The Reluctant Cinderella

Dawn sat on the black leather couch with the remote in hand, flipping through the channels. Hundreds upon hundreds of channels and nothing was on. She found that odd since it was a Saturday and something was usually on. Sighing, she turned the television off and placed the remote on the wooden coffee table. After switching her position from sitting to laying, she then looked up at the sky-blue ceiling just thinking. Her thoughts strayed from topic to topic. From the upcoming school year, to her best friend, and finally on to her older twin siblings. It was the latter topic that was constantly on her mind. One question always popped up whenever she thought about them. What happened between the three of us? As usual she never had an answer.

She turned her head to the right and stared out the large window. Everything looked bright outside and the trees swayed in a small wind. For some reason it all looked inviting. A sudden urge to go outside coursed through her body. Deciding that it was better then doing nothing she sat up then swung her legs over the couch. Standing up she stretched then yawned. For doing nothing most of the day she was very tired. Going outside started to sound fun. As she walked through the spacious living room she glanced at the window again. Most likely it would be hot out. It was the middle of summer and in most places it wouldn’t be so hot. But over in Southern California it was a whole different story. The weather there seemed to be the opposite of other places around the country. She walked over to the front door then slipped on her black flats before walking outside.

Being outside refreshed her and, as she took a deep breath, she felt the boredom from earlier fade away. Her chocolate brown eyes scanned the street and houses on the cul-de-sac. All of the houses were beautiful and the lawns were perfectly manicured. Everything looked the same as it always did… well almost everything. To her surprise she saw that one house had a moving truck parked out front. New neighbors? she thought.

Moving closer she saw men carrying boxes with different labels and watched as they brought them inside the house one by one. One of the men stopped and stepped aside to let a woman walk out. Her eyes widened when she saw that the slender woman walking out was her mother. Though, I shouldn’t be that surprised. Sighing she walked over to meet her mom.

Her mother was a tall beautiful woman. Her long dark brown hair was pulled back into a neat bun. Her brown eyes still looked young but if looked at closely one could see wisdom and experience in them. Her mother’s dark skin glowed in the sunlight.

Dawn resembled her mother more than her father. They had the same hair color, eye color, and height. Her skin was lighter but only a little. The shape of her eyes was different but did not resemble her father’s. According to her mother they were the same as one of her relatives but Dawn never met them so couldn’t judge for herself. She did inherit her father’s ears and lips. Overall she wasn’t that bad looking. She was actually quite pretty but unlike her older sister Rose she didn’t flaunt it around.

“I didn’t know anyone bought the house,” Dawn said when her mom was a few feet away. “So, who’s movin’ in?”

“Oh Dawn you’re so nosey,” her mother teased. “It’s a bad habit.”

“Me? I’m not the one who walked over there to greet the new neighbors.” She did air quotes over “greet” then smirked.

“I was being a good neighbor. There’s a difference.” Her mother paused then looked at her youngest daughter. Dawn stood still patiently waiting for the answer to her first question. There was no way she was going let her mom avoid it.

“Okay,” she started, “I’ll tell you but I don’t know much. They’re a family of three and they’re last name is Williams. Mary, Mrs. Williams, is a housewife while her husband, Robert, is a police officer. Jason, their son, is the same age as your sister and brother and is currently not enrolled in school. They moved here because Robert wanted a transfer to a more peaceful city. It took some time to convince Mary since she didn’t want to move too far from her parents but finally she agreed. Their son had no problem and looked forward to moving and meeting new people. Like I said, I don’t know much.”

Dawn stared at her mother in disbelief. How she can get that much information in one short visit? It was like she had some weird super power. Or maybe it was because she was just a nice person who everyone felt comfortable with.

They both became quiet as they watched the movers put the last of the boxes inside. For a family of three they sure did have a lot of stuff. As she stood there she started to wonder how the family would be. Would they be nice or mean? Are they social or anti-social? And lastly: What was their son like? Remembering what her mom had said she figured he would instantly be drawn to her older sister Rose.

“There’s one more thing,” her mother said bringing Dawn out of her thoughts. “You’re bringing them dinner tonight.”

“What?” she asked in shock. There was no way her mother could be serious.

But she didn’t get a reply. Instead her mother just smiled then changed the subject. Something she was very skilled at. “Well we better get inside. It’s getting late and your father will be home soon. Come on.” With that she turned and headed back to their house.

Sighing, Dawn turned around then headed back to the house hoping that her mother would change her mind about the whole bringing over dinner idea. She highly doubted it. But that doesn’t mean she would quit trying.

