If only

Later rather than sooner

The four girls had spent all day exploring the city in order to find a something to do tonight, they had settled for a party on a yacht the same evening, thanks to a group of guys they had met during lunch, luckily there were no particular run ins but Mia was sure that sooner or later she would have to face what life had decided was coming her way.

They spent the evening trying to relax and decide what to wear and eventually they started getting ready.
Mia didn't want to wear anything too exposing but she was convinced to do the contrary by her friends who told her that after what she had gone through with Marc (her ex boyfriend that she recently left) she deserved a "slutty night" as they had called it.
She had come to realize overtime that Marc wasn't really the best of guys, in fact she often found herself thinking about what her father would think of him if he were alive, she never told anyone but he wasn't always the kindest to her towards the end of their relationship, not that her friends didn't notice the purple bruises on her arms and chest but seeing how closed of she was about the topic they had never mustered up the courage to ask her what was going on between them.

As she finished putting on her lipstick she was called by Gemma "Mimi do you think you could zip up my dress?" "Of course boo" she answered gleefully, "do you think we'll find some hotties tonight?" "Well babe I sure hope you do find someone as for me I don't think I'm over my last relationship yet" at that point Maddie peeped her head into the living room "'cmon Mimi that jackass? We all know you could've done better!" She shaked her head in disapproval, she knew he wasn't the right guy for her but that didn't make her feel better about her breakup.

The group arrived at the yacht at around 9 p.m which they found out was the perfect time since it was full but not full enough for the entrance to be closed off.
They immediately headed towards the bar and ordered a Gintonic each because they knew that if they didn't want to spend a fortune on that boat the only solution was to start off as strong as possible, they had been immersed in their conversation when suddenly a very drunk girl who seemed ecstatic approached them: "omg did you hear?" Eloise was the first one to speak " girl do you need some help what's your name ? And no we didn't hear just got here" she looked a bit confused but answered nonetheless " I'm fine thanks and my names Elena but that doesn't matter, I heard that some of the drivers are gonna attend this specific party...this one! Could you imagine if Charles leclerc looked at me? I need to go find my friends and tell them!" And with that she was off but the girls had something else to worry about, Mia had turned a weird shade of white and was frozen in her seat, that couldn't be true right? She wouldn't have to face Charles and possibly her uncle Danny in the middle of the ocean and on a boat that had taken off and from where she couldn't get off.

Sure she expected to meet them but she was hoping to do so later than sooner.
she allowed herself sometime to process what she had heard but she felt really off, she slowly got up feeling the panic settling and ignoring all the things her friends were telling her she started running away from all the noise into a calmer space where she could regulate her breathing.
She decided to take a seat inside the not on one of the little beige couches where she was sure nobody would see her, and as the minutes passed she couldn't bring herself to look at her phone which had been vibrating non stop from all the calls and texts of the other girls, but she didn't care, she needed to brace herself for what was to come.
Suddenly she heard a distant voice that called her "hey are you okay?"