The country club

*Saphira's POV*

I went upstairs, to get a magazine and a towel to sit on. I wasn't about to get my carefully picked out clothes dirty.

The day started out great, I got another mystery unraveled. The 2nd staircase In the front yard, let straight to the beach.

I sat myself down, on one of the comfortable chairs with parasols above them, giving shade. Then I started reading my magazine. The magazine contained a quiz. You could actually check if you were a match with Edward Cullen, the vampire from a book series.

I wasn't a fan of reading, but I had watched the movies a hundredth times.

I didn't count this love affair as a fairytale though. Because of course, I didn't do fairytales. I was above all that nonsense. Besides, Bella didn't marry no prince charming. She married a bloodthirsty vampire. That was totally different.

After I read through the first two pages, my phone buzzed.

"Hi, mom."

"Saph, Grandma is waiting for you on the driveway."

"I'll be right up. "Have fun sweetheart!"

"Thanks mom, good luck today."

Somehow, for some reason, I got really nervous. I stumbled my way upfront while my stomach twisted.

Grandma smiled at me as I walked toward her mini Cooper. I hoped that was a good sign.

"You've got better taste then your mother," she said in a teasing tone. "Err... thanks." I replied, and bit my lip.

I couldn't think of anything conversational to say, and the trip to the country club was too short to give it a longer thought. I was glad when we opened up our car doors because this time, the silence was awkward.

The country club was hidden in the Santa Monica mountains. The view was most definitely. Without a doubt, ridiculously stunning.

Grandmother held my arm and walked with me, into a very large building. While we walked through a pretty hallway I heard classical music playing in the background.

"Dear, feel free to look around. I won't be long," Grandma said as we stepped into this great round room. She kissed my cheek and disappeared behind the very long wooden bar.

I realized the music I heard was live, because someone played the white grand piano, sitting on a platform. It sounded incredible.

I loved music, so I wanted to walk up closer. Then all of a sudden, I was stunned by the smell of cologne, that was lingering in the air.

It smelled exactly the same as in my dream. The closer I got, the stronger it became. Was this real?! I had been searching for this fragrance for days now.

I was so mesmerized, that I stopped walking altogether. I just stood there. Brainlessly staring at the grand piano.

"Saphira." Grandma said as she placed her hand on my shoulder. "Come, Let me introduce you. I have waited so long for this," she said with a bright smile on her slightly wrinkled face.

We walked away from the grand piano and walked through these big glass open doors. They reminded me of my bedroom wall.

Outside there was a terrace filled with women. Lunch party guests, I thought. I hope this introducing ritual didn't take long, I badly wanted to smell the cologne again.

We were an our early though. Only, I didn't spend that much time with grandma, besides her introducing me to a lot of people. She introduced me to everyone really, except for the person playing on the piano.

I tried to put a friendly smile on my face and be as polite as I could possibly manage. I learned that grandma was actually hosting the party, so she was quite busy all the time.

I was waiting at the bar until the grand lunch would begin. Nervously fidgeting with a strain of my hair, while staring at the piano. I know it was silly, but somehow finding my treasure wasn't enough. I wanted more.

I wanted to see if the face was anything like the smell. But the person kept his head down while playing. This really frustrated me.

When I finally found the courage to walk up to him, I sucked in a deep breath of air.

Only then I saw that grandma was walking towards me with two girls beside her. They looked like runway models.

One was exactly as tall as me and wore a tight, white knee length dress. On her feet she wore these white heels, that showed off her pretty figure. She reminded me of my mom in a lot of ways.

She had the same deep black eyes and long black hair that matched them. Even her skin color was exactly the same.

The other girl had brown curly hair that rested on her shoulders. She didn't wear a dress though. Instead she wore a Khaki pants and a polo on top. She seemed to be a bit more my age then the taller one. Who was probably the oldest.

"Shoot, what to say, what so say," I mumbled to myself. If only I won't make a fool out of myself, I thought.

"Hi, I'm Lynn," The girl with the curly hair said, introducing herself first. "Saphira, nice to me you." I said shaking her hand. The taller one was either as shy as I am, or she didn't want to shake hands with me.

She kept looking into another direction. It made me feel very self conscious.

