and greet the guests. It started out just like any other dinner party. A toast from my mother and roars and cheers from the guests for her less-than-inspirational speech. I couldn’t help but continuously glance over at the tea cupboard. The sugar pot seemed to call my name. I couldn’t let this happen, I was paranoid and for no reason. I am doing the right thing and that is all that matters.
My friends told me that with every strike of the clock, they would walk around one of my prospects and I would go spend the hour with her. This started at 8 p.m. I met the youngest of the three, Merriam. She was blonde and rather short but very intelligent. Her intelligence, as brilliant as it might be, scared me. She also talked far too much for my liking. I don’t mind a girl that talks a lot, it makes conversations more fun, but this was the wrong kind of talkative. She was drop-dead gorgeous, but I realize now that that might not be the quality I should be looking for.
At 9 p.m. I met the second girl, Edyta. She was older than Merriam but far nicer. She moved here from Poland when she was a small girl. Her English was a little fragmented but it was pretty cute. She was beautiful but not in the conventional way. There was something about her, something different, a good different. Even so, we had very little in common. Worst of all, she couldn’t stop complimenting my parents, gross, I know!
When the clock struck 10 p.m. My friends told me that I should take a little break and refresh. I went to my room and sat down to collect my thoughts. The first two girls were nice and beautiful, but I just didn’t get that spark I was hoping for. I looked at my grandfather clock, it was almost 11. Time was going by so quickly I couldn’t believe it. And my heart seemed to be ticking faster than time.
I made my way back down to the ballroom where everyone had gathered. Dancing, wonderful… Definitely not my strong suit. My friends assembled around another blonde girl, this one far taller than the first. At first glance, I thought maybe she was taller than me, I was a little intimidated to be honest. I slowly walked up. Her eyes were a beautiful blue-green and her face was so soft and natural. She was naturally beautiful and seemed confident but not overly so.
“Hello, miss, how are you this evening. I’m leo..leo…” I began to stutter.
“Leopold! I know who you are silly, it is a pleasure to meet your sir!” she spoke so softly.
“Oh please, the pleasure is mine uhm…” I didn’t know her name, I was really messing this up.
“Alexandra.”
“Oh yah, I knew that” what was I doing?
“Oh?”
“I’m sorry, I’m terrible at speaking to beautiful woman”
“Oh please, I’m sure you say that to everyone. You’re some smooth talker, just like all the other rich boys” She was insulting but for some reason I couldn’t seem to get mad with her.
“Yes, ah, no. No! Absolutely not. Anyways, ah, I’m going to go get some water or something, I’ll see you around.” I walked away, destroyed.
My friends circled around the fourth girl. She was a red-head and strikingly beautiful. I’d seen her with so many men tonight already, I had no chance. It was Alexandra I wanted, but I blew it. I shook my head and motioned for my friends to move along, I didn’t want to meet this other girl, and I was done for the night.
Yvette came to me with a long face.
“Leopold, I saw zat sparkle in your eyze. You like ze tall gurl. Go talk to herr!”
“No Yvette, I can’t. She’s everything I want but she doesn’t see me as I am. She sees me as my brothers are! I don’t care about money and I don’t like her for her beauty. Don’t get me wrong, I’m attracted to her initially based on how gorgeous she is, but she’s just so real and
Fred Hoyle, Geoffrey Hoyle