PEARLESCENT GATES

Liam's birthday party is nearly approaching and I'm plucking up enough bandwidth to push myself out of my comfort zone. I even tried to strut with my bikini inside my bedroom and fix my haunch posture. 

 

I asked for mom's opinion and all that she can say is that fake it until you make it.  A quote straight from a podcast that she's been listening to for quite a while now. 

 

I tried a visualization technique that I've learned from binging YouTube videos which are a handful. I tried to control my breathe whenever I felt anxious and to divert my mind to look at the brighter side. 

 

It was two hours before the party and I'm already downright spiraling. My ragged breathing and racing mind is just adding insult to injury. So, I called Blake on the double if he could drop by our house to pick me up. 

 

After 30 minutes, I can hear a black-matte car pulling over our driveway. I can discern Blake in his orange floral shirt and white beach shorts which he bought on our shopping spree. He looks dashing by the way. 

 

I rushed downstairs and open the door as the cold breeze entered the living room's hallway. We trailed on my bedroom and I pace back and forth like a keyed robot. 

 

"What's the matter honey?" asked Blake. 

"I got butterflies in my stomach. I don't want to go," I said tremulously. 

"Take deep breathes honey. It's just people. They're all anodynes. Good thing I brought an alcohol in the car, " said Blake. 

"Are you drinking while driving? You're going to kill us both," I said anxiously. 

"It's not for me duhh. I'm saving it for you since I know this is going to happen," said Blake. 

"Come on. Get dressed already. We're still going to pick up Ashton along the way". 

 

Predrinking is such a boss move. It subdues your nerves and it gives you enough poise to attend a pool party or not. 

 

I layered my shell pink swimsuit with an ash gray camisole that was given to me by my auntie Lolita who moved abroad. I wore natural make-up and a water-proof brow liner to thicken my lifeless eyebrow. 

 

"Honey, you should also put some lip tint to hide your pale lips. It will be an arrow in your quiver," said Blake. 

 

Blake is so reliable in many ways and he is the total opposite of Ashton. I'm not saying that Ashton is two-dimensional since he's from a high-born family. But Blake is like a jack-of-all-trades. He's the youngest of them three siblings and yet, he acts like 30-years old in his days of wine and roses. 

 

"Thank you so much for coming in such a short notice," I said. 

 

I hugged him so tight and pecked him on his chiseled cheekbones. 

 

Time check. 6:45 p.m. 

 

Blake was driving and I am busy guzzling a can of beer beside the driver's seat. 

 

"How are you feeling? Does it help you keep still?" said Blake. 

 

My pounding heart starts to find it's rhythm again but I feel drowsy already from one can. 

 

"Yes. But why does everything feels spinning?" I spoke. 

"It'll subside once we get to the address," said Blake guffawing. 

 

We made it through Ashton's place and golly! 

 

It's been a long time since I saw Ashton topless. He looks so ripped and the costly gold membership gym card paid off. Damn! You can see his perfectly seamed V-line. 

 

I wolf-whistled Ashton as the car window rolled down. I elbowed Blake and raised my other eyebrow to tease him. 

 

I moved to the back so that the two love birds can have their own space. 

 

"What's with the limping cat behind us?", said Ashton. 

"See. That's the problem. I made her gulp a can of beer to ease her nerves. I didn't know she had a low alcohol tolerance," said Blake. 

 

Everything is starting to get hazy that night before I could even strut in front of Henry. I've been murmuring gibbers in the back of the car and my vision is starting to darken. 

 

There's no proximate coffee shop to help me sober up. So, we hoped that Henry's dad drink coffee. Espresso is fine. 

 

We hung left on the last crossroad and I can see a lot of cars lined up in front of us waiting to be accommodated by the sentinels guarding the gargantuan royal gate in front of us. 

 

Blake was in shock and Ashton couldn't utter a word knowing that he's also from a well-to-do family. 

 

"Are you kidding me? This is not just a mansion. This is the Buckingham Palace!" said Ashton. 

 

Blake hastily unlimbered his phone from his backpack to take a picture of the majestic mansion's foreground. 

 

As we get closer to the guards' position, Ashton jolted me so hard that I can feel my shoulders aching. 

 

"Wakey, Sleeping Beauty! We're already here at Prince Charming's Chateau," said Ashton. 

 

I squeezed my shuttered eyes and try to collect my feeble senses. 

 

The first thing that I saw is a circular fountain, with a lion statue in the middle of it like that one in Singapore but in its whole form. 

 

I tried to shift my eyes in the other direction when a French Chateau loomed in front of us. 

 

"Where are we?" I asked. 

"We're at a rich kid lawn. like empire rich," said Ashton. 

 

We dismounted on the car with our wide-eyed gaze. 

I scanned the perimeter and I can see my classmates faces and faces of people I don't know. 

 

"Holy Shit! This is really like a picture-perfect replica of the ballroom in Beauty and the Beast," said Blake who incessantly shoots picture from his phone. 

 

The ceiling was way up high, it could almost kiss the sky. And in the center most place is a seafood galore consisting of lobsters, halibut, scallops, prawns, salmon, sushi, caviar, etc. 

 

I've never seen Liam yet so Blake, Ashton, and I set our foot to the spread and make ourselves full. 

 

The place is seething with glamorous girls in their swimsuit and winsome boys in their sexy trunks. 

 

I swallowed hard and tried to monitor my heart rate. 

 

"Are you sure this is the right address, Blake? Why are there some cameras everywhere? Why are there some famous figures in here casually sipping cocktails and like, what the hell is going on?" exclaimed Ashton while filching the scallops in his plate. 

 

Then all of a sudden, the lights went out with only a spotlight beaming in the ballroom.  The once lofty ballroom became an expanse of darkness. 

 

The party's announcer started making introduction and prefaced the program. 

The only thing that's within my earshot at that time was the announcer's guttural voice and Ashton's loud chewing. 

 

A minute after the monologue, the high-spirited host asserted the sponsor of the bedazzling birthday party which is the most illustrious and prolific chef of the century, Aries Chivec with girls surrounding him. 

 

"You're kidding me. The father of Henry is the sexiest chef ever to be seen on t.v.? How did I miss that?" I spoke. 

 

A round of applause echoed in the ballroom and the beacon for the celebrant, Liam, to show up was instigated by Aries. 

 

The spotlight hovered from Aries into the upper sinistral corner of the perimeter only to enhance Liam's smutty version of Poseidon.  He's wearing a golden wreath crown, and a moss green trunk that's so short, that you might think he's wearing birthday suit. His captivating upper body, bulky thighs, and dreamy eyes can make the girls scream and guys question their sexuality. 

 

"I never felt so thirsty in my life," said Ashton. 

"Ditto," said Blake while quenching with cocktail. 

 

Liam gallantly descended from upstairs and seated beside his father on an underwater-themed royalty chair. 

 

"My son, Liam, is the scion of my empire and I wanted him to be happy. So, without further ado, we'll start drafting some girls in the crowd for him to have a causal date-night at the extravagant poolside," proclaimed Aries. 

 

My heart started raising again. 

 

What if there are another girl's being sensual with Liam? Being touchy to him? What if she kisses him torridly and they'll have a night they both won't forget?    

 

"Notice that the invitations are color-coded with blue and pink tone? That's simply because so that we can easily sort them out from the guys to girls. And with that, we prepared a lottery wherein five lucky girls will go head-to-head for the arms of my son, Liam," pronounced Aries. 

 

"You shouldn't miss this opportunity, Missy," said Ashton. 

 

After that, everything's history.