Semblance

by Logan Patricks

  As I sat alone in the library, finishing up my Theories of Harmony assignment, I kept thinking about Shadow and how good it felt being with him. I remembered how sensual his touch was and how amazing our sex had been.

  He filled me perfectly.

  I couldn’t wait for him to return home from Cambodia so I could experience his body all over again. I wanted to taste his lips, to feel his muscles, and to pleasure him like he did for me. Being with Shadow made me feel sexy, which was something I haven’t felt for a long time.

  He made me feel wanted.

  I sat in front of the grand piano in my condo attempting Gaspard De La Nuit by Ravel for the fifth time that night. I was growing increasingly frustrated with each failed attempt.

  Even though Shadow had relieved me of my obligation to record this song, I still had the burning desire to play it flawlessly. It was my own personal challenge. In order to take my performance to the next level, I needed to master Gaspard de La Nuit. Otherwise, I would always see myself as a B-list piano playing hack.

  This time, I made it through to midway point before my fingers went off the rails and misfired, creating a few cringe worthy notes amidst the beauty of Ravel’s complex melody.

  I cursed.

  While debating whether I was done for the night or if I should make one last attempt, my cell phone rang.

  My phone never rang—not since Justin decided not to speak to me anymore.

  I answered it.

  “Hey sweetie, what are you up to tonight?” It was Calisto.

  “I’m just sitting here on my piano, driving myself crazy.”

  “Oh?”

  “You ever hear the song Gaspard De La Nuit by Maurice Ravel?”

  “Of course,” Calisto said. “It’s one of the most complex piano compositions ever created.”

  “It sure is. I’m trying to master it.”

  “Any luck?”

  “I think I’d have an easier time fitting a tiger in my cootchie than playing Gaspard flawlessly.” I sighed.

  Calisto laughed. “I love your quirky sense of humor Aria. It’s a welcome change from the dry conversations I typically have with my usual girlfriends—which is one of the reasons why I called.”

  “To listen to me talk about shoving jungle cats into my vagina?”

  “No,” Calisto said. “I wanted to see if you wanted to go out tonight and part-ay.”

  “It’s a school night though,” I said, realizing after the fact how juvenile that must have sounded.

  “Nonsense. Classes can wait,” Calisto said. “Tonight, you’re coming out with me and my girlfriend and we’re going to get shit-faced, reject greasy, desperate men that approach us, and get naughty with some swoon-worthy muscle muffin.”

  I already had my swoon-worthy muscle muffin, and that was Shadow. I kept that thought to myself though, knowing how touchy the subject of Shadow and I shacking up could potentially be with Calisto. After all he was her twin brother.

  “So you fuck Shadow yet?” Calisto asked.

  “What?” Well that caught me off guard.

  “Never mind, it’s your private affairs,” Calisto said. “I just want the man to be happy, that’s all, and if your pussy is what puts a smile on his face, then I hope you throw that kitty at him any chance you have.”

  I guess that was her strange way of giving me her blessing? “I want Shadow to be happy as well,” I replied.

  “Great, we’re both on the same page. Let’s celebrate then. We’re going out.”

  I pressed one of the keys gently on the piano and the note echoed through the condo. “I really had my heart set on staying in and practicing this piece,” I replied. “Maybe I’ll go out with you next time?”

  “Look, it’s been an extremely long day in the boardroom handling the family business. Did Shadow tell you that we are in the midst of launching the Inferno, a casino and hotel chain inspired by Dante’s works? It’ll be a revolutionary experience for all its patrons, and it will be one of the crown jewels of the Tremaine business empire; but before the grand opening, it’s been a giant pain in my ass trying to get everything in order. I’m burnt out, I’m stressed, and I need to go out and drink, but most of all, I need some fun people to come with me and you’re one of those people.”

  “Uh…” I began.

  “Amazing, we’ll be over in an hour for the pre-drinking party,” Calisto said. “And don’t worry about doing your makeup. I have a specialist that will do it for us while we get some drinks in us.”

