I walk in, pulling my headphones out of my ear; I’m listening to R-Kelly’s song “Cookie” because my next project is choreographing a dance to a version to this song. I throw my jacket onto the counter.
“Carter?” I yell out, while checking the fridge for food. I walk into the lounge with last night’s cold Chinese food in my hand; cold food always tastes nicer than hot food. I see Carter coming down the hallway.
“How’s it going, baby girl?” he asks, pulling me in for a hug. I hear shuffling around come from his bedroom.
I look to him, “Again? God Carter, it is going to fall off soon, you use it that much.” He laughs at my comment, stealing some of my food.
“Mmm hmmm baby girl, not all of us can only have sex once.” I lick my lips and smile at his comment, not because he is funny, because he is not, but because it reminds me of Ade. Ade was my one random night of sex one night two years ago, and he ruined me; I haven’t been able to go anywhere near sex since. I date, yes; but they all eventually leave when they discover that I am not interested in having sex with them.
“Carter!” I scold him. “Do you even know this one’s name?” I ask, as he walks behind me to head back into the kitchen.
“No,” he answers directly, as he flicks his blonde, perfectly styled hair back across his forehead. When we first met, I used to call him JB, because his hair looked as if Justin Beiber’s hair stylist had styled it.
“Oh well, I hope you wash it twice a day, just sayin’.” He spits his drink out and looks at me.
“Kalie Rose! That is not something I expected to hear coming out of your mouth.” I laugh while I head over to join him the kitchen. “You got some mail today, in the top draw,” he points; as he pops open a bottle of champagne. I open the draw and see a silver envelope, with my name in cursive writing on the front. I look up to Carter and he is looking at me, waiting for me to open it. I bite my lip and rip it open. A whole lot of confetti spills out everywhere, with a simple card:
Will you be my bridesmaid?
Xo - Vicky.
“Fuck,” I say a little too loud, and put it on the bench. Carter walks over to me and picks up the card. When he sees it, he starts laughing under his breath. “Oh baby girl,” he says, pulling me under his arm.
I walk back into my room, strip my clothes off, and get in between my sheets. I close my eyes and relive a crazy night, two years ago…
Two years ago:
Kalie
I’m blasting Beyoncé’s “7/11” as I zoom off onto the high way. I have a massive love for music of all kinds; but in my line of work, I guess I hear more hip-hop than anything else. I’m ready to get out of Hollywood for a lifetime, after my boyfriend of two years dumped me for being a virgin. I guess he was sick of trying; can’t say I blame him to be honest. So right now, I am driving to my family house in Coronado to meet my best friend, Vicky. I haven’t seen her in a few months, but whenever I do, it’s as though nothing has changed; that shows true friendship. Singing along, with my long light brown hair flowing freely behind me, I feel like getting a little wild. I have always been the good girl, the innocent one, I feel as though I need to be exposed; I feel like I need to be unleashed, I feel like I need to be— tainted.
I pull up to my family home and make my way inside. I spend some weekends here, usually when I felt the need to get away from Trevor. As soon as I walk in, I get a text from Vicky:
Vicky: Are you almost ready? I can come over in ten.
Me: ready when you are ;)
And boy, am I ready. I need to let loose, and there is no one better for that job than Vicky Abrahams.
We walk into the local bar, and I see Vicky stop briefly to look at a large group of men in the corner. I think nothing of it; I have never been one that likes to be the centre of attention, and I have never really paid attention to what is going on around me. Not a smart trait to have, when I think about it.
“Okay, so now that we have established my known innocence, can we move on to drinking more?” I say to Vicky, as I throw back my… I have lost count of how many drinks I’ve had, but I am starting to feel the effects from the alcohol. We pull each other up off the barstools, dancing and laughing our way over to the dance floor. I glance quickly over to the table in the corner, and see that all eyes are on us. Weird, I think to myself, before going back to doing my own thing. It doesn’t feel like long before a hot guy with dark blonde hair comes over and starts to chat up Vicky. Actually, scratch that, he is not just “hot”, he is sexy, I guess, in a way. After he pulls us over to his table, I look around and try to pull my eyes into check. I can’t help but feel as though I have a set of eyes on me at all times.