Gone Girl

Mortimer, I

Mortimer

"Red or green?" Mortimer asked his wife, holding up two ties to his chest.

"It's not Christmas Morty," Bella chided, "Wear the blue one you bought yesterday." Mortimer put the two ties away and grabbed the blue one from the tie rack.

As he was putting it on, he asked, "So who's Cassandra bringing again?"

Mortimer could hear his wife huffing behind him. "Darren Dreamer. I told you this not an hour ago." Bella did say something about Darren Dreamer earlier, but Morty wasn't listening. He was too engrossed in fixing his broken MunchieBot, which he'd only stopped working on once he realized that it was only less than an hour until the guests arrived for dinner. Bella wasn't too happy to see him still in his workshop, but Morty figured she'd get over it by the time the guests came.

Once the tie was secured around his neck, Mortimer turned around to face Bella. "How do I look?" he asked with a goofy smile.

Bella didn't even grin. "Good enough. Can you check on Cassie in the kitchen?" Mortimer's smile faded. It felt as if with every passing day, his dear wife was growing more and more tired of him. Wordless, he left the bedroom. Immediately, he could smell the savory aroma of the roast his daughter was making from the kitchen downstairs. He climbed down the stairs and turned the corner to see Cassandra inspecting the roast.

"Smells lovely," he said, making Cassandra turn around. She reminded Mortimer of Bella as a twenty-something—vibrant, elegant, and beautiful, although Cassandra lacked the air of confidence that seemed to radiate from his wife. He decided that she would have no trouble finding a suitable husband when the time came. "Where's your brother?" he asked, looking around the kitchen and into the dining room.

"He's upstairs," Cassandra said, "I had to shoo him away after he started picking in the food."

Morty laughed a little. "Well, your mother sent me down here to check on you, so here I am."

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Does she think I'm going to burn the entire dinner or something?" She scoffed and turned back to the roast sitting on the stove. "Tell her everything's fine." Normally, Mortimer would scold his daughter for rolling her eyes at her mother, but Bella did trust her with making tonight's dinner, so he could understand why Cassandra would be a little stressed.

The following silence was met with the loud clacking of heels on wood. Mortimer turned to see Bella descending the stairs. She looked absolutely stunning in a red, long-sleeved bodycon dress that stopped just above her knees and suede black heels. Her raven hair fell effortlessly over her shoulder in loose curls, perfectly framing her face. Belladonna, he thought, beautiful. Sometimes, Mortimer wondered how he married such a beautiful woman, but then he realized that if she hadn't gotten pregnant with Cassandra in college, he probably would've waited too long and his lady love would be snatched up by some guy from Strangetown.

"Where's Alex?" was all she said.

"Upstairs," replied Cassandra. Bella frowned as she turned to walk back up the stairs.

Mortimer heard wife saying, "You'd better be dressed, young man!" in her stern, motherly voice. From the kitchen downstairs, he could hear the door to Alexander's room opening and soft footsteps. "Good," he heard Bella say, "Now go downstairs; the guests will be arriving shortly."

"Who's coming, mom?" Alexander said as he walked down the stairs, followed by Bella.

"There's your uncle Mike," Bella listed, "He's bringing his girlfriend and her sister. There's Cassie's friend, Mr. Dreamer. You remember him, don't you? Oh, and Mary-Sue's bringing Daniel. I told her she didn't have to, but she insisted. That's it, sweetie."

"Do I really have to eat with everyone else?" Alexander pleaded, "I don't want to."

"You will, and that's final. Go set the table, I think I see Michael's car driving up." Alex did as was told and grabbed a stack of plates from the counter.

"When did Michael get a girlfriend?" Mortimer wondered aloud. The last he'd heard, Michael was too busy studying to date. Of course, he could've just told Bella that to appease her.

"Who knows, really," Bella said, adjusting herself in the mirror hanging in the hallway, "She's some blondie from Strangetown. I thought it was just a fling, but evidently they're serious." Walking out of the kitchen, Mortimer could hear footsteps coming closer to the door followed by the doorbell ringing. Taking a breath, Mortimer walked next to his wife to answer it.

"Mike!" Bella squealed as she pulled her older brother in for a hug, "How've you been?"

"Amazing," he said, smiling his signature Michael Bachelor smile. He stepped aside to let in a pretty young blonde who Mortimer assumed was Michael's girlfriend. "This is Dina Caliente," he said, pulling her to his side by the waist. Caliente indeed, Morty noted. Michael's blondie was petite but shapely. She wore a salmon-colored blouse and black pencil skirt with black boot heels that added at least three inches to her height but leaving her shorter than Michael. Mortimer was staring, he realized.

Behind Dina was a redhead, about Dina's height, dressed plainly, and accompanied by a young man Mortimer didn't know. Bella would be ranting later on in the night about Michael's plus one. She liked to be in control of every situation.

Bella plastered on her "business smile" and shook Dina's hand while discreetly looking her up and down in disdain. Bella didn't like the poor girl and she just met her. Mortimer would never understand why women were so... Well, mean.

"This is my sister, Nina," Dina said, motioning to the shy redhead, "and her date, Don Lothario."

"Hello," Don said, reaching to shake Mortimer's hand, "I just started an internship at Pleasantview Municipal."

"I see," Morty replied, uninterested.

"I've heard great things about you and the Mrs. at the hospital," Don continued, "I figured it would be good to finally meet the benefactors of Pleasantview's biggest hospital."

Mortimer relayed the guest list to himself again. Mary-Sue and Daniel Pleasant, the most unpleasant couple in Pleasantview; Michael and his date Dina, who would likely be on the receiving end of passive-aggressive glares from Bella; Nina and Don, who would likely be forgotten about by he and his wife alike; and Darren Dreamer, who was hopelessly trying to win Cassandra's affection. Mortimer respected Darren, but he was absolutely terrible at getting the message across to Cassandra. He was too passive, and that led to him and Morty's daughter being just friends.

What a night this will be, Mortimer thought.