A/N: I am back after a LONG hiatus. I have been tweaking and finalizing all the smidge of minute details for the release of my OWN book. *blush* This kitten isn't the next James Patterson or anything but the next Zane…maybe *wink*. Big Girls Don't Cry will be released December 2013! If interested in any details feel free to message me. And as always, thank you kittens for your support and love over the years. Means a lot.
Disclaimer: I received an interesting PM from a member of the HA! Community and to be honest, I feel this applies to a few others since this is not the first PM I received from people who are disturbed from my fictions. I write GRAPHIC, DARK, SEXUALLY EXPLICIT, and RAW. If that's not for you and you prefer to leave your childhood intact, I suggest you click the back button and find something else. If you are mature enough to read adult situations and adult fanfiction and don't mind your childhood characters you once crushed on to be taken into a different perspective, by all means….keep calm and read on.
Enjoy my dark, twisted fantasies. –SP
Chapter theme song: 'Friend of Mine' by: Kelly Price
Prolouge
"Oh, Patty, my, my, you simply look stunning in that Adrianna Papelle dress!" I lied through my teeth, sipping my black coffee. Its bitter taste coursed down my throat in a much similar fashion like the aspirin I had taken earlier this morning. It was God awful, much like her dress.
She smiled, pushing a bushel of her split-ended brown hair behind her pearl studded ears with a blush. "You think Harold would like this one?"
I nodded, eyes glossed over with false delight. I looked at her budding tummy. If she had not lost a couple of pounds before summer had ended, I would have easily thought she had just gained a bunch of weight. "Yes, the ruching hides all your flaws." Her face fell. "Not that you have any of course."
Her smile returned as the bridal consultant swept in from the East with a tulle birdcage veil and her annoying cackling laugh. "Oh Patty, that is certainly the one!" I scoffed, she said that about the last five dresses the girl had put on. All she was concerned about was that commission check she would benefit from by the end of the evening.
"You think so, August?"
"Yes, the detail on the bodice hides the baby quite nicely and slims you neatly."
"Do you think I should still opt out of a white dress for my wedding? Isn't white the more…traditional color?"
I loudly sighed, earning both of their side glances. I was ready to go. "Red is totally in my dear, Patty. Besides, every bride in America wears white, why not be different; be bold!"
"Aren't you wearing white for your wedding, Rhonda?"
I grew mute for a moment, quickly recovering. "Curly simply will not act sane if there is any pop of vibrant red or orange in the wedding. I have to keep him from going simply batty you know."
Patty scanned me for a moment before that familiar smile came back, she buying my lie. To be honest, I could care less about what Curly had thought about the wedding. I did not want to marry him anyway. My groom was about to marry…
"Oh Patty, let's ring you up and get you checked out so we can enjoy these fabulous snacks the owner had brought down for you! I kept them from you so you would not spill any crème sauce on the fabric and damage the dismal display selection we have." August smiled. "I know how hungry you must be, eating for such a little angel."
"Two little angels actually." She beamed with joy, blushed a deeper shade of coral that made me want to hurl. I almost forgot she was pregnant with twin, boys at that. "Harold and I could not be happier. He has been looking forward to this since I first told him."
The consultant squealed, clapping as she grabbed Patty's flabby arm and hurried her back to the dressing room to finish the sale. She quickly told me that the two of them would return shortly and to make myself comfortable on the Victorian loveseat and find home in the tray of gourmet cookies and herbal tea. Gourmet my ass! These were straight from the general store and put on some fake china to appeal to customers to make them want to buy a dress from this sorry boutique. I only buy Vera.
I plopped down onto the cushion, snatching a fashion magazine to read before I grew bored. I caught sight of my emerald cut diamond ring. Thaddeus had wanted my engagement ring to be as special as I was. I was always a sucker for his romantic punch lines. I twiddled with the band for a bit, getting lost in my own thoughts; wondering how I got here in the first place. Was I really that awful as a child?
As foul as my mood towards Patty may be, I genuinely do like her as a person. Patty is a kind, sweet woman that, even though she scares me and is a rough as they come, wouldn't hurt a fly…okay maybe she would. Since our friendship slowly blossomed the year our parents both sent us to the debutante school for polished fine young ladies- unbeknownst to the both of us- Patty and I slowly grew closer over the years as my fake, phony friendships with Nadine and Sheena waned. I always felt relatively superior to Patty, that being the main reason I would even be seen with her from time to time back in middle-school, but with my maturity and life-experiences, I have grown a little less vain, less shallow, and more open-minded….a little.
