Decor quod Bestia (A Beauty and the Beast Retelling in Modern Day)

'Cause it's you and me and all of the people

“Quarter-turn to the left move!!” The command from Cole Arlington, my drum major, stirred me from my thoughts as I took four counts to move to the left. “Forward march!!”

I moved methodically thinking back to the date that Alex had taken me on which had been two days ago, and still astonished me.

___________________________________________________________________________________

            “So your idea of comfortable is jeans and a band t-shirt?” Alex asked me in a marveling voice. It had me mentally questioning his sanity.

            “…….yeah……..why?” I asked him looking down at my outfit. I had on a pair of my favorite combat boots, a pair of holey faded blue jeans that flared out around my ankles, and my favorite black Linkin Park t-shirt that clung to my curves and was short enough to show skin when I moved my arms higher than my head. “Is that a problem?”

            “Good Lord no. I actually expected you to come in sweats or something,” Alex stated eyeing me. I tilted my head to the side and gave him a questioning look.

            “Why in the world would I come in sweats? This is a date. Is it not?” I asked him quirking an eyebrow.

            “You know, you have this way of making me feel like a complete and utter idiot,” Alex said opening the door of his Bugatti Veyron.

            “Maybe because you……..are…..one….. No way!!!” My insult fell flat as I took notice of the car.

            “It is a 16 cylinder engine. The engine configuration is the same as combining two V8 engines which makes it look like a W more than a V. Making it generate a total of 1200 horsepower, nearly 200 horsepower more than the previous models,” I said nearly to myself caressing the car lovingly.

            “Great! She knows cars,” Alex said sarcastically, assumedly to himself, but I heard him.

            “This is not just a car! It is beauty and power, packed into one!” I said turning my head to look at him. “But it is not my first choice. I would have picked a black ’67 Shelby Cobra GT500.”

            “Seriously?” Alex asked, eyeing me with a newfound respect. “Well, and I’ve never been able to be proud telling a girl this, but I have a black ‘67 Ford Mustang convertible.”

            “No way! How much do you want for it?” I asked trying to at least see if one of my top dream cars were for sale, the other being the Shelby Cobra.

            “Well, to put it in delicate terms, probably more than you could make in your life time,” Alex said leaning against the black 2011 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.

            “Oh you of little faith!! I have my ways,” I said with a grin surprised to be having a normal if not insinuating, conversation with the richest man in the USA. Alex laughed a genuine laugh that sounded kind of nerdy, and then looked at me in wonder. I was not used to that expression on anyone’s face, especially a guy, so I did what I did best and switch gears so fast it almost gave him whiplash.

            “So what are we doing for our date that you had to comment on my outfit for?” I asked Alex looking down at the ground.

            “Well if I told you that, it would ruin the surprise!” Alex said getting back on track. I nodded in agitation, because I had no control on this situation.

            “Okay……as long as it’s not too embarrassing…….or degrading,” I said eyeing him with a calculating stare.

            “Well….in that case-” Alex said but I cut him off with a choking sound.