VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!!!!
I love you ALL!!!!!
~~Infatuated
********************
Toben stepped away from my hair, his reflection in the mirror shrinking as he backed up, critically examining my hairstyle. He had put it in a very loose bun, curling every strand so that the unruly pieces of hair were wisps of curls that floated around the nape of my neck and forehead. How he managed to get my stick straight hair into a flowy mass of curls was beyond me; but I enjoyed the rare feeling of bounciness against my skin.
Rearranging some pieces of hair and adjusting my diamond clip, I finally smacked his hand away from my hair and muttered, "It's perfect, Mother."
"I'm insulted, Kirsten. After all my hard work you just mortally injure me and talk to me in harsh tones? And calling me a mother? Why maybe I shouldn't help you next time."
"I never asked for your help." I grumbled, slowly getting out of the chair. "I do know how to apply makeup and curl my own hair."
Toben grinned at me cheekily, pushing down on my shoulders and making me flop back onto the chair. "That may be true sweetie but look at you! Do you really think you could of done much better? Sure, by negative 2 times!"
I had to agree; I did look nice.
The girl staring back at me was not the image of an impatient girl who swiped on some mascara and put her hair in a messy bun before hurrying out of the door every morning. Instead, I was met with an image I nearly never saw. Toben had applied a violet eyeshadow mixed in with tinges of bronze that glittered in the mirror's light and a layer of pale foundation and darker bronzer that literally made me shine. On my neck was a thin gold chain and had a locket hanging from it, and on my ears were a set of dangly golden chains that were precariously close to my chin.
The purple dress that I bought matched my heels and this time I stood up without pushing me back down into my seat.
"Thank you Toben," I whispered giving him a huge hug. He laughed silently as he returned it before whispering in my ear, "if only you would show that kind of affection when Garrett is around."
My frow furrowed as I released my grip on his shoulders. "I'm not catching on."
Toben rolled his eyes. "To make him jealous. Isn't that what girls like to do?"
A blush crept up my neck. "Um, why would I want to make him jealous?" I asked, trying to innocently bite my lip.
"Stop that." Toben replied pointing at my lips. "Even though it's lip stain that stuff does come off. And to reply to your lame question, stop pretending Kirsten. Your heels are above your head already."
"Huh?" I asked, this time actually truly confused with Toben's hints.
He sighed. "The term head over heels does come into play silly goose. I can see the way you look at him. And the way he talks to you."
"Excuse me? Talks to me? That's how he talks to everyone! Jerkishly and annoyingly."
Toben grinned at me. "You keep on telling yourself that. He's only had that attitude around one other girl, Ther- Never mind."
I planted my hands on my hip as he tried to distract me by handing me my jacket and muttering about how I wouldn't need my pepper spray. "Toben, you are a bad actor. Who did he talk to like that? Mira?"
He looked up at me surprised, whether it be at my angry tone or the fact that I knew Mira was beyond me.
"How'd you know about Mira?"
"Gossip magazines. Oh and she stole my boyfriend." I muttered breezily, glaring at him as he sat on my bed.
He looked down at his watch, Rolex probably, before giving what I hoped was a sigh of surrender. "Okay, fine, Kirsten. We have thirty minutes before you have to leave. Let me tell you the story." He looked ouver at me. "But, you have to swear on your life that you won't say anything to Garrett, unless you want me to lose a life."
"A life?" I asked, lowering myself onto my bed and raising an eyebrow.
"Just trying to be melodramatic. I'm like a cat. Now if you want me to tell the story, you have to shut up and listen. Without interupting."
"Fine. Just please tell. No secrets. Just the blunt truth."
He glared at me. "You're already breaking it."
"No I'm not." I cried throwing my hands up in the air, quite strange considering the fact that I was lying on the ground.
"You just did again. Anyways here goes the story. So the Garrett you know now really isn't who he really is. Seriously. As completely unrealistic, shocking, you may find it, the dude is, or was, totally different. So this story starts probably back when he was a freshman in college, just a few years back. Well we were both attending UPenn (a.n. a great college in America) and that's where we first met. Old Garrett was one of those incredibly genuine guys who wasn't afraid to speak his opinions-"
I snorted but quickly covered my mouth when he glared at me. "He was never a player, one of those people that took relationships incredibly seriously. He had never had flings, one night stands, a quickie, you name it. Well then, he met Theresa."
