I Wanna Be Bad: 7 Deadly Sins
Pride
"Pride makes us artificial, and humility makes us real." - Thomas Merton
"I am really looking forward to seeing the girls again. It's been years! Gosh, most of them I haven't seen since high school," Lily said as she and Rufus entered the spacious gym of her old high school where her twentieth reunion was being held.
"I'm just glad William was unable to make it," Rufus said with a grin. He didn't usually hate anyone. He had even taught his children never to hate. However, there was an exception to everything, and Lily's ex-husband was the exception to the no hating rule. He couldn't stand that guy—especially after the stunt he had pulled with Lily's cancer. In fact, had William been there today, Rufus would have more than likely caused a scene and gotten arrested for assault.
Lily latched onto his arm. "Let's just not talk about him tonight, all right? I don't want to ruin the night before it starts."
Rufus nodded. "Sounds good to me!"
Lily smiled. "I wanna step into the bathroom for a moment. I'll be right back."
Rufus nodded. "All right."
A couple minutes later, they met back up and headed in to mingle.
"Lily Rhodes? Is that you?"
Lily looked towards the sound of the voice and saw Francesca, a girl she hadn't been super close with in high school, but had talked to enough to consider a friend. She was looking gorgeous. Lily hadn't remembered her being that tall. "Francesca, hi! Wow, you're taller than I remember."
Francesca looked great. She was of African-American decent. Her curly black hair went to her shoulders. It had blonde highlights in it. There was a yellow flower pinned to the right of her hair. She had on an orange leather skirt over her long, smooth, light brown legs. Her feet were in a pair of black, strappy heels. For a top, she wore a beaded orange and yellow top that went to the middle of her flat stomach. Her navel was pierced, displaying a small, diamond incrusted star that dangled from her navel. She looked only slightly older than she did in high school.
Francesca grinned. "It turns out growth spirts don't stop after high school—at least not for me! I'm a model now. I've been modeling for that new fashion magazine Style it Up, and I just found out today that I've been accepted to be the new Victoria's Secret model."
Lily put on a smile that she certainly wasn't really feeling. How on earth did Francesca get to be so, well, hot and young looking? Not to mention successful. Sure she was popular in high school, but still not as popular as some were. In fact, she had been more popular than Francesca! "Wow. It really looks like you've made a name for yourself!"
Francesca smiled, displaying perfectly straight and white teeth. "So, what about you? What are you doing now, and who is this handsome man?" She grinned at Rufus, and reached over to feel the fabric of his suit jacket. "Nice! Armani?"
Rufus nodded. "Yes, my wife just bought it for me for the reunion." He extended his hand to her. "Rufus Humphrey. I'm Lily's husband."
"Oh, yes! Duh!" she slapped her forehead. "I remember you now. It's good to see you again!" Francesca winked at Lily. "You did well in the husband department! What do you do for work?"
"Thank you! Yes, I did." Lily grinned at her husband, and tightened her grip on his arm. She didn't like the way Francesca was looking at him. The last thing she needed was another Holland incident. "I work for my stepson Chuck's company, Bass Enterprises. Well, he's my son now. I adopted him. Counting Chuck, I have four children and two stepchildren."
"Wow. I don't have any children. I didn't want to ruin my body. Having children never really interested me or my fiancé, Tom. He's an upcoming rap artist. He just got signed to Eminem's label, Shady records. He goes by Tommy C. Look out for him. He's gonna be the next big thing!" Francesca said. "He would have been with me tonight but he is busy in the studio, recording his album. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I've had one too many Blue Martinis. I have to see if I remember where the bathrooms are. Haha..." With that, she turned on her heels and left.
"Did you see the way she was dressed? She's dressed like she thinks she is still in high school. There's a woman that must have a high opinion of herself!" Rufus said with a smirk. "Where'd she get that drink? I'm parched."
Lily followed him to a bar area that had been set up. "What do you want?" he asked her.
"Just a water is fine," Lily said absent-mindedly. Francesca had looked so good! She was very successful too. Heck, even her fiancé was successful. She sighed. There was no need to get upset. Francesca was just one person. There was no way everyone else here could possibly be that successful and look that good. In fact, she was willing to bet that she herself was better looking than some of the people there. They had only just arrived. She'd find people less good-looking and less successful as she was. After all, she liked to think of herself as at least average. Heck, Rufus always told her she was beyond average. And, as for her job, Bass Enterprises was extremely well-known.
"Here's your water, My Love." Rufus handed Lily her Evian, then placed his free arm over her shoulders as he held a ginger ale in the other hand. He was the one driving tonight, so he had decided not to drink any alcohol.
"Thanks, Rufus." Lily kissed him, and rested her head on his shoulder. Besides, she had the hottest husband in the world. That had to count for something, right?
