The Sycophant – Part Four: Things Progress and the Plot Thickens

Catch up here – Part one – Introducing The Players

I dropped it but he didn’t. The next time we saw Cruella she addressed the situation. It seemed she and Lover Boy had a conversation.

“Lover Boy and I are just friends, Elsa. I have no romantic interest in him,” Cruella said, laughing gaily.

“Oh. My mistake”, I said smiling wide while fantasizing cracking her over the head with the bottle of red wine she was drinking and raving about. She was wearing a white silk blouse. It would never come out.

“That really is silly isn’t it Lover Boy?” Cruella giggled girlishly and I thought she was a toad. She pointed at Lover Boy. “You and I?” She rolled her eyes. “That’ll never happen. Oh Elsa,” she said condescendingly. “Where did you get such a notion? You just don’t understand.”

I looked over to see Lover Boy smiling. He wasn’t stupid enough to speak. Another week went by and I continued to complain.

“She’s boring,” I said snottily.

“She’s not that boring,” he said.

But she was boring and he knew it and I made slight progress. Lover Boy started to blow off Cruella’s invitations but when he did she smartly raised the stakes. She came up with this or that ultra-desirable ticket and it was at that point that I decided, no mas. I told Lover Boy to do whatever he wanted but I would no longer go to Cruella’s house, or anywhere else on her dime again. I had my reasons.

I was bored but besides that I didn’t like her so it just plain wasn’t right she be footing a bill for me. Lover Boy was bored as well but my being there provided him a distraction, effectively making her more tolerable, so enough of that!

But more than anything, I was losing interest. I was just plain losing respect. And Lover Boy didn’t want this to happen. He preferred I not walk, so he spent a fair amount of time trying to sell Cruella to me. He explained how connected she was and said she could do a lot for “us”.

“What? So you mean she’s my Fairy Godmother? You’ve got to be kidding me.” I laughed.

“Elsa! That’s just plain mean. Cruella is a very generous person…”

“Oh brother.”

We were both pissed off. It was clear the situation could not be sustained much longer and this is when an invitation from Mary Ann arrived. Yep. She and her husband wanted to meet us for drinks and dinner.

Hmm. I thought we were mighty popular considering no one ever spoke to me directly. I didn’t get it.

I had been in a room with Mary Ann several times by now and made no connection whatsoever. I was completely baffled. Cruella wanted me out of the picture; there was no doubt about that. Was this a sign of acceptance from Mary Ann? Was she going to be my new best friend? Or was she Cruella’s best bud, planning to get me to dinner and slip me a Mickey? What the hell was going on?

I wasn’t used to being invited places by people who didn’t like me and it made me kind of nervous. In fact it made me so nervous, I checked out. I was invested, I was curious and I would stick around for the final act but I detached all emotion. I was still standing next to Lover Boy but I had my eye on my coat, and it was hanging by the door. I knew I could be through that door in a flash, but first…

Well let’s see what the Mary Ann deal is. Does she have a message? Can she save the day? She was a wild card and I wanted to see her played.

I guess it was like having your attorney draw up the divorce papers, but not signing them just exactly yet. Could there be a miracle? Because truth was, I was really going to miss this guy in my bed. I waited for Saturday, with my emotions jumbled and anticipation on high.

Skip to Part Five – Mary Ann