"He drinks every night to get her out of his mind..."
– Nautica
❀❀❀
~ D O R O T H Y ~
December 1997
A loud squeal fills my bedroom.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!" Jenny says, fanning herself. "I can't believe you finally said yes. Like, how? How on earth did you agree, woman?"
Jenny and I are sitting on my bed. It's nearly six o'clock. She was extremely curious about what happened between Damien and I, so she invited herself over to my house after the auditions ended. I didn't mind; I enjoy her company quite a lot and find her excitement amusing.
Shaking off her shoes, she shifts her body to face me and crosses her legs. Beside her lies a bag filled with nail polishes. She brought it with her, planning to have our nails done together while we 'gossip', as she said. No one is allowed to wear nail polish at college, but because winter break has finally begun, she decided to get our nails painted. I contributed to our little hang-out by bringing snacks to my room from the kitchen.
Jenny takes out a mini muffin from a plastic box and takes a bite.
"I... Well, he was persistent," I begin. "Too persistent. But then I thought about it. Damien is actually a nice person. I thought that I should just give him a chance. Besides, I feel like I'm returning him a favour for all that he has done for me."
"And what did he do that made the all-mighty, all-stubborn Dorothy Sherman accept?"
Childish, I poke my tongue out at her to express my disapproval at her way of describing me. I then rummage through her bag and pull out a bottle of black nail polish. She nods in approval and I twist it open. I then tell her everything while painting her short, square nails slowly. She swoons on hearing some parts and fans herself on others. When I finish, all her nails are done.
"I didn't know that he did so much for you," she gushes. "Driving to and from your previous boarding school is not an easy feat."
"Yes... I'm very grateful."
"You're so lucky, Dorothy. Damien is not known to be caring."
"I'm sure he is, underneath all that ego," I say, making her laugh.
"I don't blame him. He is so hot. Ah, you're so lucky. I feel like you two will make a cute couple."
"Don't get too optimistic about this. It's just one date."
"When's the date?"
"We've not decided yet."
"Oh my god. When you two do decide, let me know. You and I will go shopping, missy."
"Why?"
She looks at me in disbelief.
"To pick an outfit for your date, duh!"
I point behind her, at my closet with my index finger.
"I have clothes in the cupboar-"
"It's your first date, Dorothy! And with Damien gorgeous Clark. You have to look hot!"
"Nuh uh. Me and hot don't go in the same sentence," I say, shaking my head.
"You're clearly blind. But don't worry. You have me. I am your other perspective. The better perspective," she says with a smile.
"Well then, oh my better perspective, I need your advice. Which colour should I go for?" I say, gesturing to the bag of nail polishes.
"Definitely purple," she says excitedly.
***
Sitting down on a cushioned windowsill in the living room with a bowl of nachos covered in melted cheese on my lap, I am in the middle of watching season 3 of Friends. Jenny lent me the cassettes.
Just when the show introduces the duck, emerging from Joey and Chandler's bathroom gracefully, for the first time, the sounds of doors being slammed shut catch my attention. I glance outside the window and spot Linda and Reece standing next to their car. Wrapped in a thick, grey blanket, Reece has one of his arms resting around his mother's shoulders. Their lips move asynchronously as they walk towards their house slowly.
It has been just over a month since I met Reece in the hospital. Unlike that time, there is some colour in his face and he does not look too weary. His dark hair has grown, with some rogue strands falling over his forehead. I don't realise that I'm staring at them until they disappear from view.
Shaking my head, I focus my attention on the show.
"That's a duck," states Ross.
"That's a bad duck," retorts Chandler.
Apparently Chandler is giving the duck a timeout, for reasons that I probably missed. I pick up the control and press 'rewind', cursing at the fact that I got so easily distracted by Reece.
***
It's two days before Christmas. Jenny and I are at Escape. Harris, Luna and Leo will be joining us in a short while. It turns out that Escape is having a Christmas bake sale today, the last day before it reopens in the new year and, because the food is usually exceptionally delicious, there are a lot of customers around, especially Hampton's students.
