✧༺♥༻∞ Chapter Two ∞༺♥༻✧

Demi stared deep into the mirror. Her frosty glare turned from one of annoyance to one of pride as she ran her hands down her sleeved, black dress.

She looked good now. For the first time in two years, she felt beautiful again.

The blonde had used a curler on her hair to create natural-looking waves. Ewelina had naturally wavy hair, but Demi's was straighter. Most of the time she'd wear it dead straight but today she felt like something different, something that would really 'wow' the people she passed. Adding the final touches in the form of pink, dangly earrings and some heels to match, she was finally ready for her first night out.

Demi's heels clunked against the hardwood steps as she tried to escape her twin's home without the other knowing, but it wasn't as easy as she'd hoped. Ewelina stopped in front of the bottom step, extending her hand out across to the wall to stop Demi passing.

"Where do you think you're going?" she questioned, sternly with a snap in her tone.

Demi ran her tongue along her bottom lip and halted it in the corner of her mouth. She sighed like a stroppy teenager and forced her foot down on the next step like a toddler. "I'm going out." Nobody was going to ruin her first night of freedom in two years.

She looked nothing like she had the previous day when she'd arrived at Ewelina's house. That pale, makeup-less, fragile woman was long gone. Today she looked like a model and she was so ready to flaunt her good-looks.

But Ewelina objected, "You can't go out. You're not even supposed to be out of the hospital."

"Why not? I'm fine now. When did you become my mother?"

"When you became so mentally unstable." It was harsh but Ewelina had always had a harsh and honest tongue on her. She'd tell people exactly what she thought.

"Wow rude. Do I really look like an insane person?" Ewelina began to grind her teeth together out of annoyance. "I've never seen a mental person look this hot, but I don't know about you." Of course, she knew there was no specific image for those with mental health problems but the wrong words would fly from her lips when she was angry. "Anyway," she continued, in a calmer tone. "I'm still going out." She flashed a fake smile at her sister. She oozed the same confidence that Ewelina did, on a good day. On a bad day though, Demi had nothing. But luckily, today was one of her better days. "Bye, Mum."

The blonde waved childishly to her sister as she exited the house and got in the taxi she'd ordered with the little amount of money that she owned.

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Demi had got the taxi to drop her off at a local bar named 'The Lost Leaf'. She'd never been there before, it was the name of it that had convinced her. A lost leaf was exactly what she felt like that sometimes.

At times, even before the hospital, she'd felt like she was just being pushed around in life. Only, she was being pushed around by other humans instead of the wind. Just drifting around in the vague direction that they wanted her to go in.

That was the thing about being a ballet dancer. It was strict and there was too much pressure. Dancing was her passion, but having such a scheduled and competitive life had driven her mad.

Tonight was her first night out in over two years and she was going to enjoy it. Her green eyes slowly panned through the room until they halted on a mystery man. He was sat all alone at the bar, dressed smartly in black and white.

Demi tilted her head to the side whilst admiring his good looks and it wasn't long until she'd skipped over and taken a seat next to him.

"What are you drinking?" she asked immediately, turning her head to look him in the eye. Her blonde locks flipped over her shoulder with her swift movement.

"What is it to you, stranger?" he groaned back.

William Kingston was a man who'd grown up in London with a fairly luxurious life. Now he owned one of the best apartments on Brighton's seafront, somewhere Demi could only dream of living.

His eyes were like giant, blue diamonds and after a second she'd already got lost in them. "Nothing really. I just thought if I make conversation, then you might buy me a drink." Demi knew how to use her good looks and oozing confidence to entice men into doing things for her. Not in a bad way, of course, just for little things like this.

He was handsome and she was beautiful, what could possibly go wrong?

He stared at her for a second or two before caving. Her eyes had been so fixated on him that he hadn't been able to help himself. "What would you like?"

"A screwdriver. I'm starting off simple but before too long I'll probably be on the tequila."

William asked the barman for the drink and then looked back at the woman beside him. "If you get too drunk I'm not taking you home."

Demi had forgotten how grumpy men could be. This one certainly wasn't having a good day, he couldn't even show a smile. Despite that, it was still sexy. Not to mention how his well-spoken accent was exactly to her taste.

"Maybe I don't have a home," she teased, though technically it was true. Even though Ewelina had let her live in the shared house for a while, that would never be home. How could living around 5 people's dirty laundry and piled up washing-up be homely?

"Looking at the way you're dressed, you certainly don't look like somebody who would live on the streets," commented William.

"You look like a grumpy, ignorant, posh-boy, but you don't hear me judging. Though you're right, I don't live on the streets, FYI." Taking her eyes off of him purposefully, Demi looked down at her lower arm and rolled her index finger over the scar that sat there. She couldn't remember how she'd got it but something in that moment made her want to touch it again. It was like it was trying to tell her something. "Anyway. My name's Demi, what's yours?"

"Seriously?"

"Are you going to judge my name? Anyway, Demi as in Demi Moore not Demi Lovato. I'm not a fan of those American Disney kids."

Will rolled his eyes. "Am I going to regret getting you a drink?"

Her eyes averted back to his when he spoke again. She shrugged, allowing a cheeky grin to graze her lips. "Probably."

Demi spent over an hour talking to the man and was getting more drunk by the second. The tequila shots were coming quick and he was paying for all of them. She was pretty sure they'd even shared a joint at one point, although he didn't seem like the type to smoke drugs.

Before she could stop herself, Demi's long, slim fingers had intertwined with William's and pulled him to his feet to dance. The lights came crashing down on them as she giggled loudly, trying to keep her balance. She could feel his eyes on him, staring over her long legs. Not in a creepy way, just in a 'wow' way. He tried to pretend he wasn't doing it; he seemed to be some sort of a gentleman, but her body was so long that no straight man could resist a gaze.

"You're such a stiff dancer," she shouted over the music. "Don't you know how to let loose?"

"Not really," Will whispered into her ear. For him, it was easier and more sophisticated to do that than shout.

The blonde roped her hands around the man's neck and giggled once again. "Are you going to take me home?"

"Are you going to take me home?"

She giggled, "I don't have one, remember." Both sounded as drunk as one another; their slurs worsening by the minute.

Demi wasn't certain he was as keen as she was until he said, "I guess I could buy us a hotel room for the night."

She ran her tongue along the inside of her mouth in a flirty motion and eventually nodded. "Oh yeah? Will it be a nice one or a dodgy hostel? I don't want to hang out at a backpackers. I prefer the finer things in life."

"Do I look like a hostel kind of guy?" William questioned in disbelief, raising his brows.

She looked up at him and into his honest eyes - although he wasn't very far up with her heels on, they were almost the same height. "You're right. Take me to your favourite hotel then."

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Author's notes:
I hope you enjoyed Demi and William's first interaction! You will learn a lot more about them as the book progresses (there is a lot to learn)! Let me know what you think!

Interactive question:
Do you prefer pub/bars or clubs?