Rewind

by Julia P. Lynde

  "As for the rest, we'll see," Victoria said with a shrug. She checked the clock. "Roni will ring the bell in exactly 3 minutes, and Penny will attempt a grand entrance in 30."

  "You told people to arrive at six," I said. "And she comes at 6:30? My mother would call that rude."

  "She used to arrive typically an hour late. So one day we made all her favorite foods then made sure they were either all eaten or horribly cold by the time she arrived. Now she makes sure to arrive just as we're about to sit down. She does like to make an entrance."

  I laughed at the way they'd tried to train her. "That would work for me."

  "I'm going to check on the chicken," Wendy said, heading that way. Victoria crossed the room and checked me out. She made minor adjustments to my hair then frowned at my neck and ears.

  "Come with me," she said, dragging me to her bedroom. When we got there, she positioned me in front of her dresser. There was a mirror on the wall behind it. Then she opened a jewelry box. "Take those earrings off, they're all wrong for what you're wearing." I took my earrings out and set them on the dresser. Victoria poked through the jewelry box then pulled out two earrings but didn't let me see them. She turned me to face her, then installed an earring in each ear. "Better," she said.

  She turned me back to face the mirror. I looked at my ears and found she had picked out a pair of emerald earrings. They were divine. The green went along beautifully with the green brocade. Victoria then draped a white gold necklace around my neck with an emerald pendant that matched the earrings.

  "These are a loan just for tonight," she said.

  "They're lovely," I told her. "Thank you. You're being so kind."

  "You're welcome. And no more trying to steal my girlfriend. She told me about your little game earlier."

  "I'm sorry!" I said. "I wasn't trying to steal her! I was just teasing her."

  "Right. And while you're at it, learn to tell when we're teasing you." She grinned at me.

  I laughed at myself. "I'm trying," I said.

  "Good job, by the way," she said. "I had to fend her off in here if we were going to be ready on time."

  And with that, the front buzzer rang.

  "That's Roni," Victoria said.

  We exited the bedroom. Victoria answered the front buzzer, listened to the garbled sound, then buzzed them in.

  Wendy came out of the kitchen. "The chicken is perfect," she declared. "That was Roni?"

  "And Jeremy and Lawrence," replied Victoria.

  Wendy turned to me. "You. Go stand by the windows, looking out. Pretend no one is here until we call you. And don't fidget!"

  I did as I was told, although the no fidgeting part was hard. I was suddenly nervous. I felt like I was on display, and I wasn't accustomed to that. But Victoria and Wendy were being so sweet, and I had asked for their help. And wow! Did I love the corset. Even if I still couldn't breathe.

  Behind me, I heard the door open and new voices enter the conversation. I heard kisses exchanged and coats taken off. There was one female voice, low and sultry, and two male voices. One of the male voices was deep and booming and sounded like it was coming from a Norse god. The other was quiet, restrained, and it felt like it was a leash, holding the Norse god from flying off to the skies.

  I held still by the window, my hands at my sides, and managed to stop rocking from foot to foot.

  Footsteps and voices moved from the foyer into the dining room. Then they all stopped, and there was a moment of silence.

  "Who. Is. That?" the female voice asked.

  "Oh," said Victoria, absentmindedly. "Shane, dear."

  My hair was draped over my right shoulder. I turned my head to the right so that I was looking over the same shoulder, past all the hair. Victoria was holding a hand out towards me.

  "Come and meet our guests, dear."

  I slowly rotated to the right then calmly, although I wasn't calm at all, walked towards them.

  "Oh my god," said the Norse god. "She's a doll. Larry, look, she's wearing one of my creations!"

  Five pair of eyes watched me as I crossed the room to take Victoria's hand.

  The Norse god was tall and huge. Not fat, not an ounce of fat, but he was huge. His hands were big enough I wondered if he could circle my entire waist in one hand. Standing next to him was a far more normal sized man. Both men were dressed in black and were impeccable. I wondered if the mountain had to make his own clothes to find things that fit so well.

