"Excuse me, is anyone there?"

Knock knock knock

"Hello? I just need to have a minute of your time! Hello?"

You groaned as the door didn't get a rest from the incessant knocking. This lady had been standing outside the door for twenty minutes now, unwavering in her mission.

How long does it take for a person to loiter before you can call the cops?

She knocked again.

This was getting beyond annoying, and the phone calls you always get from whoever these people made you just as irritable. It sometimes made you a little on edge when you thought about it. They figured out where your apartment was probably just by phone, and their unpleasant visits were getting really frequent.

You couldn't help but wonder if there was some type of bounty on your head... one that only passive bounty hunters went for.

That or telemarketers just tell other telemarketers about the one person who falls for their bullshit and they constantly hang around that one particular person, effectively sapping time and money out of them until the victim gets smart enough to ignore it, or they die.

But you hadn't ever agreed to subscribe to or buy anything. You hadn't even stayed on the phone with them long enough to know what they were going to try to get you into.

Your roommate walked out of his room and made his way to the door, immensely irritated. He looked to you, quietly sitting on the couch frantically waving you arms around. He frowned and shrugged dramatically as if to ask, 'what are you doing?'

In a panic you mouthed, 'don't answer the door!' repeatedly while shaking your fingertips back and forth at your neck.

He squinted at you then flung his arms up. 'What? Why?'

You gave him a pleading look and the knocking finally stopped. Both you and your roommate were quiet and heard footsteps, muffled by cheap carpet, stride away down the apartments hall.

"Dude!" You cried out, throwing a throw pillow at his face angrily.

He caught it against his face before he threw it back at you, his confusion equal to your ferocity. "What?"

"You know I'm trying to avoid them!" You hissed.

"Yeah... And I don't understand why." He said shaking his head then gestured to the entrance. "Just nicely decline whatever they're offering and ask them to never get in contact with you again!"

You stared at him for a moment then smiled. "Floyd, for god sakes, you are so painfully neutral about things."

He rolled his eyes with a hesitant smile, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, that's what everyone says back home too."

You snickered halfheartedly. But the mention of home, even if it wasn't directed to yours, brought you back to your hometown. There you were with your whole family, packed with all the dreams of an ambitious young adult and as much as a suit case could carry. You were ready to chance your dreams for a high paying profession that you absolutely adored located in New York, New York.

The rest of the family weren't so glad you were leaving, but supported you either way and wished you the best. So you picked up your bags, kissed everyone goodbye and headed off for the Big Apple.

...What a weird thing to call a city... big apple.

Floyd was making his way back from whence he came, but the look of the overflowing trash bin with pizza boxes forced you to speak up suddenly.

"Oh! Hey before you go back in your room can you take the garbage out?" You asked politely.

He sighed quietly, hanging onto his door frame to his room for a long moment before groaning. "I'm on it."

A grateful smile crossed your face. "Thanks dude." You said as you looked back to your book.

When he walked to the kitchen he said over his shoulder. "You know, one of these days Janet will kick you out for treating me like a garbage man." He pulled the full bag out of the bin. "I'm not paying an obscene amount of money to become an economist just for fun."

You rolled your eyes and proceeded to open the book you were previously reading with a sort of shrug. "Only because Janet has an old lady boner for you. I doubt she can find grounds to kick me out of the building just for hurting your feelings." You said, with a small, devilish smirk.

"Hey. Stop that. Janet is a lovely lady." He defended, picking up the garbage and walking to the just in front of the door before turning around to look at you again, looking like he had something to say. "And another thing! You should really try to talk to her, neither of you know just how great the other is. Having a good relationship with you land lord is never a bad thing." He said while pointing at you.

"Look Floyd, it's hard to be friends with someone who constantly bugs me for things like, smelling like a particular fruit she doesn't enjoy or something ridiculous like that. So I think I'm okay with just handing her rent money instead of an olive branch." You concluded, closing your book to meet his eyes. "This place isn't cheap either, maybe if she cut us a break once and a while, I'd be able to afford to return that 46 cents I owe you."

He frowned, slouching his shoulders. "I wish you wouldn't use my love of 40 cent candy sticks against Janet."

A long sigh passed through your nose. "Well I'm sorry." Picking up your book again, you added: "But sometimes she deserves intense disliking."

He squinted at you, but couldn't help the smile that pulled at his mouth as he let out a breath. "Geez Louise Y/n," He huffed through a laugh. "You'll learn to love your neighbourhood one day! Mark my words!!" He exclaimed while shaking a fist at you, his cool blue eyes shone with playfulness as he left through the front door.

