Once again, Weiss sat at her table, bouncing her leg incessantly.
She was on Craigslist… but now what?
Staring at her computer screen, she took a frustrated sip of her coffee. "I don't know the first thing about how to work this stupid website. Um… okay. I'll just, sort of…" She set her coffee aside and hovered over different links on the screen.
"Jobs? Things for sale? Uh.."
Weiss clicked around in a few places for starters. She didn't really know where to look for a person to hire, especially for something as far-fetched as pretending to be a date for a wedding. She was starting to loathe her sister a little for pressuring her like this.
A category caught her eye for a moment, and curiosity got the better of her. "Personals, huh? I think people try to find hook-ups through this, but would they really resort to that type of advertisement?" Weiss clicked on the category, and sub-categories spanned the page. Just because, she clicked 'women seeking women,' but not before checking behind her to see if anyone had come downstairs.
Scrolling through the titles just from today's date, she didn't know whether or not to be appalled by them, or impressed.
Her jaw agape, she read some of them aloud, "Want you in my mouth? No bones thanks I want some thick meat? Pillow Princess looking for a girl to f—... i-in the p— oh, oh my goodness I'm.. I'm not." She couldn't click the back button fast enough.
"Mmmmhhghh," she groaned with her hand over her eyes. "How hard could this possibly be? People looking for lamps decorated with puppies probably have more luck on here than I do."
Weiss started to think that maybe showing up to the wedding date-less wouldn't be so bad after all. She could just say that they got sick, or they were passing out soup to the homeless, or they saved a little kid from being hit by a car. Surely some false tale like that would earn some points from her parents and the rest of her family. She crossed her arms on the table and buried her head. It was a great plan at first, but reality says that it's clearly impossible to find someone in less than twelve hours.
Sighing with disappointment, Weiss tried one more category she thought might work. She clicked on 'services' and waved her hand as if to say "well why not." The only sub-category to fit the bill was 'event' so she clicked that next.
"Oh… wait, this looks like it could work."
Our snowy-haired company heiress scrolled down through the promising postings of self-promoted services like DJing and things like face-paintings for children's parties. Wedding photographers, food catering, pâtisseries and the like. Somehow she felt she was getting closer.
"… noo, no no."
Back to party clowns, violin bands, calligraphers…
"Seriously? Calligraphers? And what's a violin band?"
After a couple of pages of useless results, Weiss was about to give it up, but something told her to just go ahead and click to the next page just one more time.
After searching the page for any sort of helpful title, she finally saw something that looked a little different from the rest. It read, "Willing to offer services of any kind (non-sexual)." This person sure thought ahead, Weiss thought. With no better option on the horizon, she went ahead and clicked on the link.
Weiss stared at the page of contact information, but what she was most concerned about was the name. "Blake." Weiss said the name over and over again, whipping her hand in the air beside her, trying to make sense of it. "Blake. Blake? Belladonna? Is that a guy's name or a girl's? I guess it could refer to a woman, but you know what, at this point, I guess it doesn't matter." That wasn't true. Weiss was scanning the page with haste searching for any sign that the person offering services was in fact, a woman.
Looking through their listed abilities and skills, presented in résumé style, she finally found the selling point: "No surprise male strip-tease themed birthday parties, I am a woman. You'd surely be disappointed."
"Pfft—ha ha ha! Out of all the examples she could have given. She's got some humor, I'll give her that." Weiss had a good feeling from this person's profile. Unfortunately, there was no picture, but this Blake girl did insist that she was decent looking enough to do some modeling; with clothes on, of course.
Though she'd be a little nervous about the exchange because of the lack of any sort of picture, it was already three in the morning, so Weiss decided that it was either now or never. She went ahead and emailed the girl. Her profile said she's available all the time to answer emails, so she thought that it'd be okay, even this late at night. Typing rapidly and pouring out just enough of her feelings to seem genuine but not desperate, she felt satisfied with her detailed explanation of what would go down, if Blake happened to accept her as her new client. Weiss did take caution to leave out important details like the venue and the time of the wedding, just in case she did end up contacting a stalker. Or murderer.
*bzzt, bzzt*
Blake's phone illuminated the dark room, the two small vibration pulses enough to wake her from her slumber. Just a little agitated, she rolled over to grab her phone.