  Before I could protest, I heard a click on her end of the phone, ending our conversation abruptly.

  I could see Calisto as being the type of person who didn’t hear the word ‘No’.

  I sighed. I still had a good hour before Calisto arrived and I decided to attempt one more run through Gaspard de La Nuit.

  About half an hour later and yet another failed attempt, which left me banging my head against the keys, I heard a knocking on my door.

  Calisto must have been early.

  I rose from the piano bench and headed towards the foyer entrance.

  “You’re early Calisto,” I said as I unlocked and opened the door.

  Instead of Calisto standing before me, it was Bitchy Barbie from the gym who had given me attitude the other day.

  “You’re the girl Calisto wanted to invite out tonight?” she said with disdain.

  Fuck.

  “Well, who am I to judge who Calisto decides to waste her time with,” she sighed as she tossed her jacket into my arms and entered my condo like she owned the place.

  With her back turned to me, I tossed her jacket outside my door and closed it behind us.

  She could pick it up on her way out.

  “Nice place you have here,” she said as she entered into my living room and plopped down on my couch, making herself right at home. “What sugar daddy paid for this one?”

  “No sugar daddy paid for it,” I said with half-truths. “I’m earning it.”

  “I’m sure you are,” she made a gesture with her fist and tongue pressed against her cheek, strongly hinting towards the act of fellatio.

  However, I could see the lack of common sense in this girl already, seeing as how she raised her right fist and pushed out the right side of her cheek with her tongue.

  “Wow, your boyfriend has a right angled penis?” I asked.

  “What are you talking about? I don’t have a boyfriend,” Bitchy Barbie girl said, obviously clueless.

  “Never mind,” I sighed.

  There was a moment of awkward, lingering silence as we both stabbed each other with dagger looks. Despite the soundlessness, I was pretty sure that we were both telepathically screaming the same word at each other.

  Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch...

  “Well, are you going to stand there like a dumb mute, or are you going to fix me a drink?” she asked.

  Actually, a drink didn’t sound like a bad idea at all. I needed some liquid Prozac to dull my senses in order to deal with my unwelcomed company.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “I’ll take vodka and orange, but not the cheap kind of vodka that a gold digging slag like you probably drinks,” she said, not even bothering to look at me. “If it’s not at least Grey Goose, I don’t want it.”

  “Don’t stress out and give yourself an ulcer,” I called out, though secretly I wish she did. “I have Grey Goose.”

  “Good,” I heard her holler from the living room as I made my way into the kitchen and grabbed two glasses along with the orange juice and the vodka out of the freezer. “Make mine a double.”

  “One double vodka spit-driver coming up,” I muttered to myself. Typically I wasn’t this cruel of a person, but I was still jet lagged, and along with the anxiety of waiting for Shadow’s return from Cambodia, I had little patience over the past few days.

  I should have just poured this bitch the drink she wanted, but instead I decided to muster up as much spit
as I could from within my mouth. I even added a bit of hoark for good measure. Her screwdriver was going to be swimming in a sea of my saliva.

  After pouring in the vodka, I lifted her glass to my chest level and was just about to spit into it, when I suddenly noticed that Barbie Girl was standing at the doorway to my kitchen.

  I felt like a deer caught in headlights, my eyes wide.

  She scowled at me, no doubt reading the guilt on my face like a textbook.

  I swallowed it all back down, and immediately shuddered.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Sorry, got the chills,” I lied.

  “Is that mine?” she asked, gesturing towards the glass I held in my hand.

  I nodded.

  She snatched it away from me and reached for the orange juice. “I can handle the rest,” she said.

  After the drinks were made, we both sat back down in the living room, opposite to one another, and sipped our alcohol while staring at each other like two combatants in a squared circle. Neither of us took our eyes off the other, both understanding that the first to break our hateful gaze with the other was the weaker of the two.

