Re-Arranged

| Special Chapter | Maroon Jitters |

When wringing her hands together had turned them hot and red, when pacing up and down the room had worn the soles of her slippers down, she came to a stop and stared into the mirror. She did not move for several moments and then, determined, she did a pirouette of ninety degrees to look at her bed.

On it lay two dresses. One that she had worn for her most recent blind date, a white one, and the second was maroon. And with them lay the conflict she had not yet found a solution to.

Feeling the nagging needle begin to prick all over again in the back of her head, Kelly Sloane growled and grabbed both of them off the bed. In a swift movement she transported them into her office handbag, crumpling them both in the process. She tucked them in for a good measure before closing the zipper and heading out of the room.

She barrelled down the stairs, changed into her brown boots at the doorstep, yelled out for anyone to hear, "Going to Al's!" and slammed the front door shut.

When solutions were nowhere to be seen, the problems needed to be whacked out of shape, and only one person in her acquaintance did the whacking so strongly, the problems half disappeared in that process. Her opening lines were quite consistent and the most effective: "Are you out of your freaking mind?!"

And the most fantastic thing about the great problem whacker? She synchronized her leaves (the ones that meant days off from work, and not the ones that grew out of the limbs of trees) with Kelly's. Such as today.

The cab had dropped her off at the main gates. Allison lived in one of the individual houses part of a larger, gated community. Outside vehicles were usually prohibited, and visitors had to sign in at the security detail with the specifics of where they were headed.

It was a compact city in itself with its own set of amenities that mirrored those of the larger world outside. Since the day Allison married Carl and moved in here, Kelly found it especially awkward to just drop by her friend's place to talk or spend time. It was a good thing they had made a habit of Dessert Date Fridays for catching up.

However, unlike the few times she had entered this mini city, she did not have any space to feel the intimidation of the place in her head right now. She marched on with purpose, once she was through with security, and did not stop until she was in front of her destination.

Allison was unperturbed when she opened the door. She did get surprised and overly excited when she learned the purpose of the visit, accentuated by her awe-inspiring and motivational quote, "Are you out of your freaking mind?", followed closely by, "What are you worried about? Why are you even worried at all?"

"Besides that he is practically a stranger?" Kelly piped up and earned a slap on her shoulder.

"Who isn't? Even our parents are strangers to us until we get to know them, or well, get adjusted to them!"

"Well, how do we know he isn't someone creepy? Or a serial killer? Or a rapist?"

"Honey, honey, honey." Allison effectively shut her friend up. She clapped her hands on both of her shoulders and leaned in close. "You trust your intuitions, right? I do too. I don't think you would have agreed at all if it signalled any danger. Besides, you think I'm letting you go there alone?"

Kelly was not convinced. "But, technically, I don't have to show up. The stipulation for the date is that the answer depends on whether we show up or not."

"Which is another ridiculous thing, to be honest."

"What? I thought that was more considerate than putting me on the spot to give an answer." She spoke far too defensively. While she bit her tongue for running away on her, a Cheshire smile spread across her friend's face.