Celebrations
1857 Words
At around 10 am, Cara and Mary went to Cara's room and the latter told her friend about the fact that the dresses were theirs as well as the shoes.
"Are you serious? That thing looks like it costs more than my car" Mary said
"I know" Cara replied "are we leaving?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna miss the breakfast served without having to make it"
"And the bathroom bigger than my room"
"Yeah… ohhh and the bed omg it's so comfortable isn't?"
Cara agreed. And as they put their original clothes on and left the room, the butler stopped them
"Where do you think you're going?" She asked
"Home?" They said
"You girls have another party to attend to TOMORROW. You're not going anywhere.
The two girls looked at each other.
"Another party?" Cara asked
"Boys!" She called
Nathan and Josh came a few seconds later.
"Ana?" They asked
"Did you not tell them about the party redo?" She asked them
"Oh s**t" Josh said
"I forgot" Nathan added
"You're coming right? The stylist's coming with new dresses in an hour. This time they'll be easy to work with" Josh said
"You guys just assumed we were coming?" Mary asked
"We can pay you if you want" Josh said
Mary and Cara looked at each other again before looking at them.
"Don't listen to them they're boys" Anastasia said "you're going right? Cause I really don't want them to be the target like last year" she told them
"Okay" the girls said "but you have to tell us what happened last year" Mary added, Cara nodding.
She walked them to the kitchen where she gave them tea and cookies before telling her what happened, even though Josh and Nathan didn't want her to
"See, this party happens once a year. Usually the seniors go there, but since Nicholas Carloyl died,
Miss Isabella doesn't want to go so she makes her sons go. The thing is, unless you're old, you're not supposed to go unaccompanied. Some people even pay for people to go with them just so that they don't go alone.
These stupid boys decided that they would go alone since they didn't have anyone. And when they arrived unaccompanied, people started talking about them. They started mocking them, ignoring them, judging them even. And when they tried to speak about anything, as these parties are made for them to give speeches, people would mock them. So last year, the Carloyls lost millions because of their stupidity because people judge single people."
"That is so stupid" Cara said
"It's how it works" Anastasia said before grabbing the cups and putting them in the sink.
"Thanks" the girls said "so you're saying we're helping them make millions just by going there?" Mary asked
Anastasia nodded
"Cool" she said "i feel less bad about the dress now" she added
"Thank you for the explanation Anastasia" Cara said before standing up
"And for the tea" Mary added, following her friend.
They tried on about ten dresses each this time to find the perfect ones. Mary's was green and full of pieces of different things greens and Cara's was blue and princess-like. It was long and puffy but the bottom can actually be taken off, leaving a short uneven blue dress like TinkerBell.
"How come you get a princess one?" Mary asked
"You get TinkerBell" Cara replied
"You also get Tinker Bell underneath!"
"Yeah but yours is green, just like hers!"
And at the redo of the party, as opposed to what they were expecting, people came to thank Mary and Cara and talked about their work. And somehow people were not opposed to them working even though they're women and with rich men. Although Jessica did tell them they'll probably stop working when they get married and have a family.
"I don't think so" Mary said "but thanks for the advice"
This time, the party went well, people made their speeches and gave their donations and everyone left normally.
As they were leaving the Carloyls place, Isabella came back and thanked them for their help and told them the dresses will be sent to their home the following morning.
"You don't have to send them" Cara said
"We'll probably never even have the opportunity to ever wear them" Mary added
"Don't be silly, they're yours!"
They ended up nodding and driving back home.
And a few days later, they did receive the dresses cleaned and ironed.
"Why didn't you invite me again? I could use a new tucs" Stuart told them as they showed him the dresses.
"If it weren't a gift, I would've sold them to make some money" Cara said, zipping the dress before hanging it in her closet.
They drove to the firehouse and Cara hoped they'd forgotten her birthday. Turns out they did not as they all shouted
"Happy birthday Cara" as she entered the house.
"Thank you" she said smiling to everyone before going to her office.
"Hey Cara can you come here for a minute?" Douglas called her to his office where the lieutenants were.
"What's up?" She asked
Doug showed her the chair for her to sit, and she did.