  After what seemed like hours of me maintaining my death stare, there was a knock on my door, which immediately filled me with a sense of relief.

  “I’ll get it,” I said as I polished off the rest of the drink and lifted my ass off the couch.

  It was Calisto, along with a graceful looking middle-aged woman with lemon-colored curly hair.

  “Aria!” Calisto said as she embraced me with a warm hug. “How was Cambodia?”

  “It was amazing,” I said. “I didn’t want to come back.”

  Calisto smiled. “Alas, here you are,” she said. “But don’t worry, as long as you’re in my social circle, I guarantee there will be plenty more adventures.” She then turned to the woman she brought with her. “This is Kara, my makeup artist. She usually does work for movies and such. I tell you, she can completely transform a person into someone else entirely.”

  “We’re going to be in a movie?” I asked, perplexed.

  “You’re cute,” Calisto said. “Kara’s here to do our make up so we look sexed up and ready to conquer the club. After all, there’s no point showing our faces somewhere if we aren’t the absolute best looking girls in the entire establishment.”

  Kara extended her hand to me. “Aria,” she said. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I have to say, your skin is absolutely divine. You’re an absolute natural beauty.”

  I loved this woman.

  “Please, let me take your coats,” I gushed, doing my best to give her A-grade hospitality. “I’ll pour you guys a drink after.”

  “Don’t bother,” Barbie Girl said, as Calisto handed me her jacket. “Her mixed drinks taste like ass.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You mixed your own drink,” I pointed out.

  “Whatever,” she muttered. “You didn’t store your vodka properly or something or maybe your juice went bad. Regardless, your drink tastes terrible.”

  “It’s probably the aftertaste of the right angled dicks you shove in your mouth,” I snapped.

  Calisto and Kara both gave me a puzzled look.

  “Never mind,” I muttered.

  Kara took her jacket and handed it to me, along with Barbie Girl’s which I had tossed outside my door.

  “I found this lying on the ground outside,” Kara pointed out.

  “Oh, geez,” I faked ignorance. “No idea how that got out there. Thanks for pointing that out.”

  “I really love your place,” Kara said as both she and Calisto made their way to the living room. “Your style is lovely.”

  With both their backs turned to me, I opened the door and tossed the Barbie bitch’s jacket back outside the door, and then hung up both Calisto and Kara’s coats.

  “She probably didn’t pick out the décor,” the Barbie Girl said. “It’s probably whatever rich ape that she’s sleeping with. Really Calisto, I didn’t know you kept such shabby company.”

  “The ape you’re talking about is my brother,” Calisto pointed out, “And my shabby company is the Golden Virgin.”

  The Barbie Girl laughed. “I knew there was a peasant quality about this girl from the moment I saw her at the gym. Even when I was talking to you that night, I knew you weren’t worthy of being at the celebration.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “I don’t recall ever speaking with a queen-sized twat at Shadow’s party.”

  “I was the girl in the swan mask, who stood next to you.”

  Suddenly all the pieces fit together. I should have known.

  “Bria, you’re insulting my brother and his judgment,” Calisto said.

  “So what?” Bria said, clearly not caring. “Your brother has always been an idiot, and he knows it. I’ve told him to his face many times before.”

  “You only think he’s an idiot because he refused to sleep with you that one time,” Calisto pointed out.

  I snorted. All of a sudden, everything was making sense. Bria was the jealous bitch who couldn’t handle the fact that Shadow had no interest in her. Added to the fact that he chose a “peasant” to be his soul mate must have been eating away at her like acid. And the oh-so-sweet icing on the cake was the revelation that the Golden Virgin was the same girl, moi, who told her that she dressed like a whore in the gym just last week.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about Calisto,” Bria said, feigning ignorance. “I never wanted to sleep with your brother.”

  “Yes you did,” Calisto said. “He even told me to keep you away from him; that you were like a mad dog in heat.”

