Arise

There were good days and there were bad days. The good days made you want to jump up and down and scream at the top of your lungs because you felt invincible. The bad days made you want to lock yourself in your room and scream at the top of your lungs you didn’t feel invincible. Today was a very bad day.

Classes were back to back and it was exhausting. I was in my final semester of college and had just a couple months left before I was officially done. Exams were already underway and balancing that with my job was an absolute pain in the ass. Not only did I have classes every day but working with the mayor had proven to be tiresome. Too. Much. Paperwork. On top of all that, it had been two weeks since I left the Moon Rise Pack and I had not heard a single word from Logan. It was so frustrating. He was the one who asked me to stay. He was the one that said he couldn’t let me go. He was the one that wanted to be in a relationship. Why couldn’t he send a text?

Looks like you chose for me, Doll. Stupid, conceited, arrogant.

This was why I couldn’t focus: Logan was clouding my thoughts and we weren’t even talking. It was my own fault I was feeling this way. I still couldn’t believe I fell for his charm. I had decided to hell with the promises I made to myself and look where it got me.

I had other things on my mind besides thinking about Logan even he was a pesky little bug that would not leave despite my efforts.

Currently, I was going through list of guests coming for Friday night’s Mayor’s Dinner. The mayor believed that planning the party would make a big impact on my organizational skills for whenever I would take a governmental job. Frankly, he’s too lazy to do it himself, but I needed him to back up my resumes and job applications.

Unable to think coherently, I walked downstairs to the kitchen just in time for dinner to start. I smiled at mom and dad before grabbing the plates from the counter and setting them on the table.

Mom was tossing the salad when she asked how my day was. For someone who was three years shy of fifty, she looked good for her age. Thanks to hair-dye, not a white strand in sight. I inherited my big brown eyes from her. Years of laughing and smiling resulted in the wrinkles around her mouth and crow’s feet, but she still looked young. Unlike me, she was short at five feet two.

“It was good. The Mayor is a pain in the ass.”

That brought a chuckle out of dad as he wiped his hands on a towel.

Mom, on the other hand, did not find it a bit amusing. “Rosetta, you cannot say that about the Mayor!” Her focus returned to the bowl in front of her and her forward crinkled in concentration.

“It’s a free country, Darling. Besides, I doubt the Mayor can hear her from Capitol Hill.” Dad wrapped his arm over mom’s shoulder and kissed her hair.

While I got my eyes from my mother, I was almost a carbon copy of my father. Dad still had his natural black hair with a couple white strands here and there. He was younger than mom and had five years left before he turned the big five-oh. Dylan and I made sure to always jokingly mention the age gap between them whenever we could.

I narrowed my eyes and kept my smile small. “Very funny.” I placed the glasses beside each plate and filled a pitcher with water and said, “Mayor Archibald is making me straighten out the huge guest list for his dinner. I’ve been working on it for the past week.” Everyone took their seats at the table.

Dylan raised an eyebrow at me and said, “That sounds like the easiest thing to do. Why are you even getting paid?” She reached out to take a piece of lettuce from the salad, but mom slapped her hand away.

She looked sternly at Dylan and dad cleared his throat and said, “it’s your turn to pray.”

I snickered and Dylan sighed, “Fine.”

When she finished saying grace, we dug into the food and I answered Dylan’s question. “According to the mayor, his family cannot sit with the senator because they’re sworn enemies. Personally, I think it’s because Zac Archibald slept with her daughter.” I cut a piece of chicken and put it in my mouth.

“Rosetta!”

“It’s like dad said, mom: the mayor can’t hear us.” I finished my explanation. “Some guests can’t sit with each other. The rich must be seated in the front for the publicity. Then, I have to sprinkle common gentry in between them so journalists don’t assume he’s only doing it to be on the cover of The News Scribe.”

Dad sipped his glass of wine before returning to his meal. “You were the one that wanted to work with him.”

