Kiss Deceive Repeat

Someone Drugged my Coffee

"I'll be your date to the wedding."

Not even in the wildest of my dreams, and trust me, I had a vivid imagination, had I thought I would hear these words from that deep and rich tone.

I looked down at the dregs of my coffee, searching for signs of any virulent substances floating around. I even went so far as to bring the cup to my nose and sniff at my drink. That would at the very least explain if I was hallucinating.

But nope.

Nothing. Just what was left of my cappuccino.

"I'll do it if you need someone that badly," the deep baritone rang in my ears.

Eyes wide and growing by the second, I lifted my head. My mouth opened and then snapped shut again.

Cora..." my words trailed off, her name leaving my lips in a whisper.

"Is she really there? Can you truly see her? Or did someone really spike my coffee without me noticing?"

Cora, my best friend and colleague at Cozmac, the New York City based engineering consulting company, where we worked; slowly nodded her head. I watch as her halo of light curls bounced with the motion, disbelief marring her otherwise soft features.

She lowered her voice as if she could not hear from this close. "Nobody spiked your drink honey. She's right there." Her gaze darted around me in a rapid motion, a false smile spread across her lips. "Good Morning!" She brightly exclaimed before her attention returned back to my face. "Yep! Right behind you."

My lips puckered and parted, I stared at Cora's face for a moment. Until I was absolutely sure she was speaking the truth.

Since our offices were relatively close together, I had gone first thing in the morning, straight to her office.

My plan had initially been to grab her and drag her to plop down on the upholstered wooden armchairs that served as the waiting sitting area for visiting clients. They were usually unoccupied this early in the morning and I could have told her everything with the reassurance that nobody would overhear my pathetic tale.

Had we only made it till there. It was a testament of my predicament that I dropped the bomb before we could reach the secluded area. And then... then she had materialized from out of thin air.

"Do I need to repeat that a third time?"

Her question shocked me, a new wave of disbelief rushing down my body, freezing the blood in my veins.

It didn't make any sense. Had I?---- I looked over at Cora once again, searching for any signs that would label her an extraterrestrial being---- nope. There were no signs of antlers. I reassured myself that I was still on earth and not in some alternate dimension where she would dare to suggest this with a straight face. And one where she believed I would accept his proposal.

One where we---

"All right, fine," she sighed. "You can take me." She paused, more of that ice-cold wariness spreading through me. "To your sister's wedding," she finally completed.

My spine straightened.

My shoulders stiffened.

My deliriously expensive and delicate satin blouse strainined against my suddenly square shoulders.

I can take her.

To my sister's wedding.

As my.... date?

Something suddenly unhitched inside of me. The absurdity of this woman's perverse joke made a snort bubble its way up my throat and reach my lips, leaving me abruptly and loudly. So quickly that one might think it had been in a rush to get out of me.

A grunt came from behind me. "What's so funny?" Her voice dropped, turning colder. "I am completely serious."

I bit back another bout of my hysteria. Trying not to look any more unhinged than she already thought I was. I did not believe this woman. Not for the millisecond of a millisecond.

"The chances of her," I told Cora, "being actually serious are the same chances I have of antlers suddenly sprouting from your head." I made a show of studying her forehead, left to right. "Nonexistent," I concluded. "So, Cora, you were saying something about...." I struggled to come up with a name, "Ms. Balthazar, right?"

Silently I cursed myself at the name. Ms. Balathazar, was I serious? Even I wouldn't believe someone like that existed, and I truly had an extremely vivid imagination.

It was evident from her mocking cough that even she didn't believe me. There was no Ms. Balthazar.

"Izzy," Cora said with that fake, toothy smile she painted on when she didn't want to be rude. "She looks like she's serious," she spoke through that same freaky smile.

"Nope. She can't be," I said through my clenched teeth and shook my head, refusing to turn around and acknowledge the probability of the fact that my friend was right.

There couldn't be. There was no way Diana Williams, colleague and well-established adversity of mine, would even attempt to offer something like this, No. Way.

Another grunt sounded from behind me, soon after followed by an impatient sigh. "This is getting repetitive, Izel." A long pause. Then, another noisy exhale left her lips, this one much longer. But I still didn't turn around. I was going to hold my ground till my last breath. Okay I agree that was a little dramatic, but my truths generally are.

"Ignoring me will not make me disappear. You know that."

I did know that. No matter how infuriating the statement was. "But that doesn't mean I won't keep trying," I muttered under my breath.

Cora leveled me with a stern look that reminded me of Mamá when angry. Then, she peeked around me once again, her gaze settling on that woman, her toothy grin in place.

"Sorry about that, Diana. We are not ignoring you--" I cut in, "We are ignoring her though. You don't need to spare her feelings. She doesn't have any." I reminded her. "We are merely debating something," Cora completed, her grin now strained.

"Thank you, Cora," Diana told my friend, the usual ice in her voice thawing like it did whenever she talked to Cora.

"Tell her, Cora," I gritted through my clenched teeth, " to vete a la mierde."

***

I hope I've set the tone for my book with my choice of song for the first chapter. But trust me when I say this.... Diana and Izel are gonna combust.