Before I begin….thanks for the response to this story of
Philip and Chloe’s bet regarding twelve special dates, what I hope will be
more often than not, light-hearted look at our favorite Salem teens. I have to
change moods, strangely enough, when I write this as opposed to ‘Expectations"
which will be rather dramatic (that’s if I write it decently!). This story
becomes the welcome change of mood I need before I write more of "Expectations".
As a reminder, the gang is all going to the Sweethearts’ Ball at the Penthouse
Grille. When we left them the girls were covered in facials and the boys had
picked up their tuxedos. Time for everyone to emerge from their cocoons and
become elegant butterflies for the evening.
Spice of Life – Chapter 5A
Valentine’s evening – the Black’s Penthouse
Mimi stood before the long mirror in Belle’s bedroom putting the final touch
to her ensemble for the evening – a teardrop-shaped diamond pendant suspended
from a thin gold chain her best friend had loaned her for the elegant occasion.
She wasn’t sure whether it was because expensive jewelry demanded stronger
clasps or she was just weak from starving herself to fit into the previously
owned dress, but she had spent at least five minutes attempting to get the clasp
and the chain loop to embrace one another with no luck. Her arms ached and her
fingers were sore from pressing the little latch so hard. Nearing the end of her
patience she had an idea and brought the necklace ends together in front of her
and used the reflection in the mirror to finally assemble the piece. She worked
the clasp to the back of her neck and placed the diamond in the center of the
exposed skin near her cleavage and began taking final inspection before heading
to the Penthouse Grille for the evening’s festivities.
She wore a midnight blue velvet gown with an empire waist and gently draping
skirt. The bodice was scattered with tiny rhinestones that picked up the light
and made her think of stars in a night sky. It had a scoop neck with small
sleeves that had a puff in the top where they hugged her shoulders. The manicure
at the spa revealed light pink, silvery polished nails to match her lipstick.
Silver, unadorned heels peeked from beneath the hemline of the floor length
gown. Her inch-wide headband in matching blue velvet also had rhinestones and
she wore small diamond studs in her ears of the same dimension. Her hair was
done in a mass of tight ringlet curls. Mimi smoothed the sides of the dress with
her hands and turned her head from side to side with a critical eye. She stopped
and stared into the mirror.
"Ooooooohhhh, my God!" she wailed.
Belle, who was finishing her makeup in the bathroom, came running out to see
what disaster had befallen Mimi now.
"What’s wrong, Meems?"
"Me, that’s what’s wrong. Look at me!"
Belle looked over Mimi’s right shoulder into the mirror to have the same
perspective as her friend and searched the reflection for what had produced such
a lament.
"I don’t see anything, Mimi. You look beautiful. That dress Chloe gave
you is a perfect color for you. You mom took up the hem precisely. Chloe said
the Madrigal choir is getting new ones before their next competition and she
thought you could wear it beautifully. I agree."
"It’s not the color….that’s fine. I knew Chloe was taller than I am
but I didn’t realize she had a little less through the……bust line than I
do. I mean, have you seriously looked at her? Let me rephrase that…have you
seen how seriously guys looked at her in this dress? It wasn’t her voice they
were admiring and still Mom had to do some imaginative alterations to keep me
from bursting the seams. Who knew I was ….more talented…....in that area?
Anyway, that’s not the problem. Look at me, Belle…I mean….LOOK….at….me.
Don’t I remind you of someone?"
Belle did a second, more thorough scrutiny of Mimi and still hadn’t one clue
what the problem was. She shook her head as she looked at Mimi in the reflection
of the mirror.
"I am a walking, animated Disney character, that’s what. The dress, the
headband and the hairdo - I thought I’d seen the look before but I figured it
was from Seventeen or some other magazine I’d looked through. Ohhhhhh…..the
minute I walk into the Penthouse Grille, the orchestra will start playing ‘You
can fly, you can fly’……Belle,…………… I look like………….
Wendy!"
"Wendy? Wendy, who?"
"Wendy….as in Peter Pan."
Belle looked for a third time while Mimi stared at her friend with terror in her
eyes. Belle came around and looked over Mimi’s left shoulder for a different
perspective.
"Oh, Mimi….maybe just a little."
"Noooooooo………..you weren’t supposed to agree with me!"
"I didn’t before and you kept insisting I take another look. Now, I have
to admit the shape of the dress and definitely the hair kind of…."