You lifted your eyebrows, an unbelieving look clouded your stare before you continued to read.

However, after a good ten minutes passed you found yourself starting to wonder where your roommate went. You stood up, about to make the venture to the trash shoot in hopes to possibly find him stuck in it until there was a familiar, drone type of knock at your door. "Hello?" The voice spoke.

Oh great... she's back...

You plopped yourself back down on your couch, ready to wait it out again, until you heard a familiar voice speak up. Honestly he has the worst timing.

"Oh hey! Are you looking for Y/n? Yeah she's in here! Come in!" The door knob jiggled and in came Floyd, followed by a thin, pale woman with tumbling blonde hair and big brown eyes which accompanied a little button nose and a bright grin. Her stature was delicate, in fact it was so delicate that you felt like a wayward breeze could sweep her off her dainty feet.

However she was tall, as tall or maybe taller than your enormous roommate. She held a brown paper package in her hands, presumably what she was about to try and sell to you.

You shot him a glare for letting her in. He shrugged, grinning to himself happily.

Her wondering eyes landed on you and she smiled. "Ugh, finally! Tiberius is going to be so glad I finally got to you!" You raised your brows at the bubbly nature of the blonde. She cleared her throat and composed herself. "Uh, right, anyway the reason I'm here."

You prepared yourself for a long, live advertisement of some sort of age cream or asking for a donation for something. But you were pleasantly surprised to find her handing you the parcel wrapped in brown paper right away. "This is for you." She said with a tired but relieved look in her eyes.

The parcel was strung to a beautiful parchment brown envelope, sealed closed with some sort of Coat of Arms that you had never seen before. You pulled it free from the packages string and inspected it further. The flip side had your name on it and looked as though it was hand written with a quill.

You had never gotten mail delivered to you personally, so it must be important to such a degree that it had come with a model delivery woman of some sort. Floyd, had gotten pretty interested in what was going on as he kept his distance to stay out of the conversation... but also made sure he was able to watch and hear everything just fine from a couple meters, pretending to busy himself with something on the table. A trick you often used at social gatherings you were not at all intending to socialize at, but still wanted to get all those juicy deets.

The woman stepped back as you popped the pressed crest up and pulled out the paper that lay inside out as cautiously as possible. It seemed like it was saturated in a smell that reminded you of old books with a dash of bourbon and cigars. You carefully opened the folded over paper and let your eyes skim over it.

Miss Y/n L/n,

You may not know who I am, or why so many of my workers have been trying to contact you through every possible and legal way. So allow me to introduce myself, regrettably over a letter, my name is Tiberius Ashmore of Ashmore Inc. and I would like to formally invite you to the Autumn Welcome Ball, the theme this year will be a Masquerade ball. It is definitely a prestigious event and from what my son has told me, you are not the most funded person in the world, so I took it upon myself to get you something for the occasion.

Best Wishes, and Look Your Best.

~T. Ashmore

A confused frown crossed your face. You knew you heard the last name Ashmore before, and the more you thought about it the more oddly familiar it got. However what put you off the most was the part in the letter when he said he was trying to contact you in every legal way. This, indeed, was a little concerning in general.

The fact that he actually had to add that in the letter, as if it were an inconvenience, put you a bit on edge.

As you looked up, the woman placed the brown package on your lap gingerly before taking a step back. You eye it skeptically then slowly unwrap the paper, pulling out a long beautiful dress of an off white, the top was decorated with a white-peach colour beading and a slightly plunging neckline. You stood up to inspect it further and upon closer examination you found the dress had silk lining on the inside. A pleasant detail indeed.

You could not deny that the dress was tremendously beautiful, but you were no lady of elegance, and this had rich proper person written all over it. It was almost painful to think of you trying to fit in, even if your identity would be hidden behind a mask.

The woman smiled warmly, clasping her hands together in relaxed joy. "Oh! You're going to look amazing!"

With a frown you looked up at her. "Who says I'm going?" It was rather salty to be the first thing you had said to her.

The woman's eyes widen with slight panic written on her glowingly pale face. "But... I-It's the biggest party in New York! You have to go!"

You laughed half heartedly. "I'm still trying to get use to the idea of even being in New York, and this out-of-the-blue party is a little overwhelming for me." Gently, you set the dress down on the brown paper it originated.