Her voice still raspy from sleep, "whaaat the fuuuuuck," she groaned out loud at the disturbance so late at night.
Blake tried to look at the bright screen, but it took her a few tries before she could actually read anything without her eyeballs burning. It wasn't a text, but an email. She tapped to open it; it was from Craigslist after all. Maybe she picked up another job. She read a few lines into the email, and she felt a small burst of excitement.
"….oh, wow." Blake laid her arm over her eyes and smirked, she couldn't believe what she was reading.
Hello there! I hope you're not asleep.
My name is Weiss, and I am writing to you regarding your online posting. I understand that it is VERY late notice, but I come to you proposing a service for today (yes, today). If you accept, you'd come to my address (which I would enclose to you ONLY if you reply back to me) promptly at 7 am for preparations. You would be acting as my escort to my sister's wedding. Why do I need an escort to my sister's wedding so badly that I'd resort to Craigslist? Well I can tell you now that it's a very delicate family matter, and that I can tell you the rest in person, should you choose to accept the job. A little talking to parents, a little dinner, and MAYBE a little dancing, depending on the circumstances. All you would have to do is talk about your success and look pretty. Anyway, let me know ASAP. As you can probably tell, it's already nearly 4 am.
Please do consider. I look forward to hearing from you.
P.S., I am a woman, if you couldn't already tell, and I hope that you won't let that influence the fact that you're supposed to be my date. Oh, and could you send me a picture of yourself?
- Weiss
Blake peeked at her phone screen once again from under the protection of her arm. This girl was seriously asking Blake to be her fake date for a wedding. Her sister's, no less.
After checking the time and confirming that it was in fact almost four, she surmised that she might as well get up. Rolling off her modest bed, Blake stretched her arms out as she walked toward the bathroom. Tossing her phone back onto her bed before closing the door, she shed her clothing instantly and started the shower.
"I've never had a job like this before. Should be really fun. Plus, from her situation, it sounds like her family's loaded, so I'm sure I'll be compensated generously if I do a good job," she thought aloud.
She spent several minutes basking in the hot water, relishing the contrast from the brisk autumn air. Blake liked the cold, but even she couldn't handle being naked in a cold room in the middle of the night. Unless she had some company. Eventually, she pulled herself away from the lovely warmth and wrapped herself in a towel, returning to her phone to send a reply to her new client.
"Oh yeah, she wanted a picture." Blake had rules regarding sending her photos. And this girl was no exception. She angled the camera toward herself, snapped a shot, and attached it to the email.
"WHAT is TAKING her so long?!" Looks like Weiss was mad.
'Weiss… it's four thirty in the morning. Did you really hav'ta call me.' Velvet flat-out stated, more than asked.
"I'm so sorry Velvet, it's just, I emailed her, and she said that she was available to answer the emails twenty-four hours a day, and I'm just getting really nervous. What if she says no? What if she thinks I'm weird?" Weiss let out a frustrated noise, checking her phone screen to see if she had any new emails.
'Ahaha, well, you are actually a little weird. Look, calm down. She's probably, I dunno, reading it right now, or maybe she's eating breakfast. I'm sure there's a reason she said she'd be available all day.'
Weiss walked over to one of the couches in her living room and plopped herself over the backrest. She groaned dramatically into the cushions, earning a sigh from Velvet.
'Pull yourself together, girlie.'
"But Vellllveeeett."
'Listen, I'm feeling real bad for you, but Coco is seriously staring me down right now, I've really got to—'
"Oh my God she replied, okay, thanks so much Velvet, I'll see you later!" Weiss hung up before Velvet got to finish. She probably didn't mind much.
Weiss tapped to open the email, and her eyes sped across the screen.
Hello, Weiss.
This is Blake. I read your email and I'd be happy to take on your request. Send me your address and I'll be there.
That was it. Weiss reread the message over and over again. She tapped back to the page with all her emails, and tapped back into the one Blake sent her. That was… it?
But Weiss' heart sped up once she saw that she attached a photo. She opened it ready to be impressed, and then…
"…you've got to be fucking kidding me."
The photo showed a dark room, and the slight curve of a woman's body on the very far right of the frame, with what seemed to be a towel draped over her, and someone's left hand flashing a peace sign to the camera. She assumed that was Blake's hand.