"Lily?"
Lily looked to see a girl she recognized very well. It was Amy, more of an acquaintance from school than a friend, but she was easily recognizable. In fact, she looked just the same as she did in high school. Well, not exactly thesame. She aged slightly of course. It had been twenty years after all. But still she certainly hadn't aged as much as she should have! She looked in her late twenties instead of her late thirties! She had always looked young in high school, but even so... Woah.
Lily put on a smile. "Amy, is that you or her daughter?" She was only half joking.
Amy grinned. "You're too kind, Lily."
"Seriously, Amy, you look ten years younger than you're supposed to be! What is your secret?" Lily didn't even try to hide her shock.
Amy smiled modestly and shrugged. "Just good genes I guess. My mother always looked young too. To this day, people still think she's my older sister if they don't know us."
"Well, you look fantastic! So you didn't ever have any children?" Lily asked her. Surely someone with a perfect body like hers never had any children.
Amy nodded. "I have four."
Lily bit her bottom lip. Was she kidding? Four? With a body like hers? There must be a catch. "Any step children or adopted children? I have one adopted and two step."
Amy shook her head and pat her stomach. "Nope! They are all mine! I'm done having kids though. I just got my body back after a three straight weeks of exercise."
Three weeks? It only took three weeks? It had taken Lily almost three months to lose the weight after having Serena, and two and a half months for Eric. This girl was a machine!
"So, how have you been? What have you been up to? I am a stay-at-home mom now. My husband's a surgeon, so there's really no need for me to work," Amy said.
Lily blushed. What the heck? Had everyone caught the super successful boat but her? Really!
Lily told Amy about working at Bass Enterprises, and about her children. Of course she also showed off her husband. She knew she was being a snob by being embarrassed that Rufus was currently unemployed, but she couldn't help it! Everyone else's husbands had fantastic jobs. There was a rap artist and a surgeon. What next, a lawyer?
"Well, it's been nice talking to you, Lily. I think I see Francesca. I'm going to go over and say hello to her. Gosh, she looks great, doesn't she?" Amy asked.
Lily nodded. "Yeah!" she said with fake enthusiasm. "Great!"
Amy smiled. "See ya around!" She then left to go tell Francesca how amazing she looked.
"See ya," Lily said with a wave, though Amy was long-since gone.
"She was nice," Rufus said as they made their way across the room.
"If you like that sort of thing," Lily muttered.
"Huh?" Rufus asked; confused.
"Never mind," Lilly said. "She wished Jenny, her best friend from high school was there, but she had recently gotten married and was now honeymooning in Maui with her husband.
Jenny, though she still looked amazing, looked just as she should for a woman in her late thirties. In fact, right now, Jenny was the only one Lily felt like she related to when it came to her old high school friends. It figured that, of all the times for the reunion to be, it had to land on a day she'd be on her honeymoon.
Lily was just thinking of how she never should have come, and how she wanted to leave, when Emily, a cheerleader that she had never liked too much in high school, came over to her. "Hello, Lily. How are you?"
Lily put on a fake smile. "I'm fine, Emily. How are you?"
"Fabulous! I'm on Days of our Lives now. Did you know that?" Emily asked.
Of course she is," Lily thought. If everyone else was successful, why wouldn't the cheerleader be? "No, I did not know that. Congrats on that!"
"I haven't aired yet, since we tape at least three weeks in advance, but I'll be debuting next month as the new Billie Reed," Emily explained.
Lily nodded and fake grinned. "Well, good for you!" Her eyes strayed to Emily's outfit. She was wearing a scoop-neck, short sleeved, royal blue cotton tee that displayed her massive chest. She was tall. Her dark blue jeans were boot cut, but still made her legs look fantastic! On her feet were black Manolos in the form of studded healed booties. Her skin was flawless, as was her makeup. And her lips, well, her lips were perfectly plump. She had the lips of Lisa Rinna. In fact, she looked a lot like Lisa Rinna—choppy brown hair style and all. She looked hot.
"So, what do you do?" Emily asked Lily. She eyed Rufus up and down with a smile. "I see you're still with Rufus."
Lily grasped tightly onto Rufus' arm with one hand, and placed her hand on his chest with her other hand as she kept her eyes on Emily. She remembered now. Emily had thought Rufus was hot, and had wanted to try to steal him away when Lily had brought him to the prom. "We're married now." She hoped Emily got the hint. Otherwise, there was going to be a smack down right now, with Emily coming out of it no longer quite as pretty. "We have six children together," she then added. Emily didn't need to know that only one of the children was both of theirs, or that one of the children was neither of theirs—at least not by birth.
Emily smirked. "That would explain why you no longer have the body you used to in high school. So, you're a stay-at-home Mom?"
Lily's mouth dropped open. She no longer had the body she used to? Excusez-moi?