She closed the front door a few seconds later she slipped her flats off and kicked them to the side. While walking to the kitchen she tried to fix her hair. Tangles had formed from her lying on the couch and going outside for a brief period of time and with every new one she found she became more frustrated. “Forget it,” she said to herself as she entered the kitchen and proceeded to put her hair up into a ponytail.

“Dawn,” her mom started, “can you get the turkey meat from the refrigerator?”

“Yeah,” she said as she walked over to the tall, stainless steel refrigerator. She opened the door then looked around. Seconds later she spotted it on the bottom shelf. “Ah ha, found it.”

She grabbed it, closed the door, and then walked over to her mom who was now in front of the stove. “Let me guess; Hamburger Helper?” she asked.

“Yes,” her mom said as she grabbed the turkey meat. She continued as she put the meat into the hot pan filled with oil. “It’s all I can think of right now. Plus there’s enough to feed all of us and give to the Williams’. I hope they’re not vegetarians. Don’t want to insult them on their first day here.”

“Didn’t you ask Mrs. Williams? You did offer to bring over dinner.” She paused contemplating on how to word her next sentence. “Speaking of bringing over dinner, why can’t you ask Rose or Sky to do it? I’m sure they’ll be happy too.” Especially Rose. I bet she’s dying to meet the new neighbor boy.

“Rose is going out with her boyfriend and Sky is studying for an upcoming test.” Sky and Rose where both in college and currently in the summer semester. They didn’t have any classes together and were going for different reasons. Sky was going to learn as much as he can and hopefully get a transfer to a UC school while Rose was going only because her parents made her.

Dawn’s mom slowly stirred the turkey meat around the pan, making sure that all of it turned brown. “Now just don’t stand there. Start making the salad.”

“Yes mom,” she said and went to grab the ingredients from various places then began putting them all together in the big, wooden salad bowl. While performing her menial task she took the time to think. Her first thought was about Rose and her boyfriend. Rose had lots of boyfriends and probably will have many more in the future. Her current boyfriend was Mark Anderson. Dawn could describe him in two words: pushover and idiot. If the new neighbor boy was hot, Mark would be dropped in a second. And she bet that the new guy would be fawning over Rose as soon as he looked at her. They always do.

After putting everything in the bowl she began to toss the salad. But who could blame them? Rose is beautiful and popular. Her thoughts continued on like that for a long time.

“Dawn, I think the salad’s been tossed enough.”

She blinked a few times before registering what her mom had said. “Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Honey, are you okay?” her mom asked while walking over to the still confused Dawn.

Dawn shook her head once to clear her mind. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just lost in my thoughts. Is dinner ready?” She grabbed the salad bowl and walked over to the dinning room. Then she placed it onto the already set table.

“Yes, and so is the portion for the Williams’. Take it over now before it gets cold.” Her mom grabbed two Tupperware containers and handed them over to her now pouting daughter. “Pouting won’t work tonight. You’re taking the food over like I promised.”

She sighed in defeat and reluctantly accepted the Tupperware. “Fine.”

About twenty seconds later Dawn was standing in front of the Williams’ front door. With her right elbow she managed to ring the doorbell then waited for someone to open it. Soon she heard footsteps walking closer then the door opened to reveal a tall handsome young man. The porch light above them shone brightly and she took the opportunity to take a good look at him. From what she could see his hair was short but thick. In the light it appeared to be a lustrous black. He had the most gorgeous caramel eyes she had ever seen. His skin was light though there was a hint of a tan, most likely the result of playing outside sports.

Wow, she thought, as she stood still staring at him.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Uh… I have… food.” As soon as the sentence left her mouth she regretted it. Already she was making a complete fool of herself. He looked at her quizzically and at that point all she wanted to do was disappear. Unfortunately she didn’t have any super powers to achieve that. “I mean I have dinner for you… I mean your family. My mom was over here earlier and offered to bring dinner. She talked to your mom?”

“Oh yeah, mom did say something about that.” He gestured at the Tupperware in her hands. “I’m guessing that’s it.”

“Yeah… here.” She extended her arms out waiting for him to take it. When he did he gave her a smile that was melt worthy. She had to get out of there fast before she did something embarrassing. “Well, bye.”

Not waiting for a reply she turned then sprinted down the sidewalk. Her cheeks were burning and she knew that she had been blushing the whole time. She had expected for him to be good looking but not that good looking. Without a doubt he’ll be caught in Rose’s clutches in a matter of seconds.