Chapter 1: Appearances Can Be Deceiving

It was a chilly spring evening outside of the Braxton Grand Hotel and at the moment, Cecelia Summers was feeling very self-conscious. She wasn’t used to being the center of attention and yet, here she was, surrounded by the combination of extravagant facades, well-dressed celebrities and hordes of shameless paparazzi. It was an assault on the senses as countless flashing lights went off, like a blinding and relentless cascade. Cecelia hated this, just like she hated her dress, a cut of flimsy green cloth which had been sewn into a form-fitting, backless, spaghetti-strapped abomination which she then had to pretend was warm. Goddamn haute couture; only Jane & Jane could fashion a dress so thin and breezy that it made you feel naked while wearing it. This definitely wasn’t how Past Cecelia envisioned spending her weekend but alas, here she was and there was nothing else to do now except to stand here on the red carpet and smile. Smile! Smile for the cameras! Both Cecelia’s face and retinas hurt from the repeated flashbangs but it was paramount that she continued to smile because this was the whole point of her being here, to be seen. And so, she stood here like an idiot, posing like an idiot, and smiling like an idiot because she had promised, like an idiot, to take her sister’s place and socialize for the evening instead of wearing pajama pants and eating pizza rolls at home.

Sigh. The things we do for money family.

After getting sufficiently bukkaked by the dazzling paparazzi, Cecelia then turned around to face the monumentally difficult task of walking up those red-carpeted steps in her sparkling open-toed stilettos. Ugh, crikey. Even on a good day, this poor girl was prone to tripping over her own feet but now she was expected to win an uphill fight against gravity? Cecelia may as well have tried to climb Mt. Everest without a Sherpa.

“Okay. I can do this,” Cecelia muttered to herself while sweating through her antiperspirant on this cold and nippy night. “It’s only five steps. Heel-Toe, let’s go!”

It was at this point that Cecelia heard someone audibly scoff and sensed a familiar presence approach her from behind.

“...Really?” that same condescending voice proclaimed once they too reached the foot of the stairs. “Heel-Toe, let’s go?”

Irritably, Cecelia rolled her eyes and then turned around to face the man who had uttered those crass and inconsiderate words. He was a tall and handsome devil whose pretty face often beguiled and distracted others from his true personality. His name was Adrian Valentine, an up-and-coming actor, and Cecelia’s companion for the night.

“It’s a mnemonic,” Cecelia said defensively. “It helps me remember how to walk in these things.”

“Aww, that’s cute sensei!” Adam remarked sarcastically. “And which one do you use to remember how to breathe?”

Cecelia scowled with displeasure and said, “I’m trying, okay? I’ve never worn heels like these before.”

A normal person might have felt bad but Adrian just shook his head and sighed.

“Jesus Christ. I can’t believe I agreed to this,” said Adrian. “Amy told me that you had no media training but she didn’t tell me that you were intimidated by stairs.”

“Yeah? Well, she told me this was going to be fun so I guess she lied to the both of us,” Cecelia retorted.

“Whatever,” Adrian said with a nonchalant shrug. “Go “Heel-Toe” your way up the stairs.”

“How about I “Heel-Toe” my way up your ass?” Cecelia quietly remarked under her breath.

“What was that?” Adrian asked.

“Nothing! I didn’t say anything!” Cecelia quickly recanted.

Adrian didn’t try to hide his amusement as a stupid smile stretched across his frustratingly handsome face. Without any worry or care for Cecelia’s personal space, he leaned in and smugly whispered, “That’s the spirit.”

Oh it was on now.

Where fear and apprehension once existed before in Cecelia’s mind, spite rose to take it’s place – pure, unadulterated, and petty spite. In a stunning reversal of her normally laid-back and easy-going demeanor, at this moment, nothing else mattered to Cecelia Summers except climbing to the top of these stairs, ankles be damned. To her, survival was not a priority and defeat was not an option. And so, wobbly or not, Cecelia forced herself to put one foot in front of the other until she reached the summit.

Never underestimate the power of spite. When people talk about the perseverance of the human spirit, what they’re really talking about is the indomitable power of spite. It wasn’t curiosity which landed a man on the moon; it was spite, petty spite, and the same kind of spite which causes man to wage war against inanimate objects or turn alligators into handbags, just as the Founding Fathers intended.

Although it was only a few feet up, the view from the top felt a lot different because it felt indistinguishable from victory and no victory would be complete without a healthy dose of gloating or at the very least, a humble brag. With the same gusto of a toddler, Cecelia spun herself around on the tip of her toe, expecting to find Adrian at the bottom of the stairs where he belonged, only to find that she had accidentally spun herself directly into Adrian’s chest as he was only one step behind her. This in turn startled the poor girl, which caused her take an unprepared step back, and would have led to her downfall had Adrian not immediately reached out and pulled her into a tight embrace.

In the grand scheme of things, the laws of causality still applied but if you asked Cecelia how this became that, she wouldn’t be able to pinpoint how one thing led to another as the only things she was truly cognizant of at this moment was how strong Adrian’s arms were and how warm his chest was.

“T-thanks,” Cecelia managed to stammer before she finally found the strength and mental clarity to break away. She could feel her face heat up and redden but she hoped to God that no one would notice. The theory of the reptilian brain may no longer have any cultural currency in the scientific community but that didn’t stop her basal ganglia from concluding that if she couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see her.

“You all right?” Adrian asked with a certain softness in his voice.

“...Mmm,” Cecelia acknowledged with a nod whilst still evading his gaze.

“You know you’re really clumsy and not in an endearing way,” said Adrian.

With an air of resignation, Cecelia sighed and slumped her shoulders.

“I know,” she conceded in defeat. “I don’t think I can do this. Should I leave?”

Adrian opened his mouth to say something mean but thought better of it once he saw how dispirited the poor girl had become. Instead he compromised and said, “Leave? You can’t leave; there are stairs, remember? Besides, the hard part is over. All we need to do now is sign in and eat dinner. You can do that, right? Put food in your mouth?”

With a flicker of hope, Cecelia looked up at him and mumbled, “...I could eat.”

“Well all right then. C’mon,” said Adrian before he took Cecelia by the hand and for the first time since they met, acted as a proper companion should as he led her inside the hotel.