by Daisy Allen
“That’ll be $14.50,” the cab driver turned around and told me.
“Er, yeah, I’m just going to run in and out, keep the meter running.”
I grabbed my files and got out of the cab. Larry had called me three more times after the first call this morning, with about 18 things he needed me to do RIGHT THEN, I hadn’t even had time to think about anything else. But as I climbed the stairs to the front door to the stunning apartment building on 5th, I wondered for just a moment if life had thrown me a curveball.
I pressed the buzzer and a sleepy voice answered on the crackly intercom, “what?”
“Um, I’m Kara, I’m Larry Hummel’s PA, I’ve come to bring the files about the Paris trip.”
There was a pause.
I pressed the intercom again, “hello?”
“Yeah, ok, I’ll be right down, I’m just getting dressed.”
Dressed? It was almost 9am. I was contemplating the kind of life where someone could still be undressed at 9am on a Tuesday morning, and yet live in a place like this, when the door opened.
Life hadn’t thrown me a curveball.
It had whacked me right in the face with a flying baseball bat.
It was him.
Chapter Four
15 Years Ago
“Did you SEE what Michelle was wearing at school today?” Heather scrunched up the face.
“Uh yeah, I’m not blind. But even if I was, I still would’ve noticed that it was basically a tie-dyed traffic cone.” I couldn’t help noting.
“What was she thinking?”
“I don’t know, that if Brad wasn’t going to notice her wearing normal clothes she would blind him so he couldn’t notice anyone else?”
We dissolved into a pit of giggles. It was almost the last day of the school year, only Prom and finals left, but the prospect of being finished with school forever, was making us and everyone around us, giddy.
“Hey girls, watcha laughin’ at?” Finn, Heather’s twin brother walked past us. I froze. He was so gorgeous, and I’d had a crush on him my whole life, ever since I’d become friends with Heather 10 years ago.
“Um, hi, Finn, how are you?”
“I’m good, Kara. You’re lookin’ good.” He winked at me. And my face burned a beet red.
“Go away, Finn,” Heather huffed at her brother.
I gave him an apologetic smile as he grinned at us and walked off. God, he was hot. The twins had gotten their genes from their Norwegian mother. Tall, leggy and blonde, they were both swimmers, so even through winter, their bodies were toned to perfection and their skin tanned, catching every ray of sunshine that fell to earth.
I, on the other hand, thought of myself as the stereotypical “plain” friend to Heather’s model looks. But she had never been anything but nice to me, sticking up for me when people made jokes about us being an odd couple, and made sure I felt included in all her groups of friends.
Finn was just as gorgeous, but he had a reputation for being a jerk. He was nice enough to me, I guess because I was Heather’s friend and around all the time, but he didn’t really bother giving many people the time of day. But I didn’t care. I had grown up crushing on him, and nothing he did or said made me feel any differently towards him.
“Ugh, sorry about that, hon, if he’s ever bothering you, just flip him the bird and tell him to fuck off.” Heather said, rolling her eyes at the thought of her brother.
I didn’t know how to tell her that I lived for the minutes and seconds that I was over there when he noticed me.
“Aw, it’s ok, Heather. He’s alright.”
“Alright?! He shouldn’t even be out here. He’s grounded for crashing Dad’s car last night. He snuck out at 3am and at 4, the cops brought him home. He’d crashed it just a few blocks from here. What an idiot!”
I sighed inwardly. I was so gone on him that the thought of him being so irresponsible just made him seem all the more hot to me.
“Hi girls, can I get you anything?” This time the interruption came from Heather’s mom, Lillian.
“Hi, Mrs O’Reilly, we’re good, thank you,” I looked up at her and sighed. Even at her age, she could probably have any man she wanted. A professional swim teacher, she kept in shape and she looked just a few years older than her children and her husband utterly adored her. They lived a charmed life I thought. Mr O’Reilly had inherited his family’s money after they sold their shares in a mining boom. Sometimes I just closed my eyes and willed myself to be part of their family.
“Ok, well, help yourself to anything in the kitchen, ok, sweetie?” She smiled her million dollar smile at me and dove into the pool.
“So, have you thought any more about going to the Prom?” Heather asked me again, for the third time that day.
“Nah, I’m just going to stay home and study for finals. I don’t have a dress, I don’t have a date; I don’t really have any reason to go.”
“Aw, come on, I can lend you a dress, I’ve got millions and you don’t need a date! Just come with me and Eric.” She offered kindly.
“Er, no. I get the stink eye from Eric enough as it is when he wants time alone with you, I don’t think he’s going to enjoy three of us in his prom picture.” I reasoned with her.
“Who cares about him. He’ll be too busy with his football buddies to care, and he doesn’t like dancing and I need a dance buddy!”
“You mean you need someone to step on your feet and whack you in the eye.”
“Hey, if I can forgive you for that, you can forgive yourself,” she joked, putting on her poker face before dissolving into giggles. “Come on! It’s going to be SO fun.”
“Heather, I may be frumpy and dumpy, but if some of the chess club geeks can get dates to this thing, then there’s no way I’M going stag. But don’t despair, if Prince Charming comes along and brings my shoe with him before the weekend, then I’m there!”
