smiled, Donald knew how much she loathed heels, and how awkward she felt in them and always made it a point of order to make fun of her concerning that. She hurried out of her apartment and locked up her door, "You will not get the pleasure of seeing me with broken ankles tonight" she replied as she made her way down her steps and to his 2007 Mercedes parked a few metres away. Her steps faltered just a little as she reached for the door handle, she righted herself hoping Donald didn't catch that small mistake, but going by the smirk on his face, he had.

"You sure I won't get that pleasure?" he asked as he started up the car

"Shut up and drive" she replied trying to sound angry, but unable to hide the smile that formed on her lips.

As he drove down the road, she summed up her time at the office party, show up at 9:00pm, greet a few people till 9:10, mingle till 9:35, watch others have fun till 9:45, make sure all the execs noted she had showed up, leave the party at 9:55pm with a sated mind, she might not do the whole till midnight thing, but no one would be able to deny she was there.