masq13

Chapter 13 - I Need Some Closure

Serena sighed as she put the masking tape on the last of the boxes.
As she finished, she stood up, taking the bright red kerchief off her head
and brushing her sweat-coated forehead with her light blue Harvard
sweatshirt. She then put the tape down and brushed her sweat-drenched
hands against her jeans, attempting to dry them.
She was tired. It was amazing. January twelfth, and NOW she
was packing for her move.
What a relief. Home sweet home.
The game was over. Who knew who had won. Whatever
happened that week was a miracle, but miracles rarely occurred more than
once…not that she wanted to have it happen to her again.
But she could not remember a time in her life when Christmas was
more enjoyable than this year.
But after she had arrived at New York and started packing, she
started to think about it more. Her thoughts became suddenly clear. *He’s
obviously playing a game with me, and just because I’m the only one of
the Larynces that actually stand up against him, he wants to make me fall
in deep for him. Sure, to melt the Ice Queen’s heart would be the greatest
accomplishment! Then, he’ll just relish in that heartless sun king role of
his. Get too close, you get burned. Well, you’ve got another thing
coming, Dredsdale.*
She was ready to think about it more, but she couldn’t…not now,
at lest…and as it looked, not ever. She had to move.
She had to move fast. Ken was being inaugurated the twentieth, as
all presidents always were. Today was the twelfth and she was moving on
the sixteenth. What fun.
She sighed, frustrated, into her boxes. Sorting things and packing,
juggling her college schedule and passing of the case to another lawyer in
her aunt’s firm was not easy.
But at least her college schedule was lighter this semester.
Looking around her room, seeing all the clothes she had yet to
pack…fancy cocktail dresses, gala things, and wedding things, she sighed
miserably. She’d need the extra time to unpack.

On the twentieth of January, Kenneth Robert Larynce was sworn in
as president of the United States.
Serena Larynce became attorney general officially. Darien
Dredsdale became surgeon general officially.
As Serena stood among the on-lookers, and froze her hands in her
rose pink gloves, she looked at Darien. He stood apart from the rest,
looking up at his friend, admirably and happily.
He was proud of his friend. Serena was proud of her cousin.
Lita stood next to her husband, and their children, Margo and
Kevin, stood by with perfect manners and serious faces.
Serena was happy. Everything was perfect in her apartment.
EVERYTHING was unpacked.
Everything was perfect.

The inauguration ball was the big event of the evening, and Serena
was aware of it. She entered the West Wing of the White House with a
small familiarity of the house. It was funny, coming back as a guest to a
place where she had lived once. She looked around her, seeing the people
around smiling and laughing.
Serena had entered carefully, slightly nervous. A new society. She
always had to deal with the rumors that had arrived before her, and she
always had to gain the favors of almost everyone in the room. Great.
But she had dressed nicely for the occasion. She wore a black
velvet sleeveless that collared around her neck, with a diamond at the
center at her throat. From the collar, the cut of fabric on either side went
diagonally from the center of the collar to the crook of her arms and
around to the back, where her line of skin reached down to the small of her
back. From there, the velvet clung to her figure, and had a slit on her right
side to just above her knee. She wore black suede pumps and her hair was
again pulled up but with small black bows that had diamond centers. She
wore diamond earrings, and some gentle blond tendrils framed her face.
She was ready. She was going to take the Washington DC society
and turn it in her favor. As she started walking around, she felt someone’s
gaze on her. She turned and focused on the person who watched her.
Darien Dredsdale.

Chapter 14 - A Complication…

Serena sighed, tired and typed more into the laptop on the desk in
front of her. It was late February. She had gone through a month of this,
and even gotten through the lonely Valentine’s Day blues with sappy
romantic movies and strawberries and white chocolate. Not to mention
plenty of boxes of tissue, especially when she saw “While You Were
Sleeping.”
