Chemistry (Otis Milburn)

14

Me: Otis! What do you mean? You said you'd be there! 

I couldn't believe it. Why would Otis do that? How could he switch up on me so quickly?

I wanted to call him, but Camille walked in the room.

"Vivienne, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Otis! He's not coming. He just messaged me saying he won't be here! How could he-" Camille grabbed the sides of my arms to try and calm me down.

"Vivienne why are you acting like this? So what if he isn't coming. It's probably too much for him and he just got scared, that's all."

"But he said he'd be here! I didn't expect Otis to just bail on me like this. Tonight was the night he was supposed to meet my best friend and this is what I get instead?" I wanted to text him again, but Camille grabbed my phone. 

"Leave it. You have an event to attend and you look flawless. Deal with this later. I'll meet him another time. Let's go."

She took off with my phone and grabbed my hand, taking me with her. Was Camille right? Was Otis just scared of being in the spotlight? But- why did he agree to it at first? Why did he cancel on me literally at the last minute? 

The event was just like any other. I was wearing a dress and my face was stiff with heavy foundation and I stepped on the red carpet onto a colorful background full of logos while hundreds of cameras snapped photos of me from all angles. 

Camille still had my phone and she handed it to me during the afterparty. "Here, you have some messages. You might want to read them." 

I quickly grabbed her phone to check, hoping it was Otis. It was.

otisslayer17: Vivienne I'm sorry. Can we talk about it?

otisslayer17: I feel so bad for doing this please i can explain.

otisslayer17: Vivienne i know you're mad but please just talk to me.

I was too frustrated to respond, so I left it. Camille came up to me again, pulling me to the side. 

"Vivienne, I've never seen you like this at an event! Let alone an afterparty. I'm here with you, our friends are here, let's have a good time like we always do. Forget Otis for now." 

I didn't know whether I was overreacting and Camille was right, or that she just didn't understand where I was coming from with this. Either way, I knew she was right about one thing-  I am surrounded by my friends, dressed up, and I should be having a good time.

And that's exactly what I did.