Not Your Fairy Godmother

4 - The Ice King

Alton Spencer was not aware of this, but he and Matilda Merryweather were arch enemies. From the time her friends had gotten together with their boyfriends, the elder Spencer had become a thorn in Matilda's side.

He was an elitist, arrogant, control-freak who thought it was his duty to protect Eric and Phil from "women who are unsuitable for them". From what Matilda had heard from Ursula and Mal—since she had never met the man herself—he was highly intelligent, very well connected and very cunning. He had been the one responsible for the one time Ursula and Eric had broken up back in college. 

Matilda still felt rage over how heartbroken both of them had been at being separated. It was just as well that they were fated to be together since not even the great Alton Spencer could go against fate. Still, the incident had cemented Alton as the worst being on the planet, for Matilda.

Alton Spencer had also been the one to tell Mal, on the eve of her wedding, that she should rethink her decision in marrying Phil. Mal's family were simple, working-class people while Phil's family were political elites with many members being prominent members of congress. Apparently, Alton had been very concerned that Mal was not making the right decision. Matilda still remembered how shaken Mal had been before her wedding and the pains Matilda and Ursula had taken to convince Mal that everything would be alright.

Despite her hatred for Alton Spencer, Matilda was still nervous about the lunch. According to Bas the man was very sharp and one had to be very careful with what information they revealed to Alton Spencer, since he could use it to his advantage.

Matilda worried about how he would treat someone like her. She hoped it would be with indifference. She wouldn't want a man like Alton to actually regard her as an enemy. Men like him could easily ruin commoner lives, simply for fun. Matilda almost suspected that he did actually ruin lives for fun, but right now she didn't want to think such thoughts. They would make her more anxious than she already was.

Feeling in need of comforting, she called up Mal and Ursula.

"I don't wanna look like an idiot. Ever since Bas invited me I've been so anxious that I can't eat anything." Matilda scrunched up her face as she held a plain tan dress in front of her to see how it would look in the mirror.

"Relax!" Mal's voice came from her phone that was lying on her bed, "You'll be fine. Just no suits."

Matilda held up another one of her plain old dresses. She didn't have many to begin with. "What's his deal with no suits? Bas told me the same thing."

"It's just not proper for a lunch. But don't go too casual either." Ursula elaborated. "He'll murder you if you show up in a t-shirt."

Matilda was tempted to dress as a hobo just to piss the elder Spencer off.

"What's he like in person?"

"Uhhh..." Mal trailed off.

"He's... nice..." Ursula sounded unsure.

"Come on guys! I'm really worried about this! Bas was acting really weird when he invited me. I don't think he actually wanted me to come."

"Well..." Mal said.

"Oh Alton's an asshole, isn't he? I'm totally screwed."

"Not really an ass..." Mal tried to interject.

"He's just... he notices everything you know. So you have to be careful about what you say and do in front of him."

"Wow. That really helps." Matilda deadpanned. Her stomach tying itself in knots.

"Relaaax. He might not even bother with you. He only likes rich people remember?"

"Right."

"Listen. I've gotta go. Phil is making me take these exercise classes for the baby. I'll see you on Saturday yeah?" Mal said. The gang's Friday dinner was off on account of the luncheon.