Back from the Banquet
As Scarlett arrived at her dorm room, she jumped right into her bed. Five hours standing in high heels numbed her legs and exhausted her body all over.
“You’ve finally come back. Hey, don’t go to sleep just yet. I’ve got something to ask you.” Bell, Scarlett’s roommate and best friend at school, came to her and patted her face softly. Bell Harper had been by her side through the years.
“Shoot!” Scarlett felt like she had no strength left, not even to talk.
“Did Mr. Howard talk to you?”
“The thing about the letter of recommendation?”
Bell nodded and then lowered her voice. “He said that I should seriously consider staying at the school to pursue my master’s as well. I haven’t made up my mind yet, though. So… what do you think?”
Bell poked Scarlett’s face with her finger and continued, “You know, Fannie has been getting really worked up about this.” Scarlett covered her eyes with the back of her hand to protect her eyes against the glaring light coming from the lamp. “Do you think I have time to care about her?”
Fannie Miller walked into the dorm right as Scarlett had finished her sentence. “Oh, look who’s finally back. If it isn’t our local pageant princess, Scarlett.” Fannie said, sarcastically, as her eyes detected Scarlett lying in bed.
Usually, Fannie would only be seen with heavy make-up on– foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow, highlighter, and most certainly, some lipstick. But it looked like she had just finished washing her face. It was only then that Scarlett and Bell could see her real face– underneath all the make-up she usually wore.
Fannie Miller was quite the beauty herself. She had a delicate face with bright, almond-shaped eyes and full lips. She had a great figure, too, lean but still curvy. In brief, Fannie and Scarlett have a similar look to them: they both appear sweet and sexy. This, as expected, got in the way of their friendship. Instead of being close friends, they regarded each other more as rivals. They were competing against one another.
It’s rarely good news when two ravishing women study at the same university and even live together. There can only be one queen to the king, of course. So, they had never been on good terms. More specifically, Fannie had never reached out to her and tried to be friends.
Scarlett ignored her. She sat up and walked to the washroom with all of her toiletries. “Who do you think you are anyway?” Fannie felt furious at the mere sight of her rival, Scarlett.
Niki, their other roommate who sat at the island in the kitchen, was reading a Russian novel and was disturbed by Fannie’s yelling. Niki Smith was also a student in the Russian department; the four of them had been in many classes together over the last three years.
Niki put down her book and turned to Fannie, “Listen, Fannie, I’d really appreciate it if you could just quiet down a little bit. Scarlett’s been out all day, and she’s just gotten back. She’s tired, and so am I. I just want to be able to read in peace. Leave us alone just for a while, would you? Thanks.”
Fannie didn’t like how Niki had snapped at her. “Girl, I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want. Don’t try to tell me what to do. Who knows what Scarlett was doing all day anyway? Probably macking on her sugar daddy…” Fannie scoffed.
“Watch your tongue, Fannie!” Bell stopped Fannie before Scarlett could get a word in edgeways. “Oh, Bell, hush. You know it’s true. You can stop me from talking about it, but you can’t stop everyone else out there.” Fannie raised her voice.
Scarlett finally came out of the bathroom. She was brushing her teeth, her mouth filled with foam. She walked over to Fannie and stood in front of her, staring at her face.
“Don’t look at me that way. You know I’m… I’m telling the truth.” Fannie was, actually, not so sure that she knew the truth about Scarlett’s dealings. But she didn't want to lose this battle.
As they stood next to one another, it was pretty obvious that Scarlett is at least two inches taller than Fannie. Scarlett dominated the space. She was an imposing presence over Fannie without even trying.
Fannie couldn’t avoid the sight of Scarlett’s figure; she was intimidated. Scarlett was incredibly fit from all the exercising she regularly did. She generally believed that Scarlett was her rival, someone she could compete with and maybe even win against, on some occasions. But at this moment, she felt certain that Scarlett was more attractive than she, and she shrank back, cowering.
Fannie was annoyed with Scarlett’s staring. “What do you want anyway, bitch? A fight?” She said and raised her hand, indicating that she was ready to fight if that’s what Scarlett wanted. Fannie was ready to battle.
Scarlett swiped her finger along Fannie’s cheek and said, “You’ve got some facial cleanser left on your face.” After saying this, Scarlett returned to the bathroom quietly.
Niki giggled at the scene, but Bell, wanting to keep the peace, pretended that she had not heard anything of the altercation. Fannie gave Scarlett the dirtiest look she could muster but chose not to say anything. She stayed quiet. The curtain finally fell.
