XVII. Lottie, September 27

The bright pink lunch bag landed on the table with a loud thud. Everyone seated around it had no choice but to look up and sit in awe of Charlotte La Bouff's dazzling form—or at least, that was the effect she had intended. She kept her focus on the man in the next seat, as looking around to make sure all eyes were on her would ruin the whole spectacle. The important thing was that Naveen was looking, and how could he not?

Lottie was looking her absolute best this Monday afternoon. Her blonde 'do was impeccably hairsprayed into submission, she had spent nearly an hour perfecting her makeup, putting special focus on bringing out her eyes, and she was dressed to impress in a little pink dress that hugged her figure in all the right places. Lottie was a girl who knew what she wanted and how to get it—and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.

"May I sit here?" she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes skillfully.

"Um," Naveen gawked up at her, and she could see the lump in his throat move as he swallowed, then quickly shook off the surprise and composed himself. "Of course! Go right ahead."

"Thank you," Lottie smiled sweetly and took the seat next to Naveen.

Now that she had been invited to sit, she looked around at the others sitting around the table. All eyes were on her. Perfect.

"Flynn and I already know each other, of course—art class—but why don't you introduce me to the rest of your friends, Naveen?"

She recognized most of them, but she knew how to keep the focus where it needed to be. Almost everyone else at the table was a senior, and all of them were older than her. More likely than not, they didn't know who she was—but they would. Naveen introduced Lottie to Flynn, Jasmine, Thomas, John Smith, and Adam. Adam was the only one Lottie didn't know of before—he was a senior, apparently, but also rather quiet, if this meeting was any indication. He had long reddish hair that he let fall around his face as he leaned over to eat his food, and Naveen said something about how they jammed together sometimes. At a table full of kids Lottie would have labeled the "cool kids," Adam was a bit of an anomaly. But Lottie decided not to dwell on it. She figured she could always ask Naveen about it later when they were… better acquainted.

"Where do you normally sit—Lottie, was it?" Jasmine asked, taking a sip of her soup.

"Just with a few of my girl friends—Tiana, Ariel, and Belle," Lottie said.

She noticed Adam look up as she said the last name. She looked over at him, raising an eyebrow.

"You know Belle?" she asked.

"What?" Adam said, his voice low and rough. "No."

She smiled and rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"You're friends with Tiana?" Naveen asked casually, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, she's like, my best friend ever," Lottie gushed, finally opening her lunch box and taking out a bag with cut up pieces of a pink lady apple.

"Really?" Naveen said, although it didn't really sound like a question. "I have cooking class with her."

"I know, she told me all about it," Lottie said, stretching the truth a bit—Tiana had really only mentioned it, and refused to say much more despite Lottie's badgering.

"She mentioned me?" Naveen looked up, looking surprised.

"Well no," Lottie smiled, touching Naveen's arm strategically. "I was the one who brought you up, actually, and Tiana merely noted that you had a class together."

"I see," Naveen said.

"God, I am just dying for something sweet," Jasmine suddenly blurted. "Thomas, could you go buy me a cookie or something?"

"Of course, babe," Thomas said, giving Jasmine a quick peck on the lips before hurrying off to the dessert line.

"How sweet," Lottie said, then turned to Naveen. "Let's cut to the chase then, hm?"

"What?" Naveen said, genuinely perplexed.

"The whole reason I'm here—I think you're a very handsome man, Mr. Naveen Maldon," Lottie said, the corners of her lips curling up and her eyes becoming especially wide.

"Why, um, thank you, you're a very pretty girl," Naveen nodded. "I, um—"

"Basically… I think it would make sense for you and I to… you know… date," Lottie said. "Specifically, I think you should take me to the homecoming dance."

"We—are you—did you just ask me to go to homecoming with you?" Naveen said—Lottie thought the accent made his confusion especially adorable.

"Of course not," Lottie gave him a very light and playful shove. "Don't be silly. I'm merely suggesting that you invite me to go to homecoming with you."

"I… I see," Naveen said. "Well, it is just this weekend… Not much time to prepare…"

"Oh, I already have a dress," Lottie said. "So—what do you say, mister?"

"Well," Naveen said. "I don't think the school cafeteria is really the best… venue to ask a girl to homecoming. Not very… romantic."

"You're right," Lottie said, looking thoughtful, then taking out a piece of paper and a pen. "Well, just let me know where to be and when and I'll be very much looking forward to it."

Lottie slid the piece of paper with her number written on it over to Naveen, blew a kiss, and made a sufficiently dramatic exit. She headed back over to her normal table, feeling accomplished. Tiana, Belle, and Ariel looked up at her questioningly when she sat back down.

"What was that all about?" Tiana asked.

"Oh, I just got a date for homecoming," Lottie said, pulling out a cosmetic mirror and making sure her hair was still in place.

"Really?" Ariel looked admiringly at Lottie, eyes wide.

"Naveen asked you?" Tiana asked.

"Don't sound so surprised!" Lottie chided.

"Well, how did he do it?" Belle asked, putting the book she had been engrossed in down.

"Well, he hasn't done it—yet," Lottie smiled at the girls, then reapplied her lipstick with a smack.

Lottie sat in art class, daydreaming as Flynn sketched her portrait. She was irresistible today and she knew it. As she had walked down the hallway earlier, she could feel the ogling eyes of many of the boys… and probably some of the girls, too—Lottie was fairly innocent, but she wasn't naïve. There was no way Naveen would be able to resist her now, she was sure of it. She sat imagining the coming weekend and how perfect it would be.

