Of all the nights for her 18th birthday to fall on...it had to be the worse of any birthday she had ever had. Not only was it the night of her Senior Prom, but everyone in her family had made plans that would keep them out late. Some of it she could forgive, her sister's spring piano recital had been planned since last fall, and since her father was a member in good standing of the local chapter of the Fire and Police Benevolent Society and tonight just happened to be their annual charity ball, well that was just her bad luck.
As far as her Prom went, she had known the minute the date was announced that she would not being going. Not because of her birthday, but because she wouldn't be asked. Having a father who was big, burly and carried a badge as well as a gun did not make her the most popular girl in town. It was a common complaint that both her older sisters had suffered as well, and her younger sister would suffer in her turn.
Actually, what had taken place so far had been good, there had been a very special dinner catered by the best pizza parlor in town, free flowing soda, salad and cake with ice cream as well as balloons. Not to mention a variety of presents from both family and those people who were brave enough to call her friend, all of which had stopped by on the way to the prom to show off their dresses, Tux's and again ask her why she had to be so damn stubborn. Her reply had been the same she had given them from the beginning. There was no way she was going either as a second partner to one of the others, or alone. There was no way she would go out as a third wheel with any of her friends, and the idea of going stag might work for a guy, but not for a girl.
Sitting back on the couch, Kali Collins turned the television with the remote and tried to get interested in an old Bogie movie. Normally she would have had no problem, this one was one of her favorites, one of the best romantic movies she had ever seen. When Bogie said "here's looking at you kid" to Ingrid Bergman, you just knew that he was so in love with her, something was going to fuck it all up in the end. It was also one of the movies that she could turn on when her dad and brothers were around because there was plenty of action too.
She knew that she was no Ingrid Bergman, and she would never find her Bogie, being her father's daughter being one thing, but besides that, she had been cursed with being a definitely female version of him. Except she was way prettier and she was a solid size 18-20 where her dad had to have all his uniform shirts and pants custom made. Where she was five feet ten, He was six feet plus and had barely made it under the height limitation. They shared the same amber colored hair and eyes. Her dad told her over and over that it was a good thing she had taken her golden skin, narrow turned up nose, full lips, high cheekbones and long golden lashes from her mother. So okay, lousy body, great face...which in this day and age was a death warrant for a teenage girl.
Tonight she had problems though, it was after nine, and she was feeling lonely. Her kid sister was spending the night with her best friend Ki-Ki and her older sister Jasmine was off for the weekend with her boyfriend Fred. They were the only two who still lived at home besides Kali and while she enjoyed being on her own for a while, the house just felt way to quiet.
The doorbell rang and she sighed as she stood, now what? Going to the door, she peeked out the window on the side and saw a tall, extremely well built frame wearing a police uniform. As the daughter of a cop, she thought the worse as she unlocked the door but left the chain connected. "Can I help you...?"
He was even better looking than he was built, nicely tanned skin, bright obsidian eyes, a full mouth, and a soft looking 5 o'clock shadow. His name tag said S. Harrison, and his official identification verified that he worked out of the same precinct as her dad, since she seldom had a reason to go downtown she wondered what she had been missing. He gave her a brilliant smile and took off his hat, he would be even cuter if his hair was just a little bit longer, but it was a fresh haircut, so maybe in a week or two... "Hi, are you Kali Collins...I have a delivery for you..."
"A delivery? You look more like a cop than a messenger..."
He laughed. "Well tonight I am both, do you know about the big charity raffle the police department held about two months ago?"
"Sure, my dad buys enough tickets every year to make mom insist he sleep on the couch for a week, did he finally win?"
"I take it that's why your mom makes him sleep on the couch."
"Yeah, hey hang on a minute." She shut the door, took off the chain then opened it back up, "sorry, I know all the rules about opening your door at night and all, but that chain is a pain, and since you're a cop I guess it's safe...so what did dad win? Two tickets to the opera or something, he would really love that."
"Well, actually this is in your name, it's a certificate..." He looked a little taken back suddenly.
He held out a big red envelope with her name scrawled across the front and Fantasy Inc. stamped in the upper left hand corner. "What is Fantasy Inc.? Never heard of it..." She had never seen a man like him blush in her life, but there it was and she wondered if it was some adult toy shop or something like that... What the hell had her dad put her name in a raffle for? "Come on in, unless you have to go deliver another one of these..."
"No, this is my last delivery, I live not too far away so actually I'm on my way home."
That meant he probably had a girlfriend or wife and a couple kids waiting for him. She bet they were tall, blonde and as beautiful as he was handsome. "Oh, well you're probably in a hurry to get home."
"No, not really, there's nothing there that can't wait."
She glanced at his left hand, no wedding ring, and no ring line either, but that didn't prove anything, a lot of police officers didn't wear their rings for personal and professional reasons. She wondered if it had something to do with the envelope. He followed her into the living room and sat on the sofa. She got her nail under one corner of the flap and slipped it along the crease.
The certificate was printed on expensive card stock and there were all kinds of decorative designs on it.
"Congratulations:
This certificate is awarded to Kali Collins as First prize in the 25th Annual Metropolitan Police Department's Charity Drive, all proceeds of which are donated to various children's charities in the surrounding metro area.