Dancing, Gifts and Announcements

The beep of his phone made Bailey look to the tiny purse and pull out the device. He had apparently missed a few messages, he had one from Candi, August <3 and Aunt Megan. He wasn’t sure when the heart was added to the contact list, but it didn’t matter. What does dear loving Auntie want he thought as he clicked on her first.

Aunt Megan: Have fun tonight and enjoy the experience, tomorrow we can talk about clothes.

No orders, no threats, and she was ready to give back his clothes. Bailey really thought she was going to make him beg. First steak, now this. Bailey was happy, the end of the tunnel was in sight. Next was August, he had sent a few messages.

August <3 : Just got off work, Thank you for making my day better. You have no idea how much I needed that.

The second message was a photo he took of a Mega Corps newsletter, showing an image of Candi and Bailey running the three legged race.

August <3 : This feels like it was just the other day, saw it and thought of you. Have a good evening, I’m sure you look beautiful.

It was sweet, Bailey could admit that and he was in a good mood. So he sent over a picture Mandy had taken of him sitting at that vanity with legs crossed and his head resting on the back of his hand to show off his long red nails.If the witch was being nice to him, the least he could do is pass it along. The last message was from Candi and he glanced at her, it was odd for her to send a message when she could just as easily whisper something to him. When he opened the text he pursed his lips together and his eyes went wide. It was an image the girl must have just taken with Derrick and Mandy, his Mandy facing each other in their seats kissing with their eyes closed. The photo was just a single second caught on film, it didn’t tell him if they were making out, a lingering kiss or a quick one. But it was something that happened right there in front of him and he hadn’t noticed at all. Seeing Bailey’s look of surprise, Candi leaned in whispering. “Wishes can come true, see!” The word wishes in his mind morphed into dreams and from dreams to nightmares, this week was a nightmare. One he was thankful to know he would wake from, he just had to wait and hold on. The nightmare would be over soon, he just had to be the bubbly girl for a little while longer. If he fucked up now all of it, all of the **** would have been for nothing more than to get him into more trouble. Mandy, Megan, Candi, the law and… Bailey paused as he involuntarily gulped, with Derrick a man that would rip him to pieces before anyone had a chance and he wasn’t even sure if him getting his hands on Bailey first would be worse or a mercy. Looking down at the image on his phone again Bailey looked back to the excited green eyed girl. “Maybe it is just you, maybe next time you wish for something for me like to win the lottery.” Bailey whispered back, causing her to giggle a little.

“Mandy, I have made my decision and I’m not sure if you knew this, but Bailey told me she always wished she could be a ballerina.” Amanda put one hand over her mouth in shock as she looked over to Bailey who was looking red faced in embarrassment. “Sorry princess for saying so out loud, but I do it only so that your Mom understands why I’m going to ask you for the first dance tonight.” Bailey shook his head no, but it was hard to put up a real fight with the pushy girl next to him and his own girlfriend smiling and encouraging him. As Derrick took Bailey’s hand in his he felt so weak and helpless, in the heels he looked the man evenly in the eye, but his larger hands encompassed his own as he led Bailey to the dance floor. With one last look over his shoulder Bailey’s platinum blonde ended hair swung away so he could see Mandy and Candi scooting closer together with their eyes trailing him.

Getting to the dance floor Derrick put one hand on the pretty teen’s hip and took her hand in his, holding it high. “I wont say something silly like don’t be nervous.” He said reading the girls face. “Just follow my lead and let the music flow.” The girl pursed her red lips and looked down at her feet. “Easy for you to say, you aren’t in like this cute heels.” Bailey wished he hadn’t just said cute, but there it was and now he was going to have to quickly learn to dance backwards on the stilts. The music started and Bailey was stiff at first, not used to letting someone else lead, but didn’t find it nearly as hard as he thought to move in the shoes. He imagined he was going to fall and break something. It seemed a week of wearing nothing, but heels paid off in this one instance. “Understand you enjoy a good steak.” Derrick said trying to distract Bailey, she was doing fine, just a little rigid as they moved. “Mr. Connors, you have no idea.” If I could get away with taking all of your steak tonight that would have been what happened buddy. He thought and gave a little smile at the mental image. “About an hour from here is a Brazilin steakhouse, maybe just the two of us could go sometime. Candace doesn’t eat much red meat. And you can call Derrick if you want.”

