'Among all of the grooms friends, which one do you consider dateable?'
Laura crunched her face in thought while not so discreetly analyzing the men seated on the table across hers. 'They all look like buffoons' she shrugged. 'Not my taste'.

Her friend Jamila glared at her and Laura sighed.

"The cute one in brown" she replied to Jamila who was struggling to hear above the din of the music blaring from the speakers beside them.

'Laura, he is too stiff, you can pass him off as a Nazi soldier or a bouncer' Jamila complained.

"He is too short to be a bouncer Jamila" she pointed out.

"Choose another one" Jamila urged ignoring her comment.

Laura sighed and glanced at her phone with growing irritation.  She had never been a fan of night events and that day was no exception.  The fact that it was her close friends wedding was the only reason she had decided to attend and she was beginning to regret her decision. 

It was 9:30pm, the newly married couple still had not made their entrance and her thin layered patience was peeling off fast like the skin off a freshly boiled potato.

The thought of potato made her realise how hungry she was and as if on cue, her stomach whined in agreement. She looked at the plate of food that was seductively winking at her and aimed her fork at the yummy looking chicken thigh.

"So who will you choose? "  Jamila pressed on, then stared at her in disgust when she noticed the direction Laura's fork was taking "Do not tell me you are planning on eating" she asked rhetorically in an overly dramatic manner.

"why what's wrong with that? " Laura asked "i'm hungry" she added.
Jamila gave her a disbelieving look and sighed over dramatically like a mother preparing to preach to her errant child for the millionth time about the same thing.

Laura stifled the yawn that threatned to reveal that she was tired of her friends never-ending lectures. She was Laura, Laura listened to  no one because everyone else did the listening.

'Sometimes i swear you are the silliest person on earth' the drama queen started "it's going to ruin your lipstick and it's loaded with fat, before you know it, you will start looking like a balloon.  Besides the groom's friends are watching, do you want them to think we are gluttons?' She asked with exasperation.

"And since when did i start watching my weight?"

"Well you don't have to mock me just because you are naturally physically perfect" Jamila pouted.

Laura smirked and shook her head. "Jamila i am perfect because i am Laura. But you are you and i have told you you are not fat, you are a pretty chubby woman whose happiness doesn't have to be defined by the stereotypical bodies of the models on TV".

    'Whatever' she waved her hand dismissively but Laura could tell that her little speech had helped.  She glanced around and bent her head closer to Lauras ears as they were practically yelling at each other by then. "have you noticed the way Fadilah has been acting since we got here? Laura sensed a gossip brewing and inched closer.  It was no surprise as Jamila was an expert gossip monger. "i swear she is the most obvious attention seeker on earth. She lacks subtlety and i bet all the guests here have noticed... ".

"That guy" Laura exclaimed suddenly then realised she was pointing her finger in his direction.  She quickly lowered her finger and gestured with her head.

He had just concluded speaking with one of their friends and was looking around the hall lazily obviously bored.

Jamila followed her gaze and her face immediately brightened "yes, you are right, he is absolutely the most dateable" she gushed out nodding in agreement. In their teenage minds, he was Mr. Perfect personified.

She opened her mouth to continue when the MC announced that the couple had finally arrived and requested the train of friends to file out and walk the couple in.

"About time they showed up, it's  almost midnight, my cinderella clothes are about to turn into rags and i still haven't met prince charming" Jamila complained as they walked out of the packed up hall to the corrider where they met the Bride and Groom.

     After a series of hugs and pictures and a whole lot of exclamations on how beautiful the bride, Zara was looking, they formed  two parallel lines with Zara's friends behind her and her groom, Abdul's friends behind him.

   Laura turned to see who was standing beside her found herself staring at Mr Dateable.  He was even better looking up close.  He looked down at her, smiled and started walking along with the train. 

She swallowed and raised her legs fervently willing them not to wobble, regretting not for the first time, the high heeled shoes she had on "why didn't you wear wedges" she chastised herself.

❌❌❌❌

'Hello' a deep voice rumbled behind her. 
Laura turned and narrowed her eyes at the good looking man standing before her wearing a cocky smile on his face.

The dinner celebrations were over and it was just the couple and their friends plus a few relatives that were left behind.

   It was almost midnight and that made Laura to be more cranky than usual coupled with the fact that Fadilah just informed her that she heard the grooms friends talking about her.  According to Fadilah one of them had supposedly being dared to approach and collect the number of the most intimidating looking one among them and he had chosen her.
When she demanded to know which one, she was surprised to see the accusing finger being pointed at Mr Dateable. Talk about all that glitters, she thought.

She assumed her most intimidating stance despite her not-so-imposing statue and tried to stare down the tall conniver before her.

"I've been looking for an excuse to talk to you but i couldn't form a single one" he smiled "probably because you have dazzled all the thoughts out of my mind".

She raised a fully haired eyebrow "Oh please!, that is very cliche.  Surely you can do better than that"

He chuckled and rocked on his feet "You are a fiesty one aren't you?" she glanced at her watch with feigned impatience.

"I like that" he surmised "I'd love to know more about you, can i call you tomorrow?".
"And how do you intend to do that? Last i checked, my number isn't plastered on my forehead".

He grinned "Well then, can i have your phone number?"

He thinks this is a joke, she fumed. I'll show him joke. He had no idea who he was messing with. With a single snap of her fingers his deceitful ass could be locked up inside prison. For good.

"Listen here mister" she snapped "i do not know who you are and i have no interest in knowing who you are but if you think you can come here, throw some few words at me,  dazzle me with smiles and walk away with my number, you are deceiving yourself.  I am not one of those girls who care about how good you look " she ignored her blatant lie and raged on "nor do i care about your material wealth so let me inform you that you are not going to demean me and disrespect all that i stand for." she realized that she was panting in rage and fisted her hands willing herself to calm down.

She turned to leave only to meet more than a dozen pairs of eyes staring in their direction. In her fury, she had forgotten that there were people around and she might have raised her voice more than she should.  The  reprobate audience tried to look away and pretend they weren't listening but she took no heed.

With a sweep of her gown, she made a drama worthy exit, the death grip she had on her clutch bag being the only thing giving her feelings away. The echo of her heels making contact with the tiled floor, followed her into the night.
As she entered the car, she reminded herself never to attend a night event again, ever.

Second Book. THE LAURA CONSPIRACY.

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