Thanks to Endless Lover who took the time to edit my story!
*****
Mark and I had been friends since forever. We were next-door neighbors during our uncomfortable school years and then we went to college together. No one could ever figure out why we were friends since we were as different as night and day. All I can really say is that it was destined.
My earliest memory of him was his arms around my trembling little body comforting me when mom left my dad and me. Being as young as I was, I had the common mistaken impression that it was my fault she left. Mark saw the whole thing happening from his bedroom window and also witnessed my headlong flight up into the tree house we had built together.
We must have sat there for one whole night and one whole day while I cried my eyes out. There was nothing said, but he just held me tightly and rocked me the whole time. That’s when I fell in love with him. People say that you can’t find or even realize your soul mate at the tender age of seven, but I did.
Because of that one event, we were inseparable as friends. Even when we hit high school and we started to become two separate people. After mom left, dad did the best he could raising me. As you can imagine, I turned out to be quite the tomboy, and a bit of geek. Mark came from what this world would like to call a “normal” home. You know where the parents were still together and married, they had two kids, which would be a boy and a girl and the two-car garage attached to a house complete with a white picket fence.
Of course it was only natural that Mark turned into a football jock. He wasn’t big like the average football jock, but still well muscled. Everyone knew he was the fastest runner. He even received awards for getting the most touchdowns. To make things even more “normal”, he dated a cheerleader all throughout high school.
Needless to say she and I never got along. She objected to his going to my chess tournaments to lend me his moral support, but that was nothing compared to how she acted at his football games. She did everything she could to divert his attention from me, especially after a huge win, when all the fans stormed the field. Once she even stepped in between us and flashed him, which turned more heads than his.
With relief, we left our high school days behind and went to college together where I majored in Chemistry and he majored in Business. I changed in college, where I wore clothes that flattered my figure and make-up giving my face more character.
In our third year, we tried the dating scene together. For some reason Mark just couldn’t do it. Every time we kissed or tried to be intimate in any way, he laughed. It probably would have been the same for me, but I had already fallen in love with the guy. Deep down inside he knew it too. Now I just needed to make him realize it.
Now in the present, we’re out of college and all grown up. He’s working his way up in some well-known corporation while I’m trying really hard not to blow up the lab that I work in. We make time together doing the things that we always did such as play video games and watch movies and I love the fact that we’re still close. It just isn’t enough for me anymore.
Today, our special anniversary commemorating the day we became friends, he’ll accept his fate or die locked with my naked self in a pink frilly room. What guy would want to die that way?
It is our custom to give each other cards and gifts in remembrance of all the good times. Mine was sent off containing a note requesting his presence at an exclusive hotel called “The Fantasy”. It’s a much talked about new attraction known for making a person’s every fantasy come true, with in reason of course. Reservations are booked years in advance, and mine were done two years ago when Mark and I started our respectable jobs. Now all that planning and sabotaging his dates are all going to pay off tonight.
*****
Looking at the garish cherub clock over the pink marble fireplace, I took note of the time. Only a half hour till he knocks on the door. After lighting the last red tapered candle on a table overflowing with food, I hurry over to the only mirror in the room, the one above the bed.
Giving myself a secret smile as I viewed the change in me. My hair is now colored a rich shade of red when I use to be a brunette, and the outfit I am wearing is totally different as well. Normally I wouldn’t be wearing something so sexy and revealing as the long elegant silky sheath that I now find myself wearing. It goes all the way to the floor with a slit up the right side traveling all the way to my hip, the straps holding it up are barely visible, and rose lace covers my breasts.
As I pick up the red-feathered mask from the bedside table, I wonder if he would recognize me even though I am uncharacteristically attired and my hair is the color I dislike. A knock on the door drags me out of my worries. One final look in the mirror above and I slip on the mask.
With a big sigh, I plaster a smile on my face to hide my nervousness, and open the door. It is hard for me to keep my composure. Mark is dressed handsomely in a tux tailored specifically for him and his black short hair slightly mused from the wind outside.
His sapphire blue eyes gave me a once over from head to toe and finally stop at my barely concealed breasts.
He smiles wolfishly at me. “I’m to meet Mandy here?”
I open the door wider and signal him to come in. A little unsure but still amused, he walks into the room that looks as if a flock of crazed flamingos decorated it.
“Mandy isn’t coming.” I dip my voice low and make slightly breathy to make sure he didn’t recognize it. I shut the door and lock it with the ornate bronze key. “She sends her regrets and hopes that I can entertain you.”
That gets his attention as he whips around to see me rubbing the head of the key lightly across my collarbone. “She arranged all this and you?”
I smile my little secret smile. Boy was he in for the time of his life! I saunter to the open window as he watches my every move. “You could say that. She wanted to do something for you that you would enjoy.”