"Oh ha ha ha, very funny." Weiss thought of just earlier when she thought this girl actually was funny; seems she was just a little bit of a playful jerk, too.
"Whatever. The point is, she replied. But considering what I'm asking her to do, she didn't really seem to have any questions. That's fine, I suppose." Weiss composed her reply email with her address and the color of clothing she'd prefer her to wear. The theme of the wedding was ice blue and lilac, which she had heard her sister's fiancée wasn't too happy about since she much preferred red, but that's a story for another time. People were going to be wearing more subtle colors, much more monochromatic. Weiss herself was wearing a simple white sleeveless dress accented with very loose lilac gradient frills, starting from the v-cut of the chest, wrapping outward and slightly down to the end, which cut right above her knees. Blake would be free to wear what she wanted, but she mentioned she'd prefer her attire to be black, and anything with a color similar to lilac as an accent would work. Whether or not she wore a suit or a dress would be up to her.
"Though if she's as pretty as she seems to imply, I might want to see her in a dress…"
Weiss shook the thought from her head. For now, she would eat some breakfast.
Weiss glanced at the digital clock on her microwave. It read in bright green edges, '6:55.'
She did tell Blake to meet up at the house at 7, but really. Really. In these situations, you're just sort of supposed to be at least 5 minutes early at best. Perhaps she was more annoyed because she hadn't actually gotten any sleep from the night before, due to her frantic search for an escort.
Around her kitchen and spread into her living room were some of Weiss' family, aunts and uncles and cousins that had stayed at the Schnee residence for the weekend of the wedding. They were already dressed and ready to go, although the ceremony would not be until later this afternoon.
Idle chit-chat and laughter ensued, but Weiss was getting nervous. Nervous and very angry. She sat on the couch and crossed her legs, biting on her knuckle. Her eyes darted around the room for any sign of her parents, getting ready to hide at a moment's notice, when—
"Weiss!"
Crap.
Weiss' mother spotted her daughter from the staircase, making it impossible for her to escape. She stood back up and greeted her mother with a forced smile.
"Hello, mother."
"Weiss, dear, is your date here yet? Your father and I would love to see the young lass. Or maybe lad, this time?"
"It's.. she's a woman, mother." She recalled the last time she brought a girl home to meet her parents. She was glad her parents took the 'news' of her coming out well, and they seemed to really like her last girlfriend, so most likely they were just as hopeful for this mysterious new date. Weiss tapped her heel on the floor, hoping that Blake would show up soon.
"Wonderful. I'm sure she's a delight. I'll be upstairs getting your sister ready, okay? Please let us know when she arrives." With that, she retreated back upstairs.
Weiss rubbed her eyes. "I just want this day to be over. Sorry, Winter."
The buzz of her cellphone startled Weiss. She checked her phone, and sure enough: "I'm outside. Please open the door" could be read from the screen. She had forgotten for a moment that she and Blake exchanged numbers just hours ago, considering that it may be more convenient to communicate that way.
She hurried to the door to let her date in, but she was still fairly angry. Weiss opened the door and immediately scolded the girl, "I know I told you seven and all, but really, not even an 'I'll be there soon' text to make me f— ohhh.." Weiss had just turned her head to face Blake, and what she saw left her speechless.
Blake was there. Oh, she was there all right. She stood at the doorway, adorned in a black-colored matching outfit. She wore a black button-up blouse, cut so low that it showed off a lovely portion of her neck and chest, with silken relaxed ruffles starting from low on the collar down to the first button. The sleeves were loose fitting to give her shoulders more shape; they also gave off elegance. Black slacks that outlined her legs perfectly, and black pumps that said, "business woman." She also wore two silvery-white bangles on her left wrist, and an equally silver necklace with a lilac-colored droplet that topped off her outfit. Her hair was as black as her clothes, tied up in what looked like a messy bun, but with wavy locks that cascaded down off her left shoulder. It was as if she just fashioned her hair into a messy ponytail, and somehow it still looked wedding worthy. Her eyes were lined with a slightly darker purple eyeshadow that complimented her bright, amber colored eyes. Everything was in perfect contrast with her smooth, pale complexion.
She stood there, weight shifted onto one leg, with a smirk. A gorgeous, breath-taking smirk.
Weiss slammed the door shut just as quickly as she had opened it.