I cut into a piece of chicken again but aggressively. “I wanted to learn the ropes not become his lapdog.”

“Alright, honey, enough of this. What’s really got you so stressed out?” Mom looked at me expectantly waiting for my response, but Dylan beat me to it.

“Yeah, Rosie. Is it a certain boy from a recent vacation?” Dylan teased, and I elbowed her. I mentioned Logan briefly to mom after we returned from our trip, but I haven’t brought it up since for the sake of my sanity. There was no telling how crazy mom would react.

She raised her glass towards me. “Finally! You mentioned that boy’s name once to me and I haven’t heard about him since. Is he the reason why you’ve been so worked up this past week?”

I scoffed and shook my head. “How’s Jordan, Dilly? Are you guys together or are you hopelessly leading him on?”

Her face morphed into fury. “Low blow, Rosie. Even for you,” she deadpanned.

Dad cleared his throat. “I’d like to focus on other topics for dinner.” Dad’s lack of comfort could save me.

Mom smirked and said, “What’s the harm? It’s not like he can hear us anyways.” Dylan almost choked on her food and broke out into fits of laughter, and a blush formed on dad’s cheeks.

I needed to divert the topic. “Dad’s right. Besides, what’s there even to stress over if Logan won’t even put the effort into talking to me.” I dropped my gaze to stare at my near-empty plate. It went silent. So much for diverting the topic.

Mom rose from her seat and picked up everyone’s plates with Dylan helping her. “It’s doesn’t hurt to be the person to make the first move. How do you think I landed your father?” I smiled. I had heard the story a million times and frankly and it never got old.

“How could we forget, mom. You were the scandalous older woman that fell in love with a man half your age,” Dylan said teasingly.

“Sarcasm won’t get you anywhere.” Dad divided the leftovers for mom and him to take to work tomorrow and mom leaned patiently against the kitchen counter. “And just to be clear, your mother is only a few years older than me.”

Dylan washed the plates and I dried them off. When we were done, mom and dad were ready to sleep. They kissed our foreheads and said goodnight. Mom gave me an extra squeeze and said, “You can either be patient or you can text him now. It doesn’t hurt to try.”

I said goodnight to my parents and Dylan and made my way to my room. I brushed my teeth and tied my hair into a messy bun. Sitting up against the bed frame, I looked through the texts and emails I received on my phone. College emails cluttered my inbox over sales on textbooks and merchandise. There were messages from the mayor and his assistant about more people being added to the guest list.

~

My heels clattered against the tiled floor as I made my way across the banquet hall. I adjusted my lavender top and pulled my black blazer over it. I smoothed down my pencil skirt and gathered my hair in a high ponytail. I was running a tad bit late to the meeting, but that wasn’t entirely my fault. After the comment I made about Dylan’s relationship, she hid my laptop. It took me an hour to find it this morning. I arrived at the hall ten minutes later than anticipated.

“Henrietta, you’re late!” The mayor was walking around the tables with his hands behind his back, observing employees set up the hall.

I said with haste, “Sorry, Mayor. I was stuck in traffic.”

He waved his hand with dismissal. “Whatever.” He handed me a long piece of card stock with words on it. “Here’s the program list. I need you to make copies to hand out to our guests.” He stopped walking and looked at me. “Have you completed the guest seating?”

I nodded and my ponytail swayed. “Yes.”

“Good. Here.” He pulled out a small envelope from inside his suit jacket and handed it to me.

I cleared my throat and looked up at him in confusion. “What’s this?”

He adjusted his cuff links and clapped. “The names of the two most important people coming to the state. They will be the guests of honor.”

There were exactly one hundred and twenty guests attending. I had already told the manager to have twenty tables with six seats per table. How was I going to fit two more people? “Mayor, there are no longer any free tables.”

“Then bring in a new table and find guests to fill it with.”