It was odd…Christmas was one of the most depressing times for
her, and yet, the past one was so wonderful…but this time, well,
Valentine’s Day bit at her heart harsher than usual. Maybe it was the
unusually cold weather that had swept in, blamed on El Nino. But Serena
knew it had to do with the fact that she had a taste of something special at
Christmastime, something that she almost wished she had now.
But she had things to do, of course, because she was the busy
Attorney General. But at the same time, she was distressed. This evening,
she had another social thing to go to, the Lara Dredsdale ball thing in
Richmond. But she needed a date. She was not about to go to find her
mother and grandmother both asking her about whatever happened to her
sweet heart. The problem with Lara Dredsdale was that many of her
friends were the mindless Larynce princesses, and Serena did NOT want
to have them sneering at her all night, gossiping how the prince probably
got back his eyesight after all, and was smart enough to abandon the sickly
thing.
Serena wasn’t sickly, but the Larynce princesses did not like her
too much, because they always called her the prima donna child, always
requiring the best books, the best schools, and the biggest tuition. The fact
that Serena wore minimal makeup also bothered them as well, for she was
pretty without the layers of glob, made them all believe she was a pale
sickly thing for her lack of make up. And another fact that peeved them
was that she had beautiful golden hair full of vibrancy and always shining.
Serena had beautiful hair, and they all envied her, for no dye job could get
such perfectly colored hair. Serena Larynce was beautiful, and she didn’t
care for her appearance as much as she did for socks. And that was why
the other Larynce princesses despised her.
And Serena knew that if she did not show up tonight, they’d talk,
and if she showed up without a date, they’d talk more. There was already
going to be enough talk when she showed up without Dredsdale. And she
only hoped that the princesses wouldn’t go after Dredsdale like wolves, for
NO ONE deserved that.
Dredsdale. How quickly people can come into a life and interrupt
everything that was happening. He had changed EVERYTHING for her.
Though the holidays were wonderful, she’d made a point to avoid family
things now, because the family would expect Darien Dredsdale to be there
with her. And he couldn’t be. She wouldn’t allow it to be.
At that moment her secretary came on the intercom. “Miss
Larynce, the surgeon general is on the phone for you.”
Confused, she looked at the laptop screen blankly.
The Inaugural ball had been absolutely boring. She had spent the
evening dancing with various partners, and not one of them was Darien
Dredsdale, to her relief, but not one was as interesting as him, nor as
wonderful a dancer. As she danced with partner after partner, she felt
close to yawning. In the end, she decided to just leave. So she left a
couple of hours early. As she looked around her, she noted that Dredsdale
had apparently gotten the same idea, for he was no where to be seen, and
as she walked down the driveway of the White House, flagging for a cab,
Dredsdale was getting into one.
“Miss Larynce?”
Serena came out of her thoughtful reverie. “Yes?”
“What should I tell Dr. Dredsdale?”
“I’ll take the call right now, Lucy,” her heart started to pound, and
her mind started to throb.
She heard a click, and she breathed lightly into the phone, “Hello?”
“Ice?” his voice, it warmed her. But she scowled at the name. She
HAD told him that she watned everything back to normal, but…
She was an idiot. He was simply keeping his word.
“Don’t call me that,” she scowled into the phone.
“Excuse me, your majesty the high empress of Ice, Serena Rebecca
Larynce.”
“Will you quit that?” Serena rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
“Then what do you want me to call you, Larynce?”
“Larynce is just fine,” she stated coolly. “Now why are you calling
me?”
“You know what? Forget it.”
“Forget what? You never told me anything!” Serena smirked.
Now THIS was an interesting conversation. Too bad it only happened
with Dredsdale; she was kind of hoping that her prince Charming would
be conversational, only less insulting. And too bad he was acting like this
now…for she remembered that more than a month ago…
“Goodbye, Larynce.”
“No, Dredsdale, you called, and I’m curious. The surgeon general
does not just call the attorney general about business and just decide that
he doesn’t need to.”
“Look, it had nothing to do with business.”
Serena couldn’t breathe. There was that really annoying thing in
her throat again. She started to cough.
“Larynce?”
