Damaged Beyond Compare

Chapter 5: Dinner With A Stranger

A/N: Hey guys! This was in my head so i decided to hurry up and write and upload! The picture on the side is Aella. It's not exactly how i pictured her, but i wanted you to have an idea. Now, i know how when i read a book i get what they look like picked out perfectly in my head, then i see a picture supposed to be them, and i get super pissed because it's not how i pictured them! So, if your like me,  you can completely disguard the picture, and keep your own image of Aella! And if you like, you can send me a picture that you think would look more like the Aella you pictured. Who knows, i might like yours better! So, like always...

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Lots of love,

-Xein

Chapter 5: Dinner With A Stranger

   When I got out of the shower, I quickly dried my hair with the “weapon” I was prepared to use only moments before. Once my hair was dry, I grabbed my Conair hair straightener and went to work. After the ten minutes of straightening, (it didn’t take me very long to straighten my hair, considering it was so layered it made it very light-weight) I applied a few coats of mascara and lip-gloss, and a little foundation. Even though I very rarely wore make up, I thought I should look nice tonight.

    I throw on some bright purple shorts and a black and purple Beatles tee shirt.

I grabbed my Mega Aussie hairspray, (focusing mainly on my side bangs, seeing as how they just love to go wild after ten minutes of fixing them) and covered my hair with a thin film of it. I looked in my mirror, and for the first time in a while, I actually thought I looked pretty.

    People told me I was pretty fairly often, but I didn’t really see it.  Today I did. I looked similar to the me in the dream. Beautiful, elegant. Minus the Beatles shirt and the short purple shorts, add a cream colored dress.

     It was 4:30 p.m. Dinner was scheduled for five o’ clock sharp. I went into the living room to straighten it up and was surprised to find it the best it had ever looked. The chocolate brown armchair, love seat, and couch with the teal toss pillows were all perfectly positioned around the rectangular glass coffee table perfectly. The pillows propped up gracefully, not the usual slouchy-ness they often held. The glass of the coffee table smudge free. And the small television in the armoire sitting straightly up against the wall in front of it all.

    I walked in the kitchen to help Riley with dinner, and was almost knocked down by such severe shock. Okay, if you think I don’t wear makeup very often, you should really meet Riley. She makes it look like I have it piled on right now compared to how she usually looks. I have only seen Riley wear makeup once in my entire life, and that was the time she had a boyfriend she really liked. That was five years ago. Well, now she was wearing it again.

    She had black liquid eyeliner delicately applied around her eye, with it a little winged out in the corner. She already had long eyelashes, so because she had mascara on, they touched the bottom of her eyebrows. A little pale blush here, and some pink lip-gloss there. She looked stunning. But her outfit was a little whorish for her. A short dress just long enough that if it was shorter, it would have showed the bottom of her butt. It was beautiful nonetheless. Pink satin covered by delicate beautiful black lacework, strapless. Paired with jet-black platform heels.

    I staggered forward, trying to get over the initial shock. She looked the complete opposite of the Riley I know. I stood behind her, my mouth hanging open. After about a minute, she turned to face me. She smiled at my expression.

    “Do you like it, Lala?” she asked hopefully. I gave her a smile.

    “Of course I like it! You look stunning, amazing, gorgeous, beautiful, indescribable!” and she did. I didn’t really know if I liked the sudden change, though. I was worried Rider was making her want to change. No… I thought. No, she’s her own person. She can do what she wants, and this is what she wants, I guess. And because that was the case, I decided I liked how she looked. Then I realized she had said something.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked

“I said thank you very much. Where’s your head today, Lala?”

“Oh. Um, it’s here, just out of focus. So… what’s ya cookin’? It smells good.”

“Chicken stir-fry. It’ll be done soon. Will you set the table please? It’s almost five, and make sure you set three places. Don’t forget.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I muttered.

    I didn’t know why I was so glum about dinner tonight. Rider did nothing to me. In fact, he seemed nice. It’s probably PMS… we’ll go with that. So I put on a smile and set the table.

                        ***

    We were sitting at the table. Riley sitting on one side, Rider on the other. I was sitting on the left side, on the long side. I was trying to avoid Riders gaze. I never told Riley how he had been here earlier. I didn’t see the need.

    As I was pushing the peas and stir-fry around my plate, Rider asked me a question.

    “So, Aella, are you excited for school to start?” He asked, breaking the unbearably uncomfortable silence.

    It started in exactly one week tomorrow, and I was far from being ready to go back. But, I answered like I was expected to.

“Yeah, I can’t wait!” I said with fake enthusiasm.

“That’s great. Riley’s told me that you have outstanding grades. What’s your favorite subject?”

    Shit. Riley had talked about me. I hope she didn’t also tell him how unpopular and invisible I was. Didn’t want to seem like a loser now did I? But he asked a question, so I stopped thinking about that, and answered truthfully.

“English/ Language Arts, whatever you wanna call it. I love to write. I have writers block something awful right now, though.”

“That’s terrific that you write. I write as well. I’d love to read your work. Maybe I could even help you with your writers block.”

    It was a nice suggestion, but for some reason it kind of creeped me out. It was a friendly gesture, but it seemed kind of off, like there was more meaning behind the sentence.

    “Sure. That’d be great,” I answered best I could. Riley beamed at me. I have got to stop getting freaked out over nothing! He’s a nice guy, and Riley really likes him. So I stopped acting like a jerk, smiled, and ate my chicken stir-fry.

                        ***

    We chatted a while, and Rider left. I hugged Riley goodnight, and headed to my room. I tore off my clothes, and threw them in my lime green laundry basket. I slipped into a pair of orange sleep shorts and a baggy grey tee shirt.

    I sat down on my bed and tried to write. I opened my notebook and placed pencil to paper.  Tinker jumped on the bed, making the tiniest of sounds. I stroked her head awhile, then went back to trying to write. Maybe i could write about my real life. Naw, i decided. My life's too boring right now. I couldn't think of anything!  So I closed it and threw it on my desk. Knocking the blue velvet box over that held my mothers wedding ring inside.

    I went to pick it up and look inside, expecting to see the white gold band holding the ruby framed by two diamonds. It dawned on me that the necklace in the dream had the same look to it as the ring. Weird. But when I went to open the box, there was nothing inside.