“What about, um...Princess Charming?” She eyed me, questioningly.
“For the hundredth time... I’m not a lesbian! I’m not single by MY choice.”
“Oh come on, you’re so pretty. It’s because you’ve got your nose buried in a book all the time that you don’t notice the guys ogling you.”
“Yeah, look closely, those guys all have lazy eyes and they’re actually aiming their luring leers at you.”
“Fine. But mark my words, I’m not going to Prom without you.”
She actually sounded like she meant it.
***
“Geez, where is everyone?” I wondered, looking around at the half empty halls.
“Where do you think?” Heather replied, shoving her books into her locker and slamming it shut before they could fall out. “Getting their moustaches trimmed.”
“Yeah, but what about the girls?”
“I WAS talking about the girls,” Heather grinned at me.
I snorted, she could make such jokes, she didn’t have a hair out of place let alone a whole upper lip full.
“Yeah, but it’s only Thursday, I thought the mass ‘sick absence’ wouldn’t happen until tomorrow?”
“Babe, for some poor souls, it takes more than just a day to look night time appropriate.”
“I’d take a whole week if I was getting ready for the Prom tomorrow night.”
Heather turned and smiled sadly at me, “you SURE you don’t wanna go?”
I nodded, and leaned my head on her shoulder.
“Oh well, you never know what might happen at the last moment.”
“The gym might get swallowed up by a hellhole?” I suggested hopefully.
“Hey girls.” A body pushed in between us and wrapped a leather clad arm around our shoulders.
“Ugh, what do you want, Finn? I thought we agreed not to talk to each other at school.” Heather shrugged her brother’s arm off; I tried not to grab it and pull it tight around me.
“I’m not here to talk to you, sister dearest, I’m here for the pleasure of Kara’s company.” He turned and gave me the
full of glare of his 1000 kilowatt smile.
“Oh. Um, is there something I can help you with? Do you need my math homework notes?” I stammered. After 10 years of knowing him, I could still barely get a sentence out without tripping over my own tongue.
“No, he’s grounded, he should have had plenty of time to do it himself,” Heather said.
“So cynical at such a young age,” he ignored his sister and said to me. “I am here to...” He stopped and turned to his sister. “Don’t you have a nose to powder or something?”
“I think you’ve had enough powder in your nose.” She said to him warningly.
“Oh hush. Silly rumors. But since you couldn’t take a polite hint – go away. I’d like to talk to Kara alone please.”
“Is that ok, Kara?” She asked me...and winked.
“Um, yeah, sure.” I’d never really been alone with him before, but I wasn’t going to give up this chance.
She stopped and let us go on ahead.
We walked in silence down the hall for a few steps and I waited for him to talk. I couldn’t imagine what he’d want to talk to me about, and I tried to scan my brain for anything he might need from me.
“Penny for your thoughts,” I heard him say, and I realized I’d kept walking when he’d stopped and was a few steps behind me.
“That’s about twice as much as they’re worth. So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
“Well, as you know, tomorrow, the world is ending.”
I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, so I just blinked.
“Or, otherwise known as, Senior Prom. Therefore, everything must stop for 4 hours, so a bunch of 17 year olds can wear lots of taffeta and make complete fools of themselves and then get drunk so no one has any recollection of it.”
I giggled nervously, where was he going with this?
“Anyway, I wasn’t going to go, being grounded at all. But my dear parents are worried that 30 years from now I’ll be laying on some shrink’s couch blaming them for my substance abuse problem for not letting me go to my prom so they’ve released me from the dungeon for the night.”
“Okay...”
“And, I wondered...”
I held my breath.
“If by some miraculous chance you’re not already going with some lucky guy, would you go to prom with me?”
Huh?
What did he say?
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Come on, Kara, you heard me. Let’s go to prom together, we’ll have a blast!”
“Um.” My brain could not comprehend what was going on.
“Oh.” He grew serious. “You’re already going with someone.”
“No.”
“Then, great! I already got our tickets! My way of trying to control the future.” He winked at me.
What was going on?
I just blinked at him.
“Earth to Kara.”
“I’m here.”
No, I wasn’t.
I was in heaven.
“Ok so, yeah, I’ll call you tonight and we’ll work out the details for tomorrow ok? Or are you coming over after school with Heather, I can just talk to you then.”
“Um, yeah, cool. Sure. Yup. Ok”
He laughed and put his sunglasses back on and walked backward away from me out the school front entrance.
“It’ll be a hoot. See ya babe,” he winked and left.
I watched as the door closed behind him, the light streaming through the window.
Was I dead?
***
“He said WHAT?” Heather exclaimed as we sat by the pool, our legs dangling in the water.
“He asked me to Prom.”
“And what did you say?”
“I said...um, I dunno what I said. But I think I agreed.”
“WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!” Heather jumped up and did a little dance, her feet leaving a little wet prints on the ground. “OH MY GOD, YAY! I knew we’d get to go to prom together!”
“But.”
“NO buts!”
