You Wear It Well

I sifted through the fridge blindly, biding my time before my date that night. I wore a sweet-heart style navy blue dress that reached my knees, my silver heals hanging from the hat rack near the front door. It was the first time since I first met Jimmy that I had felt pretty, dressed to the nines in clothes that didn't belong on unorthodox, unsophisticated me.

"If you're looking for the ham, I ate it all," Bonzo informed me as he ate a ham sandwich at the cafe table. He took a bite of his sandwich and laughed like a lunatic, spitting foot all over the table.

I chuckled a bit, but I hadn't been looking for the ham. I closed the fridge and leaned against the island, examining Bon as he tore at the sandwich and studied the snowy forest outside the three lattice windows. "What're we doing for New Years?"

"Heading over to White Puckett for drinks, watching the ball drop." He took a mouthful of sandwich and continued, though it took me twice as long to understand his Black Country through a full mouth, "Pat and Maureen and Mo are coming. Charlotte'll be doing French shit over in France. Frog Legs. Jimmy's going to propose to Bianca."

"What?" I snapped. "He can't do that! He's married!"

Bonzo smiled at me. "Joking."

"Oh, pull the other one. I've got a date with Rod Stewart tonight, and if all goes as planned, Jimmy'll think twice about leaving me for Bianca."

Bon rolled his eyes. "Whatever tickles your box. You're not going to get through to him, the raunchy bastard." He gestured with his sandwich and a drop of mustard fell to the floor. "You've been had."

I hesitated to digest what he had said. "Well, why would he have said all the thing he did if he didn't mean them? I mean, really, what kind of 'raunchy bastard'--" Bonzo's eyes dilated and his eyes flicked from mine to behind me, trying to hush me-- "would lie right to an innocent girl's face?"

"Whose a raunchy bastard?" Jimmy's voice came from behind me. Bon laughed. I froze and turned to face him, my mind already completing a lie.

"Rod Stewart," I lied. "He and his wife split."

"I didn't know he was married," Jimmy recollected with a puzzled look on his face. "What about him?"

"I've got a date with him in a few minutes at Oracle's."

"Oh! Do you need a ride? I can call in a chauffeur." I narrowed my eyes and fumed secretly as he kept calm. He was supposed to get jealous! Angry, even! He was supposed to shove me into a wall and tell me that I couldn't go because he loved me!

"No," I spat. "He's picking me up in a limo. Thanks." I walked around him and stormed out of the kitchen and into the foyer, forgetting to eavesdrop what he would say to Bonzo once I had gone.

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

I got home from the date late, sneaking in and closing the castle door slowly behind me. I took off my heels and tip-toed to the living room, peering in to make sure nobody was up. The tv flashed on the sleeping face of Bonzo and I continued up to my room in silence.

The moment I stepped foot on the cat-walk, a black entity stepped forward. I stopped dead in my tracks and gasped as the figure walked a complete circle around me. Figuring it was one of the spirits in the home, I was taken aback when Jimmy's voice joined the shadow.

"You must have had a good date. It's past midnight."

I rolled my eyes as he settled in front of me. "Yeah, just don't tell Mum, Dad."

"Funny," he snickered. "You may want to get to bed."

"First of all, I don't know who put you in charge of me--"

"--I do own this house--"

"-- and you really need to go smoke something. Second, where you waiting up here just to give me a hard time?"

Jimmy hesitated. "I was... I was discussing things with Robert. With a girl he picked up at White Puckett."

I couldn't suppress my belligerent laughter. "Cheating in the same goddamn house as your girlfriend. You egotistical piece of shit."

"I beg your pardon?" I said nothing as I walked around him to my room. He called after me, "I'm sure Rod is so much better!"

"Oh Hunny," I tisked as I turned the nob to my bedroom door, "jealousy doesn't look well on you." I shut my door before he could say anything.