Rufus rubbed Lily's side, his arm already around her, and answered for her. "Actually, I'm a stay-at-home Dad. Lily works as an executive at Bass Enterprises. She is the stepmother, and now adoptive mother of Chuck Bass. She was married to his father, Bart Bass before his untimely death."
Emily nodded. "Nice. Well, it was good to see you both again. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find my husband and make sure he isn't over indulging on the snacks. You'd think being a bodybuilder, he'd eat healthier on his own, but no. It's up to me, just like everything else." She rolled her eyes, then smiled. "But, I love him anyway. He's lucky he's hot!" Then, she was off without another word to them.
"Wow, someone's stuck on herself!" Rufus teased with a grin. "Hey, wasn't that the girl who had a crush on me at the prom?"
Lily rolled her eyes and nodded. "Once a bitch, always a bitch!"
Rufus grinned. "Getting a little feisty, are ya? I kind of like seeing the old Lily return. You haven't been this feisty since you were in high school."
Lily nodded. "Yeah, well, it is my high school reunion we're at." She kissed Rufus' cheek. "Will you get my coat please? I wanna go home."
"Already? But we barely just got here! Besides, they are going to announce the High School Reunion King and Queen award soon, and I want to see who gets it."
"What the hell is that?" Lily asked, feeling all around grumpy.
"It's where they award the woman and man who aged the best since high school." Rufus nodded towards a table with papers and a ballot box. "I voted for you when you were in the bathroom. I'm not eligible since I didn't go here, but I'll let another man be your King just for the time it takes to crown you guys."
Lily sighed. "I'm not going to win. I don't know why you bothered."
Rufus scrunched his eyebrows together. "Why would you say that? You'e beautiful! Of course you have a good chance of winning!"
"Well, thank you for the vote of confidence, but I doubt it," Lily said. Great! She just wanted to get out of here. She didn't want another reminder of how everyone here was prettier than she was. She sighed. She didn't want to hurt Rufus' feelings though, so she'd wait. But, after the winner was announced, they were out of there if she had to drag him by his Armani suit sleeve!
Of course Emily ended up winning—her and Jordan Tyler, who had only started going to school Senior year. He had always been good-looking and popular. He was still good-looking, and apparently, still popular. He was, surprise, surprise, a lawyer. Lily had had it up to here. She turned to Rufus. "Darling, will you please get my coat now? I want to go home."
Rufus stroked her cheek and kissed her. "I'm sorry you didn't win, Lil. You should have. You're the most beautiful one in the room." He kissed her again. "I have to go to the bathroom first, then I'll get our coats and we can leave."
Lily kissed him. "Thank you." She sighed once he had left. She was so lucky to have such a loving, caring, and good-looking husband. He deserved someone prettier than her.
"Hey, Lily! Why do you look so sad?" Karen, who had been a teaching assistant that had always been one of Lily's favorite's asked her.
Lily sighed. Even at fifty-five, Karen looked fantastic. "Hey, Karen! I'm just tired of looking old and haggard when everyone else looks so fantastic. Even you don't look much older than you did when you worked here."
Karen laughed. "Oh, honey, do you think we all naturally look like this?"
Lily nodded. "Well, yes."
Karen snorted, and shook her head. "That's sweet, but no. All of us have had work done. Even if someone tells you they haven't, they are lying. For instance, Emily and I have the same plastic surgeon. Emily wasn't always a C-cup. She was an A-cup. Don't you remember?"
Lily shrugged. "I didn't really pay much attention in high school, I guess."
Karen continued. "And those lips are most definitely not real. She gets them filled with collagen once, sometimes twice a week. And Francesca goes to him too! She's had everything you can imagine done."
"Really." Lily said it more as a statement than a question.
Karen nodded. "In fact, I'm always referring him to my friends. I even keep his business cards in my purse, he's so good. Here. His name is Robert Dubois." She dug into her purse, pulled out a card, and handed it to Lily.
"Thanks," Lily said, taking the card and eyeing it.
"He's the best you're going to find—trust me!" Karen said. "He can clear those eye wrinkles right up!" Karen said.
Lily's hand instantly went to her eyes. Eye wrinkles? What eye wrinkles?
Karen placed her hand over Lily's arm. "Well, excuse me. I have to use the little girl's room. I'll probably see you at Dr. Dubois' at one time or another!"
Lily nodded. "It was nice seeing you again. And thanks again for the referral!"
"You too, and anytime. Bye, Lily!" Karen called out with a wave, already heading towards the bathrooms.
Lily waved as well. "Bye!"
"You ready to go?" Rufus asked with a grin. He helped Lily slip her coat on.
Lily nodded. "Let's go."
