World Domination
By CuteCognizant

Chapter 6.

The guests would be arriving any minute. The housekeeper turned on some Christmas music as my mother called me downstairs to help greet the guests. As I descended the stairs her face fell and an appalled look spread across her face.

“Sophie, what are you wearing?” She nearly shrieked.

“A dress,” I told her, my head held high.

“That is the most revolting thing I have ever seen,” she exclaimed. “You must go upstairs and change immediately.”

The doorbell rang and I froze.

“Roberta,” my mother called the housekeeper, “can you please answer the door and tell our guests that I will be with them in a minute.”

“Right away,” the housekeeper hurried in from the kitchen.

My mother nearly sprinted up the stairs, grabbed my hand, and began leading me through the hallways. “None of the young men will even look at you if you’re wearing that,” my mother whispered, “and seeing as how we are hosting the party you must be the most beautiful of everyone.”

I groaned, “Mother, I like this dress.” It was not a complete lie. I liked how it made me look so hideous no one would bother with me the entire evening. “Besides, I don’t have anything else to wear.”

She stalked into my room, threw my closet doors open, and began rummaging through my clothes.

I sat on my bed. “Mother, why are you so insistent that I impress everyone? I don’t need a boyfriend. I don’t need to get married. I can make it on my own.”

She turned away from the closet holding a silver dress she had bought me two years ago for my birthday. It was slender and formfitting and still had the price tags on it. She walked over to my bed and sat down beside me. “Sophie, I want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,” I said, “and I like my dress.”

“I don’t want you to be lonely,” she added. “Life can be lonely when you have no one to share it with. I don‘t want you to be me, so immersed in your work that you let the majority of your life slip by.”

She was being too sentimental and I had to get her out of my room as soon as possible.

She had been thirty-five when she married my father and it had been five years before they had me. The complications during the pregnancy had been numerous because of her age and at times the doctor believed he might lose me or my mother or even both of us.

“Give me the dress.”

She smiled “I’ll see you downstairs in a few minutes.” She leaned over, kissed the top of my head, and left the room.

That was the longest conversation I ever had with my mother.

I looked at the dress lying on my bed. It wasn’t just silver but shiny as well. It reminded me of something Fran Drescher would have worn while on the television show The Nanny.

It was ten minutes before I had lost enough dignity to slip into the dress and another five minutes before I had the courage to exit my bedroom.

Only a handful of guests had arrived when I found myself downstairs. The wife of one of my mother’s colleagues placed herself in my path to the punch and forced me to stop dead. “Sophie!” she exclaimed, “you look completely stunning. I remember when you were only one year old running through the house in only a diaper, and look at you now.”

I smiled and nodded at her.

“You simply must allow me to introduce you to my son. Charles,” she called, “Charlie where have you gone?”

I willed my brain to shut down but it did not and before I knew it a boy in a tuxedo appeared in front of me. He was tall and thin with glasses thicker than mine. He wasn’t handsome but he wasn’t ugly either. He was plain like me, but believed himself to possess a brain bestowed on him by the gods. He grinned when he saw me and extended his hand, “Sophie you look gorgeous. I haven’t seen you in years,” he paused and glanced at his mother who had turned to speak with another woman. When he was sure she was no longer listening he added, “You certainly filled out.”

I was appalled. “Excuse me,” I told him, “but I was just on my way to the punch bowl.” I made my way across the room, hoping someone had spiked the punch, but knowing full well that no one had. I filled a glass with the red beverage and turned around. I shrieked when I saw Charles standing there.

He laughed.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack.” To be truthful, I was disappointed he hadn’t.

He grabbed my hand, “Let’s dance.”

Before I had time to protest he had pulled me into the center of the room. He placed my arms around his neck and then put his hands on my waist. I was uncomfortable, but when I saw my mother over his shoulder smiling I held my protest in. Slowly his hand began sliding down below my waist and when I could no longer stand it I shoved him away from me.

“Haven’t you ever heard of personal space?” I spat at him.

I felt a hand slip around my waist and was about to elbow the new molester when I heard a familiar voice turn on Charles, “I would appreciate it if you would stop stalking my girlfriend.”