A few couples moved across the polished wooden dance floor and as he was distracted Bailey looked much more comfortable in the arms of the man. “That would be amazing, to bad you have to leave, I would love that. But I do have to call you Mr Connors or Mr Derrick, rule number one is to speak to adults properly.” Bailey knew the location he was talking about and loved visiting. He went once with Mandy, but it wasn’t something she enjoyed much, so it became a favorite of his and Chucks and his mind made a mental sigh Liam. Waiters at that steak house brought around all sorts of cut meats on a tray, and no matter what they had, someone else had the same thing, but also wrapped in bacon. It was like being able to visit heaven. “Leaving would put a damper on such a great plan like that, we will figure something out. But we have to come up with a cover story so your big sister doesn’t let out her wrath upon us. Any ideas?” Bailey imagined what would work, not that he had to. This was something that couldn’t happen, tomorrow meant no more dresses . “I could tell her I was getting to know Daddy and it was a secret. Mr. Connors, if Candi was a cartoon character I think she would have had like those tiny red hearts in her eyes when I accidentally called you that.” Derrick was impressed with how well Bailey was moving, it wasn’t as if she was classically trained or anything, but she had this natural way of moving to the music now that she wasn’t over thinking it. “No that wont work, she wouldn’t go gaga over something like that.” Bailey thought again back to the girl and was sure it would. “Yes, it like totally would.” Derrick shook his head slightly as she smiled at the girl he held in his arms. “It just doesn’t sound like her, sorry.” Bailey become more adamant, did this guy not know his daughter. “It totally would!” Derrick pretended to consider it again. “Prove it, when we get back to the table.” Damn is this guy dense, or at least blind to who his daughter was. “Fine I will..” As he agreed something hit Bailey. “You tricked me!” The accusation caused him to throw his head back and laugh.

“So I did, does that mean you won’t prove it?” With each step Bailey could feel the way of his body, earrings and it’s attachments swayed. The tightness of the dress, the restaurant's air conditioning blowing on his bare shoulders and across his stockings, the clicking of his heels on the hardwood floor. All of it reinforcing the girlishness that had become his life, making him feel small and ****. The guy was trying to win points with his daughter, and he couldn’t blame the guy, he had lied worse to make Mandy think better of him. “That depends Daddy, what do I get?” Bailey said, fluttering his lashes. “You my dear have been learning from Candace, very dangerous.” Bailey laughed at that, the guy was wrapped around his daughter's finger, someone else doing it might just drain his accounts. “How about I put in a good word with your mom about getting that learners permit?” That was a horrible offer, it would get Bailey nothing, but it would get Bailey Ann what she was supposed to want. “Oh my God! You would do that? That would be like the best!” When the dance came to an end Bailey was internally grumbling while he kept the vapid smile on his face after Derrick had kissed his forehead and laid out compliments. “You dance gracefully, with everything you have to offer like those cooking skills, your beauty and that wonderful heart of yours, you will make some man... or woman very happy to be at your side. I know getting to know you so far has done that for me.” Derrick was pleased with himself for catching himself, it was obvious to anyone Bailey liked boys, but Candace had been on him about being more politically correct and figured he should do his best.

Getting back to the table both the women looked happy and had obviously been watching. “Daddy is such a wonderful dancer, oh I mean Mr. Connors.” Bailey said looking at the teenage girl at the table and trying to ignore any look his girlfriend might be giving him. Candi scooted out of her seat, her smile was much like he expected it to be. “Me next!” She said in at a volume not appropriate for the settings. Derrick took his daughter's hand and looked to the remaining woman at the table, as if to ask if this was okay to do first. She nodded with a smile to him before motioning for Bailey to scoot into the booth next to her as she patted the seat. Bailey paid little attention to the father-daughter dance, but Amanda watched them as she spoke to Bailey. “You looked like you were having fun out there, laughing much more than I expected. Though I was not aware you had become so attached as to think of him as a father.” Bailey considered how to answer the question, he wanted to tell her he was just doing the guy a favor and at the same time he wanted to say fuck Derrick, he wasn’t attached at all, but they were in public. The truth could come out later, for now was the act. “Mr. Connors is a good man and I didn’t mean to call him that. He just reminds me of my Dad sometimes.” Amanda put her arm around Bailey’s shoulder to pull the disguised man closer to give comfort. “He is a good man, and you feel like you are ice cold, are you okay?” Bailey didn’t speak he just nodded his head, enjoying the warmth of Mandy.

Before Candi could leap back into the booth with all the energy she seemed to have to spare, Amanda stopped her. “Derrick, would you mind if Bailey borrowed your suit jacket, she feels a little cold.” Removing his jacket, he smiled at Bailey and held it out for her. “For her, of course she can have the jacket off my back.” When she got out of the booth Derrick wrapped it around her and rubbed her arms up and down a little to try and help the girl warm up. “I don’t mind at all, but I see three wonderfully dressed women, but not one brought a sweater or coat.” Soon as his hands left Bailey he got back into the booth, ignoring whatever playful banter he was having with Mandy. He would have rather spent the rest of the evening next to her, but instead he got Derrick’s jacket and she left to dance. When the couple made it to the dance floor their embrace didn’t leave room between them like was done with the previous two. “The girls looked like that had fun, I think you handled that well.” Derrick looked into the blonde woman’s eyes for a little bit just enjoying the moment before he answered her. “Candace is not a good dancer, she has fun, but my feet had been stepped on more than once. Bailey on the other hand is a wonderful dancer. I’m surprised you never had her take ballet classes.”

