Alias FIC: Bluebeard (1/1)
Title: Bluebeard
Author: kangeiko
Summary: "... finally her visiting sister convinced her to satisfy her curiosity and open the room."
Challenge: fairy tales re-told for alias500
*
Better Living through Treachery and Murder
Francie stares, puzzled, at the book, with its innocuous cover and ridiculous title, and purses her lips. After a moment's thought, she slides it back on Syd's bookshelf.
Maybe her boss gave it to her, she thinks. From what little she knows of him, she thinks that maybe he'd be the kind to find that sort of book funny. Francie's old boss had been that type, giving her How to Make Friends and Influence People as a birthday gift a couple of years ago. Frankly, Francie would have preferred bath salts, but what do you say to the boss other than 'thank you'?
"You ready?" She's a little startled as she turns to find Syd watching her from the doorway. Syd's wearing a red sweater over low-cut jeans, and she's actually done something with her hair other than brush it loose - it's slicked back and up, in some sort of fancy twist. "Do I look all right?"
"You look great," Francie says warmly, and is pleased that she can say it without reservation. Sydney is gorgeous, it's true, but she's been tying herself up in knots over something recently and the whatever-it-is left shadows under her eyes. Francie doesn't approve of shadows, especially on someone as pale as Syd. Makes a girl look downright dead on occasion, and a 'living corpse' look is not the one to sport when you've got a shiny glittering solitaire on your finger.
"I thought maybe the earrings were a little much," Syd says, turning her head so the long earrings jangle appropriately.
"No - are you kidding? They're fabulous, and we're going to a club, not a bake sale. C'mon, Syd, we have to celebrate properly. It's not every day you get engaged!" Certainly not today, because it's taken Francie over a week to grab one of Syd's rare evenings off for this sole purpose. If you ask her - and, no, Syd's not asking, but if she did - Francie would say that a job that has you going on so many business trips that you can't even celebrate your engagement isn't the kind of job you want to stay long in. But, hey, Syd was doing it for the money, same as the rest of them - she can't fault her for that. Something's got to pay the rent, hasn't it?
"Great - I've been dying to wear them ever since I bought them from this little shop in Delh- uh, Detroit. I was worried they were a little too 'out there'…"
Francie laughs. "Nightclub, Syd. It's a nightclub!"
*
Afterwards, Francie will wonder if it's her fault everything turned out so crappy. Syd will sit giggling in the corner booth of some crummy bar with her and say, half laughing and half crying, that she's so happy that she could just explode, and so guilty that she could just die from it. Francie will be sympathetic, and wonder if this is The Conversation, the one every girl dreads, where her best friend reveals a deep, dark, secret that will usually mean a baby, a really bad night with some tequila and a guy in a bar, or a deep conviction that her fiancé is banging some skinny chick from Nebraska.
"Francie," Syd will say, "I feel like I've been lying to Danny, like I haven't told him everything about me. And I want to tell him - I want to tell him everything before we're married."
"So tell him," Francie will reply, and sip her cosmopolitan.
And Syd will be drunk enough and comfortable enough to say something really, really inappropriate, something like, "my boss wouldn't like that."
And Francie - dear, trusted Francie, who will be sure that Syd has done the tackiest thing in the world and slept with her boss but she's The Best Friend and will not judge - will say, "he's not gonna find out, Syd. Whatever it is, just - do it - you know? Your boss doesn't ever have to find out."
"Maybe," Syd says, but she sounds a little doubtful and a little scared.
What a jerk, Francie will think, later, and remember the book on the shelf.
"Besides," she says, "don't you want to know what Danny will say?"
*
fin
Author: kangeiko
Summary: "... finally her visiting sister convinced her to satisfy her curiosity and open the room."
Challenge: fairy tales re-told for alias500
*
Better Living through Treachery and Murder
Francie stares, puzzled, at the book, with its innocuous cover and ridiculous title, and purses her lips. After a moment's thought, she slides it back on Syd's bookshelf.
Maybe her boss gave it to her, she thinks. From what little she knows of him, she thinks that maybe he'd be the kind to find that sort of book funny. Francie's old boss had been that type, giving her How to Make Friends and Influence People as a birthday gift a couple of years ago. Frankly, Francie would have preferred bath salts, but what do you say to the boss other than 'thank you'?
"You ready?" She's a little startled as she turns to find Syd watching her from the doorway. Syd's wearing a red sweater over low-cut jeans, and she's actually done something with her hair other than brush it loose - it's slicked back and up, in some sort of fancy twist. "Do I look all right?"
"You look great," Francie says warmly, and is pleased that she can say it without reservation. Sydney is gorgeous, it's true, but she's been tying herself up in knots over something recently and the whatever-it-is left shadows under her eyes. Francie doesn't approve of shadows, especially on someone as pale as Syd. Makes a girl look downright dead on occasion, and a 'living corpse' look is not the one to sport when you've got a shiny glittering solitaire on your finger.
"I thought maybe the earrings were a little much," Syd says, turning her head so the long earrings jangle appropriately.
"No - are you kidding? They're fabulous, and we're going to a club, not a bake sale. C'mon, Syd, we have to celebrate properly. It's not every day you get engaged!" Certainly not today, because it's taken Francie over a week to grab one of Syd's rare evenings off for this sole purpose. If you ask her - and, no, Syd's not asking, but if she did - Francie would say that a job that has you going on so many business trips that you can't even celebrate your engagement isn't the kind of job you want to stay long in. But, hey, Syd was doing it for the money, same as the rest of them - she can't fault her for that. Something's got to pay the rent, hasn't it?
"Great - I've been dying to wear them ever since I bought them from this little shop in Delh- uh, Detroit. I was worried they were a little too 'out there'…"
Francie laughs. "Nightclub, Syd. It's a nightclub!"
*
Afterwards, Francie will wonder if it's her fault everything turned out so crappy. Syd will sit giggling in the corner booth of some crummy bar with her and say, half laughing and half crying, that she's so happy that she could just explode, and so guilty that she could just die from it. Francie will be sympathetic, and wonder if this is The Conversation, the one every girl dreads, where her best friend reveals a deep, dark, secret that will usually mean a baby, a really bad night with some tequila and a guy in a bar, or a deep conviction that her fiancé is banging some skinny chick from Nebraska.
"Francie," Syd will say, "I feel like I've been lying to Danny, like I haven't told him everything about me. And I want to tell him - I want to tell him everything before we're married."
"So tell him," Francie will reply, and sip her cosmopolitan.
And Syd will be drunk enough and comfortable enough to say something really, really inappropriate, something like, "my boss wouldn't like that."
And Francie - dear, trusted Francie, who will be sure that Syd has done the tackiest thing in the world and slept with her boss but she's The Best Friend and will not judge - will say, "he's not gonna find out, Syd. Whatever it is, just - do it - you know? Your boss doesn't ever have to find out."
"Maybe," Syd says, but she sounds a little doubtful and a little scared.
What a jerk, Francie will think, later, and remember the book on the shelf.
"Besides," she says, "don't you want to know what Danny will say?"
*
fin