Story takes place in the 1920s
This is the story Zorell Dupree, a young twenty year old nurse who moves to the city working for a prestigious hospital. She is a small time girl thrown into the fast-paced world of the city.
Her childhood friend Lel...
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After spending the afternoon shopping and running errands Gavin dropped her off at the boarding house at about 5:30. She had just enough time to run up to her room and get ready for dinner. Gavin offered to put her new bike into the boarder's shed.
"You know, Zorell," Gavin said, after coming out of the shed. "If you need a ride to work all you had to do was ask."
"My shifts start at six in the morning, and I wouldn't want to get you out of bed that early," she said and saw a look of horror on his face. She figured that Gavin stayed up most of the night and slept until noon every day.
"That's what I thought, so the bike is a necessity since I can't as of yet afford a car," she said and looked at the bike she purchased. It was used but still in like-new condition.
"You know, I could loan you one of my cars if you need one," he said, and she shook her head before he could even finish his sentence.
"Oh, no, I'm not going to become dependent on anyone," she said and pointed her finger in front of him. "I intruded on Leland quite enough, and I'm not going to take anything from you or anyone else."
"Alright, if you don't want the car, that's fine, but don't change your mind about Friday night," he said and she smiled.
"I won't," she said as he took her hand. "I have to go, but I'll see you then."
She waved to him as he drove off. She would have invited him to stay for dinner, but she didn't know how Miss Kastor would feel about it, knowing that she didn't like him all that much. Plus, with her being the new girl she didn't want to overstep any boundaries.
She entered the house through the kitchen to see Miss Kastor and her house girl preparing dinner. "Oh, hello, Miss Dupree," Miss Kastor said, while a girl of no more than eighteen was stirring something in a pot. "Dinner is in twenty minutes, so don't be late."
"I won't," Zorell said as she walked to the entrance that led to the hallway. She had a shopping bag in her hand and walked up the stairs to her room.
She had lazily shut the door, which left it open a tiny bit. She placed the bag on her bed and quickly changed out of her dress and into something fresh. After she was through she saw the bag laying on the bed and wanted to go through the contents since she had a few minutes before dinner.
She opened it, removing its contents. She examined the items on the bed picking up the new journal with a gold and dark stone design on the cover. She was in need of a new one and this one was perfect to carry along with her just in case she felt the need to write something down.
She also bought some lipstick that Gavin didn't see, and she was glad that he didn't. She could just imagine the teasing he would have given her, especially since she didn't wear much, but for some reason she wanted to look perfect for Friday night. She had never been to a nightclub but knew it was a place where people dressed up. She only knew that from some of the picture shows she had seen. The actresses in the movies looked so elegant and glamorous, but she would settle to just not looking like a frump.
After she gathered her new things, she fished into her trunk and took out the plain brown dress bag. What was inside it wasn't so plain. It contained the fancy blue flapper dress that she successfully hid from her father for months. She was glad he never found it, because Friday night would be the first time she would be able to wear it.
She took it out to examine it. She wanted to make sure it would be cleaned and pressed before the week was out. It was just as beautiful as she remembered and looked at herself in the mirror as she held it in front of her.
She felt like a princess just imagining herself wearing this dress and possibly dancing with Gavin. She did feel a little foolish daydreaming like a little girl, but it didn't last very long when she heard a knock on the door.
"Zorell, are you reading again?" She heard Wendy's voice call out. She gasped and turned around and saw Wendy with her arms crossed and smiling at her. "Oh, I see you do like to dress up."
Embarrassed, she quickly took one of the wooden hangers and hung of the dress on the closet door.
"Only on special occasions," she said and closed the closet door to hide the dress, in the hopes of keeping Wendy from gaping at it.
"If that's true, then you must be going somewhere special." She looked over by the bed a saw a pair of blue pearled dress shoes and the scattered makeup on the bed. "I bet it's with the fella in the picture."
"What makes you think that?" she asked and gathered the things on the bed and shoved them back in the bag, but it seemed like Wendy wasn't going to let this go.
"It's not hard to figure out," she said and sat down at the edge of her bed. "When a girl carries a picture of a fella even in a book, that mean something." Her voice was almost singing towards the end of her sentence.
Zorell didn't want to confirm either way, but Wendy wouldn't relent. "Okay, he asked me to come to his club Friday night, and I just want to look nice."
"I saw that dress, and he's going to be weak in the knees when he sees you in that." A frightened look came over her. What if she was doing too much? What would he expect of her? Perhaps this was a bad idea after all. "Something wrong, Zorell?"
"No, everything's fine, it's just that..." She tried to think of what to say but not the problem that was praying on her mind. "Well, umm... we're going to be late for dinner."
"Alright, if you're sure that's all," Wendy said and rose to her feet. She walked to the door and waited for Zorell. "Are you coming?" Wendy asked, but she was so in a daze she almost didn't hear her.
"Oh, yes," she said and walked out into the hallway with Wendy. She closed the door not really wanting to eat. She was thinking about Gavin and how nervous she was about their plans that were just happening in a few days. She would do her best to put it out of her mind.
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I finally got this part up. I have to take a few days off from writing to get my new computer up and running. Everything all set now, so I hope I can have another part up in a few days.