"That’s It!! I am NOT going to the Sweetheart’s Ball."
"Mimi….stop it. No one is going to say anything about you looking like
Wendy. It wasn’t until you forced me to look a third time, I began to see the
resemblance and even then I had to look closely. There’s not a person at the
ball who is going to do something like that. How many people do you seriously
think would even begin to make the connection? Only someone who watches every
Disney movie and knows them by heart would have the slightest idea. Look….you
really look beautiful in the dress and I’m not just telling you that,
okay?"
Mimi let out a deep breath and shook her head.
"I don’t know, Belle, let’s face it…maybe I am just a walking cartoon
and not a very well drawn one at that. Sometimes, that’s the way I feel.
Remember this afternoon at the spa, Philip called me ‘Little Mermaid’ when
he and Shawn were leaving?"
"You were in a seaweed wrap, Mimi, that’s all Philip meant. He didn’t
mean anything else by it. Stop putting yourself down."
"I’m betting if Chloe were a cartoon, with her luck, she’d be Jessica
Rabbit – God knows she’s got the figure."
"Hey, listen, if anyone here is a cartoon, it’s me…..remember, I’m
the one named Belle."
Mimi smiled and turned to hug her friend.
"Thanks for trying to make me feel better. Belle, can I tell you something,
honestly?"
"Of course, you can. That’s one of the reasons we’re best friends. We
can be honest and not have it get in the way of our friendship. So……go
ahead."
Mimi sat down at the desk where Belle did her homework while Belle sat at the
foot of her bed, her attention devoted to hearing what her other best friend
besides Chloe had to say.
"I…..Oh, forget it…."
"Miriam Lockhart, don’t do this. Obviously, you want to say something and
I want to hear what you have to say."
"This is going to sound so petty…and I don’t mean it that way. I….I….envy
you and Chloe so much that it’s hard for me to be around you sometimes."
"Envy us? About what?"
"That you have Shawn and Chloe has Philip. I don’t mean that I want you
to not have them in your lives……I just want to join the club and have
someone be there for me, too."
"Meems…"
"See? I told you it would sound petty. I always knew Shawn and you would be
together… from pre-school on."
"Hey, let me remind you…we’re not a couple. Tonight is really the first
time he’s asked me to go somewhere with him and we’re still going to be
spending the evening with the gang….so it’s not really a date."
"Oh, come on, Belle, it’s the start of things between you and you know
it. I mean, he’s been there all your life just biding his time until it was
right. The ones who really amaze me are Philip and Chloe."
"Mimi…I thought you and Chloe had everything worked out and were friends,
now."
"We are…we are ….but, all I can think about is here she and Philip
HATED each other last year. He was the catch of the entire school not just the
sophomore class and she was something you’d throw back after you took the hook
from her mouth. He went with a different girl every week. No girl ever lasted
more than a couple of dates. Chloe marched around in her widow’s weeds and
never missed an opportunity to put Philip down. You tell me…is that the
makings for a hot and heavy romance?"
"It is when the two people involved never really hated each other, Mimi.
All Philip and Chloe did was hide behind the image they each created for
themselves. They were so determined to never be attracted to someone they
thought was at the opposite end of the human spectrum from where they believed
they were on it. Destiny had a different plan and placed them right in front of
one another until they couldn’t avoid acknowledging how wrong they were in
their assessment of what they each saw in the other. Once they did that, it was
fate that they’d become what they are. Sometimes, you just don’t see the
treasure right in front of your nose until you’re forced to really look. Don’t
you think Philip and Chloe may have already found their soul mate in one
another?"
Mimi sat quietly contemplating her friend’s question before slowly nodding her
head. "Yeah, I do. Right in front of your nose, huh? Guess that what it was
for you and Shawn, too."
"Maybe….like I said….."
"I know, I know…..you’re not a couple………….yet. What gets me is
if I use you and Chloe as examples to draw a little hope for my currently,
non-existent love life….who’s in front of my nose that I don’t seem to see
as having a romantic future with ….and, even more to the point…why doesn’t
he see me?"
"I don’t know how to answer that, Mimi…..only you and he know."
"But, that’s just it, I don’t, and he’s not giving me a clue who he
is either" Mimi whined and rested her chin on her hand.
Belle stood up and came to wrap her arms around her friend from behind as she
pressed her cheek to Mimi’s.