How can he expect me to fit two people in? I nervously chuckled. “The banquet is in three days. Who am I—”

He raised his hand in the air to stop me from speaking. He sighed and rubbed his forward before saying, “Invite your family.”

“Mayor Archi—”

Clear irritation took over his face, fed up with me. “Violeta, I simply do not have the time to deal with this. It would be good for your family to make an appearance for the sake of their business.” Asshole.

My parents owned a local Veterinary clinic. This town had a lot of pet-owners, but most of them preferred the expensive corporal veterinary hospital that was an hour passed city limits. Business was slow for my parents, but we were getting by just fine.

I clenched my teeth and smiled vehemently while controlling my anger. “Of course, Mayor. Anything else?”

He dismissed me and called for the manager and said, “My wife wants to speak to you. She’s in the kitchen.” I nodded my head and walked away. I couldn’t stand the mayor, but his wife was friendly.

Leia Archibald was an angel sent from heaven. She was a complete contrast from her husband. The kindest woman I have ever met and because of her, I snagged this job. I made it down the hallway and took a left and pushed through the swinging doors into the kitchen. She was sitting on top of a table eating chocolate covered strawberries and chatting away with the chefs.

I smiled at her and said, “Mrs. Archibald, you wanted to see me.” She was wearing a black dress with red heels, pearls adorning her neck and ears.

She smiled back at me and brought the plate of chocolate-covered strawberries to my face. “Yes, Rosie. Would like some?”

I shook my head. “No, thank you ma’am.”

She set the plate down and hopped off the table. She swept off some imaginary dust from her dress and gestured behind her. “Alright then follow me.” I followed quick behind her while she spoke, “I know my husband can be hard on you sometimes, but you are able to put up with him. And you have always been a big help with Zac.” She rounded the corner and entered a small room that seemed to be where consultations were held. She picked up a giant white box that has the word Gem written across the top. She pushed the box in my direction and said, “I wanted to thank you with this.”

I reached for the box before setting it down on the brown table before me. Gem was the name of the very popular and very local boutique that sold very expensive things. This was not good. I opened the top and removed the decorative tissue paper. Under it was a beautiful off the shoulder, black dress. It was stunning, but too much for a banquet.

I stared at it in awe. “Oh, Mrs. Archibald! This is so beautiful, but I can’t accept this. It’s my job to help your husband and Zac is my friend. You don’t need to give me anything.”

She took off her glasses and waved me off. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous! I want you to wear it at the banquet. There are going to be some very handsome men at this event and I want you to catch their eyes.”

Logan’s face quickly came to mind. I laughed at her comment and carefully placed the dress back in the box. “You are too kind to me.”

She bit one of the temple tips of her glasses before saying, “Even though you aren’t my daughter, it feels nice to treat you like one.”

I looked at her appreciatively. Ever since I met her, she had always treated me like a daughter. “Thank you, Mrs. Archibald.”

She squeezed my arm lovingly and smiled. “My pleasure.” She patted my shoulder. “Best get back to my husband or he’ll throw a fit.”

As I walked back to the hall, I opened the envelope the mayor gave me. The envelope revealed a small card the size of a business card. On it were the names of two people I knew very well.

A noise sounded from my nightstand in the middle of the night. Too tired to open my eyes, I smacked my phone, but the noise got louder. With a groan, I grabbed my phone and answered the call. With a raspy voice I said, “Hey, Val.”

“Hey, what’s up?” She sounded wide awake.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes. “You called me. I should be asking you that question.”

“Right.” The line went silent.

I blinked slowly and yawned again. “I don’t mean to state the obvious, but you don’t usually call me unless there’s a problem.”

“And?”

“And so, I’m assuming that’s why you’re calling.”

“I just wanted to check up on you.” I could hear the lie a mile away.

“At two am?”

“Sure.”

“And it didn’t occur to you that I might’ve been sleeping?” I valued sleep more than I valued school. Valerie knew how much I loved sleeping. Other than my guitar, it was the one thing I loved and cherished the most.