Raising my hand, I gave Toben a pleading look and he sighed, gesturing for me to speak. "Are you literally insinuating that he is a player now?"
He frowned at me. "You know Kirsten, I was just about to get to that part before you interupted me with your eccentric arm waving, squeaky sounding, wacko combinations of craziness."
"Anywho, so Garrett met Teresa, another freshman who caught the attention of our dear friend. She was one of those quiet shy girls who was always afraid to speak and for some reason, Garrett liked that. They dated for probably about three years, yes just as The Bianchi Instititute really hit fame.
"Then, shockingly, Teresa cheated on him. Like not just 'I was drunk so I made out with this random guy' kind of cheating but something way worse. She cheated on him with her teacher, a balding 35 year old pedophile who charmed her somehow, probably brainwashing. Of course no one knew of this so Garrett thought it had been his fault that she had slept with a disgusting old man."
Toben cleared his voice before continuing. "So Garrett was torn, absolutely crushed. There are no words to describe his heartbreak. No way. He got drunk a lot, slept with random people he didn't know, and experimented with cigarettes. And as you realize he never got over that last addiction. He never did anything illegal. He had enough morals to not do that. Then, of course, just as Garrett was starting to rebound, Teresa confesses and says that she still loved Garrett and only cheated on him because she had been blackmailed, or some shit like that."
"The reason no one heard about this in the news was because Garrett's parents paid her and the teacher to keep their lips shut."
Suddenly the memory of the Bianchis' coming into L'amore entered my head. '"Dont worry. Garrett muttered dryly, looking at me over his menu, "if my parents can't convince your boss to talk with us, they can always pay him. It always works.'
Toben was still talking. "After that whole dramatized incident, Toben bounded from one girl to the next. Yes, you could call him a player, playboy, rake..."
I raised my eyebrows at this. Didn't they call players 'rakes' during the Victorian era?
"Until he met Mira. Apparently he thought that Mira was his slavation. They had a so called 'connection' and dated for about a year and a half until recently, when she claimed to be tired of the relationship and just got off her skinny little ass and moved to god damn New York." Toben sounded incredibly angry so I gently touched his left arm, trying to sooth him.
"That's why Garrett seems like a massive jerk. He's still hurting, first from Teresa, though it may not be her fault completely, then Mira. I tell you Kirsten, he can't suffer another heartbreak because if it happens, I don't know if he can survive it."
We were silent, each in our own thoughts until Toben suddenly looked over at me and whispered in a low tone, "The reason I'm telling you this is because the looks he gives you are the looks that he once gave Teresa and Mira. It's the look of a completely vulnerable guy falling in love wiith this gorgeous innocent girl that doesn't like following instructions and has a bad attitude. However, he doesn't know that you like him in return because he can be so dense and blind to love. That's why Kirsten? If you ruin this for him and you, you're dead."
The seriousness in Toben's voice shocked and scared me.
"The reason I'm so upset that he asked you to this dinner date payback what ever the hell it is, is because he's being a wimp by not actually getting down on one fucking knee and asking you out like a proper guy. He used to be so confident, not in the arrogant cocky way, that you would just relax. But ever since his horrid relationships, that guy's scared to get rejected. If you don't like him Kirsten, please don't be a clingy brat and lead him on. I have a feeling that you're definitely the perfect match for him so please make him and everyone around him happy."
"H-how do you know that I would be the perfect match for him? I'm just a regular girl who is an enrolled student at this school who just happens to be a friends of these famous people." I managed to whisper, sitting up and staring at Toben in loss.
Toben gave me a wry smile. "Trust me, I know it when its a perfect match. I'm fucking Cupid."
I didn't know if he meant that he was Cupid or the other possible definition which the f-word was used in context, but I decided not to comment on it.
********************
Garrett's POV (yay!)
