Ending Before it Began

Taryn came into work today to corner Caspar over her little engagement soiree and sometimes I almost feel sorry for Caspar because the people he deals with have no concept of him having other clients as they expect him to drop everything and rush to do whatever crazy idea they have concocted. At least I knew that for Caspar dinner parties were a breeze as he had this sort of pre-arranged template that he pretends to create right before their very eyes and is all original and just for them. It really was just a variation on a theme but each bood gets convinced it was entirely her own idea so that if it backfires she could only blame herself for being so unoriginal.

I watched him work his charm on Taryn and had to admit he was nothing more than a big con artist and she pretty much deserved the designer she got! She sprackled about Braith, then Jazz and then Royce for thwarting her Elyce Dubois plans. Then she puzzled over the sudden disappearance of Elyce and I had to hide under my desk for a while for I was certain if she looked in my direction she would be able to see the deal I had made with Gervais written on my face. She then sprackled about Gervais not being helpful but in a more tactful, one does not mess with a Dubois, sort of way as usually no one publicly sprackles about Gervais but since she is best friends with Liselle she was the person who could get away with it. I was surprised that Liselle was nowhere to be seen as she usually accompanies Taryn on her little jaunts and then would sit aloof and eerie not saying much except to correct Taryn's atrocious French pronunciation or guide her away from puce.

I left her ranting to Caspar and drifted down to Djini’s for lunch and I was hoping that for once it would be safe, as having to drive Northside every day just for lunch would be very annoying when Djini’s was just down the road. I decided to try slipping in and sitting at one the back booths where no one but a waitress might notice me there. I went in and since my life is doomed to be a disaster, the first person I see sitting right in front of me with Royce, was Jojo Sedero. I don’t quite know what happened at the moment for the world went a bit fuzzy, then my face burned pink and a roaring filled the inside of my head. I wanted to look away, at anyone else but Jojo but for a minute I couldn’t and I was stuck standing there looking like a moron while Royce sat enjoying the show. Jojo however had no problems with ignoring me, he looked me over like I was rotten garbage and without a single pause in his conversation kept on talking to Royce. My cheeks burned in humiliation, first he runs off with Lynx without a backward glance and then he ignores me like I never existed. I was back to being invisible again and I hated that he could do this to me and that he would be such a bastard on top of everything that happened. As for Royce, that stupid dickhead after everything I had done to save him from Elyce, he didn’t even say anything to help me out either.

I went to the back booth and sat there fuming, I wanted to shout at them both but since they were ignorant meatnuts I did the next best thing, I called up Coco and told her that her boyfriend was a nasty creep and hung up on her. I realised that I was becoming unhinged because of the insane relationships in this town and for the first time I considered leaving. I knew that Mother would have a rough time of it at first but she did have Chantal to console her and Tiah and Coco wouldn’t really notice me gone, well at least until Tiah tried to have a proper conversation. It was at the moment that I realised the only person really speaking to me in Bishop Vale were the Dubois family, well at least Gervais and Ladonna, how sad my life had become.

Like the ill omen they are, as soon as I had thought of one of them, in walks Liselle or I should say, in she floated on her cloud of ice. Although she had been known to come here occasionally, Djini’s was more a young people place. if Liselle and Taryn went for coffee someplace it generally would be in the far more elegant Eliade a place with white linen and whisper quiet waiters in flannel uniforms. Liselle glided in and the entire place held its breath, she represented the unattainable, the desirable and not a person there made an impression on her, well no one except me, to my surprise, and lets face it horror.

She drifted down the café until she reached my booth and then sat down with the combined grace and arrogance that was classic of the Dubois, even Gervais had this unnatural feline quality of being able to slip into corners before you knew he was there. Liselle took her gloves off and smiled a flash of frozen perfection and I thought that this was it; she was going to say something so horribly awful that I would have to flee the town forever, maybe change my name as well. Liselle started our chat by trying to be sociable, she asked how I liked working for Caspar, and I told her it was fine. She asked if I was working on Ladonna’s party and I said yes I was, then we fell into a very awkward silence with me shifting in my seat like a kid in school waiting for the teacher to shout at me. She said in an off hand tone that Elyce had suddenly decided to go on a trip to Europe as she had wanted to visit Paris for quite a while. I became very guarded as I was uncertain how much she knew of why Elyce had suddenly left and I watched her read the menu for a minute before she added that Gervais had been the one to encourage Elyce to leave so suddenly.

I could only nod mutely as my throat had closed up and it was hard to breathe as I knew she was setting me up for the kill. She put the menu down firmly and gave me the benefit of her ice cold green eyes and terrified I sat transfixed by her gaze. Leaning forward and lowering her voice, this appears to be a family trait, she said that she didn’t know what I had arranged with Gervais but if I was a half as clever as he thought I was then I would reconsider making any alliance with him. In a tiny voice that squeaked out of me I told her it was too late. She stared at me as if deciding what action to take but I guess having a conversation was the limit of her emotional realm, she shrugged. “So it will be.”

She left me with those words as if she had also washed her hands of me and I realised then that every single decision I had made was the wrong one and I should have left Royce to his fate, gone out with Jojo when I could have and never ever have worked for Liselle Dubois. My life was pretty much over and I managed to do it in less than two months in the world.

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