I am looking through the different cupcakes while Jenny is off to find our group a table. As I'm craving something chocolatey, my eyes land on a chocolate-looking cupcake and I smile. A waitress, who seems to be a few years older than me, stands in front of me, behind the cupcake stall.
"Hi, what would you like?" she asks politely with a smile.
"You have a great selection of cupcakes!" I exclaim. "I'd like the 'Velvet Elvis' cupcake, but first I need to know if–"
"No! Don't give her that cupcake!" I hear a deep voice say quickly.
My eyes widen and my heart begins to pound against my chest when I recognise the voice. Slowly, I turn my head to face the person who is apparently trying to stop me from getting my beloved cupcake.
"Excuse me?" I say to Reece, narrowing my eyes at him.
His dark brown eyes stare at my own green ones. Looking very, very attractive, he is wearing a long black coat, which accentuates his tall, slender figure. I glance at the waitress, and notice that she is smitten by him.
Good Lord.
"You can't have that cupcake, Dorothy," he says.
"And who are you to say what I can or cannot have?" I snap.
"Dorothy, you can't-" I don't let him complete his sentence.
"Ignore him," I say to the awestruck waitress, huffing.
He is depriving me of my cupcake.
MY cupcake!
And that's considered a sin in my book of deeds.
The waitress immediately stops staring at Reece in a dream-like manner and looks at me.
"So do you want this cupcake?" she asks me, very confused.
"Ye–"
"Dorothy, that cupcake has peanut butter, and you're allergic to peanuts," Reece says calmly.
I freeze, and annoyance is immediately replaced by sheepishness.
I curse internally. Gosh, I swear I was about to ask the waitress for the ingredients before Reece distracted me, and the fact that he was denying me of the cupcake just fuelled my stubbornness to get the cupcake no matter what.
"Oh! I am so sorry! I should have put out a sign to let customers know what cupcakes contain potential allergens," the waitress says.
"You should probably work on that now," Reece says apathetically.
"Y-Yes I will," she says, a bit taken aback by his cold shoulder. She faces me. "... Do you need more time to decide on a cupcake, miss?"
"I'll come back in a few minutes, if that's ok?" I say to her.
I'll bring Jenny with me.
"Of course. Again, I am sorry for this."
"It's ok," I say.
When I'm around Reece, I feel uncomfortable, and I definitely don't want to deal with him right now. So, I walk away, allowing the customers to come between us.
"Dorothy, wait," Reece calls out, pushing through the crowd, wincing as he bumps into them.
But I don't listen to him and walk ahead until I reunite with Jenny. Thankfully, he does not try to approach me and I do not see him during the rest of my time at Escape.
***
I take a step out into the garden, taking a deep breath of the cold December air. When I breathe out, steam oozes out from my lips. Wrapped up in a shawl, I make my way to the wooden bench with a mug of hot chocolate in hand. When I sit down, I look at my treehouse, which is decorated in colourful Christmas lights, in awe. Various shapes of Christmas ornaments are dangling from the naked branches of the tree.
It's the evening of Christmas. Mother and I have just finished eating dinner and cleaning up. Mother is currently taking a shower because she accidentally spilled gravy on herself and she smelt like gravy.
I take a sip of the sweet goodness and sigh in content.
God, I love chocolate.
When it gets too chilly, I decide to enter my treehouse, where there are dozens of candles and blankets. After wrapping myself up with two layers of blankets in the treehouse and lighting a few candles, I pick up one of my all-time favourite books, Pride and Prejudice.
"Dorothy," someone calls me.
My smile disappears. I groan internally before I head to the window and open it.
"What the heck do you want, Reece?" I snap.
He is standing in my garden, wearing a dark grey hoody and long, black pyjama trousers. He is carrying a box peppered with dark polka dots.
"I... I want to give you this," he says, lifting the box higher.
"Why?" I ask.
"Just take it. Please?"
"No."
"It's Christmas," he pushes.
Darn it!
Pursing my lips, I slam the window shut and make my way down. I think Reece thought that I decided to ignore him, because the moment he sees me climbing down the ladder, he sighs in relief. When I stand in front of him, I get a clear view of his face. His tired, chocolate-brown eyes are fixed on my face. His hair is ruffled and he has a bit of a stubble across his jaw. He looks rugged but it suits him very well, much to my dismay.
