Convincing her

Dave stood at one of the exits at the airport while holding a placard with Laura's and Rachel's names. This was the first time that he was ever required to chauffer anyone besides Lucas or his own acquaintances. He had been feeling aggrieved about coming all the way to the airport to pick up the two girls.

He understood that Lucas wanted to leave a good impression, but at the same time, he could not understand why he needed to get involved in the first place.

He had arrived a few minutes before 2pm, when it was finally 2pm he moved to the front of the crowd of people who were also waiting for the people who just arrived and held his placard somewhere more visible.

After ten minutes two women walked out of the door while chattering with one slightly taller than the other one. The taller woman pointed at his direction and the two of them walked towards him.

"Hi I'm Laura" the taller woman said as she sized him up.

"I'm Dave, I was sent by Miss Larson to pick you up" Dave said as he extended his hand to shake Laura's.

"This is Rachel" Laura introduced and Dave turned his attention to the lady who looked at him emotionlessly.

"Nice to meet you miss Rachel" Dave said as he decided that he would not try to engage her in much conversation, she did not look friendly at all, but stretched his hand and shook hers.

"Should we go first or is there anything that you are waiting for?" Dave asked.

"We aren't waiting for anything let's go" Laura said happily as she passed the trolley they were pushing to Dave.

He received the trolley with a smile and led the ladies to Lucas' BMW which he loaded with the luggage and proceeded to open the door for the two women. However, what he was not expecting was for Laura to insist sitting on the front seat with him.

Rachel was silent throughout the ride while Laura enthusiastically talked to Dave.

"So Jen has been dating right? How is her boyfriend?" Laura asked curiously. Dave however did not answer her questions as he thought that she should be having that conversation with Jen rather than ask an employee about their employer's love life.

"I think you should ask Miss Larson about him. I was informed that she was doing an exam so it would be more appropriate to contact her after 2:30pm" Dave replied as he stopped at the traffic lights.

"Alright, what do you do?" Laura asked curiously not really caring much.

"I'm working as a direct subordinate of Lucas Lewis" Dave explained, since he could not be described as a secretary.

"The Lucas Lewis?" Laura asked wide eyed.

"Yes" Dave answered.

"I'm a model, incase you didn't know. I wasn't planning on being one but she forced me" Laura explained as she pointed to the back seat where Rachel was seated

"Is that so?" Dave asked as he looked at the rearview mirror and made eye contact with Rachel.

"Of course. otherwise I would have been married or something" Laura said while chattering obliviously. After an hour the group arrived at the hotel and Dave immediately took the role of the host and helped take them to the hotel suite.

Strangely enough, he had clicked with Laura during their car ride to the hotel as if they had known each other for years. After they arrived at the hotel suite he consulted them on the services they would need before leaving with the hotel manager to arrange it for them.

"This place looks amazing" Laura said as she toured their accommodations. Unlike her, Rachel had been silent since they left the airport.

She normally was more of an observer rather than a talker but ever since Jen all but forced her to leave the country she had become even more reserved, and due to her past experience she was even more so towards the opposite gender.

"Mmh" Rachel said but made no movement to walk around and instead settled herself on the couch and just watched as Laura enthusiastically opened several doors as she walked in and out of the different rooms.

"This is so over the top! I like it!" Laura exclaimed and went to sit next to a calm Rachel.

"We should call Jen shouldn't we?" Rachel commented as if she was asking a question making Laura laugh.

"We should, since you have your phone with you, go ahead and call her. I'm going to shower" Laura said and dragged her suitcase to one of the rooms. They hadn't brought a lot of things because they planned on shopping for clothes there since they planned on staying there for a couple of months.

Rachel watched as Laura disappeared behind the bedroom doors and zoned out for a few minutes before she called Jen. Jen picked up on the third ring and her charming voice was heard through the speakers.

"Rachel?" Jen said when she noticed the other side was silent

"Hi Jen" Rachel said in reply. It was the first time they actually talked since she had left the previous year.

Even though she would always dial Jen's number, she always lost her courage and handed her phone to Laura when Jen picked up the phone.

Although Jen always ended up talking to Laura when Rachel called, she always picked up her calls calling her name first as if she was hopeful that she had finally decided to talk to her herself.

"Hi Rachel, did you guys arrive safely?" Jen asked as if they had always talked.

"Mmh, we're at the hotel already" Rachel answered with a soft voice.

"That's great, we should have dinner at my place. I'm almost at the hotel, i'll come get you guys when I arrive" Jen said.

"Alright" Rachel said and there was a short period of silence.

"Rachel, are you still there?" Jen asked.

"Yes"

"How come I don't hear Laura at all?" Jen asked curiously.

"She's taking a shower" Rachel replied. Jen laughed when she heard her reply, she remembered that Rachel was not much of a conversationalist but it seems that she has gotten even worse.

"Okay then, I'll talk to you later" Jen said.

"Mmh" Rachel replied and hung up without hesitation. She then looked at her phone for a while before she too took her luggage to one of the vacant rooms.

When she got out of the shower, she found Laura laying on her bed still in her towel and her hair also covered with a towel busy texting on her phone. Rachel was already used to the sight so she was not surprised at all.

She took out a peach coloured pleated long skirt and a black off shoulder long sleeved t-shirt that covered the top of her chest and sleeves with lace material.

"What are you dressing up for?" Laura asked as she was observing Rachel.

"Jen said we'll have dinner at her place. I should at least look presentable in front of her boyfriend don't you think?" Rachel said as she turned on her blowdryer to dry her blonde hair.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Laura accused but did not receive any reply because Rachel pretended that her blow dryer was too loud for her to hear anything.