Prince of Ruin

Chapter Seven: Coco

Genevieve had really pulled out all the stops for the engagement party. The ballroom had been properly cleaned and polished up, it looked like the room was properly cared for- as opposed to a room we hadn't actually dusted off in a couple of years.

I was up in my room, finishing getting ready for the party. My black dress clung to my body like a second skin, something that wasn't at all bridal- but so very Coco. My hair was loose and my heels were sky-high, as heels should be.

I didn't dress like this for men's attention- I mean maybe at first because I thought that was what I was supposed to do, but I liked it, I liked how I looked in a skin-tight dress. I liked that the heels made me feel powerful. Lipstick was my drug, and I didn't do it for the sake of the men in the world, I did it all for me. I leaned in close to the mirror and cleaned up the lines of my lipstick.

"Perfect." I deflated just a little as my gaze was drawn to the ring, it sat on my bedside table, glinting in the light, mocking me. I knew I'd have to wear it all night, there was no getting out of it. Because everyone was going to want to see it and they were going to comment on how beautiful it was as if it wasn't a noose tightening around my neck more and more with each passing day.

Never mind that it wasn't my taste at all. It was large and showy. It was a pretty ring, sure, but it wasn't anything I would have ever chosen for myself.

But then again, neither was the man I was going to be walking down the aisle with. So perhaps it was fitting.

Finally, I made myself put the ring on and headed out of my room. I knew people were already there, already making themselves comfortable in the ballroom, helping themselves to the food that Genevieve had catered in. She was thriving as the hostess. It broke my heart a little knowing this was the life she wanted. She loved socializing, she wanted to be the hostess, and she wanted to be the woman at the center of the party.

For the past ten years, she'd been the woman they whispered about, the one on the outside who wasn't allowed in all because her husband sucked.

I stopped at the top of the stairs and forced myself to stop thinking about that- to stop thinking about my father and how he screwed us all. To stop thinking about the life we might have had. Would it have been happy? Probably not, but we would never know.

I shook my hair back and headed down the stairs, finding my mother rushing around, her own high heels abandoned as she finished a few last-minute things.

"Shouldn't someone be out there entertaining?" I asked. Genevieve stopped and whirled.

"Oh finally- That's what you're wearing?"

"Yes." I made no move to hide it or to even act like I would offer to change. Genevieve sighed- obviously annoyed.

"Fine, get out there, Rochester and Theodore arrived fifteen minutes ago. I'll be out in a moment." She promised as if that was why I was hesitating.

"Great," I muttered, heading in that direction, I was about to walk through the open doors when a floating tray of champagne passed by, I grabbed two, one I downed in half a second and the other I held onto before stepping through into the engagement party that I didn't ask for.

"There she is!" Came a happy squeal. I tried to place it before I saw the person but all the squeals sounded the same to me.

Tracey Davis crossed the small distance between us and hugged me as if we were old friends. I just barely managed to hold off the urge to pour my drink down her back.

"Tracey."

"Oh my goodness, you wouldn't believe how shocked we were to hear that you were marrying Theodore." Tracey gushed, a couple more figures walked up behind her- more girls that had been in our class.