Flash Fiction | Red Carpet Rendezvous
Dylan looked at the screen, reading the email over and over again. She knew she shouldn’t go to the event. Just last week she had seen Roger with his new fling, Candace, and they looked refreshingly tanned from their long weekend in St. John. It was at that moment she had come as close as she ever had to a fit of stabbing rage, and now this email, staring back at her and mocking each one of her insecurities.
Here was Roger, inviting her to be his VIP guest at the newest, chicest, restaurant opening in the city. Basically saying, “Wear something tight, show up, have a couple of drinks, and make a bad idea feel good for a minute, until it’s time to hail your cab in the morning.” Roger did this to her all the time. They’d get serious, he’d freak out, and there would be a younger prettier piece on his arm within a week.
Oh who was she kidding… her dress was pressed, new shoes glossy in their box, he was her favorite mistake and she was going to make it. He was like a drug she could not get enough of. Sure he was a jerk and a comitment-phobe, but he had to love her, which is why he kept wanting more over and over again.
Dylan dressed, got in the waiting limo, and headed uptown to the restaurant. When the car pulled up to the curb, standing just off the red carpet, was Roger. Dylan took the chauffeur’s hand as he led her our of the car, and locked eyes with Roger a few feet away. God, she loved him. Sure, he looked a bit goofy…him being a 50 year old man wearing leather bracelets and a tight black sweater with his hair all spiked, but there was just something about him trying so hard that endeared him to her. Her friends always teased her about being with this man old enough to be her father, but she didn’t see that in Roger. She saw a man that picked her brain, made her scream in bed, kept her wanting more…
That was the problem, she always wanted more.
As the limo door closed behind her, she walked over to Roger as he took the last drag on his cigarette.
She smiled at him wryly, “Didn’t I read in some gossip column that you gave up smoking, because Candace was some kind of cancer crusader or something?”
Roger dropped the butt and stepped it out, “Didn’t I read in your last email that I was an insufferable egomaniacal piece of shit with a small dick?”
“I was pretty upset.”
“Obviously.”
“Are you going to apologize to me?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“You were going to be here, anyway. You don’t get a cookie for happenstance.”
“Well, you’re here. So I must be forgiven.”
“Or I’m hoping you’re dick’s bigger.”
Roger chuckled a little looking down at his feet, “I suppose there’s always hope.”
“Exactly,” Dylan said meeting his gaze when he looked up.
“Listen Dylan — -”
Dylan held up her hand, “Stop. Don’t give me any lame excuses or justifications for what you did. You’re a selfish prick. We get to this point, this magical point, and then you freak. I’m left heartbroken, you come to your senses, and here we are. You’re an idiot, and I’m an even bigger one.”
“Dylan, I can’t promise you anything. We have fun together, I care about you, but it just…it just, I don’t know, maybe if you had met me 20 years ago, but that ship has sailed.”
“So then why string me along, Roger?”
Roger reached into his pocket and pulled out a box. He fumbled with it a bit and opened it, revealing a ring. A single diamond solitaire, princess cut, on a platinum band. He handed the box to Dylan, pulling out a pack of cigarettes, and lighting another.
“Look, I told you that ship has sailed if you want what all your friends want, Volvos, kids, Tudor style bi-level houses in the suburbs, that I can’t do. But I do love you, and I realize I’ve been an ass. And if you want, we can do this. For real.”
Dylan laughed, “What, no down on one knee? In front of everyone? Front page news?”
“That’s not how I roll.”
“I know, and I love you for it.” She stepped in and wrapped her arms around his neck, “I love that you are you unapologetically. And yes, a hundred times yes, I will wear that ring. And if you ever, ever freak out and dump me again, I’m keeping it.”
Roger bent down to kiss her, “You got it. I even put the receipt under the velvet so you can get retail for it, baby.”
Dylan winked at him, “Good thinking. You know me all too well.”
“That I do.”
One last drag on his cigarette as Dylan slipped the ring on her finger. They walked arm in arm down the red carpet posing in the flashes, neither saying a thing about what had just happened.