"Uhm.. I.. uh.. I think it would be cool to go." Floyd muttered making you and the woman turn your attention to him.

You raised your brow, then laughed shaking your head. "Great, then you can go." With that you threw the dress at him and stood up, making your way to your room. That was until he jumped in front of you with his new dress in hand.

"NO!" He squeaked.

You stared at him in shock, then frowned ever so slightly.

His face turns red. "L-Lets not be too hasty about this! I-I mean, C'mon. When does an opportunity like this waltz through the door and offer itself to you?" He blinked a couple time then looked towards the woman. "I-I didn't mean that you were an opportunity! It's just that y-you brought the letter and-"

She raised a hand and nodded coolly, a quiet power you were quick to note. "I know."

He turned his attention back to you. "But my point is, do you really want to throw away something like this?"

A moments pause passed between you both until you frowned. "Okay Floyd... Let's say I do go, what do I do there?"

Without hesitation he answered. "Socialize, get to know people." You raised an eyebrow at his quick response. Did he even know you?

Curious, you continued to ask questions.

"What about my lack of eloquence?"

"Fake it 'til you make it!"

"What if they ask about me?"

"Only tell the good stuff! --and by that I mean your schooling story, not how many fruit roll ups you can eat in a minute. No matter how impressive it may be."

"Okay, What if they smell my fear? You know how sweaty I can be."

"Wear deodorant, you weirdo."

You sighed with a roll of your eyes. It might be fun crashing a rich party with this loser, and he's right, this doesn't happen every Friday. You turned to the blonde woman who waited patiently, and somewhat nervously, at the side lines. "Okay fine. When is this fall ball?" You asked with a sigh.

Both Floyd and the woman lit up, mostly Floyd though.

"Autumn Welcome Ball." She corrected politely with a timid smile. "And it's actually tonight at eight."

You felt your stomach drop, you didn't even have the time to emotionally prepare for it. "What!?"

Floyd seemed a little surprised at first but then shrugged. "You have been ignoring them for quite a while." He defended.

"Mr. Ashmore will be delighted that you're actually going to show up." The woman said while letting out a heavy breath of relief. "Maybe they'll finally stop bugging me about it." She said through a light laugh.

Despite the overwhelming nervousness that resided in the pit of your stomach, you couldn't deny the slight flutter of excitement either.  Sure, you still had no idea why this Ashmore fellow —who you were sure you had never met— would want you to come so badly that would go through the trouble of getting you a dress for the occasion, but it was... an opportunity... you guessed.

"So, how would I know this guy?" You ask.

The woman stared at you like you'd asked if murder is illegal. "Well, Tiberius owns Ashmore Inc. one of the biggest c-"

You waved your hand, making her quiet immediately. "No I mean, personally."

The woman then stiffened a little. "Oh, of course..." Her cheeks turned a light red as she played with one of her ridiculously long locks. "... Well, his son, Henry, seemed rather... invested in getting you to come."

Floyd chuckled to himself whispering "Name of your sex tape." to himself.

You tapped your chin in thought, "Henry Ashmore... Henry Ashmore... Henry... OH! I know him! He's in one of my classes..." You said looking at Floyd for confirmation, to which he only shrugs.

The woman cleared her throat, making you look to her. "Actually... He is in all of your classes."

Your eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, and here I barely knew he existed!" You started to laugh to which the tall woman nervously scratched the back of her neck.

"Well, try to avoid mentioning that to him or his father." She said through a slight, forced laugh.

With that she started to make her way out of the apartment. "Well, if you get there and I'm not waiting at the doors for you already, just ask around the staff for Polly. I'll give you your mask and then we can get through the night together if you'd like."

She smiled in humorous way. "I'll save you from Tiberius and Henry if they get to be... Too much."

You nodded in appreciation. "Well, thank you, Polly." You turned away, but quickly turned back to her. "Oh! I'm gonna bring Floyd too okay?"

She gently smiled. "Sure." Her attention then lead towards the tall blonde man. "But you'll have to get your own suit and mask." And with that she click-clacked out the door, closing it behind her.

You looked to Floyd with wide eyes while holding the letter close to your chest and picked up the dress from the package and cracked a humoured smile. "How in the hell did they get my measurements for the dress?"

____________________

Let's publish ! This shit mkaaaatt?
Raino frolaino!!

^^
This is a relic, the sentence I typed the night I posted the first chapter back into 2018 <3 it's cringe, but it's my cringe