Confessions of the Lovestruck

Chapter 4:

Finally, Beautiful Stranger

Davina's POV

"I asked you to do one thing, Davina! One thing and you couldn't even do that," Annabella muttered as we all made our way to our table.

I rolled my eyes and did my best to ignore her.

She wanted my hair bone straight, so I fit in with the rest few other ethnically ambiguous girls that milled around the Country Club's ballroom. For me it was bad enough I had to wear this super expensive dress and let a professional makeup artist cake my face in products that hid my freckles and made my skin look so much lighter than it actually was.

Rocking my natural curls was my way of shouting that I was a proud black woman and not mixed like the rest of my family.

"And I told you I didn't want my face weighed down with a thousand pounds of makeup," I whispered back, throwing fake smiles and waving to the many people she introduced us to on the way to the table.

"Oh my Davina, you look positively divine in that dress," a woman was saying, though I wasn't really paying attention.

After all, she was the fourth or fifth person to make that lame joke. Like the exact same line. The lack of originality was not really surprising, though.

"Thank you, Mrs. Dandridge," I said politely, even though I really wanted to roll my eyes.

Yes, the dress was spectacular, but it was definitely something more suited to Shy's taste in clothes than my own. I loved the gold color, high neck, and shoulder length sleeves, but the sheer parts along my chest, hips and down my legs made me very self-conscious. Plus, it was so long that I'd had to don six-inch heels just to keep it from dragging the ground, which I so wasn't comfortable in.

All the compliments did nothing to ease the nervousness that I always felt at these huge, hoity-toity events, even though we went to more than a few every year. Usually, I could get out of them by working, but Annabella wasn't going to let me miss the gala. This was her chance to make up for Shy and I embarrassing her the last time she was set to receive an award.

Not that Shy was behaving any better than she had a few years ago. We had only been at the gala for an hour and she was on her third glass of champagne.

"YoU lOoK dIvInE," she mocked under her breath. "What about my dress?"

"Oh Ashyrah, stop it. You look splendid," Annabella said, throwing an irritated look at Shy before snatching the champagne flute from her hands and setting it on the tray of the nearest server.

"I didn't ask for this dress," I hissed.

Shy rolled her eyes and gracefully took her seat next to Quincy who was dressed in a white tuxedo with a dark blue shirt to match Shy's dress and a gold tie to match mine.

Annabella had clearly coordinated all of our outfits for the evening.

Typical, I thought, rolling my eyes.

"Hello Mandela, it's good to see you, but such a shame your parents couldn't make it tonight," Annabella said as she noticed Quin's best friend sitting at the table beside him.

Mandela was handsome with amber-colored eyes, curly, jet black hair and smooth cinnamon skin. He was dressed in a black tux with a black shirt and tie. He was cute, and I'd had a crush on him when we were younger. Seeing him tonight reminded me why.

"Hi Mrs. Bella. Yeah, they're on safari in Africa right now, but I had to be here to represent the family," he explained.

"Good man," Quinton said, taking a sip of his scotch.