The Want Ad: A Sweet Romance

by Penelope Marshall

  I hated that she felt that way about herself. I wanted her to see the woman that I saw—the woman that I loved. I shook my head. They say that love is blind—well, I say it's deaf, blind, and mute. This woman could do no wrong in my eyes, which was my fatal flaw when it came to our relationship; I let her hold all the power. My fear of rejection kept me from stepping out of my self-imposed box.

  She schlepped back into the living room, indulging me with a fake smile, but the disappointment on her face was apparent, so I decided to change the subject.

  "Who is this guy?"

  She leaned over and eyed the picture I was pointing at. Her whole demeanor changing in a split second.

  "Oh my goodness, that's Jay Aston, the most popular guy in school. He was MVP everything, and I was so in love with him. Ahhh, Jay. So yummy! Too bad he never knew I existed," she said, still gawking at the photo.

  Disappointed, I asked, "Really, loved him, huh?"

  She went around the futon and sat next to me, giving me a little push on the shoulder, chuckling. "Oh, Ben. That was a little girl crush I had over ten years ago. There is no way he is still single, and even if he is, I'm sure he doesn't know who I am. But I bet he still looks just as fine as he did back then, though. Lordy, that man was fine as all I don't know what! If I was gonna pick someone to lose my virginity to... mmm, mmm, mmm."

  "Hmmmm," I huffed.

  I almost couldn't believe I was jealous of a high school crush that never amounted to anything more than a young girl's fantasy. I could feel the heat in me swell, and I knew I had to drop the subject before I said something I was going to regret.

  "It was ten years ago. Trust me—he didn't know me then and he sure as hell wouldn't know me now."

  "Whatever you say," I said, trying not to pay attention.

  "Why are you getting upset?"

  "I'm not upset. Can't a guy ask a question without there being an ulterior motive?"

  "Are you jealous?" she asked with a smile on her face, jumping off the futon and onto my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck.

  "Jealous? Jealous of what? Like you said, it was ten years ago. And nothing happened right?"

  NECIE

  I raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was being so weird about Jay. It was ten years ago, and nothing ever happened. Not that I wouldn't have wanted something to happen.

  I think he's jealous.

  I smiled. What girl wouldn't smile at the fact a hot doctor was showing some jealousy over another man.

  "You know, you should go. These things don't come around every day," he said, picking me up off his lap and throwing me onto the couch.

  "Hey!" I hollered.

  "You're a big girl. You can take it, can't you?"

  "I can take a lot of things, Ben," I said with a wink.

  I sat up and studied the picture of Jay. His silky smooth bald head plunged into a chiseled jawline, and his light brown eyes were framed by a thick set of black eyelashes that were set above a pair of lips that begged to be kissed often. I remember passing him in the halls, eyeing those very lips, which were the star of most of my early fantasies.

  I worshiped the ground he walked on, but dragging around all that weight, plus the other unattractive features, didn't help me attract his attention. The only people who ever really noticed me were the mean girls in school that bullied me daily.

  One girl went as far as pouring grape Kool-Aid over my head during lunch while everyone else in the cafeteria laughed. I had to walk around the rest of the day with sticky, frizzy, hair, and purple stains all over my t-shirt. If I was honest with myself, I still carried around all the hurt from those terrible years.

  "Are you still looking at that picture?" Ben yelled from the kitchen.

  I didn't reply, sliding my hand over the matte paper, reminiscing about the day it was taken. It was not a picture of us exchanging a friendly hug or even standing close enough for our jackets to have grazed. It was a picture for an article that I was writing for my journalism class, interviewing Jay before his big game against our rival school.

  My best friend at the time, Josan, had taken the picture to go with the article. Unbeknownst to me, she anonymously sent it to the yearbook committee under the guise that is was a flattering picture of Jay right before he won the big game and brought home the banner.

  I could still remember the first time I laid eyes on him. Having just left class on my way home, I decided to cut through the football field, when out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of the marvelous creature whom I later came to know as Jay Aston. There he stood, in all of his shirtless glory, the sun glistening off of his beautiful brown skin.

