Rachael, It's All or Nothing

01: When I First Saw You [Standing] There

I honestly don’t know what I’m doing here. The music, although classical, was loud enough to excite everyone. There was a buzz that hung in the air, almost tangible at points. Everyone was dressed in tuxedos and dresses.

Except for me. What I was wearing should not be considered a dress. My best friend Kody had bought this dress for me in a wistful attempt to ‘sexify’ me, as she put it, but it just made me feel uncomfortable.

She had bought the dress a while ago, but only given it to me when there was no time for me to go out and get another one when I balked. What really got me, as I tried to tug down the snug fitting material, was that she promised I would like it. And because she was my best friend, I had believed her.

“So then Tazer got the goal and we won!”

While balancing a flute of sparkling water in one hand, I nodded my head in sync with what the guy in front of me was saying, while trying to tug the dress up and over my chest. I would never be satisfied with this dress, especially since it was strapless and I therefore couldn’t get it high enough over my chest or low enough over my legs.

I smoothed the material out over my stomach, still nodding, until I realized that my guest was no longer speaking. When I looked up, he was pouting. “Are you listening?”

“Uh…” I stuttered, feeling my face heat up. Both of us knew I hadn’t been listening, but I never liked getting caught. “You got a goal?” I squeaked.

“Tazer got a goal,” he corrected with a sigh. But nonetheless, he continued talking as if nothing had happened.

“And so when I was crossing the blue line –”

God this was so uncomfortable. This conversation, I mean. What was his name? As I tilted my head to the side thoughtfully, I watching his mouth move, but I didn’t hear anything he said.

Too bad I wasn’t old enough to drink, because I bet the champagne here would make it easier for me to listen to this guy brag about some guy named Tazer. What kind of name is Tazer anyways? I wouldn’t name my kid Tazer.

He smiled.

I smiled back to be polite. I had no idea what was going on, though. When I zoned back in, I was brought into the middle of his sentence. “… get you a drink?”

He looked hopeful, which led me to believe that he had asked if he could get me a drink. “Oh, I don’t drink,” I said slowly, while my father is in the room, I added silently.

His face fell. “Oh, well, can I get you something else then?”

Was he hitting on me? “Are you hitting on me?”

“Uh… no?” he replied quickly. Funny, I hadn’t known my question was supposed to be answered with a question.

“Good, because I’m a lesbian.”

I wasn’t, but he didn’t know that. He seemed stunned for a second, and then his eyes raked over me as if he were trying to figure out if I actually was a lesbian.

Just then, a figure appeared at my side. I looked over, as well as up. Granted, I had to look up at most people, but tonight I was wearing really big heels, so my height was magnified by about four inches.

“Oh Rachael, I’ve been looking all over for you!” It was my friend Kody, bless her soul, as she latched onto my arm. As she pulled me away, she looked at my companion, who looked a little put off by the interruption. “Sorry, I’ve got to steal her for a couple of minutes. Wait here, won’t you?”

She didn’t give him much time to answer, because she dragged me away.

I stumbled over my feet, fearing that I would trip and break something. I felt self-conscious, hoping that my dress was actually covering my ass. “I didn’t get you that dress so you could stand around and stretch it out until you got it the way you wanted!” Kody scolded as she pulled me through the crowd.

“But it’s too tiny and it’s too tight!” I whined, relieved when she stopped just off to the side of the dance floor.

“You look fine! I don’t know why you’re complaining!”

“Because I don’t have the right body type for this dress!” I argued. It was futile to argue with Kody, but I still tried daily. I thought I was even getting a little better at it.

“I’m not having this conversation with you again,” Kody sighed, pushing my hands away as I tugged up the dress.

“Then stop doing this to me!” I hissed.

She rolled her eyes. “You complain now, but one day you’ll thank me.”

“Why, because after wearing this dress, which is so constricting by the way, I’m going to hemorrhage and a cute Doctor will rescue me?”

She pondered it slowly. “Well maybe not a Doctor.”

I was affronted. “If I ever hemorrhage, I want a Doctor to save me.”

“Alright, alright,” she caved, grabbing me by the arm again. “But until you hemorrhage, you have to settle for the guys in this room. Like the one right over there.”

Before I had time to ask whom she was talking about, she shoved me forward. Even over the classical ballot playing over the sound system, I could hear the couple of people protest as I accidently brushed them as I went stumbling through the crowd. I felt my left foot cave to the left, and as I started to fall, I collapsed against the person in front of me. I could tell it was a guy by the tuxedo pants.

I was mortified. I had to get away. I was eye level with his… special area… so I immediately tried to move.

I couldn’t, though, because as I moved, something caught on my hair and kept me from fully moving away. I pulled again. This was not happening.

“Hold on, I think you’re stuck on my watch.”

“No, I am not,” I denied, trying to pull away.

“I really think you are,” he said.

“No, I am clearly just hanging out down here. I can leave any time I want.”

He removed his hand from his pocket and lifted his arm. I was forced to follow. I glared at him, only because I was embarrassed, I was blushing, and I think he was mocking me. “I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is still no. I enjoy having my head shoved into some guy’s crotch.” He had his arm balanced on the top of my head, where my hair was attached to his watch. “Now kindly remove your watch from my head.”

“I thought you weren’t stuck.”

“I’m not. If I were, I would have made some implication to my hair and your watch. But since all I was implied was that your watch was touching my head, use your powers that be and remove it from my head.”

“My powers that be?”

“Yes. It must be a task to move your arm, or you would’ve done it already.”

“I happen to be very comfortable where I am,” he replied lazily.

He put all the weight of his arm on my head, and I was forced to absorb the weight like a coil. I glared at him again. I was not amused. I was mortified about what had happened, and it made me angry that he was mocking me like this.

So I pushed him. Bad idea, by the way, because I ended up running into him. I winced as it yanked at my head. “Sorry,” he apologized.

I looked at him. Why the hell did he just apologize to me? I looked down at my feet – now I just felt bad for being a bitch.

A weight lifted from my head as he undid the clasp from his watch, leaving it tangled and hanging in my hair. I got a good look at him as we stood there. Dark brown eyes, and two freckles, one on each side of his jaw.

I had nothing else to say, so I just excused myself so I could find a bathroom and hopefully get the watch out of my hair.

As I stood in front of a large mirror in the bathroom, I was frustrated to find that his watch had yanked out some of my hair, but there was a patch of hair on my head that was sticking up and frizzy.

I stomped my heel, unable to look away from my ruined hair. There was no one else in the washroom, since I had angrily scared everyone out.

“Rachael?” I heard Kody’s voice.

“I’m in here!” I called, trying to calm my hair.

To my left appeared Kody, her blonde hair shining in the fake lighting. When she caught sight of my hair, she grinned. “Oh. My. God. Rachael –”

“I know,” I grimaced, “I know.”

“What happened.”

“Some guy happened,” I mumbled, trying to flatten down my hair.

“That guy I pushed you into?” she asked, confused.

“Yes!” I said, remembering. I turned to her. “Thanks, by the way.”

I had been sarcastic, but she didn’t take it as such. “See, I told you you’d be thanking me one day.”

I snorted as she nudged me. “Don’t let it go to your head. I have to find this guy to give his watch back.”