  The woman was tall for a woman and slender and appeared to be about 30 years old. She had straight shoulder length hair. She was wearing a blue skirt and a white blouse with stockings, heels, and a blue scarf around her neck that matched the skirt. She was stunning. She was smiling, and her blue eyes bore into mine as I crossed the room.

  "Shane, dear," said Victoria, drawing me closer. "This is Jeremy and next to him is Lawrence."

  Jeremy stepped up and I looked up at him. And up. And up. Then he reached out those huge hands of his and placed them on my shoulders. He turned me around like I was a doll, and I had no choice but to let my feet follow.

  He turned me back to face him and he was beaming. Then he pulled me into a bear hug and I felt like I'd been swallowed.

  "Girl," he said. "You are my new best friend."

  He set me back in my feet and held me steady while I found my balance. Then he adjusted my clothing and hair, undoing the damage from his bear hug. I stood there like a manikin, letting him fuss at me.

  I think the others were used to his behavior, because they all just waited patiently for him to finish with me.

  Jeremy stepped away and then cocked his head while he looked at me. He pursed his lips then took on a distant expression. We stood there for a good ten seconds, no one saying anything, then he came back to earth and looked imploringly at first Wendy, then Victoria.

  "Please," was all he said.

  "Yes," said Wendy. "You can design a line for her."

  "If!" said Victoria. "You first find someone who can make a proper shoe for us."

  "And!" said Wendy. "You can talk Shane into it."

  "And!" said Lawrence, suddenly looking more alive. "The other lines continue to sell well, and the shoes aren't horribly expensive."

  Lawrence stepped up to me and offered me a normal handshake. "I'm Larry, also known as the bitchy accountant."

  Throughout all this, the woman never took her eyes off me.

  "And this," said Victoria, "is Veronica."

  Veronica stepped forward and offered me her hand. She looked like she might have wanted to do something more intimate than that. She was at least ten years older than I was, and even then I thought I might have wanted her to. As I said, she was stunning.

  By now, Jeremy was walking around me and fussing at me. He pulled an imaginary piece of lint off the corset, coming far closer to my breasts than any other man had in the past. He adjusted my hair again, fiddled with the necklace, then did something to the laces of the corset. He smoothed this and fluffed that. Everyone else ignored him, so I decided to do my best to do so, too. But I was deeply flattered by the attention and soaked it up.

  "That's enough, Jeremy," Victoria said eventually. "She's perfect. Stop grooming her like a monkey."

  "More like King Kong," I said before I could catch myself by slapping my hands over my mouth.

  Jeremy was the first to laugh. He reached over and gently removed my hands from in front of my mouth.

  Wendy ushered us further into the room then asked Veronica to help with drinks. Lawrence joined them, and I could hear Lawrence and Veronica discussing the wines they had brought with them. The three of them disappeared into the kitchen, then Wendy came back and called to me, "Shane. To drink? We have coffee, tea, soft drinks, water, and maybe some fruit juice."

  "Tea?" I said. "If it's not any trouble."

  She disappeared again.

  Victoria, Jeremy and I made harmless small talk for a minute or two before the door buzzer rang again. Victoria went to answer i
t, leaving Jeremy and I alone. His voice dropped to a more intimate volume as soon as Victoria was away.

  "Shane," he said kindly. "How did you find yourself in this spider's den?"

  "The caught me at their shop yesterday," I said, putting on a face. "It was terrible. First Victoria snared me in her web and dressed me like this, then tried to feed me to Wendy."

  "Oooh," he said. "You're the girl who made the huge sale. On a Thursday. To a new customer who had to use two credit cards to pay for everything. And now you're here."

  He looked at me, then over to Victoria as she was opening the door, then back to me, and his eyes narrowed.

  "Are you as nervous as you look?"

  "Terrified," I admitted. "I feel like I'm on display. I'm in way over my head."

  He cocked his head at me. "Wendy dressed you, didn't she?"

  "How can you tell?"

  "Vic never ties the laces that tightly. Wait, don't tell me. 'Shallow breaths, dear.'"

  I laughed.