"Best thing I can tell you, Meems, is just keep your eyes open as well as
your heart. Who knows, maybe he’ll be at the ball."
Mimi smiled and looked at her friend.
"What?"
"Oh, I just suddenly had a vision of me chasing all over Salem tomorrow
looking for the fella whose foot will fit the glass, sized 12 dress shoe in my
own version of Cinderella. Okay, that’s it…enough with the Disney references
for the night."
The girls giggled and were slightly startled when someone knocked on the bedroom
door.
"Who is it?"
"It’s Brady. You decent?"
"Come in, Brady."
"Are you STILL not dressed, Belle? Shawn’s downstairs."
"Oh God, is it that late? I didn’t hear the doorbell." Belle tore
off to the bathroom taking her dress with her that was draped across the bed.
"You better get a move on. He looks so nervous…like he might throw up if
you keep him waiting much longer. I’ve seen similar expressions on patients in
a dentist’s office contemplating a root canal."
"Terrific imagery, Brady," Mimi retorted. "I don’t know if your
sister would like to know Shawn is possibly comparing his evening out with her
to be on a par with an oral surgery procedure. It’s just not, oh, I don’t
know……
"Mimi….you look beautiful," Brady interrupted in a somewhat
astonished tone.
"Uh –huh…. and, that would mean I remind you of…..a rinse and
spit?"
"What?"
"Oh, don’t mind me…I was just trying to keep the dental imagery
going."
"Okay…whatever. Anyway, I was wondering….if you’re ready go to…would
you let me take you to the Penthouse Grille and be your date for the
evening?"
"Wait…..did Belle talk to you?"
"She talks to me all the time….you want to pick a specific subject before
I answer?"
"Well, I was just surprised you came in here after the conversation Belle
and I just had. Brady, honestly, do you REALLY want to take me?"
Brady smiled and reached for Mimi’s hand.
"Yes, Mimi, I really would like to take you. It’ll be fun, I promise. You’re
one of Belle’s few friends I actually enjoy being around."
Brady held out his bent arm, offering it to Mimi without saying another word. He
looked handsome in his well-fitted tux with the bright red bow tie and
cummerbund. Mimi began to link her arm through Brady’s when she suddenly
crossed her eyes. Brady stood immobilized as he furrowed his brow in confusion.
Mimi became aware of his expression and began to turn crimson from her throat
up.
"Do I want to know what you’re doing? Wait…..even more importantly, do
I want to know if you’re planning to do that often throughout this
evening?"
"I…er….well, it’s….like…see…"
"Thanks for the detailed explanation, Mimi."
"I was just looking at the end of my nose…..to see what’s in front of
it…sort of."
"Uh.huh……and?"
"And, it was you."
"Tell you what, Meems, I’ll stand back a little so you won’t have to do
put yourself through that again."
"No, it’s okay……really, Brady. I think I understand what Belle was
talking about, now."
Consternation still apparent on his face, Brady placed his hand on top of Mimi’s
a and escorted her from Belle’s room. Brady’s parents waited at the bottom
of the staircase and took photos with practically every descent of the steps
until the couple was nearly blind. Brady helped Mimi place her silver,
diaphanous stole around her shoulders while she picked up the small, silver
clutch bag that lay on the entry table. Standing out of camera range was Shawn,
with his hands behind his back concealing a plastic bag and something else, Mimi
couldn’t quite make out.
"You two look so attractive," Marlena said in a typical, motherly tone
of syrupy sweetness.
"That’s a fact, " John agreed as he began to automatically rewind
the first role of used up film in the camera.
Brady leaned over and whispered into Mimi’s ear, "Quick, let’s get out
of here before my dad can reload. He can use the next thirty-six exposures on my
sister and Shawn."
Mimi nodded clinging to Brady’s arm for dear life. Her vision still blurred by
the recent exposure to repeated flash photography.
"Shawn…see you at the table, man."
"Later, Dude. Meems? "
Mimi turned to look at Shawn who held his thumb up…a high compliment, indeed,
regarding her look for the evening. She smiled and exited the penthouse with
Brady heading to the elevator.
John continued loading the camera with the new role of film when he heard his
wife utter a soft gasp. He looked at her then followed her eyes to where she
looked at the top of the staircase. A fatherly smile erupted as he beheld his
baby girl.
Shawn stepped to the foot of the stairs and felt his heart begin to race.
to be continued...
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