  I was hooked from the word go. Needless to say, from then on, I took that shortcut home every day. My imaginary relationship with him was the only thing, other than my journalism class, that made high school bearable.

  "Man, I was so gross back then." I chuckled to myself.

  "Did you say something?"

  "Nope—nothing," I replied, shaking my head.

  During the summer after graduating and before heading off to college, I decided to take matters into my hands. I stayed away from carbs and went to the gym every day, and eventually found myself a great dermatologist to take care of my horrible skin. By summer's end, all my hard work had garnered me a supermodel figure, and a blemish free complexion, but the exercise never shed the insecurity that still occasionally haunted me.

  Ben came back from the kitchen. "So, have you decided if you're going?"

  I thought about it for a moment, and the allure of seeing Jay again tantalized me so much, how could I say no? Maybe this was the man that I had been waiting for, the one who would sweep me off of my feet and put a ring on my finger. Well, a girl could dream…couldn't she?

  I gazed down at the picture, then to the mirror that hung on the wall. Even though at times I still felt like that girl in the picture, I didn't look like her anymore, and maybe if I ran into Jay at the reunion, a second chance would be in the cards.

  "You know what? I'm gonna go! And I'm gonna show all of those bastards that made fun of me the real Necie Anderson."

  "I'm glad you changed your mind. Do you want me to take a day off and go with you?" he asked, taking a bite of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

  I thought about it for a moment, realizing that if Ben came and Jay was there, Ben would see me revert into a nerdy giggling school girl, and that was something I didn't want him to witness.

  "Uh, no. I probably won't stay long, so it wouldn't be worth the extra effort to reschedule with your patients."

  "Ok, if you're sure."

  "Yeah, I hate when doctors reschedule appointments I've had forever."

  "You're probably right. And don't worry, it'll be fine. They are going to see the woman that I see, and they are gonna lo-…" his words trailed as he took another bite of his sandwich.

  "They are gonna lo-?"

  He didn't reply. Instead he took another bite of his sandwich as he stood up from the couch, and headed for his bedroom door. "As much as I'd love to stay up and chat, I got a few surgeries tomorrow, so I really gotta hit the sack."

  "Sleep well, my prince," I said in the most sensual voice I could muster as I fluttered my eyelashes at him.

  He shook his head at me. "You play way too much, Necie. One of these days it's gonna catch up with you."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "It means exactly what I said. Stop playing games," he said, walking into his room, closing the door behind him.

  I had no idea what he was yammering on about. "Games?" I said under my breath, looking back down at the yearbook.

  TEAM WORK

  It had been a few days since the invitation had come in the mail, and I had put the whole business of the reunion out of my mind. My less than stellar job kept me way too busy and way too tired to think about anything other than Form 1002 goes into file cabinet three, and Form 1002.1 goes in file cabinet twenty-seven. Who even made that up?


  "Are you up?" Ben hollered from the kitchen.

  "Leave me alone!"

  "Come here and make me," he flirted.

  "I'm not in the mood."

  "I made your coffee already. I'm leaving. I'll see you tonight."

  Before I could say thanks, I heard the door slam. I rolled out of bed and brushed my teeth, and I think I might have thrown on some mascara, but I'm not too sure about that fact.

  Like I said, I was tired, and I wasn't in the mood to look pretty for anyone. I shimmied on my usual tight pencil skirt, and blouse, and headed for the door to start another fabulous day of slinging forms around a stuffy office cubical.

  My phone beeped as I reached for the door. I pulled it out of my purse and read the text.

  Ben: Dinner tonight?

  Me: Yes, but I have to buy a dress.

  Ben: You have a million dresses.

  Me: Not one good enough for the reunion.

  Ben: Okay meet me in front of the apartment at 7.

  Me: Why do you get to decide?

  Ben: Fine you decide.

  Me: 7:02.

