Northside

I came from an uneventful day at work to find Chantal in the drawing room sprackling to Mother about Taryn’s engagement party. At first I thought that Chantal was peeved that she was not hosting the party as with the restaurant as it would be obvious for her to be so but she was just peeved at the entire marriage thing. It seems she doesn’t have any sway over Jazz, Tony is about as absent a parent as he can manage and Jojo completely confused her at the moment. She saw me and Mother called me in so they could talk about Jojo in front of me as if I had some special insight into his mind. Chantal was just as revolted by his affair with Lynx as I was which was some consolation but then Mother had to comment that at least Lynx had him dressing like a person. Which Chantal agreed to, had him turning up at work, which Chantal agreed was nice, and had him looking towards his future as owner of the chain, which Chantal also considered a benefit. By the time Mother was finished Lynx turned out to be the savior and guardian angel of Jojo Sedero, another joyous moment in my life I could thank her for, that and putting me on the radar of Gervais.

I left them discussing Jojo’s future as it was too hard to sit there and listen to them talk about someone when I knew I would never be a part of his life. I should have tried to be with him even though he was a stupid meatnut chasing whatever dumb sport that would break his neck. Who knows, maybe the business that he and Royce keep raving on about would get off the ground but this was no longer open to me as the rest of my life was going to be avoiding Gervais as much as I could until Coco and Royce were safely out of the way. Why didn’t he get something for Astrid or Nadia or Lynx then I remembered Gervais already had affairs with Nadia and Lynx also I think there was gossip about him and Astrid at some point.

I grabbed my purse and went and sat in my car as I didn’t want to listen to the old boods sprackle about everyone they knew, I couldn’t go to Djini’s because every time I went there something bad happened to me. I wasn’t about to go back to work and I certainly wasn’t about to eat dinner alone at Sedero’s so I decided to go for a drive around town as it was better than sitting in the driveway looking demented. I drove around until I came to the north end of town where the shops become a little less up market and more bohemian. This is where lots of students hang out and you can get clothes from upcoming designers, visit small art galleries and eat at a few cafés with little outdoor tables and the casual entertainment of a singer on a guitar. On the outside it was a place where students and artists gathered but those struggling to get established knew that producers, directors, gallery owners would troll Northside for their latest discovery.

It was here I saw Zizi sitting alone drinking a coffee, since the ruckus with the Vanderhavens she had given up on our usual haunts and I suppose this was where she now came for coffee and chat. I parked my car along the street and walked down to Millie’s a carbon copy of Djini’s only north side and spotted her sitting alone. Zizi looked surprised and a little suspicious at first to see me there but nodded yes when I asked if I could sit down. She asked me what brought me north and I told her I didn’t have anywhere else to go, she raised an eyebrow and asked what about the rest of the group, Coco and Tiah and I told her that Coco was busy with Royce now and Tiah was living some delusion I didn’t want to be part of. She laughed at that and said she had heard Jojo and Lynx had broken up so I told her how Lynx had tossed Jojo aside like every other man in her life and it was his own stupid fault for getting involved with her. Zizi looked at me over her coffee cup, her huge lavender eyes sparkling with mischief, sometimes she reminds me a bit of Tiah, only more vibrant. She went “Oh, so that’s how it is, “ but I told her to no it wasn’t, I had no interest in Jojo and his stupid monkey boy ways.

A stir rippled through the place as Osric entered followed by his secretary Shona and everyone made it their business to greet him by leaving their tables or calling out. Osric smiled and nodded at everyone but his eyes were always searching the room as if he was looking for something and he found it when he spotted Zizi. He made a beeline for our table, a small table for two, so after Osric managed to squeeze himself in there was no room for Shona whose glittering eyes could cut glass from across a room.

Now Shona is the only personal assistant in town who is a legend in her own right for she could out snarl any bodyguard, out argue any lawyer and would defend and protect Osric to the death. I don’t know if she was in love with him but it would have been hard since he seemed to date every famous woman in town. Shona stood there arrogantly tapping her foot expecting me to move. Normally I would have wandered off and melted into the background as I was a bit in awe of people who could boss famous people around all day but in the last few months I had dealt with the Vanderhavens, the Sederos, Nadia Voss, the Lynx, Bianca, Cameo, and the entire Dubois Clan including the creepy, manipulative just plain evil Gervais so I was not getting up for anyone. Zizi gave Osric an irritated look and he quickly waved Shona away.

Osric chatted to Zizi about how exciting it will be to put together her first recording, she was so calm about it all that I was amazed at how cool she was around him. I don’t think I could have remained so detached from my first recording contract but then my world had only been turned upside down only half as much as Zizi’s. He unexpectedly asked me how I was which flustered me that he remembered me from when I accompanied Zizi to that first meeting, so much I couldn’t answer for a minute as I pleased he remembered me. I knew he probably knew about Lynx and Jojo but I was just a shadow to people when I was at Sedero’s and not someone who would register on their important to know list.

My confusion amused him and he said he missed watching me keep the Sedero boy in line and again I was speechless for I knew I had threatened Jojo alot when we worked together but I never knew that people perceived me as keeping him in line. In fact that was plain misconception and I told Osric it was, I explained that Lynx did that not me as she was the one who managed to get him into a suit. He smiled, his gleaming public smile and told me that I was the one who got him into work which was more than his mother ever could. So what I thought, it was only to have Lynx take him from under my nose. Getting tired of Shona glaring at me from across the room I made my excuses about having an early start, I really did have to help Caspar manage the nagging of a million old boods and their laughter made me realise I had that aloud and I knew I had to leave before I got myself into even more trouble. I made my exit before I got into anymore arguments over my influence on Jojo or Caspar's influence on rich old boods.

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