Anne walked into her room, wrapped in a towel. Even though it was two hours before the beginning of today's event, she was pretty sure her preparations would be time-consuming. The day for the dinner party has finally come. As expected, Anne and her friends, were fully prepared for the event. They all agreed to dress identically.
Anne rushed through the meal in front of her and proceeded to do her makeup. She ran the eyebrow liner on her eyebrows and wiped it off when she wasn't satisfied with the result. She repeated the action a couple of times till she felt satisfied. Her dressing table contained make-up kits of different brands and she was having trouble making a choice. Settling for a particular brand she had bought when she went shopping with Farida, she kept the others away to avoid further distractions.
While she got busy with beautifying her face, she made a mess on the floor with the wipes with which she wiped her face. The next couple of minutes saw Anne trying hard to settle on a particular look. Feeling frustrated, she went back to the bathroom and washed her face with soap and water. When she got back, she lay on her bed for a few minutes before she resumed beautifying herself. This time it came out so well that she spent long seconds in the mirror, admiring her work.
Walking in long strides, she went to the closet and her heart missed a beat when she didn't see the dress immediately but in the next instant, she remembered changing the position of the dress the night before.
She hadn't slept a wink, she tossed around on her bed, counted in fives, and pretended to be asleep but none of them worked. She had been too restless to read and so she went to the closet to admire her dress for the thousandth time and yes it looked more beautiful than the last time she saw it. She had brought the dress to the bed and ran her fingers through the patterns of the dress for a long time. When she began to doze off, she had carefully placed it on the top drawer of her cabinet for fear of rumpling it, since she had been too tired and sleepy to make it back to her closet.
She headed back to where her cabinet was located and brought out the dress which now looked even more beautiful. She did a little dance before easing into the dress which was so perfect on her. She just couldn't wait to be in the party already.
She spent some time adjusting the dress even though it needed no adjustment, then she went to the closet and grabbed her shoes.
While she was putting them on, her phone rang.
"What's up girl, did you have a change of mind?" came Josephine's voice the moment she answered the call.
"Change of mind? Never!" Anne responded with a laugh.
"You are running late already, please hurry up".
She muffled a scream when she checked what time it was. She couldn't believe she had used more than one hour to get dressed.
Hurriedly she the buckles on her shoes, grabbed a handbag, and walked towards the door but came back on a second thought and discarded the bag for a purse.
Since she was home alone, she walked straight to the door leading outside, shut it, and kept the key in her purse. The others should be with their keys she thought.
******************
The squealing from the three friends on seeing each other soon died down, giving rise to compliments. They all looked extremely good and very much identical. Their dresses were the same save for the colors. While Anne's was black, Josephine's was blue and Naomi's was red. They looked so much like triplets with their matching dress and shoes. And purses. Each item rightly complimented the color of their dresses.
It was just a few minutes before the start of the event, and Anne and her friends were still busy adding finishing touches to their looks. They had assembled at Josephine's place to enable them arrive at the party together.
"Is that mine?" Anne asked, referring to the perfume which Naomi applied to herself with reckless abandon.
" Really?" She continued when Naomi chose not to answer.
Josephine brought out a similar bottle just as Naomi located hers in her purse.
They exchanged a knowing look, realizing just how much they had in common.
Soon they were set to go but Naomi suggested they wait a little to gain more audience. Although they found the suggestion funny, they waited a little and left long minutes later.
The attention they caught on their arrival was way more than they had expected. They whispered among themselves just how pleased they were while they discreetly searched for their various partners.
Since none of their partners was in sight, they located a table and sat in the meantime. They took turns to call their partners with Josephine taking the lead.
Michael answered on the second ring, apologized for his lateness and informed her that he was already at the party.
Anne's eyes followed Josephine's gaze to the door where Michael was standing, and their eyes locked, with Anne being the first to look away.
Michael walked to their table and exchanged pleasantries with the others, his eyes not leaving Anne for a second. If Josephine noticed Michael's eyes on Anne all through the conversation, she didn't show it.
"I thought you said you weren't coming to the party". Michael inquired, eyes still on Anne.
"I got invited by someone I couldn't resist".Anne teased while Michael rolled his eyes.
"By the way, you all look.... the same". Michael teased.
They talked lightly for a while before Naomi's ringing phone interrupted them. Her mystery partner had called to announce his arrival.
It turned out Naomi's mystery partner was no mystery at all as he happened to be their coursemate.
While the guys talked to each other, Naomi suffered discreet teasing from her friends about her choice of partner but the looks and faces they exchanged weren't lost on Michael who Anne had observed to be very observant.
"I still haven't seen your irresistible partner". Michael said from the blues, catching Anne off guard. She had been so busy teasing Naomi that she had momentarily forgotten about Daniel.
"Oh please".Anne replied, trying hard to decide if the edge on Michael's voice was hurt or not.
She tried calling Daniel for the third time since she arrived at the party but he still wasn't picking up.
When the dance was announced minutes later, her friends offered to sit with Anne since her partner was yet to show up but Anne would not hear of it. She wouldn't allow her friends to miss out on the fun on account of her. She assured them that she was fine and her partner would soon be here.
With light kisses on her cheeks, her friends went off with their partners while she got busy with her phone, sipping from the glass of wine on the table at intervals.
Occasionally she took glances around the room, checking up on her friends who were having so much fun.
She looked up from her phone as usual just in time to see a guy walk in. He was tall, with well-built biceps which indicated years of working out in a gym. He was on a button-down shirt with the first four buttons open to reveal a hairy chest. The air around him screamed of wealth and arrogance but Anne for some reason she couldn't tell, felt attracted to him. She lowered her gaze and settled it on her phone which had begun to ring. It was Daniel.
He had forgotten about the dinner and he had called to apologize.
She ended the call after reassuring him that it was okay. Deep within her, she knew it wasn't okay. Collins would be laughing hard now, she couldn't afford to let him win. She thought.
But then why is this always happening to her? Is it ill luck? She asked herself.
The sound of approaching footsteps beside her prompted her to turn sideways. She flushed at first, when she saw who it was, then she tried to pull herself together.