There's a nail salon near you that never seems to have customers. You discover the real purpose of the business.
For the second hour we did separate prompts. Erin's was:
You've been on the road driving for almost twenty hours. At 2 am you drive up to a restaurant that's open all night. Describe the experience and the people you see.
Her story is here!
I liked this prompt:
A fight breaks out between a bride and groom in the middle of a wedding. What happened?
And thus, a story (a completely unedited story so bear with me here) was born...
Watch
The little girl was flawlessly
adorable. I couldn’t believe how tidy she looked. I had only been babysitting
for a few months, but kids were never that clean. I looked around to try and
identify her mother. The girl was standing by herself near the gifts, swirling
around her skirts, but I was pretty sure the mother wouldn’t be far off.
Sure enough, a few tables away I
saw a woman watching her. The woman was also flawless, which was why I assumed
she was the mother. They didn’t really look the same. The little girl was
lighter. Lighter hair, lighter skin, and she seemed like one of those genuinely
nice children. The mother was dark and glamorous, but she also looked like
she’d be perfectly happy ruining your life just for the fun of it. She screamed
money though, and I wasn’t exactly making the big bucks right now for the
families I babysat for.
It all depended on the little girl.
I made my way towards the gifts, pretending to be startled when she almost
danced into me. “I didn’t see you there.” I leaned down with a smile. “What are
you dancing to?”
She blinked back at me with the
prettiest blue eyes I had ever seen. The color seemed familiar, but hers had
such dark lashes that they stood out more than usual. I wasn’t sure if she was
scared at seeing a stranger, or had been told not to talk to anybody. I
continued to smile.
“I’m dancing to the music,” she
finally said shyly.
There was no music playing at the
moment. My aunt had instructed the musicians to wait until her first dance
before playing anything. My mother had argued, saying it was weird for the
guests to be eating in silence. The groom, my now uncle, had agreed. Aunt Beth
had stayed firm though. She said it was because they were paying the band by
the hour, which swayed Dan to her side since it meant less money. Especially
after she had bought the wedding dress. That had been a battle right there. But
I knew Aunt Beth. It had nothing to do with the money. She wanted the entire
night to be her moment, one right after the other. Having no music beforehand
would make it even more noticeable when her and Dan emerged soon for their
first dance.
“Well, it’s a lovely dance,” I told
the girl. She smiled slowly. “May I dance with you?” I was surprised but
pleased when she nodded. I wasn’t sure she’d let me.
Copying her, I started twirling my
skirts around. Even though I wasn’t in the wedding party, Aunt Beth had
insisted on picking out my dress. Hideous wasn’t the right word. Old-fashioned
worked if I was being polite. My mother had protested once or twice on my
behalf but then gave in, as she always did. Dan had been surprised to find out
my mother was the older sibling.
The woman was watching us both
dance now. I was staying a few feet away from the little girl. I didn’t want to
look like some kind of creep. I suppose I could be talking to my cousins or
sitting with my grandparents, but if one more person said something nice about
Aunt Beth I was going to scream. She wasn’t nice, she was a controlling bitch,
but apparently one wasn’t supposed to say that about their aunts.
The little girl stopped dancing.
“There’s no more music,” she told me solemnly.
I nodded. “That happens. Thank you
for the dance.” I started to walk away.
“Will you come sit with me?” she
asked before I could move. I hesitated. Aunt Beth had been very particular on
her table arrangements, but it did look like there was an extra place at their
table.
“Of course,” I said with a smile.
What the hell.
I followed her back to the table.
Apparently I had passed the test, as the little girl was now chattering on and
on about her dress and how pretty the wedding was, and did I like the flowers
at the table? Her mother gave her an adoring smile as we walked up. “Did you
make a friend, sweetie?”
“Yes, mommy!” She gave her a quick
kiss then sat down, smoothing out her skirt, before patting the chair next to
her. “Here, sit with me.”
First I stopped and smiled at the
mother. “Hi, I’m Madison.”
She shoed me over to the seat. “Go
ahead and sit down. Ella seems to adore you.”
“She’s a very sweet girl,” I smiled.
This was always a good line. Mothers liked their children getting complimented,
and Ella was still at that age to like being praised. Babysitting had taught me
that both mattered. Even if the kids liked you, if the parents didn’t, you
weren’t getting the job.
Before the woman could say
anything, the music started playing. I rolled my eyes as Aunt Beth and Dan
walked in to applause. She had even arranged a few of our other relatives to
toss petals in the air as they walked to the dance floor. I thought I was going
to be sick.
I turned away. To my surprise, the
woman was also grimacing. Was there someone else out there that recognized Aunt
Beth for the catty bitch that she was? Or maybe she didn’t like Dan? I wasn’t
sure. I didn’t remember seeing this woman at the ceremony to know where she was
sitting.
“How do you know my aunt and
uncle?” I whispered as they started the first dance. Ella was dancing in her
seat and ignoring us, clearly enjoying watching the couple.
The woman paused. I sensed that she
was choosing her words carefully. “I’m a friend of Dan’s. He might have
mentioned me before. I’m Stella.”
I hated people that named their
kids after themselves, but I didn’t comment on it. I remembered hearing about a
Stella. Not from Dan, but from Aunt Beth.
“Oh, yes,” I murmured. Thank god,
Ella chose that moment to speak up.
“Can Madison and I go dance,
Mommy?” I marveled at how well behaved she was. At that age, I would have been
tugging on my mom’s skirt for attention. She would be so much better than some
of the devil kids I watched now.
