Payment - Completed

The Party and the Bet

She walked back into the room after freshening up and glanced around for her fiance. Locating him after they have been separated is typically an effortless feat as she always seemed to find his red hair in the center of whatever crowd is gathering. This was, however, not the case at tonight’s gathering. She considered momentarily not going out of her way to look for him, at least not at this precise second, if only to allow herself one more breath of serenity. The thought was quickly dismissed. She knew she took longer in the restroom than necessary, but it was, in fact, completely necessary. She valued the time alone in the bathroom, or when she could steal a few minutes outside while he is preoccupied. Taking in several deep, cathartic breaths and enjoying a moment to herself was the only thing that got her through these events. That and alcohol. So much alcohol. At this point, she really couldn’t afford anymore time away from his side without risking resentment later that night, and that was not a conversation she wanted to have. Again. It’s petty, it’s repetitive, and it simply isn’t worth the effort, especially after several hours at the party.

She stepped farther into the room, and she felt her leg slip out of the slit running up the left side of the dress. If she was being honest, having her leg exposed up to her hip still made her rather uncomfortable. Same goes for when the back of the dress stopped a mere centimeter above her bum. She knew these were both better than the alternative of having the front of her dress dip too low, sometimes below her breasts, or any of the short dresses that show off far too much of both legs. It took perhaps an entire year of arguing to finally convince him to stop buying dresses that exposed her chest and legs to that extent, and even then it was with the compromise of high slits and low backs. She knew this was the lesser of two evils, but that did not make her feel any better when someone touched her exposed back longer than she would have deemed appropriate. 

She knew she looked good. It was not a confidence thing. It was a beautiful dress and she wore it well, but walking around a crowd in such a dress on the arm of a man that looked around more at others than at her made her feel like a prize being shown off to everyone around them. Arm candy at its finest. Dirty. If she was going to reach down to the deepest pit of honesty, it made her feel dirty. It wasn’t the dress though. It was the lingering stares, the prolonged touching, the comments made by both her fiance as well as other men right in front of her. That was another argument that went on for years before she decided to let it go and bite her tongue. Anytime she brought it up, he would tell her that she was being too sensitive and that she needed to loosen up. Strange though, it was for the same reasons that he was not comfortable with her going off without him. She wasn’t even allowed to dance with other men, aside from a select few. She thought if she simply could dress more modestly, both of their discomforts would be alleviated and these parties would go more smoothly for them. He would say she could stay by his side throughout the party and that too would help in alleviating, at least his, concern, and problem solved. Why wouldn’t she want to spend all night by his side anyway?

She was startled back into reality when she felt someone touch her back before greeting her. This, of course, did not make her feel any more comfortable than she was feeling moments ago, but her forced smile never faltered as she declined the drink, declined the dance and left to find her fiance.

He always wanted to be amongst the crowd. Even on their date nights, he would insist on going to popular restaurants where he anticipated people would recognize them most. That was another thing that bothered her to no end. So, here they are again, on a night that was meant to be for the two of them, at a party for someone or something that she didn’t even know and he was nowhere in sight. She was rather miffed. She was supposed to spend the day at the spa with her best friend, and then have a quiet evening with her fiance, but that was not how the day unfolded. He guilted her into staying home to help with a project that required a bit of magic above his skill set, telling her that it would be just like old times. She used to love working on projects like that with him. She knew she couldn’t discuss advanced magical theory with him, so small projects were a fun way to bond, until they became too complicated and he would get frustrated and leave. They weren’t fun anymore. Then, as she was getting ready for their evening alone, he mentioned a party as though it was something they had previously discussed. When she told him that she really wanted to stay in with him, he told her that he already told the host they were coming, besides, she would be by his side anyway.