At first when I heard Toben talk to Kirsten about my past, I was furious. Standing next to my about-to-be date's slightly ajar door, I could easily hear my bastard of a friend's voice tell her the story of Theresa. My heart seemed to squeeze painfully for a second as he mentioned the whole scandal but then I heard Kirsten's soft voice and immediately I felt better.
Frowning at my balck polished shoes, I mulled over the mysterious girl that was on the other side of the door. Kirsten made me feel things that I had never felt before, not even with Teresa, a girl who I saw everyday for three years. How strange was it that she could comfort me, make me forget my twisted life with just a smile, a touch?
Kirsten just had this way of making me laugh, making me feel emotions. Her sarcasm and quick yet sharp tongue wanted me to either playfully snap at her or break out into fits of laughter.
But I didn't deserve a beautiful, intelligent girl like her. I was messed up, rotting from the inside out, who used to like smoking, even though I was trying to quit.
Not to mention that I was too big of a pussy to properly ask her out. Instead, this dumbass just had to hide his true feelings by asking out his dream girl on a date that she 'owed' him. God, how stupid could he possible get?
I sighed in frustration as I paced the hallway outside. Trying not to start cussing under my breath, I tried to calm myself down. Once I started ranting to myself in third person that meant something was wrong. Guys were not suppose to have these feelings, especially not after having their heart broken by two women.
The one thing Toben had failed to mention was the fact that Teresa had gotten pregnant, even before the son of a bitch blackmailed her. I knew it couldn't be my baby for the birthday of the baby boy didn't match up with when we first had sex.
There was no possibility that Teresa had stayed faithful to me when we were dating.
No damn possibility.
I heard Toben's voice this time louder breaking me out of my annoying yet tormenting thoughts. " so tell me Kirsten, if I wasn't mistaken, I heard you say that Mira stole your boyfriend in high school?"
I immediately stiffened at the mention of Mira Withers. At first, she had been the girl I had been looking for, sweet and kind. Now we were in the falling out stage where she didn't give a shit if she cheated on me but only wanted to be on the cover of People.
"Listen Toben." Kirsten muttered sadly. "It's almost time for me to go. But I promise to tell you the full story once I get the chance to."
Toben muttered something I couldn't hear and a pair of footsteps started making their way to the door. Quickly, I knocked on it, hoping that the person standing behind it wouldn't get suspicious.
Kirsten opened the door, surprise written on her beautiful face. I couldn't help but let my gaze travel down her body, enjoying what I was seeing. She was dressed up in a stunning and flattering dress and there was a natural glow about her that almost made me lose my breathe.
'Damn it.' I thought to myself, rearranging my face and putting up a cool front as Toben came up behind her. 'Garrett, stop falling for her. She's your student goddamn it! Plus she doesn't know you like her either!'
I grimaced, my cool facade slipping off for a second. 'And she won't know for a while.' I thought grimly.
********************
The second I opened the door, the pained expression on Garrett's face made me feel horrible and worried at thet same time. There could be no way Garrett had listened to our entire conversation. But the look on him face made me think the opposite.
His expression turned from pain the surprise then a blank face in less than a second. He slowly trailed his captivating grey eyes up my body, making my blush and feel uncomfortable, in a good way. Then his eyes connected with mine and they seemed to soften. I could feel myself mentally swoon, and not just from his impeccably good looks in a crisp black suit and gold tie that matched my dress perfectly.
"Look, we match." Garrett said softly, a gentle undertone lying in his voice. He gave me a genuine crooked smile and I took his arm, enjoying the smell of vanilla.
Toben came behind us, making 'aahh'ing noises causing Garrett to give him his famous glare. Toben cackled at Garrett's facial expression before muttering, "Have fun you two love birds, eh?"
Garrett snapped back, a little too harsh. "We're not on a date dumbass. Just a friendly gathering."
For some reason, sadness fell over me as I looked at the ground, trying to hide my disappointment at his word choice..
"Whatever you say bro." Toben replied, giving me a sympathetic look.
"Well we're leaving now Toben. Enjoy your night."
"You two too. Haha aren't I just the comedian?" He said, trying to lighten up the slightly tense mood.
"Yeah, yeah, we're leaving now Toben. Bye." Garrett muttered, tugging on my hand.