"Are you planning something crazy?" She asked
"Cara remember when we told you you should be lieutenant?" Douglas asked
Cara nodded
"Well, I remember the only reason you didn't take the test is because you couldn't, because you weren't a citizen"
"Right…" Cara agreed
"Well now you are a US citizen" he said
"And we think you should take the test to be one of us" lieutenant Cring said
Cara looked at him and smiled before looking back at Doug
"We already have lieutenants. And I'm not going to another house"
"You don't have to!" Doug said
"I came here from another house but he didn't" lieutenant Stone said, pointing at lieutenant Cring.
"I was like you here and I took the test and waited until Charlie retired. You could take the test, you don't have to go to another house, you can just be ready for later"
"Are you retiring?" She asked
"No" they both said "but later we might have to!"
"What do you say? We've already recommended you" Captain Douglas said.
"Alright, why not I guess"
"Great, here is the exam schedule" he handed her a pamphlet.
"Thanks" she said.
And as she put it in her locker, the alarm rang for an emergency so she left with her colleagues to do her job.
Almost at the end of the shift, she saw Nathan get there and walk towards her.
"What's up?" She asked him
"I need to talk to you" he said, looking around him
"Sure" she said, walking him to the office. " What's going on?"
"Remember when we said just s*x?"
She raised her eyebrows.
"Sure, why are you talking about this here?" She asked
"I don't want that anymore"
"Alright we can stop then" she said
"No, I… I'm starting to have feeling and I wanted to ask if…"
He didn't finished when Stuart opened her door and got inside.
"Stuart, I'm busy"
"Sorry. You have to come right now" he grabbed her by the hand and got her in the middle of the kitchen where her colleagues started covering her with plastic wrap.
"Are you serious?" She asked
"Oh come on did you think we'd just say happy birthday and leave?" Doug said
"I was actually having a serious conversation when you got me out for this?" She asked
"You can go back there now" Mary said
"Don't take this off" Daniel Cring said, pointing at the plastic wrapping her arms along her body.
She walked back to her office as fast as she could, given her feet were almost stuck together and apologized.
"You were saying?"
"What is this?" Nathan asked
"They wanna surprise me for my birthday. But you were gonna say something no?"
"I guess you kinda know what I was gonna say, would you consider…"
Again, they got cut off their conversation by calling her out as their shift ended and she was the only one still wearing her work clothes.
"Come with us I guess" she told Nathan as Michael grabbed her and put her on his shoulders to get her to the car.
And as they arrived to her apartment, she noticed Nathan did join so she smiled. And when they turned her around and she saw her mom, she was so happy she forgot about everything.
"Mooom" she said, trying to run towards her but she couldn't.
Her mom helped her get out of the wrapping and they hugged.
"When did you get here?" She asked
"This morning" she said "they planned everything" she told her, showing her roomates.
Cara smiled and hugged everyone before turning around to see Nathan.
"Hey, sorry about… this. And to answer your question, which you didn't get a chance to ask, I'm not really looking for anything serious right now so I'd rather not mislead you"
He nodded, comprehensive, although Cara could see he was disappointed.
She went back to the crowd and played the games they had planned. Catching the apples, finding rings, pie in the face etc.
Nathan had left a few minutes after their conversation after wishing her a happy birthday.
After a few hours of partying, people started leaving. Only a few stayed over and slept pretty much on the floor. So Cara finally had time with her mom.
"How long are you staying?"
"3 weeks" she said
"Nice!" Cara said, hugging her "night"
"Night honey"
In the morning, they cleaned up the house as much as they could after everyone left before going shopping.
The following week, Athena had come back and Cara wanted to take her out to celebrate her birthday she had spent at her camp. So she texted Josh who told her it was ok. In the meantime, she had thought about Nathan’s question. Although she missed their physical encounters more than their friendship, she might give it a try. Especially since he hadn’t talked to her since her birthday.
So in the morning, she drove to the Carloyl’s and got out to run into Nathan about to leave. She walked towards him, kissed him and said “I changed my mind” before continuing inside, leaving Nathan in shock and looking at her before leaving, as he was going to be late.
She knocked on Athena’s door and got in to hug her and they left.
“Can I bring my mom?” Cara asked Athena as this latter asked if they could go to the park.
After a day in a playground and way too many sweets, she wanted to go to the park.
“Yes!”
So Cara stopped at her apartment before driving to a park nearby, with her mom.
After a few more hours of playing and running around, they finally drove back to Athena’s house. And as she parked and got out of the car, a woman came to her.
- Writer
