When The Clock Strikes (ONC 2020)

1| Karma

"That will be $667.37, please," the cashier at Macy's said to me.

I handed her my soon-to-be maxed out Capital One credit card with a smile. The few times I came here with my fiance Adam, he pointed out this expensive gold watch. Christmas was tomorrow, and I was hoping to save up enough money so I didn't have to use my credit card. Unfortunately, waitressing didn't always pay the bills.

"Please be advised," the cashier warned, "since the watch was on clearance, it can't be returned. All clearance item sales are final."

"No problem," I said with confidence. No way would he be returning this watch.

The saleswoman finished ringing me up before handing me the receipts and gift wrapping his watch. Even though maxing out my credit card probably wasn't the smartest idea, it felt nice to get him something he really wanted.

Adam and I were definitely a unique pair. He worked on Wall Street and we met one night when he came into my restaurant with some of his business partners. He showed interest and invited me out to dinner.

Everything seemed to go well after that. We hit it off, we started dating frequently, then we were in a relationship. Then two years later, he popped the question. I will never forget that day. We were on a cruise in the Bahamas when he got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him. My answer was an immediate yes.

We've been engaged now for six months and it has been bliss. Of course, like any normal couple, we've had our disagreements. But, we always seem to get past it. Unfortunately, he's been under a lot of stress lately with work. That's one reason I wanted to get him this watch.

Hopefully this would raise his spirits when he opened it tomorrow. Christmas had always been my favorite time of the year and I had been looking forward to it more this year. After all, it was out first Christmas as an engaged couple.

I stopped just as I got to the exit of the store when my cell phone went off. I smiled as I saw my best friend Camille's name on the screen.

"Hey, Cam," I said in greeting. Cam and I had been friends ever since freshman year of high school. She was the yin to my yang and I didn't know what I would do without her.

"So, did you get it?"

The 'it' she was referring to was the watch that I was now carrying in a gift bag. She kept warning me not to get the it and would say it was too expensive. She also didn't like Adam. "Yes, Cam. I bought the watch."

"I hope this doesn't turn out biting you in the ass," she quipped.

"How could it possibly bite me in the ass?" I immediately regretted asking her that question, knowing she would go into her normal rant.

"For one, you're going to end up in debt if you keep doing stuff like that. He never buys you anything and he's hardly ever around, Ally."

Even though I knew she was right, I still went on the defensive. "He's a stock broker, Cam. They work crazy hours. Besides, he took me out for my birthday, remember?"

She let out a snort. "Yeah, four months ago. Listen, I know you love the guy and you want to marry him. But, I know you, Ally. You don't want to spend your life with an uptight, money-hungry, narcissistic, selfish asshole. You want someone creative, like you. Someone who would rather spend a date night binging the latest season of YOU on Netflix and making your toes curl."

Well, when she puts it like that..."Cam, I love Adam."

"If you say so," she breathed into the phone. I rolled my eyes at her as I heard the beep alerting me that I was getting another call. I looked at the caller ID. Speak of the devil.