Winters Tale

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dark Knight... except on DVD...

I stepped into my tiny apartment, making sure I locked the door behind me. My cat Vince rushed up to me and headbutted me in the knee. I peeked in the kitchen, and sure enough, he had eaten all his food. I refilled his food bowl and he meowed in gratitude.

I went into the small den, one of the four rooms in my apartment, and hit the button on the answering machine.

"You have two new messages. First message sent today at 9:47 a.m."

The phone beeped and I heard my best friend Cheryl's voice.

"Hey, Livy, I, um, kind of have a problem, see there's this party at Bruce Wayne's place and I got an invite to give to my manager but Jake and I kind of broke up this morning-" she paused for breath, "-and so I was wondering if you'd be my manager just temporarily? I know how much you like Bruce Wayne and I thought you'd want to come. I mean, not that you have to or anything, but if you don't have anything else to do maybe you could come? Okay, it's tonight at nine, so we can go shopping-"

There was a beep, then "End of message. Next message sent today at 9:48 a.m."

"Livy, your answering machine cut me off again. You've really got to check on that! Anyway, like I was saying, we can go shopping today to get you something to wear for the party. I'll pick you up at three, okay? Bye!"

"End of messages."

Ooh, Bruce Wayne! Of course I was going! I checked my watch. Three o clock on the dot! As if on cue, a car horn beeped outside. I grabbed my purse and rushed out to meet Cheryl.

Okay, here's the thing: Cheryl Carmichael and I have been friends since we were in grade five. And she was always the one who liked to shop. Me? I'd prefer to spend my time doing just about anything else. We're total opposites, me and her, even down to the little things. Like, she's blond and I'm brunette. She's short (petite, she calls it) and I'm five eight. She sings, I play guitar. She's pretty rich and famous, I have to work in a comic book store to pay the rent. She has, or had, a steady boyfriend (her manager Jake, who apparently she just broke up with) and I just have Vince. The list goes on and on. But she's still my best friend and she's probably going to want me to blend in with the other rich people, so... shopping it is!

Of course, her idea of "something to wear" is something a very fancy slut would wear. Short, strapless, and extremely expensive. Fortunately, I managed to talk her out of that. We checked out some nice, cheap dresses and I found one I liked. It was silvery blue with a halter top and came down to just past my knees. Cheryl insisted I come to her house so she could "do my hair". She ended up doing my hair, my makeup, and lending me a pair of shoes becuase I conveniently forgot to buy any. We left right at nine to be fashionably late.

"This is going to be sooo cool! Remember, you're my manager okay? Just pretend like you're not a random comic book person and try to fit in! Oh my god, we're here!" Cheryl squealed in my ear.

"Cheryl? Have you ever met Bruce Wayne?" I asked curiously.

"Of course! Like, fifty times!" she chirped. I raised an eyebrow. "Well, no," she admitted. "But I did sing at a party he hosted once! I never got to talk to him, though. But he invited me! So I must have impressed him!"

"I bet you did," I assured her.

Like she said, this was going to be sooo cool!

So, what do you think? Review please!