Caramel | A Short Story Collection ✓

13. The Magic Of Masks (ChickLit Weekly Prompt Winner)

I had always loved masquerade balls.

There had always been something special about it to me. It was magical the way someone could slip a mask on and suddenly they had a totally new identity, slipping free of the trials and tribulations of the modern world for a night of carefree laughing and dancing, swishing skirts, numerous glasses of champagne. And if anyone deserved a release, it was me.

Unfortunately, as per usual, I didn't get it.

"Maisie, Starbucks. Now." Rita demanded, chucking her fur lined coat on the floor of her office for me to scramble down and collect. Barely balancing the files, I handed the coffee to her.

"About the ball tonight, Mr and Mrs Damon have cancelled at the last minute-"I began, but was immediately interrupted as she spat the coffee out.

"This is burning hot! Are you trying to kill me?" She shrieked as I grabbed a tissue from my pocket to wipe up the spill.

"I'm so sorry," I tried, hoisting the files further up my arm to stop them from falling, but she'd already moved on.

"You look a mess." She snapped, which was perfectly true, but only because she'd forced me to work so much overtime for her. Along with planning her masquerade ball for tonight, I was seriously stressed out. "Make sure you look better tonight."

A glimmer of hope chased my exhaustion away. Had she finally decided to invite me, after two years of running around after her, to her annual ball?

"I'll be expecting you to spend the night with the kitchen staff making sure everything is correct, and they don't poison me." Just like that, my hopes were crushed. I should have known that being a personal assistant wouldn't be like a movie - Rita would never eventually warm to me, she would never start inviting me to her events, she would never help me get a better position. I was a twenty-eight year old woman stuck in a job that was going nowhere, and I didn't even know whether I resented Rita or myself more for it.

"Yes," I answered dully, flipping the file back open. "There has been some adjustments to-"

"I don't want to hear about it, just fix it." Rita waved her hand and I left her room, hanging up her coat as I went.

My phone buzzed with a call from Lottie, and I sighed. As much as I loved my best friend, she was always pressuring me to stand up to Rita, as if that would ever happen. "Hello?" I answered.

"So? Are you going to the masquerade ball you were responsible for?"

"No." I replied flatly, rubbing my forehead. "Instead, I'm overseeing the catering, in case someone puts nuts in Rita's meal, even though I've told them a bazillion times not to."

"I had a feeling you might say that," Lottie said mysteriously. "Which is why I have a plan."

"A plan?" I questioned incredulously. "Please tell me how this plan of yours is meant to solve all my problems."

"A friend's friend knows the PA of Gideon Lee who has agreed to take you to the ball as his date." Lottie concluded triumphantly.

I frowned. "That can't be right - him and his girlfriend RSVPed months ago, and I haven't heard from them since."

"They broke up two days ago, and he can't show up to this event alone, so I've gotten you in." She explained. "You can't say no. I've already bought you an outfit, and his limo's coming to pick you up at seven."

"Well... okay." I relented. "It better be a brilliant mask, though, because if Rita discovers I'm there she will fire me, then send her next PA out to kill me."