A Girl In A Million

The soft glow of the candles cast long shadows in the room as Elsa looks at herself in the mirror. She’s dressed in a plain black dress with a halter top and a hem that falls just over her knee cap. She would have liked to wear a shorter dress but her mother finds it’s unseemly for a young lady to wear a dress that ends above her knee. This is the shortest she can get away with.

Her eyelashes are painted with black mascara, making them seem even longer in the candle light. There’s a slight artificial blush on her cheeks and her lips are painted a soft red color. Small earrings are adorning her earlobes, flashing a golden color between the brown strands of her hair.

Elsa’s hair is hanging loose and her fringe is neatly trimmed. There’s a small bob on her hair, something that used to be fashionable back in the sixties. Her mother still likes it very much and had told her she wanted her to wear her hair like that at the party.

Today’s party is an opportunity for her mother to show off her family to her friends, which is not a new development. The aristocracy likes to show off how well they’re doing to their friends as well as strangers through a party and Elsa’s mother is no exception.

A part of showing how well you’re doing is showing how fashionable you are, as long as the fashion adheres to their tastes of course. You would never see her mother wear the latest jeans, no matter how fashionable they are and her friends are much the same. The bob is still the fashion in the higher parts of society so Elsa has to style her hair that way.

Thankfully, Elsa doesn’t mind too much. She rather likes the way it looks. It makes her cheekbones - which are her own favorite features - stand out more. In the case of her hair, it’s a win-win situation for her and her mother.

Elsa lets out a sigh as she smoothes the non-existing wrinkles in her dress with her sweaty hands. Her heart beats harshly against her chest as she looks up and down her own body. Her mother’s friends probably will be able to find a flaw in her dress or her appearance to complain to her mother about but she knows there isn’t anything that can make her prettier than she is now.
Her dress is wrinkle-free, her make-up the minimal and her hair as neat as she can get it. This going to have to do.

“Are you ready, then?” her sister’s voice suddenly sounds from the doorway to Elsa’s right, startling the brunette.

Elsa looks at Elizabeth through the mirror and sends her a smile. Her younger girl smiles back at her, a blush painting her cheeks red. It’s probably because unlike Elsa, she’s excited about the party.

“I think I am, yeah,” Elsa replies, a sigh following her words out of her mouth. “As ready as I always am.”

“You look pretty,” Elizabeth tells her older sister. Elsa turns around and smiles to thank her sister for the compliment. Her sister might not be the brightest but she’s really good with people. She always knows what to say to them, unlike Elsa.

This is another thing Elizabeth has inherited from their mother. Their mother is good with people as well. That’s why she has so many friends even though she can be a bitch at times. If she wanted, she could charm the pants off of the lowest of the lowest who despise the autocracy. Instead, she uses her skills to acquire even more powerful friends. Which would be okay if only she used her connections for more than her own gain.

Elizabeth is not like her mother in that way. She does care about people, unlike their mother. However, Elsa knows she too isn’t going to try to change the world. Instead, she going to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She is going to marry a rich guy and then she’ll throw parties like this every month. Elizabeth is much like Elsa a prisoner of their life but unlike Elsa, she enjoys the golden cage.

“You look pretty too,” Elsa tells her little sister, which is not a lie. The young girl’s silver dress goes really well with her long blonde hair. She hasn’t any make-up on, unlike Elsa because she with her fourteen years isn’t old enough yet.

“Do you think Liam is going to like it?” Elsa asks, the blush on her cheeks intensifying. So, that’s why her cheeks had been red; she’d been thinking about Liam.

Even though her sister apparent crush on her friend makes Elsa feel a little uncomfortable, she decides to indulge the younger girl. “I’m sure he will. Every boy in the room is going to think you’re pretty.”

“I don’t care about other boys, though,” Elizabeth dismisses, eyes on her shoes and a shy smile on her lips. She taps the point of her shoe on the wooden floor of Elsa’s room before she looks up again. “I only care about Liam’s opinion because I’m going to marry him when I’m old enough.”

Elsa swallows the snicker that threatens to spill over her lips at her sister’s earnestness. It seems Elizabeth is sure about her shared destiny with Liam and it’s all kind of adorable. Elsa just hopes her little sister will get over her crush soon because she knows her friend is not interested in her sister in that way.

“Just grow up first before you think about marrying,” Elsa advises her sister with a smile. She turns around again and looks at herself in the mirror, letting out a sigh. “Now, you can go downstairs and tells mum I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Alright, but just don’t wait too long. You know how mum hates waiting,” Elizabeth warns her older sister before leaving the room in a cloud of perfume. Apparently, their mother no longer thinks her youngest isn’t grown-up enough to use artificial smells.
It takes Elsa ten minutes to get downstairs and her mother isn’t too happy about it. She gives her oldest daughter a disapproving look as she walks towards her.

“You really need to be ready quicker, next time. The first guest can be here any minute,” her mother snaps at her.

“Sorry, mom,” Elsa mutters because even though she and her mother don’t see eye to eye, she hates disappointing her. It’s only natural for children to want to please their parents. “I just couldn’t find the right necklace to go with my earrings.”

“Well, they do look cute together.” Her mother’s voice has become a little less sharp as her eyes fall on Elsa’s earrings and necklace for a few seconds. “Just be quicker about it next time. Now, help the maid with the setting of the table in the dining room. I don’t think she really understands the way I want the plates.”

It doesn’t surprise Elsa that their maid has difficulty with the plates, her mother is very particular about them.

