The Girl
She fidgeted with the loose dangling strap of her navy-blue sundress one more time. It was already later than 8PM, fifteen minutes later than when she was supposed to be at Suze’s and Charlie’s engagement party. She was handed the responsibility of the cocktails section. And why not? She always had Suze sign her up for the bar duty at college and her private real estate parties. In her world, everyone had a thing — hers was cocktail artistry. Not that anyone actually would have approved of it, but only her intimate friends knew about her excellent cocktail mixing skills, and she happily provided that service at their private family events.
Her hair was tied in a rough but elegant ponytail, and the lightweight sundress with cream-colored flower patterns, embroidered as they were, added a touch of detail she liked, giving her exactly the personality flair she wanted out of the dress.
In the Gold Coast, Chicago’s most prestigious neighbourhood, Suze and Charlie had just bought a place in Waldorf Astoria residences. And they had put off the housewarming dinner because of their crazy work schedules for far too long. Charlie wouldn’t have cared, but Suze couldnt afford to behave in-amicably, considering the posh old-money circles she was forced to be a part of because of her recent successful stint at real estate. But, she displayed no hesitancy in proposing to combine both the dinner and their engagement party into one awkward combo.
She couldnt help grinning at the beautiful invitation she received for the event. Suze was not the one to demand a lot of checks on tradition, but she was humble enough to get by by paying homage to them by doing as minimum as she could. Charlie was a newly-rich, senior partner at one of the top law firm in Chicago Bay Area. The building was getting slowly inhabited by upper-new-working class rich prodigies from various different fields—-- many doctors and surgeons, high-level consultants, and finance professionals. Some minor league baseball players were part of that community. Even some B-list TV celebrities had bought into the hype.
She categorised them all as humans with more than 7-figure income.
And it was the first time she made it out of her small apartment in a month, the total time she had been in the new city too.
After a last-minute fidgeting and nervous shake-off of her dress and ponytail, she pressed onto old vintage-New York-style gold-plated bell-buttons.
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