  “Shadow made me cum twice,” I announced proudly, deciding that now was a good time as any to rub it in the blonde bitch’s face.

  Suddenly all eyes turned to me.

  Too far Aria, too far, I thought as I saw Calisto raise her brow.

  “I’ll go make everyone a drink,” I declared, as I left the living room and entered into the kitchen, red-faced.

  This was going to be an interesting night.

  “Your skin is so soft,” Kara said as she gently brushed my cheeks with the tips of the makeup brush, applying a thin layer of powder. “Honestly, I don’t need to do that much work on you. You have an elegant look—this natural beauty needs almost no work.”

  “She’s not that great,” Bria huffed as she sat on my bed and folded her arms.

  “Really Bria, give it a rest,” Calisto, who was standing in front of my full-length vanity mirror, checking herself out. “I look great Kara, first class work as always.”

  “You’re another easy one Calisto,” Kara said. “Honestly, for the amount you’re paying me, I feel almost guilty. I don’t need to do much with you.”

  “Nonsense,” Calisto said. “I pay you for your artistic vision, not for how much make up you smear on my face. It’s those small little touches that really bring out the best in my features.”

  “What about me?” Bria asked. “How’s my natural beauty?”

  “Do you mind not sitting on my bed, or cross your legs if you do?” I said. “I’m afraid what toxic chemicals might escape through your vagina.”

  Both Calisto and Kara laughed at my joke, but Bria sat there in silence, her lips pursed. She was clearly pissed.

  I knew I was being cruel, but it was less than what she deserved, right?

  After all, I was Shadow’s girl now, and I had an image to maintain for his sake. If I was to be the girlfriend of the Lord of the Midnight Society, I couldn’t let someone talk down to me like Bria did.

  “Did you ever consider dying your hair black, like I suggested Bria?” Kara asked. “I think it’ll be quite a good, exotic look for you.”

  “I did it once in high school but didn’t take a liking to it,” Bria replied. “With my pasty white skin tone, I got mixed up for Calisto a few times, and we all know that I’m an original.”

  “More tall tales out of your mouth Bria,” Calisto sighed. �
��No one ever mixed us up.”

  “Brad did, when he blew you that kiss, which was really meant for me.”

  “How are you so sure it wasn’t intended for me?” Calisto asked.

  “Brad was my boyfriend at the time,” Bria stated.

  “Once again, how are you so sure it wasn’t intended for me?” Calisto said with a sly smile.

  “Forget it,” Bria exclaimed. “Let’s just get out of here and go to the club.”

  Kara applied the final dab of mascara and then stood back and reflected on her work.

  “Absolutely lovely,” she said. “You’re going to kill it in the club tonight.”

  I took a look in the mirror and was astounded by my own reflection. With only a little bit of makeup and foundation, Kara had made me look like a princess. For the first time, I actually felt worthy to be a part of the upper echelon of society.

  “Oh gosh,” I said, my breath taken away. “I look…”

  “You look the same as you always did,” Kara said, “Which is motherfucking gorgeous. I just brought out a little more of your best features.”

  I wished Shadow were here to see me like this.

  He would fall in love with me.

  After regaining my composure, I turned to Kara.

  “Are you coming out with us tonight?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “My time for partying is long gone,” she laughed. “I have a husband and a hyper little boy to get home to.”

  “As always, the money’s been deposited into your account. I’ll have one of my drivers take you home Kara,” Calisto said as she gave her a hug. “You. Are. A. Godsend.”

  “It’s always a pleasure babe,” Kara replied.

  Calisto then turned to me. “Are you ready to roll?”

  “Yeah,” I said. I was filled with enthusiasm. Earlier in the evening I wanted to just stay home and bang on my piano, but now with a dolled up face and a few drinks in me, I was ready to show off the new Aria to the world. “It’s been a long time since I hit up a club. I’m excited.”

  “Well, let’s not wait any longer then,” Calisto said. “Let’s get girl’s night started already.”