"What the fuck, Mom?" He shouted. "Why the hell did you do that? Why would you propose marriage?"
Is this some joke?
Please, be a joke!
"Oh, shut up, boy!" She shouted back. "I told you to stay away from the girl, but you never listen! I knew this would happen, I tried to warn you! You never think about the repercussions. You know how the Wilsons are! If I send them away, they'll slander our name. I had to do something!"
"But Mother, I…"
She held up her hand, stopping him from speaking. "Enough of this! You should know that actions have consequences, and this is yours!"
She walked away, her heels clicking against the floor. He ran his fingers through his hair, wanting to smash something. A chair, a lamp, a desk, anything! He restrained himself and walked out of the room.
Against his wish, he was engaged to her. In public, they seemed like the perfect, loving couple but in private, however, they screamed and cursed each other. Despite their differences, they spent a lot of time with each other, because of their meddling parents. It was during that period he heard about Hannah. Lori and her friend, Candace Mortimer, talked about her a lot. Candace was Hannah's roommate, and they loved gossiping about her. Hannah this. Hannah that. Hannah, Hannah, Hannah! It became annoying, almost infuriating. Lori and Candy's conversations were mostly centered around her and from them, he knew Lori had beef with her. But he couldn't wrap his finger around it.
He thought the gossips were harmless until the day they developed into something else. He had just finished his workout in the gym and was heading to his room when he heard Lori and Candy talking, no doubt about the Hannah girl.
"I've had just about enough of her!" She said spitefully. "We have to do something about her."
"Calm down, Lori," Candy said. "We'll deal with her later, but you shouldn't stress yourself so much. We wouldn't want anything to happen to it, would we?"
She rubbed her belly. "I can't help it, I hate her so much! There's nothing I want more than her downfall."
"What are we gonna do?"
"I don't know, and Ethan's been bugging me lately…wait, I've got it!"
"What are you thinking about, Lori?"
"I know how to make that bitch pay!"
For the time he had known her, she was a 'bark-but-no-bite' person. But hearing what they planned to do to her left him speechless. She had finally gotten a brain, he thought, and was using it for all the wrong purposes. He listened to every word they said. They would drug her and send her to Ethan's room, whoever he was. Lori said his room number would be in her bag, and Candy would take her to his room when they were done. "When did she become so petty?" He thought.
Petty? Seriously? Do you think you're one to say that?
Not now…
You're eavesdropping!
I'm not, I'm…listening to their conversation.
Eavesdropping!
Fine, I'm eavesdropping! What's it to you?
You're a hypocrite
Hush self…
He knew one thing, Lori would be furious if everything didn't go according to plan.
I know what you're thinking, stop it!
Not this again…
If you do it, you won't be any better than Lori.
I'm not, now stay out of my head, conscience.
Lori's birthday fell on a Saturday and to celebrate, she decided to throw a huge party at Spring Day, her father's hotel. Not wanting to miss out on the action, he had booked in earlier and made sure she knew his room number.
"Why are you telling me this?" She said initially.
Don't say anything stupid…
"I'm trying to give this a shot," He said. His statement sounded like a question and he knew she wouldn't buy it. Please do…
"Whatever…" she huffed. He sighed in relief. Worst-case scenario…
He was sure she would find out, despite how dumb he thought she was. He wanted to see the look on her face when she did. He knew what to do; get in the club, distract the birthday girl, switch the room numbers, have a good time, make Lori mad…The more he thought about it, the more thrilling it became.
Ethan's room number was 404, he heard Lori say. Who she knew was not his problem. He had bigger fish to fry. He chose room 4004 because it was similar to his, Lori would understand. He didn't want her going berserk on Candy, not like he cared. See? You have a heart!
Shut up, conscience!
For the rest of the day, he played the role of Mr. Caring's boyfriend to put Lori at ease, despite how disgusted he felt around her. She initially was suspicious, but soon fell for the trick. All in due time…
He insisted that she went without him. He concluded that (a) the best way of distracting a glam girl like her was making an entrance and stealing her spotlight. (b) Lori would want to show him off to her friends -not like I blame her- but he wasn't ready to be her arm candy. He could play boyfriend, he would lie, but he would never be anyone's arm candy! Especially Lori's. Don't tell me you're doing this…
He paced around the room, suddenly having second thoughts. He stopped, realizing he had picked up Reginald's terrible habit of pacing. Summoning courage, he bolted out of the room, heading to the bar, the venue of the birthday bash. It's show time! It wasn't hard to spot Lori, she was always in the midst of boys. He watches her giggle and titter uncontrollably. Bitch…
Why do you care?
Not this debate again…I don't care
Well, you…
Now's not the time, conscience! Go to sleep or something!
Suddenly, she stopped tittering. She instead focused her attention on something…or someone. His eyes followed hers as he stared at what she was glaring at. It was a girl. She seemed out of place in her ordinary shirt, ordinary jeans, and ordinary sneakers. Her ordinary hair was made into thick, black, ordinary locs, she had ordinary hazel eyes that went towards the shade of brown, an ordinary button nose, and pink ordinary lips. She was so…ordinary.
She could be worse. If she isn't Lori, it's fine by me…what the heck?
He walked to Lori's side, handed the present to her, and whispered, "Happy birthday, sugar plum…"
Sugar plum? Seriously? Note to self, never use endearments, ever!
"...do you want to stay here or head somewhere…comfortable?"
He nearly gagged when he said the last part. Lori didn't notice, she giggled like a lovesick teenager. Barf…
He knew that was his chance. In between her glaring and tittering, he reached for his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He glanced into Lori's bag. The gut's number was in it, buried under her cell phone, lipstick, and her fashion magazine, Belle's Weekly.
He stealthily switched them, surprised that Lori still didn't notice anything. She was still giggling. The time has passed, please stop! His gaze met that of the ordinary girl's, who had been staring at him. Not like I blame her…
Save me from proud men…
Not now, conscience!
He winked at her, for fun, and chuckled when she blushed. You're going to give her a coronary, quit it!
We'll save that for later, right conscience?
You're on your own…
Chicken…
Her face didn't go pink, but it was obvious that she was embarrassed. It's kind of…cute
Don't you mean ordinary?
Take a hike, conscience. I don't need to think about my actions now, come tomorrow.
You think her blush is cute, but you think Lori's is nauseating.
In my defense, if a girl isn't Lori, then her blush is cute. Hopefully, we'll have her for the rest of the night, right conscience?
Whatever…
Knowing Lori, it wasn't a probability, that it would happen. Either that, or she had become smart. He struck out the other assumption and thought of the ordinary Hannah. This will be one heck of a night, conscience.