“I have heard Bailey sing in the shower, and of course she has chorus in school, but she never told me about wanting to be a ballerina. Did she tell you that?” Derrick nodded a little as he wondered if he really did give away some secret that betrayed their trust, but didn’t think that was the case. If Candace was any indicator, if he had done that no way would she have agreed to even dance with him, let alone play along when they went back to the table. “Yeah, she did at the water park the other day. She said it was something she always wanted.” As the couple held each other and moved around the dance floor Amanda looked back to the booth, seeing the two girls huddled close to try and share Derrick's jacket while looking at something on Candi’s phone. “She was such a tomboy with her dad, and I guess she never brought it up to stay his little girl. Then after, well you know money has been tight for us, so she probably did not want the chance of me saying no, that we could not afford it.” She wondered if Bailey had made up a story or if he really did want to dance and never had the chance or was too afraid of what she might think. The two stayed in each other’s embrace for two more songs, before heading back to the table when they saw the waiter talking to the girls again.

The older man was just about to walk away when they approached. “Sorry, I was just telling your daughters that food should be coming shortly and I wanted to check on your drinks.” The bottle of wine was mostly gone at this point, so Derrick would leave the rest for Amanda and ordered a beer for himself with dinner. They sat eating their salads, some of them more happy about doing so than others. When the food came, Bailey cut into the steak to see it cooked perfectly, while Candi was handing her phone to the waiter to get a photo of the happy family. Reluctantly Bailey put down his knife and fork to smile happily before he was able to get back to his meal. He did his best to cut the food into small bites to eat as a proper girl should, but once or twice he put a big piece in his mouth just to enjoy the piece of meat like how it was intended to be done. He flat out declined trying Candi’s lamb, but that only caused the girl to tease him, saying. “Bet you would take it if I was August.” Bailey saw the raised eyebrow from Mandy and tried to deflect. “You know I would totally share anything with you, but I already have so much food, I just don’t think I can finish what I have.” The lie ended up being more truthful than he would have liked, over the week his stomach had shrunk and when he used to be able to eat the porterhouse steak with all its fixings, he now couldn’t finish even half as much.

When most of the food had been cleared from the table, and Bailey felt like he would burst from his corset, the waiter asked if they wanted to take a look at the desert menu. Right now the idea of more food turned his stomach, but Candi’s sweet tooth had them ordering something to share. “Come on Bailey, I can’t eat this alone and it sounds soooo good. Chocolate cubes, rum nut cream, black sesame crumbs, passion fruit ice cream. Please….!” He relented to the girl, hoping she would end up eating most of it or somehow he found room to take another bite. Derrick ordered a slice of apple pie that had salt caramel drizzled on top. Before dessert arrived Amanda let everyone know she had a surprise. “Tonight being our last night, and your birthday coming up Candi, I got you a little something.” As she reached into her purse she thought about how April ran off on her own lunch break to do her the favor of picking this up from the mall and wondered if the girls or her saw each other in passing. Pulling out two tiny white boxes she handed one to Candi and the other to Bailey. “I couldn’t just get one of you a gift and not the other, I just couldn’t help myself.” Candi was the first to open hers and see the necklace inside and read the inscription out loud. “And be sure of this: I am with you always and it has a heart drawn below that. Oh my God this is..” Candi’s eyes started to fill up with tears and she did what she could to hold them at bay. “Just so perfect! You have no idea, I love it!” Bailey saw the same thing in his box, but instead of a heart it had a little daisy flower drawn. Sure it was sweet, but right now he wanted to just toss it in the trash. Mandy didn’t have to add the flower, heck he would even wear the thing if it wasn’t on there, but he couldn’t say that out loud. “Mommy, it is perfect and I know you would never leave me.” He said giving his pretend mother a hug and then getting one from the other side from the emotional Candi. He wasn’t sure if this girl was some reverse emotional vampire where she gave her feelings to others, but soon he was having trouble keeping tear ducts in order.

“Those are wonderful gifts, but funny that you had a surprise for everyone, because I have done some work behind the scenes and have an announcement to make.” Derrick said looking at the women at his table all happy as can be and thought this was the perfect time to give the news. “Candace asked me if for her birthday we could stay here for the summer, and I of course had to tell her no. With as close as the two of you have become over this week it broke my heart, so I have moved some things around and got approval to work remotely from the California office and the Nevada branch was kind enough to lend me an empty office two floors directly above Miss Best here. When you are working you can look out your window, knowing we both can see the same thing. This of course is not without caveats, but for the most part, the Connors are staying for the summer.”