"You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream" - Once Upon A Dream, Aurora
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THERE IS NOT A THING IN THE WORLD CINDY LOVELACE HATES MORE THAN RUDE TAXI DRIVERS.
It's not like they have to nearly flatten her on the asphalt as she crosses the street (illegally, but it's New York, so no one even cares anymore), but although Cindy can probably deal with that without turning beet red and blowing up, what she can't deal with is said drivers also honking at her and yelling obscenities, which - she might add - is interrupting a call from her girlfriend of six whole hours.
"Sorry, what was that?" She yells on the phone, struggling to hear Rory's voice. "I hate busy hour," she mutters, flipping her middle finger back at one particularly rude Audi driver.
Rory's voice crackles through the speakers. "Hard day?"
"Something like that," Cindy replies, stepping delicately over the corpse of an unfortunate pigeon. "It's the usual, sadly. Barbarians, the lot of them."
"Charleston seems so quiet ever since I got back," her girlfriend says. Cindy can picture her twisting her long cinnamon hair around her finger, an unconscious habit of hers. "Listen -"
Rory's interrupted by the loud honking of taxis, of which Cindy is currently blocking as she strolls across the last lane. "I am talking to my girlfriend!" she screams at them, increasing her pace.
Rory clears her throat. "Um, actually, Cindy, can I talk to you about that?"
Cindy groans, pushing her red hair impatiently behind her ear. "If you're going to break up with me, fine. Let me cross the street first?"
"Yeah, um - sure." There's a surprised tone to Cindy's soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend's voice, which honestly weirds Cindy out, because surely Rory wouldn't actually think Cindy would be sad about it, would she? (Not to say that Cindy's not emotional, because she is. But she's literally been dating Rory for six hours.)
As soon as Cindy steps safely onto the sidewalk, she sits promptly down on a nearby bench. "So are you cool with being just friends?"
Rory sniffs. "Aren't I the one who's breaking up with you?"
Cindy laughs. "Fine. Do the deed."
There's a moment of silence, followed by: "I can't. It feels too weird."
Cindy shrugs. "Well. Six hours barely counts as dating, anyway. Considering we never went out on an actual, you know, date."
"You've got a point. This must be the shortest relationship I've ever had."
Cindy tries not to wince as her next words come out. "Funnily enough, I think this must be the longest relationship I've had."
There's a silence. "You're so joking."
"I'm not."
"You are."
"I swear on my glass shoes, I'm not."
"Wow. Bringing out the Cinderella references already? You must be serious."
Cindy nods, only to realise that Rory can't see it. "Serious as a magical pumpkin."
"That doesn't even make sense -" Rory stops. "Nevermind. I'm not wasting twenty minutes on that discussion. So tell me," she continues, "If six hours is your longest relationship, what's your shortest?"
Cindy has to think about this. "Are we counting middle school? Because if so, the answer is three."
"Three hours? That's not so bad -"
"Three minutes, actually."
"..Oh."
"Yeah."
"But why? I mean, you're rich, you're white, you're hot, what's more to love?"
Cindy rolls her eyes. "You tell me."
Rory flounders for a minute. "Good point." She pauses, probably chewing her lip. "Well...you're kinda crazy - no, unpredictable."
Cindy huffs, a bit indignant, before realising that her ex-girlfriend is completely right. "Whatever."
"Mhm."
"Whatever."
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"Six hours? Wow, Cindy. I'd say that's pretty good, but," Cindy's best friend whistles, "That's kinda pathetic. Especially on Valentine's Day."
"I know," Cindy sighs. She stuffs another handful of Hot Cheetos into her mouth, ignoring the way her eyes are tearing up, thanks to her mouth being on fire and whatnot. On the TV in front of her, Cinderella is currently sobbing in a ragged pink dress.
"...You're bingeing on Hot Cheetos again, aren't you?"
"Um. Maybe?"
"You know that stuff's gross and terrible to your insides."
"But it's heaven to my mouth!"
"Have you ever tried steak? Mm."
"Steak is boring and expensive. I can buy like eight bags of Cheetos with one slab of meat."
Ari huffs, genuinely offended by Cindy's lack of respect for steak. "Well, then, Miss Cheeto Lover, I'm off to eat my delicious, nutritious steak with Eric. Talk to you later."
"Bye!" Cindy replies, voice muffled by the chips, only to realise that Ari has already hung up on her. She returns her gaze to the screen, where Cinderella is entering the ball - and then dancing with her prince, enraptured in his gaze. Cindy reaches for the remote and rewinds the scene. "That's it," she breathes, "That's how I'm gonna find my partner."
As soon as her bag of Cheetos is finished, Cindy fumbles for her phone again with sticky red fingers, pressing 1 on her speed dial.
Ari picks up after the third ring. "What do you want now -"
"I'm throwing a ball!"
"What?"
"You know, a ball. The dancing kind. Like in Cinderella, except it'll be a masked ball where no one knows who anyone is, and at the end of the ball, I'll have found my one true love!"
Ari is silent for a minute. "You're serious about this?" (Cindy doesn't know if she should feel offended or not by the lack of surprise in her friend's voice.)
"What? It's foolproof. Cinderella did it."
Her best friend sighs. "Eric's about to pick me up right now, but I'll call Elsa tonight. Okay?"
"Okay!"
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"Do you wanna plan a masked baaall?" Cindy sings as she and Ari stroll into Ice-cellent Party Planners. Elsa, behind the counter, glares at them. "Never say that again, if you want me to help you."
Cindy rolls her eyes. "Don't you have to help me anyway? Because the customer is always right?"
The ice-blonde points to the WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE sign by the door in answer.
"Oh. Well, anyway," Cindy continues, "What has my dearest Ari told you so far?"
"Well," Elsa drawls, pulling out a folded piece of notebook paper from her bra, "She's told me that you have an unhealthy Cinderella obsession - which I already knew, by the way, because I've put up with you for eight years - and that you insist on throwing a ball to find, she quotes, 'your one true love'."
Cindy nods. "I also want lots of glitter, lots of hot people, and lots of alcohol, because it'll be the first day I can legally drink."
Ari frowns at this. "But the first day you can legally drink - your birthday - is in less than a week."
Cindy grins. "Good thing Elsa's the best party planner ever! Right, El?" She beams blindingly at the girl, who just scowls back, already taking out her calendar and flipping through it. "You're in luck. I'm free. Although," she adds, "It's going to cost a hell ton of money."
Cindy just holds up her American Express card in response.
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hella short and i am sorry but i promise cindy goes to the ball next chapter!! and tons of other things happen and it will be longer :-)))
see you next time!!