The Spinster's Club

Romy: One

"Spinster my great Aunt Fanny!" Romy grumbled as she walked out of Amy's place to head home. "I might resemble that remark but it doesn't mean I don't resent it being pointed out" she continued to herself.

Meeting up once a week for drinks and giggles with her 'besties' was normally a highlight to her week, but today's visit, not so much. Not after CeCe had pointed out how sucky their lives were. The fact that it was true didn't make it any easier to swallow.

Maybe they were all in a rut; it happens. It had just been easier to settle for mediocre; for her at least. The fear of failing as she attempted to reach for awesome had been Romy's biggest problem. In truth, the fear of failing was up there but not as big as the fear she had that her friends would think less of her if she tried and couldn't succeed.

This thinking might have been all in her head but the very notion that it could be real was enough to stop her from trying something new. Now, real or imagined, it looked as though she was going to have to face that fear head on. She had just promised her friends that she too would change and her word was something she never backed away from or gave out lightly.

"Besides" she uttered as she started her car; "You don't really want to end up like Great Aunt Fanny now, do you?" She literally shuddered at the very thought.

~*~*~

Not really one for lists – she usually wrote them and then left them behind or ignored them – Romy started one the minute she got home. Ok, so it was actually an hour after she got home as she had to stop and watch the episode of Arrow she had waiting but anyway...

Tapping the end of her HB pencil against her teeth to the tune of 'I want to kiss you all over' (the lovely Stephen Amell tended to do this to her), she thought about the challenge before her and what she needed to do in order to begin the transformation. Forty minutes and a dull toothache later, she had a list of eight items.

a) Take CeCe off Christmas card list for making us do this.

b) Put CeCe back on list – you still love her anyway

c) Find previous notes and calculations at back of filing cabinet re: starting own business

d) Check finances – try not to scream or faint at lack of...

e) Think of cool name for business.

f) Decide what drastic change you want to make. Note to self, NO TATTOOS!

g) Don't let Amy talk you into the item above; NO MATTER WHAT!!

h) Think about who you want to get to 'scratch that itch' **

i)

** Stephen Amell is married – think of someone else!

~*~*~

Of all the things on the list, the last was probably going to be the hardest to achieve. Finding a better job or starting her own business, getting a new haircut and then jumping from a perfectly safe plane were all going to be a lot easier than finding a man. And not just any man – one that was out of her league.

With Stephen not being an option, the idea of even where to start looking for 'Mr Rock My World' was going to be the biggest hurdle. It would be so easy to just go to a club and grab some random dude, taking him out to the parking lot for a little slap and tickle and then leave. Unfortunately there were several things wrong with this.

Firstly, part of the pact was that the guy not only had to be out of her normal comfort zone but couldn't just be some random Don Johnson wannabe who normally cruises the club scene searching for willing victims. Then there was the fact that Romy didn't like clubs to begin with. Not when you go and it's normally full of guys who size you up like you're a succulent Sunday roast, only to then simply move on to someone else because you won't give them the time of day – it was enough to make her gag.

Her biggest hurdle however was that she wasn't really a 'wham bam thank you Sam' kind of girl. At her age she really couldn't afford to be picky but it did at least explain why she wasn't getting any action. Unfortunately that had to change now because as part of the pact she had no choice.

"Crap on a cracker" she exclaimed, loud enough for her pooch Pippin to glare at her from having woke him up. She glared back before saying "Don't you start on me too." He walked way.

~*~*~

As it turned out the easiest thing on Romy's list was looking for the information she had previously sourced about opening up her own place. It had been a while ago now and the information would be a little out of date but it would at least give her a place to start.

Since she was ten years old, Romy's one true love had always been chocolate and not just as a treat to eat. She had been fascinated with it in all its incarnations and had experimented with it the minute her father gave her access to the kitchen.

Her mother; a women Romy could barely recall and not get all angry and defensive over; had left when she was but five and so her father had been the one to teach her things a mother normally passed down to her daughter. He had always encouraged her to pursue her passions and went out of his way to assist however he could. Often times this meant being a guinea pig to her latest creation but he did it with love and for Romy that had meant the world.

'Hmm, maybe I could use his name for the store' she thought as she rifled through her filing cabinet. 'Then again, Dougie's Chocolatarium' doesn't seem quite right. Maybe I need to think on it some more.'

And think she did, the whole time she looked over her notes, even going so far as to adding to her list that she needed to find a way to honour her father's contribution; not only for fostering her passion but also his never ending support.