The maid is a sweet young girl who tries her best to avoid looking Elsa in the eyes up until Elsa starts talking to her. After that, the girl who tells Elsa her name is Jasmine, shares how she got to work for them. Once again, Elsa realizes so many people lead very different lives from her own. She has never once in her life experienced the fear of not being able to eat the next day.

When the guests arrive, they are welcomed into a hall that’s lit by row upon row of candles. It is as if the lights are still on if it wasn’t for the softness of the light. Two maids take their coats as the file inside. At the end of the hall, they are greeted by a butler, who escorts them to the living area. When they arrive in the room, they are welcomed by the hostess, her husband, and her two daughters.

Elsa tries to keep the smile on her face as she greets all the guests. Half of the people attending the party, she can’t stand and much of the rest of them, she can’t tolerate. But her smile becomes genuine when she spots Liam and his parents walk towards them.

“Teresa, dear. How are you doing?” Liam’s mother greets her friend. “The hall is really beautiful with all these candles.”

“Thank you. I’m doing great, Karen. Thank you for asking,” Elsa’s mother replies. She takes her friend’s hand and shakes it. “I hope you’re doing fine as well?”

Elsa wiggles her eyebrows at Liam at their parent’s overenthusiastic hello’s - Elsa really doesn’t understand why her mother and Karen are acting like they haven’t seen each other in months when in fact they saw each other only two days ago. Liam laughs silently and sends her a wink. Elsa can hear her younger sister sigh wistfully, which she ignores because she knows what Elizabeth is thinking about.

After having said how happy she is to be at the party, Liam’s mother walks away so the other guests can greet her friend and Liam follows her with an amused smile on his face. Elsa is not the only one who thinks their mothers’ behavior is ridiculous and she loves Liam all the more for it.

A few more guests arrive before Elsa is allowed to leave her station at her mother’s side. As soon as she’s allowed to wander off, she searches for Liam and almost immediately finds him chatting with a girl with blonde hair and a very sparkly dress. Something about how close Liam is leaning into her prompts Elsa to quickly walk to her friend’s side.

When Liam spots Elsa approaching him, he smiles at her and when she’s within hearing distance asks, “Are you allowed to leave, then?”

Elsa can’t help a warm glow of satisfaction flicker in her chest when she sees the scowl on the blonde girl’s face now that Liam’s attention is on her. It’s clear the blonde was planning on roping Liam in and is miffed Elsa interrupted her. Not that she would have succeeded, Liam doesn’t like blondes and especially not ones who most likely only like him for his position. Elsa knows this because Liam told her so.

“All of the guests are here, so there wasn’t any point staying with my mom,” Elsa tells Liam. She gives the blonde girl a forced smile because even though she doesn’t like the girl, she’s still polite. “I hope you don’t mind me stealing Liam away from you. He’s kinda the only thing that’s going to help me survive this party.”

The girl is most likely going to repeat to her mother what Elsa just said, but she doesn’t really care. It will be just another thing they can bitch about when they gossip about her. At least now it’ll be something she’s actually guilty of.

“Actually…” the blonde girl begins but Elsa doesn’t let her finish. She just put her arm through Liam’s and drags him away. Liam doesn’t struggle and why would he. The conversation with the blonde girl was probably really boring - she looks like the type who only talks about all the jewelry she’s got and the expensive trips she went on.

When they’re a safe distance away from the blonde girl, Elsa lets go of Liam’s arm and turns around with a smile so she’s facing him.

“I hope you didn’t mind me interrupting her trying to flirt with you?” Elsa jokes.

“Is that what she’s trying to do?” Liam asks with raised eyebrows. He doesn’t sound like he’s joking, he sounds like he really didn’t know the blonde girl was trying to flirt with him.

“Yeah, Li. I thought boys always know these kind of things,” Elsa teases. She crosses her arms and pretends to be angry at her friend even though there is a grin on her face. “I’m very disappointed in you, Liam. I expected better of you. Didn’t you tell me you could read people easily?”

“Well, I usually can,” Liam protests. He shakes his head and combs his fingers through his hair. There’s a smile on his face but his eyebrows are furrowed. “I can still read men fine but I have difficulty with the women this past year. They end up kissing me before I understand they were flirting with me.”

“So, you’ve been kissing girls around town. What would your mother say.” Elsa ignores the stab of jealousy she can feel on her stomach as she continues her teasing.

“I don’t think she’d really mind, as long as they’re from good families,” Liam tells Elsa with a chuckle and shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t really care for those girls, though. I’m not really interested in getting a girlfriend.”

Elsa tries not to let the relief she feels at her friend’s words show on her face. She doesn’t understand herself why she feels like that in the first place, so there’s no way she can explain it to Liam. For some reason, she has always hated the idea of Liam dating someone.

“You’re lucky your mother can’t hear you say that.” The children of the aristocracy are at an early age pressured into going out with people to look for a potential partner because the only thing they are good for is continuing the family line. Liam and Elsa would have been no exception if it wasn’t for the wacky idea their parents have come up with together. Their mothers had decided that Liam and Elsa should marry each other. Elsa doesn’t know if Liam’s mother has told him about their plans - she hasn’t asked him because that would be too awkward - but Elsa’s mother has talked to her about it numerous times. Elsa would bet her whole trust fund on that she’s going to mention it again after the party.

Suddenly Elsa craves a drink desperately.

The party ends up being not as horrible as Elsa had feared it would be. It had been entertaining, sharing a running commentary about the guests with Liam. The drinks provided by her own mother helped as well.

Notes

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