Finally grandma decided to introduce us. "Saphira, this is Sierra," Grandma said while gesturing her hand from me to her. "Sierra, is your cousin," she added.

That explained her appearance a lot. Sierra smiled a very awkward smile. It almost seemed forced. I smiled back, trying not to let it bother me too much.

Obviously this was all in my head right? Why wouldn't she like me? She didn't even know me yet. Still it made me feel a bit insecure. I tried to repress the feeling. I was being ridiculous.

I decided I would try to see his face, first thing, when lunch would be over.

Gran sat on the head of the oval table, that was set with the prettiest lavender china. I took a seat on the left side of her and Sierra took the chair on her right.

Lynn joined the table too and sat right next to me. She seemed very nice and easy going. We chatted a bit.

"What are we having for lunch?" I asked Lynn. "Lunch? We're having a high tea," she said frowning.

I raised one eyebrow.

"We're going to drink tea?" I asked dubiously. Lynn rolled her eyes at me. "Your hilarious," she said snickering. "It means we'll have different courses of sweets and sandwiches."

"Sounds good."

I was shocked to admit, I didn't have any trouble making conversation with her at all. Sierra was a different story though. She didn't give me the time of day and only looked at me, when politeness was required.

What did I do wrong? I could hardly think of anything.

"Can you be a doll and take your cousin shopping tomorrow?" grandma asked Sierra. I saw her make a face. That would be awkward… I thought.

"She needs to fill up her wardrobe, get her hair done and maybe throw in a mani," grandma shot me a look. What the heck was a 'Mani'? 

"She is in great need of one," she said eying me.

"Actually grandmother, I would love to but I can't. I have a lot of unfinished homework, you see." Sierra answered with a very fake smile. Right… I thought.

I didn't know how she could be so diluted to think I even needed more clothes. It was ridiculous. Besides I never really enjoyed shopping. Thank God Sierra weaseled her way out of it.

"I'll take her," Lynn offered. "It will be fun," she insisted cheerfully. She smiled so warmly, it was almost convincing it would be.

As I reassembled my courage and looked up to the grand piano. I saw that he was already gone. Why did I feel so sad? I had already won my self-invented game right?! 

We were driving in Lynn's  blue Mercedes, to Malibu country shopping centre. Windows rolled down. Lynn was singing along to a CD, she had playing in the car. "Where do you wanna go first?" she asked, still smiling. "Wherever you take me," I replied with a sigh. "To be quite honest. I'm all new to this," I confessed like confessing too some kind of murder.

"My friend and I in Jersey never really did these kinds of things." I looked down on my hands and fidgeted with my fingers. Lynn took both my hands and was horror struck. "What are you, raised by wolves or something? She said giggling. I didn't answer that. I was raised in a different kind of world then she was. "let's go fix that first," she grinned."I'm going to give you a Malibu makeover." 

We both got our nails done and she insisted I'd go to the beauty salon. For a facial and she wanted me to get some highlights in my hair. "To match the sun," she said. It weren't the normal highlights though. After I was finished, I still had my brown hair on top and then slowly my hair turned blond in a nice transaction. I had to give her credit it did look pretty. 

We talked about school, music, books and boys... I  told her I never even went out on a date yet and again, she looked at me like I was some kind of alien. "But you must of been in love before," Lynn insisted. "Haven't you ever liked a boy?" she questioned, rolling her eyes at me. "No, not yet really." I admitted sheepishly. We both started to giggle.

We went to a few designer stores and Lynn picked out a whole new wardrobe for me, while telling me about her crush. He was a year younger than her older brother and he was an athlete. He was on the football team her brother used to be in before he went to college, and he lived here in Malibu as well.

He and her bother often surfed together.  His name was Thomas she said. 

"Does he know your feelings?" I asked after putting all the shopping bags I had in my hands, into the back of her car. 

"No, and it's not possible either," she stated. "But if he never knows your true feelings, then the two of you could never date, right? That doesn't make much sense," I said confused. She laughed as if I missed something very obvious. "Oh come on... Saphira," she said rolling her eyes again. "One word," she said. "That will explain it all..... Benjamin." she said her brother's name as if she was choking on it.