Hello Readers! This chapter isn't exactly critical to the plot but it's important for the transition. Special thanks to Alaxanne who reviewed before she even read the story! Some of you should be more like her. I love reading you reviews and you all should know that I am in the home stretch of this story. Thanks for reading *C.E.L

Chapter Seven

Rom and I watched the movie together the next night. We weren't really watching it so much as laughing at our old jokes from it. Rom's loft apartment was really nice compared to my shabby hamster cage. Of course, Rom's parents were extremely wealthy, through a combination of successful businesses and family money. Back in school Rom was always teased some for his up-scale background, but all of his friends knew that he was a lot tougher than he let on. He still was.

"So, this thing that your parents are hosting," I said, when we reached one of the silent flashback parts, "It's pretty formal, isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah, it's black tie." Rom apparently didn't see that this might be difficult for someone who had spent the last six months waitressing at a corner café. "I think I'll be spending way too much time in a tux in December and January." He sighed, and of course I laughed. I would figure something out; I always did in the end.

The shrill ringing of a phone interrupted my thoughts and sent Rom springing up and into the kitchen to answer. "Hello, Mom," Rom said after picking up the phone, "Yes, I did find a girl to come with me… No, I'm not paying her, why would you think that?" I began to really wish I could hear the other end of this conversation. Rom's mother was hilarious as long as you weren't face-to-face with her. "Okay, Mom. I promise. You too, bye." Rom hung up the phone, rolling his eyes. "I must be adopted, because I really doubt that I'm related to her."

I laughed, Rom looked too much like his family to be adopted and he knew it. "How is your mother?" I asked.

"She's panicking a little. The party's only a couple of weeks away and the caterers just cancelled. She wanted to make sure that I had a date before moving on to solve that problem. I don't know why she had to ask, I already told her I was taking you." He said coming back to the couch I was sitting on.

"That's probably why she had to ask if you were paying your date." I said, bitterly "She still hates me." Rom's mother had been against me since we were sixteen.

"She likes you a lot more now, really. In high school she still wanted me to be a business man like my dad and marry some girl from our home town. She didn't like the acting thing, and since you were half the reason I kept at it, she didn't like you. Now she realizes that if it hadn't been for you, I would've quit school and run away from home, true to my delinquent nature." Rom's smile was making my heart pound, so I decided to make a graceful exit, truthfully claiming that I had a busy day tomorrow.

After a fairly successful rehearsal I declined an offer from Rom to walk me home, seeing as I was not going home. Instead I hailed a cab and gave the address of my best friend in the city. She and I had worked together as waitresses before I landed the role and she had been the first to know when I did. I hadn't seen her in almost a month so I was excited to catch up with her, but my visit was not for purely social reasons. Meaghan McGeary lived in a flat above her uncle's vintage clothing and antiques store. I knew that if I found a dress for Rom's party there, I would get a huge discount. Which I needed, seeing as I hadn't yet been paid by the theater company and what little money I had was going towards my rent.

Meaghan was thrilled to see me and after the appropriate amount of shrieking and breathless catching up, we got down to business. "So," Meaghan said, "you caught up with your old flame?" I laughed out loud. Meaghan talked like she lived in an old Hollywood movie, and she looked like she did too. She had huge, thickly lashed blue eyes and naturally curly gold hair. She had been trying to become a model for two years and had just last week signed with an emerging make-up company.

"I don't know about flame, but Rom and I are thrilled to be working together, and I admit that it's something a little more than a business relationship." I blushed and then filled her in about the fundraiser ball. "Long story short, I need a dress and I was wondering if you could help?"

"Love, nothing would make me happier." She said, leading me into the shop below.

McGeary's Antique & Clothing was tiny and cramped, but packed full of fascinating artifacts. Every time I circled the shop I discovered something different. It was a struggle to focus on the task at hand and find myself a dress. It took more than two hours of searching and trying on before I found the perfect gown.

It was low backed and flowing in a shimmering shade of leaf green. It moved and shifted whenever I did, sweeping the floor as I walked. "It's perfect." I breathed.

"You're going to take their breath away, Elise. Your guy won't be able to look away." Meaghan said, and I secretly hoped she was right.

I left the shop with my bag, taking care not to trip and drop the precious articles it contained. The emerald and gold earrings and bracelet we had found were probably not real but they looked it, and they matched beautifully. As I entered the cab, still smiling I thought I saw a man vanish around a corner just as I looked. Surely it was paranoia, Eric could not have followed me here, and he wouldn't have. I hoped.