“Okay, you got me. I called because Caleb is acting sketchy.”

I tucked the blanket closer to me. “You need to be a bit more descriptive because I already know that.”

“Not in the way you know it, Rosie. He’s been distant lately and I don’t know why.”

“Is he stressed?”

“I don’t think so. I’ve asked him about work and he said he’s fine.”

“He might be saying that so it doesn’t worry you.” It was probably serious, but I just wanted to go back to sleep.

After a break of silence, she sighed and concluded, “Yeah, you’re probably right. I sound crazy.”

At this point, I was already awake now, so I might as well ask her about the banquet. “Hey, since I have you, I have something I want to say.”

“What’s up,” she said with a yawn.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to town this weekend.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The mayor told me two more guests are coming to the banquet. Your name and Caleb’s name were just added this morning to the guest list.”

She shouted a whisper down the line. “What? We have a cake-tasting and a meeting with the florist this weekend.” Why would Caleb agree to come if he had wedding commitments?

“The mayor said you and Caleb are the guests of honor.”

“Caleb never mentioned any of this to me.”

Half asleep, I replied, “He probably agreed to come recently because I was only notified today.”

Another minute of silence and Valerie said, “I’ll talk to you soon. Bye, Rosetta.” Finally, content that the phone call would end, I said my goodbyes and fell fast asleep. Sleep was a true gift.

“Thank you, guys, for coming.” I hugged my parents when they approached the entrance in the hall. The banquet was filling up rather quickly and there were still more guests to come. Luckily, the planning went smoothly and I could fit in another table.

Mom patted my shoulder. “It’s not a problem, sweetheart. Besides, it’s not like we have anything better to do on a Friday night.”

“Thanks, mom. Here are your program sheets. The waiter will show you to your table.”

“Thank you and you look wonderful.” She walked away with my dad’s arm wrapped around her waist and Dylan followed behind them. I smiled at the compliment. The dress fit me perfectly and I felt beautiful. It was a velvet black, off-the-shoulder dress that pinched at the waist. The dress flowed out and hit just above the knee and I wore matching heels. To complete my look, I wore a small silver necklace around my neck, hoop earrings, and a diamond-studded bracelet. My red hair was curled and tousled to look effortless, although, it did take me over an hour to do. Makeup took an hour to do as well. It was a long process of beating my face with foundation and concealer, applying natural shades of eyeshadow, gold highlighter and red lipstick.

Mrs. Archibald was right: I was catching the eyes of a lot of handsome men.

“Margarita!”

I bit my tongue. That man will never get my name right. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and turned around with a smile displayed on my face. The mayor and his wife approached me, hand in hand, wearing smiles and dressed to impress.

“Mayor Archibald. Mrs. Archibald. Dashing as always.” My eyes scanned the room as I said, “Everything seems to be going swimmingly.”

The mayor adjusted his cuff links. “Not everything. I need you to find my son.”

Always the lapdog. With a nod, I said, “Of course, sir.”

I opened every single room I could find around the hall. I knew their son well enough to know that when he hid, it wasn’t far. I ran down the hall, but these damn heels were digging into my skin.

I had known Zac for years. Long enough to know that he finds every opportunity to avoid a mayor’s function. I speed-walked past the kitchen and down the hall. I almost passed a supply closet when I heard a moan from it. I groaned. Not again.

“Zac!” I banged on the door three times and yelled, “Get your ass out of there!” I was not prepared for another fiasco. I heard some muffles and the sound of clothes being put on. I tapped my foot against the carpet and checked the time on my phone. Twenty minutes left.

Five minutes later, the door unlocked and revealed a sight I was not surprised to see. Zac’s dress shirt was unbuttoned, showing his chest and stomach, holding his gray suit behind him.

