What is the deal with this girl, anyway? She looks exactly like that model that Jade showed me a picture of. The one who was in a group shot along with other beautiful models. I didn’t quite believe her, then … or maybe I was trying to deny it. But … fuck … here she is in the flesh. And she is every inch the knock-out beauty Jade said she was. Well, Jade didn’t put it that way. But she didn’t have to.

Rian looked stunning tonight in that sleeveless, spaghetti-strapped, backless, lingerie-style silk tan vintage maxi (Dior? Chanel?); a classy example of the bateau neck, slit in the back hem, and tonal stitching throughout maxi that had been all the rage at one point. It flowed intimately over every sexy curve of that whistle-bait body. Rian had matched the maxi to nude, strappy high-heels, and had accessorized it with a few thin long gold necklaces hanging from her long, creamy neck — flawless taste, nothing over-done, over-thought. She drew almost every pair of eyes she glided past.  Without a doubt, she nailed her look tonight.

If she was the competition, Fabienne knew was done for.

Fuck.

But she and Dan seem to be real couple. At least Dan’s very much head over heels. Not a surprise there. He’s at best an 8, although has a good build. While Rian’s a … twenty … on a scale of one to ten.

Fuck, again.

Fabienne looked away when Rian caught her looking, and had given her a friendly smile.

And she seems genuinely nice. Under other circumstances, I would have made an effort to be friends with her. She’d be the best looking girl in my “squad,” if we became friends.

“Do you mind if I shared a photo of you with my friends?” Fabienne asked Rian. The brunette nearly coughed out the water she’d been in the midst of swallowing, covering her mouth delicately with a napkin in the nick of time.

Beside her, Fabienne sensed Jade had also coughed.

“No … no, I don’t mind,” Rian said. And then she laughed lightly and winked, “as long as it’s one from my good side!”

As if she had a bad angle anywhere. And, like the cherry on top, there was that genuine, sunny personality one couldn’t help but like. There were several other instances tonight, like that story she and Dan were taking turns sharing about — something about a canoe trip they’d taken with the senator. As she laughed along with everyone else around the table, she realized the story showed Jade’s friend had a playful, wicked sense of humor. Dan had said that incident had confirmed things for him that that side of her “was irresistible. Made the senator fall in love with Rian…” Fabienne had to agree. Chloe and the others in our “squad” would love this girl, too.