All That Glitters

 

All That Glitters

 

by

 

Ellie Mack

 

 

Putting the car in park I called my best friend Stacey.  “Well, I’m here.  I don’t see his car, but this is the place he told me.  I’m so excited. Do you really think he’s going to do it?”

“Yes!  It’s so romantic!  I’ve heard it’s the best restaurant in town.  Can you take a picture of it in the bathroom and send me at least?”

I turned the ignition off and checked my makeup.  “OK.”  We squealed together before I ended the call.  Dmitri and I had dated for a year, tonight marking our one year anniversary.  It was turning out just like one of our conversations when he’d asked me about things I thought were romantic.  The holiday lights twinkled, the  snow lightly falling, and the crisp chill in the air contributed to the romance.  He couldn’t have made it more perfect if he’d had a movie set.  We had talked about a romantic dinner, then a sleigh ride together in the lightly falling snow as he proposed.  I glanced down the street and sure enough a white horse with an elegantly decorated sleigh with a man in top hat and long tails. 

I blinked several times to keep from crying.  It was absolutely perfect. I had fallen madly in love with Dmitri after four months.  He was charming, kind, and had a great sense of humor.  I took a long slow breath as I walked carefully to the door in the new fallen snow.   Blowing out a steady stream of air, as I entered, I glanced around but didn’t see him.   Tonight he would make it official.

The maître de escorted me to a corner booth that had a single red rose in a vase.  I had arrived before Dmitri.  I sat nervously scanning the crowd.  The waiter brought my wine while I waited.  Ten minutes later he arrived with another woman’s hand in his. 

“Sonya, I’d like you to meet my fiancée’ Claire.”  I stood and nervously extended my hand.  His fiancée’?  He scooted into the booth, staying close to Claire, their fingers laced together.  I couldn’t help but stare.  Was this his idea of a joke?  Claire was a lovely girl.  Physically the opposite of me in every respect; blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and a rail thin body.  I couldn’t help but evaluate against my own dark hair, brown eyes, olive skin, and curvy figure. 

Dmitri bragged to me that he had taken my idea of a perfect romantic evening to propose – to Claire. They had just returned from their carriage ride and he wanted her to meet his work associate that he’d gotten the idea from.

I wondered if she knew that the conversation came after a passionate night of lovemaking.  Could you even call it that?  Apparently it was just sex to him.  As she beamed, and he chatted on my mind went back over the past year to the date.  I looked for any signal that I had missed, but didn’t see one.  I was reeling, wanting to scream. At one point Claire had thrown out that they had dated for six months.

Claire excused herself to the restroom and Dmitri patted my hand and said. “Don’t worry babe, you’re still my little bit on the side.”

I was devastated.  After a few seconds I gathered my wits.  “No.  I am nobody’s bit on the side.  Thank you for clarifying things for me.  Also, thank you for remembering the date, however poor taste it is to ask me to meet you on our anniversary to find out you’re a two timing snake.  Does Claire have any idea that her ‘darling’, I put extra emphasis on it the way she had, proposed to her the way your “work associate”  using my fingers to quote the phrase, suggested after fucking your brains out?”  I waited just a couple seconds.  “NO?  I didn’t think so.”  I gathered my purse and scooted out of the booth.  I turned around to face him. “Congratulations.  Thanks for clearing my schedule for me.  I certainly hope it doesn’t take Claire as long to see you’re a snake.”  I took two steps then turned.  “Oh, and don’t bother showing up Monday.  You’re fired.”

I heard Claire asking him what I meant by what I had said as I walked out into the snowy night.  I managed to get to the car before the tears flowed, driving straight to my apartment.  I didn’t see that one coming.