***
On Saturday mornings, the dorm room always felt peaceful. Scarlett rarely needed not to go out during the day, so she decided to sleep in till noon– the best way to kill time on the weekend, she thought to herself, filled with glee.
“Scarlett…Get up already!” Bell climbed onto Scarlett’s bed and snuggled under the covers. She emerged all of a sudden, scaring Scarlett.
“Why… It's Saturday!” Scarlett covered her head with the quilt and whined. “Bell, come on… it’s Saturday. I’m tired, just let me sleep in, please. Just for once.”
Bell whispered into Scarlett’s ear, “There’s this dude I met online. We added each other on Facebook, and he messaged me asking me out. We agreed to meet today, but I’m a little scared… I want you to come along with me. Please?”
When Scarlett woke up, it was eight o’clock in the morning. She rolled around in bed for a few moments before sitting up. Her head felt heavy.“You’re awake!” Francis said as he walked into the bedroom from the balcony. He smiled at her. “I thought you’d be out for hours. Aren’t you jetlagged? How long was the flight from Lisbon to Irving anyway? And didn’t you have a stopover in Dallas?”Scarlett rested her head on Francis’s shoulder and said, “Well, I wanted to go to bed early last night. No thanks to you, we ended up staying up so late! I barely got enough sleep. You’re exhausting me, Francis!”“Oh? Am I? I’m so sorry, Scarlett.” Francis teased. He kissed her neck and tousled her hair.
“Don’t you miss me?” Scarlett laughed on the other side. Her hair was wet, and she was wearing a champagne-colored nightgown. She looked as pretty as ever.“Of course I miss you, but I can’t do anything about it, right? I can’t cry on daddy’s shoulder as Brittany did.” Francis said. He came to the balcony and lit up a cigarette and felt a little relaxed.“Brittany cried?” Scarlett asked in surprise.“Yep, she cried for over an hour,” he said as he breathed out a plume of thick smoke.Upon hearing that, Scarlett felt kind of guilty. Was she selfish? Was she a bad mother, a bad wife?“Francis, do you resent me?” Scarlett asked as she Skyped with
As Carlos grew up, he learned the fact that his father was very powerful. But he couldn’t tell his mother what to do.“I gotta fly to Portugal for business... I’ll be gone for a month,” Scarlett said one evening.“Why do you have to be gone for such a long time? Can’t you just get one of your associates to go instead? What’s going to happen to us while you’re gone? At least try to see if you can come back sooner….” Francis moaned unhappily. He hated being away from his wife.“Carlos will take care of his sisters, and besides, Brittany and Shannon are very good kids.” Scarlett comforted gently. “You don’t have to worry about anything.”“I’m not talking about them. I&rsqu
Francis suddenly grabbed Scarlett in the crowd, who walked next to Eve and then tightened his grip around her waist. He pinned her against the pillar and gazed at her without looking away.“What are you doing?” she blushed as she noticed that he was staring at her.Francis moved his hand from her hip to her waist. He was turned on by her sexy figure– as always.After that, he kissed her fiercely– just like he was kissing her for the very first time in his life.Scarlett was taken by surprise and kissed him back passionately as the fireworks blazed on.They parted breathlessly and stared at each other with lust in their eyes.“I hope you’re glad
Scarlett looked up at Skyler. He smiled at her and said, “I’m very relieved that you’re gonna get married to Francis. So now you don’t need to worry about anything in the world.”“You’d better be quick. I will open the door now!” Eve said with her hand on the handrail.Scarlett and Skyler smiled at each other and felt that there was indeed nothing to be scared of anymore. They had, after all, suffered deeply for two decades. Now that was all over. They couldn’t dwell on the past; it was time to step into the future and embrace happiness.“Go ahead, I’m ready!” she smiled, readying herself for the walk down the aisle.As the door opened, Scarlett walked out with Skyler gripping her arm. He was smiling
There was a minute of silence over the phone– Francis and Scarlett said nothing to one another. Scarlett pouted and asked, “Wait a minute… are you laughing at me? You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”“No, I’m the same as you. I feel nervous,” he said in a low voice.“What?” Scarlett asked curiously.Francis was standing in front of the window of his study room with his hands in his pocket, looking out at the vast, blue sea outside.He took a deep breath and smiled, “I said, I’m much more nervous than you are. I’m sure of it. You have no idea how nervous I’m feeling right now.”Scarlett laughed gleefully. Hearing that Francis was