  Jeremy reached out and patted my hand. "You're safe here," he assured me. "You look exquisite. Wendy can be a conniving bitch and Victoria is even sneakier, but they have a history of taking in lost puppy dogs. They are fiercely protective of anyone they consider theirs." He eyed my neck. "And Victoria never loans her jewelry to anyone." I reached up and touched the necklace. Jeremy continued. "The only other person in the world I'd trust as much as Wendy and Vic is Veronica, but don't you dare tell her I said that! I'd never hear the end of it."

  I hadn't noticed it, but Jeremy had moved us back to the windows and was standing between me and the front door. He was so big that he blocked my view of most of the room and equally blocked anyone from at the door from seeing me. But then I heard Victoria approaching with two more guests.

  "Jeremy. Shane." she said, drawing closer.

  Jeremy winked at me, then stepped to my left, which means I subconsciously followed him with my body. The first view of me the new arrivals had would have been of the giant, Jeremy, and next to him this tiny woman with long red hair over her shoulder.

  I turned to look at the new arrivals. The first was a pleasant-looking woman who was maybe a few years out of college. She was dressed in a new age style of bright colors and numerous scarves. She was of modest height and exceedingly slender.

  Next to her was the woman who must be Dominique. She was indeed dressed all in black, with heavy make up. She was wearing a black corset, black mini skirt, black stockings and boots. She had black nail polish, black lipstick, and she appeared to be a not-too-distant cousin of a raccoon. She was glaring at me.

  "Someone doesn't like competition," Jeremy said quietly.

  "Shane, dear," said Victoria. "This is Teri." She indicated the new age woman. "Teri, Shane."

  Teri air kissed my cheeks and said something about my aura. I decided she was cute and probably rather vapid. I may not want a career in the sciences, but I wasn't quite ready to accept the whole mystic crystal lifestyle either.

  "And this is Dominique," said Victoria. Dominique didn't offer a hand but just tipped her head very slightly in hello. She was still glaring at me. I smiled sweetly at her and told her I loved her outfit. Then I asked who did her hair and inquired as to how she'd learn to apply makeup so well.

  "The first thing Jeremy did when he saw me was rearranged everything about me," I explained. "But you come in looking perfect without a hair out of place. How do you do it?"

  I could tell she didn't have a clue whether I was putting her on or was truly sincere. For what she was portraying, she had done a good job, and indeed there wasn't a hair out of place. She stopped glaring at me, but I could tell we weren't to be friends. I was okay with that.

  Victoria left to answer the door again. Dominique left to freshen up. Jeremy and Teri talked about gemstones, with Jeremy suggesting different stones that would better fit her complexion. I stood by and watched.

  Veronica, Lawrence and Wendy by now were ferrying drinks to everyone, and Victoria reentered the room with the first woman who had appeared who I knew on sight was the stereotypical lesbian. I knew immediately she was what folks meant when they called someone "butch". Her name was Nancy, and she actually licked her lips when we were introduced.

  "Nancy," chided Victoria. "You really must buy her a drink before you eat her, even just with your eyes."

  Nancy nodded and actually took Victoria seriously. She went in search of Wendy then came back with a glass of white wine and offered it to me.

  "That's sweet," I said to her, "but I have to stick to tea tonight. But thank you."

  Victoria and Wendy took turns swirling the room, interrupting conversations and moving people around. Somehow through all of it, Jeremy stayed at my side. During one orchestrated changing of the guard, I asked him, "Did you get appointed as my protector?"

  "Self-assigned," he said. "In case Nancy tosses you over her shoulder and tries to carry you off." He paused, grinning, then got serious. "If she does, am I supposed to interfere?"

  "Oh god," I said. "Please do. I swear she was eyeing my clothing, wondering what order to take everything off or perhaps just wondering if she should use a knife and slice it off."

  Jeremy chuckled briefly. "She wouldn't hurt you, you know. Underneath she's actually very sweet. Besides." He was grinning again. "You shouldn't wear my designs if you aren't willing to accept the attention."