As they left the reunion, Rufus' hand over her back, Lily looked over her shoulder. She could look just like all those gorgeous ex classmates of hers. All she had to do was call one little number. She slipped the business card in her purse, and smiled to herself. She then rested her head on Rufus' shoulder, causing him to kiss the top of her head.
I'll become the beautiful woman Rufus' deserves. Just watch me! she thought. She smiled at the thought.
The next day, while Rufus was out getting groceries, Lily sat down at her desk, and made up a list. She planned on getting BOTOX to take care of her eye wrinkles, which, after looking in a mirror, she wondered how she had never noticed them before. In fact, she figured maybe she'd get an eye life to get rid of the bags while she was at it. Then of course she was going to get breast implants. She wanted to go up a cup-size. Oh and she wanted some collagen in her lips.
The elevator doors opened, and in came Rufus with the groceries.
Lily set her list aside, and quickly got up to help him. "Did you get enough for a year?" she teased. He had four full paper bags he was juggling.
"They had a lot of sales, and I couldn't resist," he said.
Lily rolled her eyes, and set two of the bags on the counter. "We have money. We don't need sales. Not to sound snobbish. It's just that I bet one of these bags is all waffles, and two more are full of junk food. The third, well, I'm assuming you at least got some healthy food to please me?"
Rufus grinned, and set his two bags down. "Ha! Shows you how much you know. The bag isn't all waffles. It also has maple syrup, whipped cream, and strawberries to put on top of the waffles."
Lily rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Silly me."
Rufus kissed her. "And two of the bags have healthy stuff—not just one."
Lily smiled, and gently pushed some hair out of his eyes. "Well, in that case..." She pulled him in for another kiss.
He moaned, and kissed her back hungrily.
Lily broke the kiss. "Mm, I have to go to the bathroom, but we can continue this when I'm done."
Rufus nodded, then kissed her again. "Deal!"
They grinned at each other, then Lily headed to the bathroom.
Five minutes later, she came back into the room, but stopped short when she saw that Rufus had her plastic surgeon list in his hands. She hadn't wanted him to see it! She had wanted it to be a surprise. So much for that!
"Lil, someone called for Serena, and I was looking on your desk for some paper and a pen to write the message down on. I found this. What it this all about?" Rufus walked over to her, and held the list up for her to inspect.
Lily looked away. "It's a list of what I'm going to have done. I wanted to surprise you."
"And why do you think you need to have all this done?" Rufus asked.
Lily looked at him. "Do you really need to ask? You saw how beautiful my classmates all looked! They have these smoking hot bodies, and I still look old! Karen gave me the number of her plastic surgeon and told me how everyone uses him. He is the best in the city. She told me that he can help me get rid of these eye wrinkles." She pointed to her eye wrinkles for emphasis. "Then, I took a look at myself in the mirror, and found some other things I'd like to change."
Rufus shook his head. He then tore the list in two, and tossed the pieces in the garbage.
Lily gasped. "Hey! What did you do that for?"
"Don't listen to any of those women! They are all fake! They had to do all that work to try to look good, and all it got them was a Barbie doll look. Did you see me once glare at them like I waned them?" Rufus asked.
Lily shook her head. "I was too busy looking at them myself."
"Well, I only saw fake, sad women when I looked at them. Then, when I looked at you, I saw a woman who is naturally beautiful. I thought to myself, 'Thank God I have a wife who doesn't ruin her body with surgeries.'"
Lily looked at Rufus. "Really?"
Rufus nodded. "Honestly, Lil. I don't think you see the same person when you look in the mirror as I do when I look at you! Don't you do anything to ruin your appearance. I for one love your eye wrinkles. They give you character. You don't need BOTOX or an eye lift, so forget about it! Your lips, they're so kissable as they are. Don't you dare change those." He began kissing Lily.
Lily wrapped her arms around him, and they soon made it to the bedroom. In fact, by the time they had undressed, Lily had forgotten they were still having a conversation.
"And your breasts..." Rufus trailed off as he bent down and began fondling her breasts, lifting them up to kiss them one at a time. "Are perfect. You're perfect! Everything about you is perfect, so don't you dare even think about fixing one part of your body. You here me?"
Lily nodded, out of breath, even though they had barely just begun. "Yes, I promise. Just make love to me, please?"
Rufus' eyes lowered. "I'm going to make love to you until you feel as beautiful as I see you as."
Lily smiled, and gently stroked his cheek. "I love you so much. I'm so lucky to have you."
Rufus shook his head. I'm the lucky one, Lil. And you know what else?"
Lily shook her head. "What?"
"You may not have won Queen of the reunion, but you'll always be the queen of my heart."
Lily was so touched, she had tears in her eyes. She suddenly felt silly for ever being so concerned with her looks. She kissed Rufus, and then let him make her feel beautiful, even though he had more than already done that.