Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: GREED (03/08/18)
-
TITLE: Roommates | Previous Challenge Entry
By LeslieJean Anderson
03/12/18 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
He shook my hand and looked at me with sizzling green eyes. Then he smiled, revealing sparkling white teeth that said, “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Shepherd. I’m Jerry Stone. You and Angela were roommates in college?”
“Y-yes,” I stuttered, then recovered my composure. “For about a year, until I started working on my Ph.D. That’s about when she met you, correct?”
“Uh-huh,” he said distantly. He was looking across the room. Suddenly Angela appeared beside him.
“Hello Kathy. I wondered if you’d make it to the reunion. I see that you’ve met my husband Jerry.” She sounded cool and disapproving as usual.
It’s a wonder we’d lasted a week as roommates. I’d been a free spirit in college and she’d been a strict rule-follower, always voicing her disapproval about my activities – especially my social ones.
How she’d landed a handsome husband like Jerry was beyond me. She had some classic features, but she wore thick glasses, her hair was a bland brown, and she’d always been a bit plump. On top of that she’d been a mediocre student.
I heard Jerry say, “I see MY old roommate over there, Angela – would you excuse me? Nice meeting you Kathy.”
As he looked at me, my stomach did a flip. He touched Angela on the shoulder as she nodded, and then strode away. He has to be an athlete, I mused. He must be at least six feet. Perfect height for me in my three-inch heels.
I looked back at Angela who said, “I hear you’re a professor now.”
I stood up a little straighter and replied, “Yes – and I’m up for tenure soon. All I have to do now is find myself a handsome husband, and all my dreams will have come true.”
“Well, good luck, roomie. You never had any trouble attracting attention when you wanted it.”
Again that disapproving tone. I wanted to ask her how her dreamboat husband could stand her judgmental manner. But instead I said, “How long have you two been married?”
“About five years. Jerry just finished law school, and is joining a partnership in D.C.”
“And you?” I asked.
“I have an online children’s book writing service which I manage from home. Jerry and I have twins – a boy and a girl. So I do most of my work at night.”
I noticed Angela’s face soften as she mentioned her children. She’d always been a sucker for kids.
“Well, good for you,” I said as sincerely as I could manage. “Sounds like a perfect set-up for a young mother.”
Angela didn’t answer. She just looked at me.
I suddenly remembered a heated conversation we’d had years ago. She’d accused me of never being happy with what God had given me. I’d retorted that God couldn’t know what I wanted because I didn’t always know what I wanted. I only knew it when I saw it.
And I saw it in her husband – the god-like hunk with lively green eyes. I knew he deserved better than Angela, especially if he was going to be a high-powered D.C. lawyer. He’d need a high-powered partner – someone as attractive and striking as he was. Somebody smart, who could help promote him instead of wasting time on the computer or tending to babies.
Someone like me.
I suddenly smiled, like I’d thought of a wonderful idea, and said, “Oh Angela! We must get together! I want to see those twins. Let me give you my card.”
I rummaged through my purse, pulling out a business card. But she didn’t smile as I handed it to her. She slid it into her skirt pocket and said evenly, “Thank you, Kathy. It would be nice to talk sometime. I’ll call you.”
As she moved away, I said to myself, “You’ve always been such a dumb lamb, Angela. But I’m a lioness now. I’ve learned how to get what I want. Always.”
I remember tossing my long blonde hair over my shoulder and heading for the bar to look up Jerry Stone on my phone. But that’s the last thing I knew until I woke up in the hospital.
“What happened?” I mumbled.
I heard a doctor saying, “You fell down some steps, Miss. Then you smacked yourself unconscious on the metal edge of a bar. You’ve got a concussion and twenty stitches in your forehead, but you’ll recover. Thank God for that. It could have been much worse.”
750 words This is a work of fiction.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
Blessings~