It was official. Chelsea was going to murder me in my sleep.

I watched, grinning, as Charles stalked away, and then spun around to glare at Andrew. “What are you doing here? And what gives you the right to call me your girlfriend?”

Only once I saw him I couldn’t glare, I could only gasp. He was wearing a tuxedo, where he had gotten one I had no idea. I knew he didn’t own one, but here he was in it. He had combed his hair back so it was out of his eyes. His eyes looked so green now that there was nothing hiding them. He looked attractive. No, he looked better than attractive, he looked quite handsome, and I mentally screamed at myself when I noticed myself thinking that.

“You asked me to come rescue you. And, I figured calling you my girlfriend would remove your unwanted dance partner a lot quicker than saying ‘I would appreciate it if you would stop stalking my little sister‘s best friend,’” he answered.

Okay, so he had a point with that last part, but still. “I did not,” I spat back, “I deliberately remember you offering to come and me declining the said offer. Multiple times.”

“Your mouth said no but your eyes said yes.”

“How did you even get in?” I asked him.

“Through the door.”

“That’s not what I meant!” I shrieked a little too loudly.

A few people turned to look at us and I made a mental note to lower my voice.

I really did not want to be mean to Andrew. I knew that he was just trying to help. The problem was that he didn’t understand what had transpired between his sister and myself. If my mother had answered the door and he slipped and said he was my date, well women gossip. His mother would inevitably find out about it from my mother and then Chelsea would hear about it from her mother, and then I would be dead before the New Year.

“Who let you in?” I questioned.

He raised one eyebrow and looked at me in what I can only describe as curiosity. “The housekeeper,” he replied calmly.

“Without an invitation?” I shot back.

“Roberta has known me for almost four years,” he said, still staring at me.

I scowled. In three days my life had gone from completely and utterly boring to intricately and dangerously complicated. I couldn’t throw Andrew out of the party because it would draw too much speculation from both him and the guests. On the other hand, the longer he stayed the more likely it was Chelsea would find out he was here, that is if she did not know already. I had absolutely no idea what to do and no plan to fall back on.

“How did you slip away from your family?” I wondered allowed.

Andrew took my hand and began slow dancing with me. I was about to protest when I saw Charles watching us and thought better of it.

“After dinner I told my parents that an old friend from high school invited me over for a party and promised to be home before my grandparents arrived to open presents tomorrow.” He smiled, “It wasn’t a lie. Elliot did invite me.”

It was time for me to do a lot of praying.

Andrew pulled me closer to him as we danced and I noticed that he was using a new cologne. He smelled good, really good, and I was tempted to rest my head on his shoulder, but my eye glasses were in the way and I was thankful for that.

That was when I realized the extent of the trouble I was in.

“So, what happened to the green dress?” he whispered into my ear.

I glanced down at myself, saw I was in the oh so revealing silver number, and was sure my face turned ten shades of red. “My mother liked this one better.”

“For once I agree with your mother,” he said with the most wicked grin on his face.

“You better watch that mouth of yours or when I take over the world you will be the first person I dispose of.”

Andrew placed one hand on his chest, mockingly. “That really hurt, Sophie. The next time you’re in trouble this knight in shining armor will not be riding in on a white steed to rescue you.”

I wrinkled my nose, “I see no shining armor and no white steed.”

He continued grinning, “But you do see a knight.”

I punched him playfully on the arm. “I see someone who would like to think of himself as the hero who saved the damsel in distress,” but instead only helped to dig her grave, I thought to myself.

I heard the sound of metal on glass and looked to the front of the room where I knew my parents would be standing, preparing to announce that dinner was ready.

Andrew squeezed my hand and I glanced over at him. “You’re so uptight, fidgety, and extremely quick to pick a fight tonight,” he said.

That was it! He didn’t question why I was like this, he didn’t ask if I was okay, he just stated it. Of course I could tell from looking at his face that he was wondering why I was like this, but he did not ask. Perhaps he was feeling his way around. Trying to see if it was safe to ask.