  Ben: Bye!

  I chuckled to myself. I had to run and grab something to wear right after work and right before dinner with Ben. Otherwise I'd be stuck wearing last year's New Year's Eve party outfit to the reunion.

  "It never ends," I said, sliding the phone back into my purse before heading out the door.

  As I waited for the elevator in the office lobby, my mind wandered to thoughts of the impending reunion, and Jay Aston.

  What if he came? What if he ignores me like he did in high school?

  The elevator dinged, and the doors opened, snapping me out of my deep contemplation.

  Here we go!

  I stepped into the elevator, praying the whole way the work day would fly by, but that would've been too good to be true. The hours seemed to tick away more slowly now that I had somewhere to go after work. I was going to ask to leave early, but my boss, Brandon, looked unusually flustered, and I wasn't one to rock the boat.

  So after filing my hundredth form, my mind once again drifted to the reunion and the possibility of seeing Jay. I had to figure out what to wear, and I had to make sure that it was going to get everyone's head to turn. After all, I was only going to get one chance to make the best second impression.

  "Necie. Necie. Are you there?" my boss asked, waving his hand in my face.

  I was startled after being caught daydreaming. "Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. I'm here."

  "I need you to file this stack of forms before you leave. Alma didn't come into work today, so you're going to have to pick up her load."

  "But…"

  "Uh, uh, uh. Teamwork makes the dream work," he said, wagging his finger at me.

  "Right—the dream."

  "Say it with me. Team. Work. Makes…"

  I nodded. "I got it. I got it. Makes the dream work," I said with a snarky attitude, sighing as I grabbed the added stack of work.

  Damn Alma!

  The clock said I only had an hour to go, but the stack of work in front of me said I had another eight.

  No. No. No.

  This job was not going to get in my way of a new dress. I zipped through the paperwork like the Lord Himself had come down and filled them out for me. I was done with ten minutes to spare.

  Wow. I should do that every day.

  I threw my pen on the desk and trudged out without a word to Brandon. No need to give him the chance to bombard me with anyone else's work.

  I tried to flag down some cabs as I slogged down Main Street which led down to some smaller shops, but no one would stop. Catching a cab in this town was like trying to find a four-leafed clover in the middle of a lush meadow. Defeated, I decided to hoof it the rest of the way. I found a little shop nestled between a coffee shop and a deli, which I had never seen before.

  The shop was filled with every kind of evening gown, and cocktail dress, just the place I needed to be. I only had about an hour before I had to meet Ben, and I prayed that I would find what I needed on the first rack. Again, not so lucky. I was about forty-five minutes into the hunt when a delicate older woman came out from the back.

  "Can I help you, my dear?"

  "Yes, I'm looking for a dress to wear to my ten-year-reunion."

  "A ten-year-reunion? Oh, my word. Come. Come." She beckoned me toward the back.

  "Yes. I need to make an incredible impression."

  "Well, you are beautiful enough to do that. Let's find a dress that compliments that beauty, shall we?"

  She was fantastic. Like the fairy Godmother every little girl wished for. She eyed me and motioned for me to turn.

  "A size four?" she asked.

  "How'd you know?"

  "It's my job to know," she said with a wink.

  "Oh my goodness, I love you already."

  "Well, I think you're going to love me even more once I show you this dress."

  As if she were saving it just for me, she pulled a garment bag out of a hidden closet that doubled as a mirror.

  "Here you go, my dear," she said, handing me the long black dress.

  My eyes widened, as I pored over the design. It was a shiny, black, sleeveless, mermaid cut dress; that was just flashy enough to be an evening gown but subtle enough to be a cocktail dress.

  I ran into the dressing room to try it on, and it fit like a glove. There was no way I wasn't going to turn heads with this dress.

  I stood in front of the mirror, admiring the dress on me. "I'll take it."

  "I already have it rung up." She chuckled.

  I handed her my credit card and headed back to the dressing room to take off the dress. The saleswoman handed me my credit card as I stepped out of the room, and a bag to put the dress in.