“Just fine, doctor, I don’t need your help. I had something in my
throat. Now why did you call? A call that has nothing to do with
business? You of all people know that this could RUIN my rep!” she
laughed bitterly.
“I called to make sure your rep WASN’T ruined. Have you seen
today’s newspaper?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Look at the paper.”
“I don’t have a copy right here with me.”
“Get one.”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s on it?”
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“All right, I’ll believe you.”
“Really?”
“YES! Now are you going to tell me or NOT?”
“Aliens have invaded.”
“Dredsdale, look, if you want to joke around, I have better things
to do…”
“Okay, okay, so that was a joke, but I think you have to look at the
newspaper yourself.”
“You mean that aliens have really invaded?” she asked, feigning
innocence.
“No, now get that paper!”
“All right! Just wait a second.”
She pressed the hold button and buzzed her secretary. “I need
today’s paper.”
“I thought you already read it this morning, Miss Larynce.”
“Apparently not carefully enough. Could you please bring it in
here, Lucy, please?”
“Sure, Miss Larynce.”
A minute later, Lucy walked in. “You put it in the recycled paper
bin, with shredded paper, so if there is any of that stuff in there, you know
where it came from.”
Serena smiled to the woman who was slightly older than she, and
decided that she’d save the newspapers until the weekend from then on.
She was only glad she hadn’t dumped the paper in the trash with the
leaking bottle of rubber cement.
As Lucy closed the door behind her, she pressed the button on her
phone. “All right, got the paper. What do you want me to see?”
“Engagements section.”
“I’m starting to feel sick,” Serena began, “Who’s getting married?
One of my bratty cousins?”
“You have to see it to believe it.”
As she opened the section, she read the names. “Lisa Arnold to
John Staton, Maria Cassinger to Luke Wood, and special notice for elite
Serena Larynce and Darien Dredsdale…” for a minute, Serena stared at
the page. “Dredsdale, is this some sick joke? What are you pulling? I
will go over there and kill you for what you just did.”
“Cool it, Larynce, I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t want to ruin my life.”
“WHAT?”
“Look, we’re both extremely surprised now.”
“How many people will get this news?”
Well, I believe that the marriage announcement is on its way to
People magazine, according to my meddlesome great aunt, who figured
she’d speed things up, since we’re getting married in the future anyway,”
he said sarcastically.
“I will KILL Gretchen Dredsdale.”
“No, you won’t. Number one, you’re a lawyer, and you know
what that gets you. Number two, you’re the attorney general, so I don’t
advise it. Number three, I won’t let you kill her.”
“Why? Don’t you feel like you want to kill her to? She just
complicated our lives by ten million tons!”
“Number four, it’d mean you’d have to kill your grandmother too.”
“Grandma! She wouldn’t do that…would she?”
“Gertrude Dredsdale and Gail Larynce announced the engagement
last night at a function in Chicago.”
“Have you talked to your great aunt?”
“Yes, and that’s all she said. She thought it was time I settled
down, and that we were going to be engaged sooner or later, why not
sooner and not later?”
“That is the dumbest excuse I heard, but my grandmother will use
something like that on me. She’ll say she’s old and is worried I’ll be all
alone in the world when she “passes on” and give me a break there are
about 150-200 Larynces! I won’t be all alone for the rest of eternity!
She’s seventy-four, and doc says she’s going to go on for longer than that!
So what do we do?”
“I don’t know, Larynce. The way I figure it, we could do one of
three things.”
“And those would be?”
“We could pretend the engagement never existed…”
“I like that one.”
“I thought so too, but we’ll get into some turbulence when the
news hits the magazines. But then again, all we have to do is write up…”
“What are your other suggestions, Dredsdale?” Serena rolled her
eyes to the ceiling.
“We could stage a fight for tonight…”
“That shouldn’t be hard. We fight all the time.”
“But then we’d be thought very superficial for being engaged for
only a while and argumentative. Let’s just way we’ll never hear the end of
the matter if we do it this way.”
“So what are we left with?”
“Well…um…”
“Just say it.”
