Katie hummed to herself as she strolled down the hallway, her small arms holding a large basket of laundry braced against her stomach. As she reached to door to the laundry room, she pinned the basket to the wall as she dug for her key in her pocket. As she produced the tiny key, she lifted a knee to help her shaking arm bear the weight of the encumbering load as she struggled to slip it into the door. As the towering basket tipped to the side, a sock fell off onto the floor.
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She was excited to see him, beyond eager as she stood waiting for him to answer the large wood door. She tried very hard to calm her breathing to slow her heart down and just relax. She concentrated on her breaths as she heard the footsteps moving towards the door. As the handle turned she held her breath, letting it out very slowly as she tugged the hem of her tight white dress down. She stood there frozen, she waited until he said hello before letting her eyes meet his.
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I glanced around nervously as Mya dug through her purse, searching for her keys.
"What time is your boyfriend coming home again?" I asked, waiting impatiently as she continued rummaging.
"Stop worrying about it?" she chided, pulling her keys from the purse, fumbling them in her drunken fingers. "He won't be back until the morning."
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Kendra Mercer untied the strings of her Missoni bikini and let them fall away from her shoulders, leaving the tiny triangles of fabric perfectly balanced on her firm, perky breasts. She let her body sink into the plush, cushioned lounge chair with an indulgent little sigh. Life was almost perfect.
After several years of dating Luke Prescott, the son of one of the most important and politically influential families in New York, she was finally engaged. Kendra glanced down at the 5-carat platinum sparkler on her left hand, admiring the way the sunlight bounced off the diamond.
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"Well, this is something new!" I thought as I stood in front of the full length mirror for the millionth time and preened, although it wasn't exactly 'preening' more 'steady the nerves'. This was my big 'coming-out' and my friends were about to get the shock of their lives. I'd always been the respectable one, the controlled one, the smart business-like one, the boring one!
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"You cannot put it off any longer, my friend. If you do not choose for Asu soon, the priests will take him. The choice will no longer be yours—or Asu's. He is of age for starting the life chosen for him. He cannot do other than meet his destiny."
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Kayla laid her arm across my chest and pressed her warm, sweaty body against mine, nuzzling her face into my neck.
"That was great baby," she said, kissing me on the cheek. "Thanks."
"No need to thank me," I returned, wrapping my arm around her. "I think you did all the work this time."
Kayla let out a giggle as she snuggled closer.
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Neal wasn't the sort of guy people noticed much. He could walk through a room of people talking—even a room full of people he knew—and get to the other side without being greeted or noticed. He could have conversations with strangers and then the stranger wouldn't recognize him if they met again. He was a guy of no standout talents, no distinctive looks other than being smaller of stature than his age. He wasn't ugly; he was just plain and forgettable—and a little scrawny.
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I was pissed off. See, I was supposed to head up to Canada with my buddies from university and spend our winter break snowboarding, but things never seem to turn out the way I plan. Instead my dad pulled rank and ordered me home for Christmas. He insisted that I should learn some values and spend "quality time" with my mother and sister.
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I sat in the huge meeting hall of the San Diego Convention Center waiting for the keynote speaker to begin his insightful, though most likely useless, remarks. The hospital I worked for had sent me on an all expenses paid vacation from the drudgery of the nine to five office grind in hopes I'd pick up some gems on how to improve the bottom line. Such gems hardly ever come from keynote speakers. If gems are to be found, it will be in the working sessions later -- keynote addresses are about as useful and practical as your commencement speaker's advice to your class when you graduated.
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