How can he look this good when he clearly appears unkept?
He hands me the box.
"Open it," he says. I frown.
"Like right now?"
"Yes."
I grab onto the lid and lift it. My eyes immediately widen when I look inside.
"Lukey Wukey..." I whisper in surprise, carefully picking up my old teddy bear.
He looks a bit worned out, with the colour of his clothes and his beady eyes faded away. I look at Reece in disbelief.
"You've kept him... all this time?"
"Yes," he says, staring intensely at my face, as if he were observing each and every single reaction my face is making.
"In the same box I gave you?" I say.
"Yes."
No wonder this box had looked so familiar when I was cleaning his bedroom.
"And it was always kept on your study table?"
The corner of his lips tug upwards, as if he were amused.
"...Creepy that you know that, but yes."
I shake my head.
"No, I mean... I know that because I helped Linda clean your room, and it just happened to be on your table," I say.
He continues to smile, watching me. I would be lying if I said that his stare has no effect on me.
I focus my attention on Lukey Wukey. This teddy bear was one of my most prized possessions when I was a kid. I used to be afraid of the dark and I had nightmares frequently. Lukey Wukey was sort of like my guardian, fighting away the bad guys and demons. Way before I left for St. Anne's, I entrusted Lukey Wukey to Reece because he had more nightmares than I did at the time.
I never thought that Reece would actually keep him all these years.
"Why did you keep him all this time?" I ask, still looking at my old ursine friend.
"You treasured him when we were kids, and you were my best friend. It would not have been right to throw him out," he says.
I look up at his face.
"He's all yours again now," he adds. "I would have returned him to you sooner, but... circumstances just did not permit it to happen."
"Well thank you anyway," I whisper. "For taking care of him."
There is a pause of silence, in which we just stare at each other, completely clueless as to what we should say or do now. Then, he clears his throat and I whip my head to look down at Lukey Wukey.
"I'll go now," he says, to which I silently nod.
When he begins to walk away, I could not help but say, "Merry Christmas, Reece."
He pauses, his back facing me. Slowly, he turns and smiles.
"Merry Christmas," he replies. "Dorothy."
And just at the mention of my name, my heart rate picks up. I look down at the teddy bear again, with my cheeks feeling a bit flushed, while Reece proceeds to the fence. When he jumps over, I turn to go back into my treehouse. As I climb up the ladder, I cannot help but realise that Lukey Wukey smells like Reece.
***
January 1998
"So, William and I have selected thirty-five students to be a part of the play," Rachel announces.
Rachel, William, Jenny and I are sitting in a classroom, having our lunch together. Today is Tuesday, the second day of college of 1998. All of us had agreed before winter vacation started that Rachel and William would handle the shortlisting process and designate roles to the newly recruited members of the Musical Theatre Club. It may sound like we dumped all the work on them, but mind you, those two volunteered and claimed that they would be more than happy to do it.
"And based on their performance during the auditions, we have already assigned them their roles for the play and informed them about it," Rachel continues. "All of them seem satisfied."
"That's good," I say.
"Dorothy, we think – well, actually, I suggested it first and everyone agreed, but anyway – we think that you should be the female lead," Rachel says, pushing her glasses up and facing me.
"What?" I say, my eyes widening.
I look at Jenny, who nods her head encouragingly.
"You have a voice of an angel, perfect for the character! See what I did there, William?" Jenny says, glancing at him.
William nods his head, excited.
"I definitely did!" William exclaims.
They high-five each other. I haven't read Anchor yet, so I don't understand what they are high-fiving about.
"But I'm not very confident," I mumble.
"You can do it. I will help you," Jenny says. "The play will not be memorable without you being Aspen."
"Aspen?"
"That's the female lead's name. Looks like you haven't done your homework."
I smile sheepishly while she narrows her dark eyes at me.
"Make sure you finish reading it by the end of this week. You will love her, Dorothy. You will love the whole story. The play will require hard work and there will be pressure, but you will have tons of fun. Especially when you're doing it with us, your friends," she says.