“Just a small one...it’s more of a favor”
“ANYTHING!”
“Well, firstly...calm down.”
She dropped to the ground and sat with her hands in her lap, her face still bursting from excitement.
“Secondly...I don’t have anything to wear...and well, you know. I can’t afford to buy a new dress.”
“You don’t need to, I have hundred of dresses I haven’t even worn yet, come on!” She grabbed my hand and dragged me to my feet and up to her room.
She threw open her walk in closet’s doors and turned on the light. I stopped dead in my tracks.
I’d been to her house a hundred times, but I’d never been in her closet.
It was three times the size of my bedroom at home. Everything neatly organized and hung or folded and placed on the floor to ceiling shelves. Dresses, shoes, hand bags, there was even a stand for her hats.
“Holy crap.” I whispered, in awe.
“Huh? Oh yeah, Mom thought it I didn’t have everything organized, I’d just wear the same thing every day. Please. As if I’d be caught dead...”
I stepped inside and ran my hands along the row of color coded shirts.
“Ok, come on! Don’t worry about those shirts, come look at the dresses!” She called me over to the far left corner of the closet. She reached in and pulled one out, holding it up for me to see. “How about this one?”
It was perfect.
It was floor length and strapless. Midnight blue, the bottom half was a weightless silk skirt, split half way up the thigh. The bodice was sequined, reflecting light with every move, fitted but forgiving. It was made for a princess.
“Wowwww.” I sighed.
I wanted it, but...
“It’s beautiful, Heather, but I can’t borrow that, it’s too much. What if something happens to it?”
“Pfft, don’t worry about it, and you’re not borrowing it, I’m giving it to you. I thought of it right away when you said that Finn was taking you to Prom. I think it’s just beautiful, but it doesn’t suit me and it’d be such a waste just hanging in here. Isn’t it perfect for you? You’ve got the right body to make it look good. Here, try it on.” She handed it to me and I tentatively reached out for it. “It’s not a bomb,” she snorted, “ok, I’m going to go outside and you try it on and let me know when you’re done. I can’t wait to see you in it!” She skipped out and closed the closet door.
I took my school clothes off and slipped the dress over my head. It was tight around the stomach, but I wouldn’t be eating anything between now and then anyway, the butterflies in my stomach had taken care of that. I reached around and just managed to pull the zipper up my back. I closed my eyes and turned to the mirror. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes.
“Wow.” I couldn’t help but sigh, glad I was alone.
I barely even recognized myself. The dress fit almost perfectly. The skirt made my legs look long and slim, the bodice pulled my torso in tight, giving me an hourglass shape, curvy and voluptuous. I spun and the skirt flowed like a cloud around me. I was a princess.
“Oh my god. You look SO beautiful.” Heather shrieked behind me. I hadn’t even heard her come in.
I turned to her with tears in my eyes, speechless. I would never have been able to afford a dress like this in ten lifetimes.
“Yay!” She clapped. Then stopped, face suddenly somber. “I mean. Do you like it? If you don’t, it’s okay, you can choose another one if you like, I have others.”
I picked up the skirt and ran to her, wrapping my arms around her neck and squeezing tight. “Thank you. For life.”
She pulled away and smiled, “my pleasure. I told you we’d be going to Prom together! It’s going to be the most unforgettable night ever.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Chapter Five
Present Day
“Kara?”
I just stood there and glared at him.
; “Kara Sinclair?”
The glare grew more acidic.
“Well, well, well. Didn’t you grow up nice?”
I had to press my hand against my throat to stop from dry retching. My body violently rejecting him just on sight.
“Someone had to.” I spat back, with more hatred than I knew was possible in me.
He grinned and leaned forward, as if to kiss me on the cheek or give me a hug. I scrunched up my face and leant away from him.
“To what do I owe this surprising and wonderful honor?”
Was he kidding?
“I’m KA-RA.” Spelling it out for him.
“Oh! You mean you’re the Kara who just buzzed to bring me the work files?”
“Yesss.” I may have drawn out the hiss a little longer than usual.
“No way!”
“Ugh, look, how long is it going to take for you to process this, because I’m late for work.”
He threw up his hands as if in surrender and pressed himself against the door as if making way for me.
“Huh? What? I’m not coming in.” I shook my head emphatically, still trying to make sense of what was happening, and what kind of sick joke or nightmare I was experiencing. “I’m just dropping off some files.”
He stepped toward me again, away from the door, and I felt my body tense more with every inch that he got closer.
“Well, where are they then?” He held his hand out, his face still looking like he was in on some joke that I couldn’t understand.
“Here.” I thrust the folders into his hands, being careful to avoid any contact with him at all.
He looked at the pile of papers in his hands and then up at me, “and…what am I supposed to do with these?”
“You have got to be kidding me. Finn! We are going on a VERY important series of meetings in Paris about the upcoming merger, and you’re telling me you know nothing about it?”
He grinned. “I don’t remember you being this cute when you’re pissed off.”
My eyes narrowed to slits so thin I could barely see him. “Apparently not paying attention to important details isn’t new to you.”