“We could follow it through-“
“WHAT?” shrieked Serena.
Lucy came running in. “What is it, Miss Larynce?”
“Funny, I didn’t think the Chicago Bulls could ever lose,” Serena
laughed, putting a hand to her now sweaty forehead.
Lucy then closed the door behind her, and she frowned as she
heard Darien’s laughter on the other side of the line. “Shut up Dredsdale!”
she ordered coldly. “I’m upset as it is already, I don’t need you to make it
worse.”
“Creative thinker, Larynce. You’re creative.”
“Thanks,” she sighed, sarcastically. “I’m not going marry you,
Dredsdale.”
“No, I wasn’t going to suggest that. I just thought we could hold
off the break up for a while, just to make the engagement believable.
Therefore, when we broke it off truly, then we could just go our own ways
and everyone in our families would think we were so hurt, the matriarchs
wouldn’t try to pull a stunt like this ever again. You know, not a marriage
of convenience, but more of an engagement of convenience.”
“You DO have a point. If we pull this off, my family would really
lay off with the matchmaking. But you might be viciously pursued by my
cousins after.”
“I can handle them,” he scoffed.
“So we’ll just use the engagement to our advantage.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s only one problem,” Serena sighed.
“And that would be?”
“We couldn’t possibly be a happily engaged couple, Dredsdale. I
don’t even LIKE you!”
“That’s quite a strong thing to say to your fiancee, ICE!”
“DON’T CALL ME THAT!!!”
“All right, all right, Honey.”
“I don’t like that either. Stick with Larynce.”
“Fine.”
“But we can’t act like…fiancees!”
“We did at Christmas.”
“Christmas is another world…” she said, as her heart pounded. To
have him hold her again…“But then again, we just have to be slightly
loving the first few months, and start having some problems with each
other so that when the engagement break off comes, it’ll be expected.”
“Good, Larynce.”
“So how long will this last?”
“I have no idea.”
“When do couples normally break it off?”
“There is no such thing as a normal break-up time.”
“So when?”
“I don’t know!”
“Fine, let’s make it interesting, and contradict that gold mistletoe.
I feel very poetic today. I say we break up on Christmas Day, right at
breakfast, in front of everyone. You can get me a totally horrid gift and
I’ll start crying about how horrible you make me feel in general, the gift
only supporting my argument, and I’ll break it off.”
“But that makes me look like a jerk.”
“And you AREN’T one?”
“I resent that.”
“Besides, no one’s going to believe a man to be tearful.”
“Fine, you break it off. After all, you have deliver the gut-
wrenching news to Gail and Gertrude.”
“Don’t remind me. We’ll let them be happy old ladies for now, but
it most definitely won’t last.”
“So are you coming tonight, Larynce?”
“I’ll be there, but I think fiancees arrive together. Also, I don’t
want to face the curious press and the family alone.”
“All right. How are you getting to Richmond?”
“Train.”
“Great. I’m taking train too. I‘ll stop by your office at noon, and
we’ll leave for the train station.”
“But right now, it’s nine o’clock!”
“Yeah, grab your stuff from your apartment, and pack some work.
You’d have to leave at this time to get there in time by yourself anyway,
so don’t complain.”
“You know, there IS a reason why I’m the LATE Larynce.”
“There’s also a reason why you’re the Ice Queen, but you don’t
accept that, so I don’t accept tardiness. See you later, HONEY,” he bit
out. >Click.<
Serena hung up the phone and looked at the phone, then the
newspaper. She was engaged to Dredsdale. This would certainly be a year
to remember.
Serena got out of her desk and left her office. She met Lucy on the
outside. “I have to go shopping for a stunning dress. I’ll be back at eleven
thirty. I think I’ll take today as a sick day. If anyone calls, take the
message, if Dr. Dredsdale calls, place his message on the top. If the press
calls, say no comment and hang up.”
Lucy nodded her head.
Serena left, her trenchcoat in hand, mission in mind. Two and a
half hours, and one absolutely eye-numbing dress.