Luckily I was saved from dancing around the answer to the unasked question by my parents completing their announcement and everyone moving into the dining area. It was the best Christmas present my parents could have given me.

My parents sat together at the head of the table and I pulled Andrew with me until we were in a position far enough away not to be heard by them and at an angle where they would have trouble seeing us.

Suddenly I remembered that Andrew had not been given an invitation and that a seat had not been prepared for him. I began glancing around the dining room to see who was now without a place but instead of seeing anyone standing around mortified I only saw Roberta nod and wink at me.

Dinner was complete and utter torture. Charles kept glancing at me and glaring at Andrew.

“It looks as though your admirer wants me dead,” Andrew told me, laughing.

“I wish he would stop,” I whispered, “it makes me feel uncomfortable.”

“Well what do you expect when you’re wearing a dress like that?” He questioned.

“I did not want to wear this, this, this thing!” I told him. “My mother used guilt on me.”

He grinned, “I have an idea.” He stood up and took my hand, “Come with me.”

I glanced around to make sure no one was watching us and when I was satisfied I stood up. “Where are we going?”

“To your bedroom.”

I stopped walking. “What?”

“So you can change into the dress you had originally planned on wearing.” He tugged me along.

We walked through the kitchen and took the stairs in the back of the house.

“I’ll stand outside your room, on guard duty so to speak.”

“You can’t,” I informed him, “guests are not allowed upstairs during the party.” I pulled him into my room and shut the door behind us. There was no way he could stay in the hallway. What if my mother or father saw him? It was bad enough Roberta knew he was here.

“I really don’t think I should be in here,” he said nervously. “What if someone were to come upstairs looking for you?”

“I highly doubt anyone will be up here looking for me,” I told Andrew as I turned around so that my back faced him. “Zipper.”

He walked up behind me and slowly pulled the zipper down.

I snatched my green dress off the bed and bolted for the bathroom. Once inside the safety of my private bathroom I collapsed against the door. Andrew’s breath on the back of my neck while he had been standing behind me had totally destroyed all my senses.

Goose bumps were starting to form on my arms.

After a few seconds of recovery I slowly slipped out of the silver dress and slipped into the green one. I felt like myself again. I quickly checked myself in the mirror and then returned to the main part of my bedroom.

Andrew was laying on my bed, his hands behind his head, staring at the glow in the dark stars on my ceiling. “How long did it take you to put every constellation up there?”

“About a month,” I told him. “Mind zipping this one up?”

He got out of the bed as I pulled my hair out of the way of the zipper. “Done,” he whispered in my ear.

I turned around but was unable to look at him. “Thank you,” I whispered. I rubbed my arms with my hands and felt the goose bumps getting worse, “We should get back to the party.”

Once downstairs I saw a familiar head of red hair. Andrew followed me to the owner.

“Sophie, you look absolutely…” he stopped speaking. “I can’t do it. You would see through the lie. Just fire your stylist and hire another.”

I laughed. “Elliot, what are you doing here? What happened to your party?”

“I could not let such a fair lady suffer on her own.” He looked at Andrew, “Though I see another prince charming has beat me to the princess.”

Andrew’s jaw tightened.

“Seriously Elliot, why are you here?” I asked again.

“I decided to take your advice and have the party on New Year’s Eve instead. That way everyone can come.” He looked my dress over once more, “Why are you wearing that atrocity?”

“I’ll show you,” I told him and then sauntered over to Charles.

Charles was standing at the buffet table, his back to me. I tapped him on the shoulder and then purred in my best seductive voice, “Charlie, would you care to dance?”

He turned around and then took a step backward, recoiling, and bumped into the table. “You.. You changed.”

“Yes, I did,” I confirmed. “This dress is much more to my liking. So, would you care to dance?”

“I think I will sit this one out.”

I returned to Andrew and Elliot. “Everyone has the same reaction when they see this dress.”

“Complete and utter fear?” This was from Elliot.

Andrew put his arm around my shoulders, “Charles was a little too hands-on earlier this evening.”

I wriggled away from him and stood between the two friends. “This dress seems to keep most men away from me.”