Solace

one

THERE WAS ONCE A TIME WHEN I HAD DEVOURED ALL THE ROMANCE NOVELS THERE WERE TO FIND. 

I had reveled in the intoxicating feelings they erupted in me, growing within me a seed of hope that sprouted into wishful, almost naive thinking. I had believed in love—and even more, I had thought that one day, I would find my own adventure like the characters I had read about so often did.

Of course, I've learned since that reality is never like fiction, and will never quite live up to the expectations we come up with in our heads.

It was during senior year when my best friend, Maisie, had all but dragged me into my closet, throwing dress after dress around until she found the perfect one.

"Here, put this on!" She threw a satin black, floor length dress at me, that glimmered underneath my bedroom light. It fell on my face, wrangling my dark brown locks into a twisted mess. I pushed the dress off my face before placing one hand on my hip, giving her a pointed look.

"What trouble are you getting me into now?" I laughed lightly. Maisie had a certain knack for creating trouble—and more importantly, dragging me into it. There was that time during fifth grade when we had gone on a field trip to a museum, and there was an exhibition that displayed a swimming pool filled with rubber ducks. She had somehow convinced me to jump in with her. To say the least, that rendezvous did not end well, and we ended up in detention for the rest of the week. 

"We," she began to say, leaping up and down in the air with excitement, "are going to a masquerade ball!"

I was shocked momentarily, because Maisie knew how much I'd always dreamt of attending a ball. The countless movies I had watched, pausing at the scenes when the characters would dance, surrounded by bright lights and shimmering dresses. I always imagined it'd feel so delightful.

But it all came crashing down on me once I realized that we were no one, and attending a ball for people like us was completely unwarranted. It wasn't as if we could ever secure an invitation. 

"How?" I asked hesitantly, not knowing whether I wanted the answer.

"So," She began, and already I knew that anything but a good idea would be spewing out of her mouth. "Sarah told me that the Anderson family is hosting a charity masquerade ball, and that since his family is the host, of course Seth Anderson himself would be there! And you know how hot he is, and so I came up with the brilliant plan of sneaking in and—"

She was talking a bajillion miles per hour. I placed my hand up and motioned for her to stop. 

"Stop right there," I groaned. "Not this again."

I couldn't even count the amount of times we had tried sneaking into places—concerts, weddings, you name it. Sometimes just for the heck of it, but other times, most times, so she could meet her, and I quote, "prince charming". Like I had mentioned, Maisie had a certain knack for getting us into trouble. But I feared that this time, the consequences would be more dire than a week of detention or an embarrassing moment where an audience had the pleasure of watching us get kicked out.

But Maisie was always so convincing.

It was two hours later when we were both dressed up in our maxi dresses, with gold masks around our heads. My brunette hair was curled, and Maisie had dabbed some red lipstick on me. She had convinced me that no one would recognize that we didn't belong, and I had to admit, we certainly did look the part.

My mother's face peeped into my room, her expression astonished. "What's the occasion?"

I was about to snicker, because it was outrageous what we were about to do—how could one explain something like this? But Maisie beat me to it.