"When you say it like that, I feel grateful to have you guys and a bit more confident. Thank you for thinking of me," I say.
She grins and we hug each other.
"Aw, it's nothing," she says.
"So, who has the role of the male lead?" I ask, letting her go.
"Yours truly," William says.
"William has a great voice," Jenny says.
The bell rings, signalling the start of Mathematics. Since all of us take this class, we pack up our things, migrate to Mr. Martin's classroom and sit close to one another. Nolan and Damien enter the classroom together, catching all the girls' attention.
"Hello everyone," Mr. Martin says once everyone settles down to their seats. "Now, your tests have been marked and are sitting right here." He points at a pile of paper on his desk. "Today, we will review your test and attempt some questions as a revision."
He picks the pile of paper up and distributes it, reducing the thickness.
"Oh my. This is outrageous," I hear Rachel whisper the second she receives her test sheet.
Nolan peeks at her test score and grimaces.
"Are you actually crying over a 98?" he grunts.
She snaps her head at him, clenching her jaw.
"Two marks away from 100. It is frustrating!" she says harshly.
She takes off her glasses and rubs her eyes in exasperation.
"Well boo hoo. Here, dry your tears with my 52," he grumbles, tossing his sheets of paper at her.
Annoyed, she throws his papers back at him. Ignoring her, Nolan turns around to face me, a grin appearing on his face.
"What did you get, Dorothy?" he asks.
Before I can reply, he snatches my papers from my table and scans the front page.
"Full marks," he states, his mood getting dull. "Why the fuck am I surrounded by nerds?"
I roll my eyes at his exaggeration.
"We studied. You should try it some time," I say dryly, snatching my papers from him.
"Nah. Girls dig brawns, not brains," he says.
"You lack both," Rachel says.
Nolan faces her, glaring at her.
"Well guys love girls with looks, not girls with their nose stuck in books," he says.
"Hmph," Rachel scoffs. "Well, enjoy your mediocre looks for now. They will fade soon. Very soon."
Nolan gasps at her words.
"You take that back, you witch."
"I cannot take back facts," she retorts.
"Guys," I cut in. "Quiet down. Mr. Martin is about to start reviewing."
Crossing their arms, Rachel and Nolan huff and focus their attention ahead of them; while Rachel is focusing on the chalkboard, Nolan is focusing on the butt of a Caucasian girl in front of him.
Typical.
Over half an hour later, the bell rings. Picking up my notebook and pens, I stand up from my seat and approach the doorway until Mr. Martin calls me.
"Dorothy, I need to speak with you for a minute," he says.
"Sure."
After waiting for the kids to pass by me, I make my way towards him. Once all the students leave the classroom, he gives me his full attention.
"So, I have seen that you have volunteered to tutor your class fellows," he says.
"Yup."
"There is this one student who needs help with Trigonometry. He missed the math test before winter break, and he sat for it yesterday. Apparently, he failed his test and since you're one of the few students who scored full marks, I thought that maybe you could help him out. Will it be alright with you?"
"Of course! I'd love to help."
"That's great! I love your attitude," he says, beaming. "His name is Reece Walker."
My eyes suddenly pop out of their sockets.
Reece what now?!
"Reece? As in Reece Walker?"
He looks at me with an eyebrow raised.
Dang it, Mr. Martin can raise a single eyebrow too?
"...Yes. Is there a problem?" he asks, suspicious.
Heck yes, there's a problem! I want to avoid Reece Walker as much as possible. Tutoring him is immensely far from achieving that goal, especially when its one-to-one, which I normally provide.
"No, not at all," I quickly say, covering up my shock and hesitance.
"It's alright. I was a little surprised too," he says.
I frown at his words. Before I can ask him why he was surprised, the students of the next class begin to trickle into the classroom.
"Thank you, Dorothy. I really appreciate it. I'll see you tomorrow," he says before turning around to pick up a board cleaner to erase the questions on the board.
"See you," I say as I enter the corridor, completely lost in thought.
*~*~*~*~*