He showed me his signature smirk and said in a low voice, “Rosie, if you wanted to see my ass, all you had to do was ask.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and folded my arms over my chest. “You’re hilarious.” I relaxed my facial expressions. “Quit messing around and let’s go.”

A girl pushed past him and ran out swiftly while clutching on to her dress.

I gasped and pointed at him accusingly. “I knew you were hooking up with the Senator’s daughter!”

He rolled his eyes and began buttoning up his shirt. “What do you want?”

I scoffed. As if he didn’t know the drill. “The guests are arriving. You need to be there alongside your parents.”

He buttoned his sleeves and shrugged. “Why? It’s not like they notice me anyways.”

I sighed and placed a hand on his wrist. “Zac, you know you’re like a little brother to me, right?”

He shook my hand off and proceeded to put on the jacket. “Unfortunately.”

“I care about you.”

He turned around to grab his tie from one of the shelves. “Get to the damn point.”

“He might be the mayor, but he still loves you.”

“Whatever.”

He struggled with knotting his tie and his eyes hardened. I could see the hurt on his face and the fights with his dad replaying in his mind.

I placed my hand on his tie and said, “Zac, stop. What happened to the fourteen-year-old kid who loved Iron Man?”

Through clenched teeth he said, “He grew up.”

“I know your father becoming mayor has been difficult for you. Believe me, he’s been hard ass on me too.” A smile slipped past his anger and his shoulders relaxed. “But, he’s your father no less. No matter what happens, everything he does is in the interest of protecting you and your mom.”

He rubbed his eyes with his hands and sighed heavily. His eyes were closed and he dipped his head back. He cracked his knuckled before opening his eyes again. “You’re right. C’mon let’s go.”

He took my hand to leave but I said, “But your tie.”

He grinned and threw the tie on the ground. “I never liked the tie anyways.”

Zac placed an arm around my waist and I rolled my eyes before elbowing his stomach. He laughed and placed his arm on me again but this time around my shoulders. I rolled my eyes and ducked under his arm and walked ahead of him.

I turned around and began walking backwards with a smile. “Do that again, and I tell the senator’s daughter you’re sleeping with the district elector’s niece.”

He smirked. “There’s only so many women you can hook up with in the local government.”

I cringed and expressed my disgust. “You are an absolute pig.”

He showed me his lopsided smile. “You love me anyways.”

I patted his arm and laughed. “Keep telling yourself that, kid.”

We entered the ballroom as soon as more guests started walking in. More guests were arriving from the hallway that led to the main entrance. I had yet to see Val and Caleb. After the phone call with her, she never told me what happened when she confronted Caleb. I was hoping she would tell me tonight after the banquet.

“Your dad is by the entrance.” I turned to leave, but Zac grabbed my wrist to stop me.

“Please, do not leave me. The last time you left me alone I had to pretend to be interested in the road construction project. At least when you’re there, I can engage into the conversations that you keep up with.” Zac had trouble understanding the politics involved in the local government. Part of knowing the Archibalds meant tutoring Zac in his social studies classes.

I scoffed. “The road construction project was a blessing. If you paid attention to them, then maybe you wouldn’t have popped your tires in a pothole.”

He raised his hands up in surrender. “C’mon, you are far more interested in politics than I am. It’s not like you have anything to do now. Dad won’t make you run around if it means keeping me from roaming.”

“Fine. Only because I won’t have to do anything else tonight.”

Mayor Archibald and Mrs. Archibald noticed us coming closer. The mayor adjusted his tie and brought his arm around his wife’s waist. Zac rolled his eyes and cleared his throat.

The mayor looked at us and said, “Right on time, Zachary. Our guests of honor have finally arrived.” He looked at me with indifference. “Look alive, piñata.” Okay, that’s just cruel.

Mrs. Archibald slapped his chest. “You know that’s not her name.”

I put on a bright smile. That didn’t last as I watched, in complete shock, Jordan and Logan walking in through the entrance. I dropped my smile.

Shit.