  Wendy and Victoria kept checking on me, but they realized that Jeremy was watching over me, so they appeared to relax. I also saw them glancing at the clock and then I saw them exchange looks. Wendy looked at the clock, then at the door, then back to Victoria. Victoria looked at the clock, then at me (and smiled), then at Wendy.

  Exactly thirty minutes late there was one final buzz. Three minutes later, Victoria admitted the last woman to the party. I was paying attention to a story that Jeremy and Lawrence were telling in alternation to Teri, but then Victoria brought the new arrival around to say hello to everyone, coming to me last.

  "And this is Shane," she said. "Shane, this is Penny."

  Penny was of medium height and was the only woman in the room wearing a little black dress. She had on heels, a gold necklace, and bright red lipstick. Her fingernails were also painted red and I noticed later her toenails matched her fingernails. The result was quite dramatic and rather predatory.

  "Aren't you just divine," she said, air kissing me. Then she linked her arm in mine and plastered herself to my side, not to be budged.

  "Dinner is ready," Victoria declared immediately. "If you can all take your places." She and Wendy led the way. Penny held my arm and drew us both to the table together with an amused Jeremy offering an arm to Teri.

  "Where are you sitting?" Penny asked me.

  But Victoria was carefully orchestrating. "Wendy, if you can take that end," she said, gesturing to the end of the table furthest from the kitchen. "I'll take this end. Shane, as you offered to help serve tonight, I'd like you here to my left. Jeremy, can you take the spot just past Shane? Lawrence, I'm tired of you and Jeremy playing footsie under the table, so you will sit over on the other side next to Wendy." Lawrence looked offended, probably at the suggestion he would play footsie in public, but Wendy whispered something to him and he looked mollified.

  In the end, Teri, the woman dressed in crystals and new age colors, sat across from me. On the other side of Jeremy were first Dominique and then Veronica. Across from Jeremy was Nancy and next to her, Penny. Penny didn't look pleased but took her assigned place. She muttered, "Why does Jeremy get to sit next to her?"

  "Because," said Victoria. "Jeremy won't eat her."

  "Are you sure?" I asked nervously, looking at him. There were a few chuckles.

  "Naw, you're safe," said Jeremy. "You're too scrawny to be worth eating. All skin and bones." To demonstrate, he reached out to pinch my arm.

  I grinned and flexed.

  I heard an "oh my god", but I wasn't sure who it was from. Jeremy grinned back at me and leered, pinching my a
rm in a few places. "Okay, maybe she is worth eating."

  Everyone laughed.

  Then Victoria invited me to the kitchen.

  As soon as the door closed, she told me quietly, "Turn around." I did, and she came up behind me and started fumbling with the laces of the corset. She let them out quite a ways and I got the first decent breath of air I'd gotten in an hour. "Just breathe for a moment," she said, and I took several good breaths. Then she tightened the laces again, but nowhere near as tightly as Wendy had done them. She turned me around and looked at me, then nodded. "You still look stunning. Wendy tied them tighter than she needed to."

  "She told me that paybacks were a bitch."

  Victoria grinned. "You played with fire."

  After that, we began taking the various dishes out to the table. The salad was already there. I just brought out first the vegetables. I saw people were passing the salad bowl around, filling their salad plates. When I returned to the kitchen, Victoria was starting to prepare individual services of the chicken. She placed a friendly dollop of the parsnip puree onto each plate then added a piece of the chicken. As I came in, she gave me two plates and told me who they were for. I made the requisite trips back and forth, delivering lastly my plate and Victoria's. The food smelled wonderful.

  The table conversation over the meal was mostly small talk, but it eventually turned to me. It was actually Lawrence who said, "Shane, everyone else here knows everyone else, but no one knows a thing about you."

  I offered a short description. "College girl. I'll probably go into business eventually. That's about it."

  They all stared at me. Eventually Jeremy said, "Uh huh. I don't think that's everything."

  "What?" I said. "I'm just an innocent college kid. It's not like I've done anything in life."

  Wendy scoffed. "Innocent? I think not." They all turned to her, and Penny said, "Do tell."

  "Do you know what this little vixen did earlier?" she said.

  "Oh no," I said quietly. "She wouldn't."