However, Patty and Harold…that completely crossed the line and even though it's something we don't discuss, it's something she and I know is slowly weakening our short-lived friendship.
It's a long story I rather not get into, especially with the guilt trip I always feel since I am now engaged to be married to another man I love, Curly.
There was a small tap at the large glass of the boutique storefront window, startling me into a frenzy. I nearly spilt my coffee on my mauve cashmere sweater. The nerve of some people! I was about ready to give an intense lip lashing before I caught sight of the man before the soft glass pelted with the husky drops of late October rain. I caught my breath in my throat, calming my nerves before I smoothed out my ensemble and went to open the locked door. I almost forgot we had made an afterhours appointment since Patty was self-conscious.
"Thanks Rhonda." His voice wafted through the room as his presence filled it to the brim. Soft kisses of rain masked his leather jacket at the Burberry scarf I had bought him for his birthday gently curled against his neck. He closed his umbrella, placing it into the holder before removing his jacket to embrace me in an overdue hug. I smiled, enjoying the scent of his earthy cologne and warmth of his wool sweater. He pulled away with a warm smile. "Don't you look…uppity today."
I swatted him away with a playful hand, careful not to linger too long. "Shut up, fat boy."
"You've been spending too much time with your maid of honor I take it."
I frowned. "Helga was a last resort for this last minute wedding."
"You did agree to this too, Rhonda."
"Yeah, well I rather marry someone else."
He grew quiet, knowing not to press the issue any further than it needed to be. "So, how is the baby?"
"According to my daily pregnancy tracker app, the size of a blueberry so nothing special yet."
"Don't be like that, Rhonda." He groaned, moving past me to sit down in a leather recliner. He did not fail to swipe a handful of cookies on the way either. "Whether it be a blueberry or the size of a melon, it's still a baby."
Not yours…
"How are you about Patty's pregnancy?"
He shrugged, shoveling down a handful of raspberry filled butter cookies. "I'm alright, I just wish things would have happened later but I am happy she is pregnant and I will be a good father to my boys."
"I don't doubt it but what about school?"
He shrugged again. "I can finally go off to college anytime after the boys are born. I have a thriving business and I am happy with that. Not everyone has to go get a bunch of degrees to be well, Rhonda."
"I know, Harold, I was just asking." I forgot how sensitive he could be sometimes. "Well, I am happy for you that Mr. Green finally sold his butcher shop to you after years of interning there. You practically ran the place right after his cancer turned for the worst."
"Yeah, and it wasn't easy either." He beamed with pride for his rare accomplishments. "I like working with my hands and I love being around meat. I know all there is to know about it all, pork, chicken, fish, cow, you name it I know it!"
I smiled, sipping my lukewarm coffee in remembrance of the time he and I were locked in the meat locker. He had just installed a new one and it was crisp, clean, and freezing. He accidentally locked the two of us in after he called me in to help him screw in a last bolt into the door hinge before it abruptly closed. Luckily he had his cell in hick jean pocket and called for help. To keep me warm, we snuggled together against a cube of Styrofoam before I found myself half naked with his head between my thighs.
"Rhonda?" I looked at him in question. "You know, I know things between us aren't exactly…"
"You don't have to say anything, Harold." I dismissed, not wanting to talk about it any further. I rather not reopen old wounds. "We are fine."
"I can tell you feel differently about me, you know. I'm not that dumb, Rhonda."
"Like I said, Harold, just forget about it."
He and I stared at each other for what seemed like hours before there was the loud cackling of August's annoying laugh. I turned around to see Patty emerge with a wide smile I knew all too well with August's arm wrapped around hers. That anger emerged again.
"Is that the groom!?" August screeched, Patty nodding.
August raced over to shake Harold's hand and go on and on about how much she helped his wife-to-be find the perfect dress that would make there early December wedding something memorable. He tried to pry and ask what the dress looked like and how much it was costing him, since Patty did use his credit card to pay for the dress, but August wouldn't budge and simply offered him more generic cookies which he gladly accepted.
"You two look so cute together, like you are meant to be together." I heard August murmur as Patty cradled up to Harold, sealing it with a kiss. Her eyes immediately locked with mine.
"We are, aren't we?"