I immediately threw my suitcase on the bed and started to unpack. The clothes I brought were nothing like the wardrobe that I had left home with. Before school, I had been something of a tomboy. New York had changed me for the better. I wasn't sure that my roommate, Nicole, was the best influence on me, but she had definitely pushed me in the right direction when it came to fashion.
I had thought about bringing home some of the clothes that I had used to wear, thinking that otherwise people wouldn't recognize me. “Sweetheart, you don't want people to recognize you,” Nicole had said when she caught me putting old clothes in my suitcase. “You never dress down to fit in with slobs. That's Fashion 101.”
She was a fashion marketing major, and since 100-level classes were the only ones we could take as first semester freshmen, she may have actually had a class called Fashion 101. And, as I took out the little black dress that she had specifically picked out for me, I knew that she would be pretty good at fashion marketing.
Of course, it looked better on her. All the boys t
urned their heads when we went to a party together. She had tried it on before handing it over to me, and I loved the way that it hugged her curves. I hoped that it looked as good on me. The four-inch black heels wouldn't hurt either, I thought as I pulled them out of the bag.
Truthfully, I was looking forward to James' reaction. The thought of him salivating over me in this dress, not being able to do anything about it, made me giggle. Yes, it was a little petty to have that reaction, but after the way he treated me in high school, I thought turnabout would be fair play.
In this dress, I'd no longer be Allie. I'd be Allison, sophisticated New York socialite.
I giggled and hung the dress up. I started putting some of my other clothes in the dresser, when I remembered the secret compartment I had built into it. James was always a snoop, so I had to find some way to keep things secret from him. Sure enough, as I pulled the drawer out of my dresser and reached up into the frame, I felt the small jewelry box. I opened it up, wondering what forgotten treasures I had left in there.
It was mostly faded photographs, movie ticket stubs, and notes from Tessa, my best friend in high school. I looked over the little snippets of love and encouragement, immediately feeling pangs of guilt as I realized how close we had been, and how far away we had drifted.
Tessa wasn't born into a life of luxury. Her father was an immigrant from Mexico, and her mother only second-generation American herself. They were the hardest working family I knew, but they had nowhere near the money that mine did. She had to stay here in Springfield after graduation, while I went off to a fancy college in New York.
As I looked over all the “Best Friends Forever” notes, I realized that, in this case, “Forever” had only lasted about four months without seeing each other every day.
It was a real shame, and I meant to fix it. However, before I could get my phone to call her, I saw another piece of paper that I recognized. It was a hastily scribbled IOU. I had almost forgotten I had actually held on to it at all. I lifted out the wrinkled scrap of paper and read the whole thing.
TO ALLIE
FROM JAMES
Merry Christmas!
IOU one present
It was typical James. Something sweet and playful about the gesture if you wanted to see it that way, but beneath it, the stink of his rotten selfishness and casual cruelty. His senior year of high school, he had gifts for dad and Nancy and even our maid, Maria. But not for me. He had forgotten, he said. So he scribbled this IOU on a scrap of paper and handed it to me when we opened presents.
I was happy with my high school self for not throwing it away. Its value had to have increased a thousand fold, now that James was for all purposes an actual billionaire. Maybe I’d actually redeem it this year.
I tucked it into the pouch inside my purse, texted Tessa, then finished putting away my panties and the rest of my underthings. When I finished, I checked my phone for messages. Tessa had responded:
I'm working all night, but I'll see you tomorrow for some fun! Call later!
I looked forward to seeing her. I wished I could see her tonight, but it was dinner with James and the family tonight. I put on a fresh blouse and skirt, something to tease his eyes but nothing too revealing to wear to dinner with my parents, then headed downstairs.
When I got there, Nancy was setting out plates. “Allie! So nice to see you!” She ran up to me and gave me a hug, and I gave her a nice big hug back. Nancy had always been more of a friend than a stepmother to me, acting more like a teenager at times than a woman in her mid-40s.
“Nice to see you too, Nancy,” I said, and I meant it. I did kind of miss having a mom up in college, someone to steer me away from the wrong guys, the wrong decisions. My dad was still in the living room, which was next to the dining room, so I plopped down next to him on the couch. He wrapped his arm around me, letting me snuggle against him as if I had never left. A few minutes later I heard Nancy's cell phone ringing.
“Hello? James! Yes. Yes, of course. Yes, that's fine. Well, we'll see you then. Bye, sweetie.” I only heard one half of the conversation, but I knew what it meant. James wouldn't be coming for dinner. I definitely wondered if he'd even make it for Christmas.
“Was that James?” Dad asked.
“Uh huh,” Nancy said.
“Business?”
“Uh huh,” Nancy repeated, her voice falling slightly. It had the ring of familiarity that felt like they had done this a thousand times before.
After that, Dad was excited to hear every little bit about my school in New York. As we sat down for dinner (chicken and mashed potatoes, James' favorite), Nancy seemed to love hearing every little detail of my city lifestyle. I realized that I'd love to have her hang out with me out there some time.
Still, the 800 pound gorilla in the room was the empty chair where James should have been sitting.