Aurora could hear the music from a mile away. The blonde looked down at her outfit, inspecting the way the glimmer of the streetlights caught the purple sequins of her dress, and taking a deep inhale to prepare herself. She wasn't used to these parties, but Astrid had invited her and her parents would never forgive her if she refused an invitation like that.

Aurora looked over at the brunette, who gave her a reassuring smile before opening the car door and stepping outside. Aurora followed closely behind, ignoring her instinctual reaction to freeze when she heard the commotion of photographers and reporters outside.

"Astrid, look over here!"

"Astrid, who's the blonde?!"

"Astrid, how do you feel about your co-star's recent arrest-"

Astrid's pace quickened until she entered the building, and Aurora followed suit.

Aurora couldn't believe she was missing out on spending New Years with Clover to go to a party where no one even knew her. Upon seeing the amount of people in the room, Aurora became suddenly self conscious. Her dress was low cut and had a large slit, showing her left leg. While she'd done pageants wearing much less, when she was much younger, the unease never seemed to go away.

Astrid was practiced at this. As soon as she entered the house, she was talking to a tanned girl with long, glossy, chocolate brown hair. Aurora walked over towards them, following Astrid around like a lost puppy. The brunette stranger gave Aurora a friendly nod of acknowledgment before returning her focus to whatever Astrid was talking about.

"Lennie, this is Aurora Matthews. She's a good friend of mine." The brunette shook Aurora's hand. "Lenora Holland. It's nice to meet you, Aurora. I'm actually working on a film with Astrid." Her tone was calm and welcoming, and she had an English accent. In the midst of the talk of filming schedules and weird co-stars, Aurora could hear the buzzing of her phone. "Sorry, I gotta take this." The fleeting relief of the distraction was soon replaced by concern. No one called her unless something had gone wrong.

1 missed call from samantha

samantha: Aurora Im sorry i know youre busy but please pick up
samantha: It's about clover