Convincing her

Everyone was having fun, something that Rachel found surprising. The music was playing and everyone was mingling with each other. Even Laura's colleagues had been quite friendly and had come to talk to her.

Laura had gone to join everyone else at the party but at some point, she had disappeared and surprisingly no one had actually noticed except for Rachel since everyone else was having so much fun.

"You're finally here," Laura said as she opened the door for James. He had tried his best to arrive on time but he had really been swamped with a lot of work.

"I brought wine," James said as if he was hoping that that would be enough to get forgiveness for being late. Laura smiled helplessly and moved aside to let him in.

"Am I one of the first to arrive?" James asked as he took off the long black coat he was wearing revealing the white turtleneck he was wearing inside.

Laura took his coat and took it to her room while thinking about how his appearance has always been perfect. There has never been a moment he did not look at the top of his game, he really did not leave any space for people to exploit at all.

"No, everyone else is upstairs," Laura said as she rushed out of her room.

"So you were waiting for me?" James asked as he took her hand in his. Laura nodded meekly but the happiness in her eyes was very evident. Even she was not able to understand her own excitement, he was just holding her hand, but she was so happy she felt like her heart would end up pumping out of her chest.

"Mmh," Laura admitted and turned to look up at James. James chuckled and released her hand and instead draped an arm over her shoulders.

"Can we stop for a second" Laura said and held the stair railing that was next to her. James looked at her in question but did not ask anything. Laura, on the other hand, was trying to compose herself because she knew that her face was quite red already.

"Are you okay now?" James asked as they continued to make their way to the party.

"I'm perfect," Laura said and James chuckled in response. How could he not know what she was thinking? She was an open book, especially when the two of them are together.

"Okay," James said with a knowing smile on his face but he did not say anything else that could undo the effects of whatever calm she had just managed to achieve.

When Laura went inside with James, Rachel finally understood why she had gone missing in the first place. James stopped by and briefly talked to her before he was swamped by everyone else who knew him at the party, of course, with the exception of his brothers.

The party went on splendidly and after a while, Laura suggested a house tour. She brought everyone out and showed them around; the house was actually quite spacious since Rachel had thought that she would continue to live with Laura.

After touring the other rooms, Laura naturally took them downstairs where there was the pool. Earlier that day, they had even set up the bar there so after arriving there, there were no plans of going back upstairs.

"Who wants to join me for a swim?" Laura asked but was already grabbing people to come with her.

"Is this okay? I don't have my swimsuit, you're not planning on-" one of her colleagues started saying cautiously.

"Don't worry about it, did you forget who I am? I have enough swimsuits to open a store." Laura said and continued to mercilessly pull them over towards her room. Lucas watched with amusement as Jen had looked at him as if asking him to save her, but he just waved at her.

James, on the other hand, went to sit on one of the loungers next to the pool and was actually drinking some wine. He had worked himself to the bone that week so he deemed it okay to have a drink. He had no plans of getting drunk and only wanted to loosen up so he could be a bit more relaxed.

He especially felt like that because David had also been drinking and they were no longer in the same wavelength when they talked, whenever that happened, Jason would be the one to engage him, he enjoyed David when he was drunk, when he was sober he would not be able to deal with the questioning and criticism.

Sometimes he would even prefer hanging around James, that's why he did his best to get some alcohol in him whenever they met.

On the other side, Laura was distributing swimsuits, but she did not force anyone who was really not willing to swim but her close friends had to go in the water regardless, it's not like she can go swim by herself. Besides, it would be the first time that the pool is being put to use so they should make the most of it.

"If they are too small, just go to Rachel's room. I'm sure you'll get something" Laura said to Jen because she was curvier than she was. Everything just looked like it was overflowing when she was wearing her swimsuit.

"Thanks for the reminder," Jen said and took a towel to wrap around herself before she dashed off to Rachel's room.

Rachel opened her door to the non-stop knocking and Jen barged inside her room without even saying anything.

"Do you have something that would fit me?" Jen asked as she looked at Rachel who was wearing a one-piece that left her back uncovered but was modest in the front. Rachel laughed when she saw how Jen's boobs were literally spilling out of the bikini top that she received from Laura.

"Mmh, I've bought some things that ended up being a size or two too small," Rachel said and walked into her closet and picked out a burgundy one-piece that she brought out for her.

"Here, I had a similar situation to yours when I tried this on, go ahead and wear it," Rachel said as she showed Jen the swimsuit.

"Thank you," Jen said as she took the costume that she was given.