  "You are going to be the belle of the ball, my dear."

  I couldn't express to her how happy she had just made me. This was more than I could've ever hoped for, and I couldn't wait to strut my stuff at the reunion. I left her shop walking on cloud nine, unaware of my surroundings as I rounded the corner onto my street.

  "Boo!"

  I was startled off my cloud and halfway out of my skin. I whipped around to see who had scared me so childishly.

  "Ben!" I screamed. "It's New York; you can't be sneaking up on people like that."

  I smacked him on the arm, and then one more time for good measure. "Goddammit, you scared me half to death."

  He covered his face with his hands trying to block the shot, lowering them when he realized I was no longer trying to hit him. His eyes widened when he saw the tears streaming from my eyes.

  BEN

  I saw the fear in her face and the tears that followed. Quickly, I reached out my hand laying my palm on her cheek, my thumb wiping away the wetness as I pulled her close, pressing my forehead against hers.

  "I'm so, so sorry. It wasn't funny. I messed up. Forgive me?" I whispered softly.

  "Forgive you?"

  "Please?"

  She smiled and pushed against me again, smacking me on the arm. "Don't do that again, or I won't love you anymore."

  Even though I knew she was speaking from a place of friendship, just the fact those words sprung from her lips, in any context, gave me hope that one day I could call her mine.

  I smiled. "Let me make it up to you. Let me take you out to eat. My treat."

  I pointed to our favorite Indian restaurant, which was right down the street. She chuckled, playfully pushing me off the curb as she turned to walk toward the restaurant. I jumped back onto the sidewalk, jogging to catch up to her.

  I could see her face was still a little flushed from the incident, and the guilt from scaring her gnawed at me. All I could think about was wrapping my arms around her and apologizing profusely.

  "Hey, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to scare you like that. Where were you coming from this late anyway?" I asked, opening the door for her.

  "It's fine. Don't worry about it," she said.

  "Easy for you to say
," I said, motioning to the waitress there would only be two of us.

  "I was coming from buying a dress," she said with a big smile on her face.

  The waitress led us to our usual table in the back corner of the restaurant, where I pulled out the seat for her, trying to be chivalrous.

  "Why, thank you, kind sir."

  She sat down, laying the bag and purse on the chair next to her, and took out a mirror to check her makeup.

  "You don't need makeup, you know."

  "Pfft! Tell that to my crow's feet."

  "I would if you had any."

  "Stop trying to kiss up to me," she said, wiping the black smudges away from under her eyes.

  "Lemme see that super sexy dress?" I asked as I reached over the table to grab the bag.

  She slapped my hand away. "Stop it."

  "What?" I asked innocently.

  "I can't show you; that's bad luck."

  "What?! Bad luck? It's not like we're getting married. Or are we?" I asked raising one eyebrow.

  "Huh?!?! Married. Uh—nooo! I'll tell you what, Benjamin. If I'm not married by the time I turn forty-five, I'm all yours," she said jokingly, as she perused the menu.

  "Forty-five? I don't wanna marry a forty-five-year-old, Necie Anderson," I said, leaning over trying to peek into the bag.

  "Ewww, rude much? You're gonna wish you never said that, buddy!"

  "Of course I'll marry you at forty-five. What would you ever do without me?"

  "Be hungry and homeless is my best guess." She chuckled.

  "You'll never have to worry about that as long as I'm around. I've always got you," I replied softly.

  "I know." She smiled, looking up from her menu. "Ben Johnson, you are gonna make some woman very happy one day."

  Yeah 'some woman'.

  I was a little irritated at how naïve she was being. I knew she felt something for me, but that damn fear. I guess I had it too though, but at least I was willing to try, which was more than I could say for her. The only woman I truly wanted to make happy was completely unavailable to me.

  She looked around to flag down the waitress to order and made eye contact with one of the ladies, who started to make her way over to our table.

  "So have you thought much about your upcoming reunion?" I asked.