2.1 | Alice ✔

Kitty Falls Down The Rabbit Hole

Glasses clinked and chimed harmoniously as the party goers toasted to the host's fabulous housewarming. The property was filled to the brim with the whole family's closest friends and associates, marveling at the glorious architecture, the pristine, widespread acres, and the lady's impeccable interior designing skills. Everyone was having a joyous time. Everyone but him.

Sure, he was decked out in his most stunning pressed and starched tuxedo, his silver locks groomed to perfection and his megawatt smile firmly in place for all the world to see. But the truth of it was, he was miserable inside. After all, home wasn't as glamorous as it appeared.

In fact, as soon as the party was over, they would go back to their dysfunctional reality, where his mother and father were constantly fighting, and he was the shameful outcast they'd resume to neglect. In that sense, he wished the party would last forever.

He tried his best to maintain his act; to be the son they could be proud of. He'd made sure he greeted every guest, refilled every refreshment, endured every mind-numbing story. Hell, he'd even ignored the fact that his mother kept sending flirtatious women his way in an horrible effort to entice him. Evidently, she still couldn't cope with the fact that he was brazenly homosexual; which explained why none of the men he'd invited showed up.

He couldn't take this anymore. The atmosphere was slowly suffocating him, and he couldn't bear to be around these snide, judgmental phonies. That's all they were, anyway. No one really cared about his parents' success. They just wanted to scope out the playing field; to determine how they could one-up them in the future. It was befitting of them to cater to such cheap, shallow people. Everyone was in their prime here.

Vowing to remain a well behaved gentleman, he excused himself from the prattling of the seventh woman he'd encountered today, heading for the back door. They had already been living there for a month, and this would be his first time actually leaving his room to be anywhere on the property that wasn't the bathroom or kitchen. Besides his insufferable home life-which would follow him, no matter where they lived-it truly was a beautiful place.

It was much further from where they used to reside, and so he would probably have to relocate, unless he got a car before his vacation was over. He was surprised anyone would show up to the middle of nowhere to celebrate people they didn't care about. But his parents made sure their arrival wouldn't be met with disappointment. They had tidied up and decorated so well, it was like Christmas in Times Square. Their backyard was so infinitely beautiful, he couldn't believe he'd overlooked it for so long.

They had a lustrous patio that featured dining and grilling areas, a homey fire pit, and a pool with a Jacuzzi. Rows of flower beds flanked the sides, and nestled on the view's horizon was an intricate hedge maze. There was a woman standing near the entrance of it, her back facing him. The hairs stood on his nape, and his first inclination was to avoid her at all costs.

He'd had enough of women swarming around him, only drawn to his looks and artificial charms. But there was something kindred about her, and the way she stood there, gazing longingly into the depths of the twists and turns. He could tell she sought reprieve in those depths, and he had no doubt in his mind that she would find it. That they would find it. Before he knew it, he was drawing toward her. He'd made it within a foot of her before she turned with a start.

He had to admit, she was the most beautiful woman he'd seen all day. Her lovely caramel colored skin was draped in a fanciful green gown framed in black lace. She subtly teetered on black, red bottomed pumps that had gold trinkets that matched her jewelry. Her black hair was cut short, angular and sexy, framing her oval shaped face perfectly. Her green eyes settled on him, her initial fear dissipating when she realized he wasn't a threat. He wondered if she knew him, because he'd never seen her before in his life.