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Paige
February 14, 2019
***
“Not only was she over an hour late, which by the way, I was just about to leave, she comes walking in with a teddy bear... like I’m a fucking six-year-old.” Margot has been sitting on my bed, watching me change in and out of a dozen tops, recounting how the meeting with her mother went. Apparently, not well.
Anyway, tonight is the night, Valentine’s Day, and I’m getting ready to head to the pier for the painting event while I wait for Jackson to arrive. I can’t believe this is it. Work went by so excruciatingly slow. I tried my best to keep focused on work, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how tonight would go. My nerves were a mess all day. I have been feeling like I’m going to be physically ill, but I know it’s just because I’m so nervous about tonight. What is Jackson going to think when he realizes I’m his crush? Is he going to flip out? Is he going to be cool with it? Or is he just going to laugh at me? I’m out of my mind for going along with this.
I come out from the closet in a white bra, holding up a lavender blouse and head over to the mirror attached behind my bedroom door. So far, it looks great with the skirt I’m wearing, but is it enough? I tilt my head from side-to-side, staring at my reflection. I’m not typically a skirt-girl, but this is a special occasion, and I want to make a great impression. “I guess she didn’t know what else to bring you, Margie. She doesn’t really know much about you.”
I turn to face Margot just in time to see a disgusted face. She throws herself down on my bed as she stares at the wall. Flipping over to face me once more, she exclaims, “Doesn’t really know much about me? P, she knows nothing about me! Nothing at all!”
“I know. I’m sorry,” I pout.
Shrugging, she says, “Hey, it’s alright. She’s been out of my life for this long... what made me think I needed her now? I don’t.” Margot brings her arms under her chin, looking down at the ground in front of her. Yes, what she says may be true, but I know this is so sad for her. I know she was hoping to find her mother full of remorse and regret for letting her go. Sure, she had told me Dana had apologized and everything to her, but Margot didn’t believe it.
I go to sit next to her on the edge of my bed and run a hand through her dark brown hair. She has always had such pretty, full locks, and I’ve always been so jealous of her ability to walk out of the shower and just run a simple brush right through her hair without having to add any additional products or blow-drying it straight. She has natural waves. Whenever I’d wash my hair, I had to hurry and brush it quickly to get all the knots out. Then I’d have to apply mousse, just to get those pretty beach waves that came naturally to Margot.
“I know, girlie. You are one of the strongest women I know. But I know how much this meant to you, and I’m so sorry it didn’t go the way you had been hoping for all these years. I’m sorry.”
Margot sniffles. “P, she told me that her parents forced her to get rid of me. They didn’t want their daughter shaming the family name. Then she admitted that she never once tried to find me because I was part of an old life she never wanted back. Plus, once her boyfriend passed, you know, the asshole that impregnated her with me, she knew she couldn’t raise me on her own... she was just fifteen. I told her I don’t give a shit about her excuses. She could have figured something else out if she really wanted me. Or she could have come looking for me once she was old enough and had gotten her shit together. But, by then, she had gotten married and had two other kids... she didn’t want to ruin her little family and tell her husband about her little secret.”
Wow, this was all news to me. Dana had a new family now, and Margot was never meant to be a part of that picture.
“So, she sneaked away to meet you now, or was her husband waiting in the car or something?” I ask.
“Fuck if I know. But I’m guessing the poor bastard has no idea about me still. Can you believe she never told her husband she has another daughter? I didn’t even know I had brothers or sisters out there. But, by then, I was too pissed off, and I told her to go fuck off.” She pauses for a moment and then continues. “I never want to see her again, P. I told her to forget that she ever had another daughter, ‘cause she never really did.”
“Oh, sweetie! I’m so damn sorry!” I lean down and place my arms around Margot.
She lets my embrace comfort her for a bit before taking a deep breath and averting her eyes up at me, then lifting herself up in a sitting position. “Enough of this crap. You have a date to get ready for. Put that black shirt back on with the low-cut V-neck showing off your goods and get going! You’re going to be late if you waste any more time.”
I shrug. “Well, I was thinking of sta–”
“Oh, hell no you don’t!” She jumps up, cutting me off. She grabs both of my hands and pulls me up off the bed. “We have worked too hard to get Mr. Perfect to notice you for so long. And it never dawned on him once that his Ms. Perfect has always been sitting right across from his office. You are going tonight, and you are going to knock his socks off! When he sees you tonight and realizes that you were the one who’s been his secret admirer, he’s going to facepalm himself.”
I chuckle. “Damn, you’re so sure he’s going to go for it.”
“Of course, he is. He’s been in love with you the whole time. He was just with that ditz who failed to notice what she had.”
I laugh again. “Margie, I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself. He’s never been in love with me. He hardly notices me on a good day.”
She smirks, tilting her head to the side and placing a hand on her hip. “P, wake up and smell the coffee. He loves you. I’ve known it since you first told me about him. Why do you think he chooses to talk to you at the office and not someone else? ‘Cause he enjoys your company? Fuck, he enjoys looking at you, that’s for sure. He’s a guy, so of course, he didn’t realize it. You just watch. Tonight is going to be magical. Then you’ll come strolling in through that door tomorrow evening, thanking me for pushing you to go tonight.”
“Tomorrow evening?” My eyebrows furrow.
“That’s right. Tomorrow evening,” she confirms.
“Care to elaborate?”
“Certainly. Tonight, when he realizes just how much he loves you, he’s going to sweep you off your feet and make sweet, passionate love to you into the wee hours of the morning. You won’t get back here before tomorrow evening.”
My eyes widen. “Oh, Margot. I hope I don’t disappoint you when I come home after only an hour of being gone, letting you know he turned me down.”
“Not a chance, Paige. Not a chance.”
Well, at least my bestie has some confidence in me that tonight is going to go well. I, on the other hand, am not so sure.