Having Your Cake [Candice, Ehefra, Giselle]

The flight from mainland America to the City of Lights was as unpleasant as Candice remembered it being. It was a strange thing for her to be afraid of, given what she was now capable of, but most people had irrational fears so she would drown hers in alcohol and cling tightly to Gigi until it was all over. But, eventually, it was over and they had landed.

There were many reasons why they had made the journey out here, though to call it a purely business trip would undoubtedly be remiss even by Candi's generous standards. There were matters that she wanted to take care of regarding several department stores that the Catnipp family was looking to expand into, and Giselle had some stuff with the Vandenreich that she apparently wanted to take care of, but there was one primary reason that they had made the journey out here. Candi was dating two women and, despite her initial efforts to prevent such, they had found out about each other yet - for some reason - they were both somewhat content with the whole thing. This was never a situation that she had expected to find herself in, and yet it was one that she could no longer simply just sit her hands on.

It had taken some convincing, and a little bit of tactful negotiation, but Candi had grown rather good at manipulating the people she was closest to. That was the groundwork for any stable relationship, after all, so she had arranged for the three of them to meet up. Together. Obviously, it had to happen here as it was too hard for Ehefra to get the time off given what was currently going on in Africa or whatever, but it was high time that she introduced them to each other properly. It wasn't gonna be anything fancy, it was hardly a teambuilding exercise, but if this was going to keep working long time then her girls needed to get along together just as well as she did with each of them individually. They both loved her anyway, so what was there to lose? Everything.

All of them going over to Eherfra's place didn't seem quite right, though, so Candice was playing hostess in her and Giselle's penthouse suite. Of course, she had spared no expense given the situation. That left the pair of them with a little while to themselves before Ehefra arrived, if Gigi had anything on her mind whilst her partner was putting the finishing touches to her outfit.

"I could think of a couple of snacks I'd like~ But nah, we can get room service later, Z."

Candi purred back a cryptic little response to Giselle's inquiry, sweeping her hair over one shoulder as she went to fasten her choker in place but ended up giving up and turning her back to Gigi to indicate that she would need her assistance. Getting all dolled up for a night with her partner was hardly an uncommon occurrence, even when they were spending it alone together at home. It was hardly a secret that she loved to flaunt her beauty at any opportunity and to reap all the praise that such things won her.

Shuffling around so that she was looking out of the window, with plenty of room for someone to sweep in behind her, her gaze wandered over the blinding cityscape with a passing amusement. There was a beauty to be found her, but these austere buildings could do with a splash or two of colour.

"There's just a lot of memories here, ain't there. For both of us actually, though I guess you do have just a little more than me."

Conceding such a small point was a clear display that she was in a good mood, though. That much was like Candice 101. Could she even be optimistic about this impending collision?

A soft little sigh escaped Candi's lips as Gigi landed a kiss on the back of her neck, prompting her back to arch as she brushed up against the other woman with her rear. A cheeky smirk already spread across her features as glanced over her shoulder.

"You know full well that an award-winning chef runs the kitchen here. He'll rustle you up the best damn apple slices you've ever had."

Turning back to face her, Candi ran a hand through that mess of black hair and tucked a little of it behind one of her ears. Trying her best to hold that crimson gaze unflinchingly. But they were so close now, so very close that she could hardly contain herself, so maybe it would be better if she just let it all out. That was the right thing to do, surprises were great and all, and maybe Gigi could pretend again if they wanted to pull one over on Hefra, but she couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer.

"Yeah, you were still a new kid on the block, I could see it in your eyes when we first met. Wouldn't change it though, cos it got me right here, with you. Relaxing together, enjoying ourselves." Butter her up with the soppy stuff first, then shoot for the stars. "But..." Of course, there was a but. So Candi made her wait for it, just a little. "What if it wasn't just the two of us?"

She exhaled, a light blush gracing her cheeks as her eyelids batted wildly. A breath caught in the back of her throat as she watched Gigi's reaction, her pupils already beginning to dilate just a little. It was the look of someone that was very proud of their scheming, and yet a little teensy bit nervous of what the response might be.

"They will if you them!" Candi pouted playfully at that last remark about the room service, letting herself get pulled in and wrapped up by Gigi. That was where she wanted to be, after all, so she began to twirl one of those black locks as she waited for a response. "I guess we did it a lot here, so maybe?"

Gigi's surprise was not an unexpected response, and it was most importantly not an immediate shutdown, but it also wasn't an instant homerun. Still, her head was in the right kinda space and it wasn't putting her off entirely.

"Not exactly. Well..."

She was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell, a strange thing for hotels to have but a cute little addition for the fanciest of suites, and that sent Candi rushing over to the mirror to make sure that her hair was just right. Vain as she was, making a killer first impression might just break the ice between these three.

Attempting to look effortlessly cool, resting against the wall as she watched on from a distance as the two of them interacted, Candice let a wry grin spread across her face as Gigi swung the door open with her usual vigour only to reveal Hefra on the other side. She was glad she got to witness that initial moment of shock, but then suddenly it wasn't exactly going according to the master plan. Did she just call her Heff? Did she just call her Zelle? Did she just kiss her on the lips right out the gate?

The smile remained, Candi's pride in wanting to be a good hostess was too great to prompt an immediate outburst, but her brain did just kinda shut down for a little bit. Was this like a fakeout, and this had been their plan to get one over on her after all? That made sense, they were both capable of being underhanded if the situation called for it, but then they had been lying to her and that was a betrayal of trust. An ironic thought for her to get hooked up on, given what she had done and continued to do, but that didn't make it okay in her eyes.

"Right, you two got acquainted fast. Guess I don't need to handle introductions. Uhhhh."

Candi floundered, thoughts leaving her head faster than they came in, and ended up just awkwardly standing there feeling like she was suddenly the third wheel. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she forced out a laugh and backed further into the room.

"I did think that you might say that, Ehefra, so I picked up some clothes and stuff if you didn't want to feel left out. Uhhh. I laid it all out in the spare bedroom."

It wasn't like Candi was particularly overdressed as far as her own standards went. Sure, she had her face on and was hardly skimping on the bling, but she was also wearing a crop top of her own that left very little to the imagination and a tube skirt that did similar favours for the lower half of her body. But shopping was something that she enjoyed, so buying her girls new toys was as much of a gift for her as it was for them.

Deep breathes. This was all just normal and a misunderstanding. She was not losing control, nonono, everything was just like she wanted it. She kept repeating that mantra in her head, the thought bouncing around as she struggled to spark on anything else.