To Live Again

Chapter Four: Dinner Party

Rich people didn’t “party” like the common folk, Daniella thought dryly.  She’d changed her clothes to dress up a little bit for dinner.  She’d been to enough dinners at the Hartigan’s to know what the protocol was.  She let Jesse escort her into the dining room, and pursed her lips when her eyes fell on Duke and his friends.  The Hartigan’s had called this a “party for Duke”, but really it was more like an excuse to show off to their high-class clients and co-workers.  Several snooty looking couples were arranged close to the head of the table, and the “kids” had been pushed down to the end.  Duke, who was supposed to be the guest of honor, took the seat next to Daniella, which made her go stiff.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jesse asked, stroking his fingers across her white knuckles on the edge of the table. 

She forced herself to relax and let go.  “How many changes do you have to make in the past in order to change the outcome of the future?” she mumbled, as the soup was served.

“Uh, I don’t know.  What do you mean?” Jesse asked with a puzzled look.

She sighed and picked up her spoon.  She had thought the smallest of actions would cause a big change, like the smallest steering adjustment to a boat on water.  When this day had played out six years ago, she’d jumped in and joined Duke and his friend playing video games.  Duke had flirted with her, and she’d lapped that up like a kitten.  Then when dinner came, he’d taken the chair next to her, instead of the more obvious one across the table and next to his friends.  Well, she’d avoided the video games, but he was still sitting next to her. 

She felt like slapping herself in the head.  What she should have done was NOT come to the party at all.  She should have made up some excuse, and told Jesse she was busy, or sick, or writing her thesis in abnormal psychology.  She really needed to think more carefully if she was going to make it through this alive this time.

“So Danni, how is school?” Duke was asking her, and she almost choked on her soup.  She stared at him for  moment too long, which made Jesse’s face redden, and Duke’s college friends snicker.  She probably looked exactly like the love-struck teenager she had been when she’d sat in this chair six years ago.  Hell, any red-blooded female would have been.  Duke was everything a girl wanted.  He was smart, handsome, charming, just a tad bit conceited.  He was already well on his way to success, in his last year of law school at Harvard.  What wasn’t to like?  Except Daniella knew that under that sweet, polished exterior was the heart of a monster.  And she didn't stare at him as a fan-girl.  She stared at him trying to figure out what made him pick her, this time, after all these years?

“School is great.” She said shortly, and shifted slightly in her chair, scooting closer to Jesse, and away from Duke’s magnetic pull. 

“Daniella got a full four-year scholarship to Castleton.” Jesse said proudly.  Castleton was a local, in-state university.

“Castelton?” one of Duke’s friends snorted.  “Surely you can do better than that.”

Daniella leveled a cold blue stare across the table.  “I am proud to be accepted at Castleton,” she said with a quiet firmness and confidence that the first Daniella hadn’t quite grasped when this conversation had happened six years ago.  “I’ve worked really hard to get where I am going.” She took a slow, deliberate sip of her soup and then added, “Not all of us are born with a silver spoon in our mouth.”  Jesse snorted and Duke guffawed, and the friend across the table looked confused, like he didn’t know if he was being insulted.  He hadn’t worked hard to get into his school, his rich daddy had pulled strings and paid his way in.

“We were thinking of going into town to play some paint-ball tomorrow.  You wanna come with us, Danni?”

Daniella carefully laid her spoon down on the edge of her bowl.  How had she not noticed the way that Jesse had been left out of this entire conversation the first time around?  What a d**k-head Duke was, to invite his brother’s friend, but not invite his brother.  And what a b***h she’d been to just run off with Duke and leave Jesse in the dust, like he didn't matter to her at all.  She didn’t even bother to paste on a fake smile.  “No, thank you.”

“No? Not into paintball?  We could do something else then, what do you like?  Movies?  We could catch a matinee.”

“Sorry, No…”  She shook her head.

“We could go up on Killington and go clubbing.” One of the college friends suggested.

“She’s underage.” Jesse said protectively.

Duke shrugged “We can sneak her in.” He turned to Daniella and caught her hand up in his.  “What do you say, beautiful?  Will you do us the honor?” 

“Sorry can’t,” she pulled her hand out from his abruptly.  “I have other plans. You all go and have fun though.”

“Oh come on, can’t you change your plans?  What could be more important than hanging out with me?”  Duke gave her a puppy dog look. 

She narrowed her eyes, and slipped her hand under the table, and into Jesse’s.  “I’m hanging out with Jesse.” She gave Jesse’s hand a squeeze, and hoped he got the silent message.  It occurred to her that she shouldn’t have to pull Jesse into this.  She should just be able to say NO and firmly, gently and completely put Duke off her scent.

Jesse had been watching the conversation with wide eyes and a startled expression.  He didn’t understand what was happening.  Duke had suddenly set his sights on Daniella.  He wasn’t sure why he was interested in her all of a sudden, but even more startling was the fact that Daniella was putting him off.  He could have sworn that just last week she would have tripped over herself just to be able to sit next to Duke at the dinner table.  Duke was holding himself out on a silver platter, and she had just flatly turned him down.  Not only had she turned Duke down… she had her hand in his under the table, and was stroking his knuckles with her thumb in sweet, intimate circles. 

She’d probably just used him as an excuse, but whatever, he would always have her back.  “Yeah, we have plans,” he confirmed.  He just hoped that nobody asked him what those plans were, specifically, because he had no idea.  He gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze under the table.

“Heeeey, wait a minute,” Duke leaned back and wiggled a finger at them suggestively.  “Are you two like a thing now?  A real thing?  Danni love, did you finally let ol’ Jesse out of the frozen friend zone?”

She gave him an icy smile.  “That’s really none of your business, now is it?”