Bold and Simful

“To the Foundation again, Miss Mendenhall?” Danielle asked after Elizabeth settled herself into the taxi’s back seat. Danielle had become accustomed to the regular pick-up at Wingate Hall and to the large tip Elizabeth always settled on her.

“No, not today. Court’s Cafe in Rigel Heights, if you please,” Elizabeth answered.

“Yes, ma’am,” Danielle put the car in gear.

“Mother!” Elizabeth was excited to see her mother looking so well, after her father’s description she had imagined the worst. “Are you ready to be seated?”

“No, no, dear. I can’t stay, I didn’t realize that they have a bar and that is too great of a temptation for me,” Catherine confessed.

“Wow, you have really changed,” Elizabeth was truly amazed, “How ’bout we go shopping instead? A new outfit to celebrate the new you?”

Mother and daughter left the cafe together arm in arm and turned toward the Height’s shopping district.

While Elizabeth was shopping with her mother, Xavier and Veronica were finally getting along. All of Veronica’s hostility had dissipated as soon as she had made Xavier jealous by flirting with Randal, all she had wanted was for him to show some emotion at having been dumped. Now that he had, they could be friends again, so she was happy for him when he told her that he and Kitty were going on a date.

“Good for you, getting back out there,” Veronica congratulated.

“Yeah, well, you know…” Xavier shrugged and listened as Veronica gave him dating advice.

“Now, don’t let her see you dance yet and you’ll be fine,” she advised. Nothing like getting dating tips from your ex.

Maleena wasn’t as pleased as her sister, she thought Xavier could do better. Kitty was nice and all, but all she had left was her family name and that wasn’t worth a dime with her father sitting in prison, sure it was white-collar Club Med prison but it was still prison.

Xavier took Veronica’s advice and took Kitty to Shops at the Tower instead of the campus club.

The date itself wasn’t very romantic, Xavier had dragged Kitty into the electronics store so he could buy a new cell, so Kitty began to agonize over whether Xavier had asked her on a “buddy date”.

‘I have to do something sexy,’ she thought while browsing the games, ‘but how can I compete with Veronica? She’s sexy eating cereal.‘ Kitty sighed.

Kitty had always been a tomboy, she loved sports, hated make-up and dresses, avoided giggling and gossiping at all costs. Her parents had even feared that she was a lesbian for a little while. Then she started dating Xavier sophomore year in high school and they relaxed. Her father had been thrilled with the match up, the Mendenhalls had money, but the young couple had broken up and the feds had come for her father so no amount of money would have helped him by that point.

Xavier grinned as he realized what Kitty was trying to do, the clerk realized too he was just more demonstrative about it.

‘I know where I’ll be heading when we get back to the dorm,’ Xavier thought excitedly and while Kitty collected her change, he called a taxi.

“Kitty, you don’t have to change who you are,” Xavier said as he touched her face lightly.

“But I’m nothing like Veronica…” Kitty was always comparing herself to Veronica.

“And you shouldn’t be! Veronica is the kind of girl you date, not the kind you marry,” Xavier answered.

“Marry?!!” Kitty’s ears caught on the last word and she gazed into Xavier’s eyes, searching to see if he meant it or not before hopping into bed with him.

Obviously, Kitty had decided that he had meant what he said, but now she stood wringing hands and worrying, “What if Veronica finds out?”

“Well, I’m not going to tell her but I think she’s going to assume when we announce our engagement,” Xavier was smooth as ever. He had meant what he said, he knew long ago that his father didn’t approve of Veronica and he needed to get back in the old man’s good graces, especially now that he was being left out of all operations at Mendenhall Enterprises and the Foundation in favor of his sister.

“Engagement? Are you asking…?” Kitty was relieved to hear that Xavier hadn’t just been playing her.

“Not officially, I don’t have a ring yet, but if you’ll say yes…” Xavier’s voice rose in question but he already knew the answer.

Kitty had no need to worry about Veronica getting involved in her and Xavier’s new relationship, Veronica was busy nosing into Monica’s affairs.

“Turner is out with Monica right now, they are down at the diner,” Randal explained to his girlfriend. He wasn’t sure why she was so interested, but he really didn’t care either. He was dating the hottest girl on campus and that was enough for him.

“Oh, good!” Veronica went on, “All she ever did was study, but thanks to my advice, she’s finally found someone. Hey, all this altruistic behavior makes me hungry….wanna go to the diner? We can see how they are getting along and I’ll be there to help her out if she does something stupid.”

Randal called the taxi, half the fun of having dating Veronica was being seen with her.

When they arrived at the dinner, they spotted Turner and Monica holding hands, waved and walked quietly to their table. Veronica sat so she could see the new couple clearly, just in case she was needed.

Which she wasn’t, Monica was doing fine on her own.

So fine in fact that a love letter arrived in her mailbox that very night.

“Awwww…how sweet,” Monica’s heart fluttered. She had no intention of finding love when she first arrived at Hunter, her focus had been solely on her studies, but now that she had secured her scholarship by making the dean’s list every single semester, she had time for romance and she allowed herself to begin to imagine what her wedding to Turner would be like.

Upstairs, Monica told Veronica about the letter.

“That’s so cool,” Veronica drawled, inwardly congratulating herself on her matchmaking skills. “Hey, since you and I are dating brothers, if we marry them that will make us sisters!”

Monica raised her eyebrow and stared, “But they are only frat brothers, not real…” Monica saw the blank look on her friend’s face and gave up trying to explain, “Yeah, you’re right.”

 

Posted on June 18th, 2008 under Wingate Hall. Tags: catherine, elizabeth, kitty, monica, randal, turner, veronica, Wingate Hall, xavier. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.