“Not yet, sweetie. Uncle Dan has to
finish dancing first before other people are allowed to. That’s how weddings
work.” Ella nodded as if that made sense to her. Maybe it did. It didn’t make
sense to me, but my mother also said I was bitter about marriage because of her
divorce. Of course I was. Now my dad had a new family and I had to start saving
money for college, otherwise I knew I wouldn’t be going.
I was eager for the dances to
finish so I could get away from the table. Now that I realized who I was
sitting with, I was a little less eager for Aunt Beth to see me flaunting her
seating arrangements. She hated Stella. She had complained about Stella more
than once. She thought that her and Dan were too close, and that Stella always
talked down to her.
Soon enough, the dances were done
and Ella got her wish to go back to the dance floor. I figured Ella was a safe
enough bet. Aunt Beth knew I liked kids, and I had never once heard her say
anything about Ella, so I figured she must like her well enough. She pretty
much only talked about people to complain about them.
The next hour passed fast enough,
faster than I was expecting really. The beautiful thing about playing with Ella
was that I got to follow her around on her every whim. She was a typical kid,
distracted by something else every few minutes. This meant I got to avoid some
of the other random duties Aunt Beth thought the family should help with during
the reception, and even better, avoid Aunt Beth.
Stella continued to keep an eye on
us but didn’t intervene. I tapped into my reserves of patience so that I could
continue to appear as the perfect caregiver.
However I realized before too long
that not only was Stella watching us, but Aunt Beth was too. I worried for a
moment before realizing she wasn’t watching me so much as Ella. I didn’t have
too long to wonder why, when Aunt Beth started making her way towards us.
Seemingly in response, so did Stella. Dan was across the room talking to some
of his college friends, but when he saw what was going on he started heading in
our direction too.
Fuck. I had no idea what was going
on, but I wasn’t an idiot. It was something not good. Poor little Ella
continued with catching the bubbles I was blowing from the table favors. She
didn’t seem to notice everyone coming towards us.
Aunt Beth and Stella got to our
corner at the same time. Aunt Beth was staring down Ella. She wouldn’t look
away.
“Who’s this you’re watching,
Madison?”
Ella looked up. “She’s not watching
me. We’re playing.”
Aunt Beth gasped. I blinked, and
stopped blowing bubbles. It wasn’t like Ella had said anything shocking.
“What pretty eyes you have,” Aunt
Beth hissed. I felt compelled to pull Ella back a little closer to me. I had no
idea what was going on, but this was starting to sound like a bad kind of fairy
tale.
“That’s my daughter, Ella.” Stella
spoke up. I think Aunt Beth knew that though. She didn’t look surprised at all.
She also didn’t look away from Ella.
“It’s a little funny, isn’t it?”
Aunt Beth asked. I looked to Stella to see if she had any idea what Aunt Beth
was talking about. Aunt Beth continued. “Somehow I’ve never seen your daughter.
Dan talks about her, but I’ve never met her.”
Stella looked composed as ever.
“Somehow Beth, I didn’t get the impression you wanted to have much to do with
me, or my daughter.”
Dan walked up to the group, putting
his arm around Aunt Beth. “Is everything okay over here ladies?” He looked
between the two of them. An idiot could see that Aunt Beth was livid about something.
Dan wasn’t an idiot. He wisely deflected, and leaned down instead towards Ella.
“Hey baby girl, are you having a good time at the party?”
Ella lit up. She had been starting
to hide behind my skirts, but now she reached for Dan. “I got to dance! And
have cake!”
Dan laughed and picked her up. I
gasped. I finally got it. Now that he was holding her, I realized why Ella
looked familiar. “Good, sweetie! I’m glad you’re having fun.”
Somehow I knew that Dan didn’t see
it. Aunt Beth did, and I could tell right away she wasn’t going to let this go.
“When were you planning to tell
me?” She had turned towards Dan and Ella, hands on her hip, clearly in battle
mode. The rest of the room was beginning to murmur. The body language in our
corner screamed conflict.
Poor Dan looked clueless. “Tell you
what?”
“That you had a CHILD with that
WOMAN,” Aunt Beth screeched. I winced and looked towards Stella.
She was smiling! What the fuck?
“I don’t have a child,” Dan
protested. “And I tell you everything.”
“So you told her about that time we
slept together?” Stella asked coolly. Aunt Beth was turning red. I had no idea
why I was still standing near this disaster other than morbid curiosity.
Dan spluttered. “That was six years
ago, I didn’t think it mattered.” He turned to Aunt Beth. “It’s not like you’ve
told me every single person you slept with.”
“Yes, but I have asked you about
her MULTIPLE TIMES. You said you were just friends!”
“We are just friends! We’re better
as friends!”
I saw Stella wince at those words,
and I knew then that the friends thing was not her idea. Ella was looking
frightened. I took a breath and pushed my way in. “I think Ella wants to go
play. Come here, Ella.”
Dan looked down to hand her to me,
and that’s when he got it. I was afraid he was going to drop her. He went
completely pale, and then turned haunted eyes back up to Stella.
Stella choose that moment to take
her revenge. She swiftly took Ella from Dan’s arms and pushed her towards me.
“Go play, Danielle. Mommy will be over in a minute.”
I grabbed Ella’s hand and started
hustling her away, but not before I could hear Aunt Beth hiss, “Danielle?”
“What did you think Ella was short
for?” Stella said.
I was pretty sure I would not be
seeing Dan at the next family gathering.
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