Lottie already had her dress—it was a short, frilly thing, yet simple. Of course it was pink—hot pink. It was strapless and the top had a nice heart shape to it. The waist was tied with a lighter pink bow, and everything below the bow was layers of various shades of pink tulle. It only fell to about mid-thigh, but it was very cute. Lottie had an appointment at the local salon to get her hair, nails, and makeup done and she had a perfect imagine in her mind of how she wanted to look, and she had no reservations about instructing the hair, nail, and makeup artists in how it should be done.

And Naveen, of course, would pick her up looking handsome in a clean-cut suit with a pink tie to match her dress. He would give her a bouquet of flowers, maybe, and then they would drive off in his car and arrive in style. At homecoming, they would dance the night away. All eyes would be on them, but they would only have eyes for each other. And then, at the end of the night, he would bring her home and give her a kiss, and it would be extremely romantic. They would be the school's number one power couple, breaking hearts and making all the boys and girls jealous.

"What are you so smiley about?" Flynn asked.

"Huh?" Lottie said, being jolted back into reality.

"You were grinning," Flynn said.

"Was I?" Lottie blushed. "I was just thinking."

She heard a light buzzing from her backpack and she looked around. Mrs. Radcliffe was on the other side of the room, so it was safe. She reached down and looked at the phone under the table. It was an unfamiliar number, but Lottie was pretty sure she knew who it was.

Meet me in the park at 4.

"There's that smile again."

"Fancy seeing you here," Lottie said as she approached the white gazebo at the park in the center of town.

Naveen was sitting in the gazebo wearing a collared shirt and nice trousers, holding a dozen pink roses. An acoustic guitar was laid down on the bench next to him. He stood and handed the flowers to Lottie as she stepped into the gazebo.

"Why thank you," she said, burying her nose into the flowers for a moment.

"Ms. La Bouff," Naveen said rather formally, "I would very much like to ask you to accompany me to the homecoming dance this Saturday."

"Why, Mr. Maldon, what a surprise!" Lottie said convincingly with a smile. "I would be honored to be your date."

"Great," Naveen said, clearly unsure of what was to come next.

Lottie looked at the guitar on the bench.

"Were you playing before I got here?" she asked.

"Yes, yes, I was," Naveen said, walking over and picking the guitar up by the neck.

"Why don't you play me a little song, then?" Lottie asked, sitting down on the bench.

Naveen sat down next to her, "What would you like to hear?"

"Anything," Lottie said. "How about whatever you were playing before?"

"How about I teach you how to play?" Naveen smiled and offered her the guitar.

"Um… sure, okay," Lottie said, taking the guitar awkwardly and trying to hold it the way she'd seen Naveen do it.

"Like this," Naveen said, and he moved her arms into position and wrapped her left hand around the neck.

He found a pick for her to use in the change pouch of his wallet. He showed her some simple chords and how to strum, and then he taught her a little bit of "Greensleeves," which she stumbled her way through.

"I'm not very good at this," she said.

"That's okay," Naveen said. "Nobody is at first—it takes practice. And I'm not a very good teacher."

"No, you're just fine," Lottie said with a smile.

"Do you like music, Lottie?" Naveen asked.

"Of course I do—who doesn't like music?"

"I meant… do you play?" he clarified. "Or do you sing or anything?"

"I'm not much of a singer, I'm afraid," Lottie said. "We have a piano at our house, but I never took lessons or anything. I do really appreciate music, though."

"And it's never too late to learn, of course," Naveen assured her.

"Well, I think it's a little too late for me," Lottie said, handing Naveen back his guitar. "I think I was put on this earth to dance!"

She stood and twirled and asked Naveen to play something she could dance to. He played "Twist and Shout" and the two sang along, neither of them serious, as Lottie danced around the gazebo playfully.

"And that's just a taste of what you'll see on Saturday," Lottie said with a wink as she sat back down next to Naveen.

"I can't wait," Naveen said. "Say, is Tiana going?"

"To the dance?" Lottie said. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, she is your best friend, I would think if you didn't have dates the two of you would be going together," Naveen explained. "Unless—does she have a date?"

"No, not as far as she's told me," Lottie said. "But the group of us girls were going together—me, Tiana, Ariel, and Belle. I imagine the three of them will get along just fine without me."

"Ah, I see," Naveen said. "How long have the two of you known each other for?"

"Oh, since forever," Lottie said. "I can't ever remember a time when I didn't know Tiana. She's always been a part of my life."

"That's nice," Naveen said. "She's a nice girl."

"Oh, she's a darling," Lottie smiled. "But anyway—play me another song."

"Another song you can dance to?" Naveen asked.

"No, play something…" Lottie thought for a moment. "You never did play for me before when I asked you. Play whatever you were practicing before I got here."

"Okay," Naveen nodded.

He held the guitar for a moment thoughtfully. He seemed to be preparing himself mentally, running over the chords and lyrics in his mind before he began. Finally he wrapped his fingers around the neck of the guitar, pressing the strings down. He started to play. Lottie knew the song—it was an old one and she had heard it on the radio before. The tempo was fast but the tone was sort of dark and the lyrics were sad and intense. Lottie sat quietly and intently as Naveen played. She watched him closely, focusing on his expression and the words he was singing. He had a beautiful voice. His accented singing gave the lyrics an authenticity to Lottie, and she was drawn in by the way they sounded on top of the simple acoustic guitar.

"However far away, I will always love you," Naveen sang. "However long I stay, I will always love you. Whatever words I say, I will always love you, I will always love you."

When he finished the song, Naveen put the guitar down and looked at Lottie to hear her thoughts. She looked at him with glossy eyes. She was clutching the bouquet of roses to her chest and she stared off into the distance, feeling a bit lost and dreamy.

"That was very beautiful," she whispered.

"It's just a song, Lottie."