Page 10 of Party Favors

“It’s a superhero stance. Apparently there’s studies that say it actually improves your confidence.”

“That’s not going to work,” she said. She was right—it wasn’t inspiring positive feelings. All I felt was a little silly. “Try spinning around like Wonder Woman.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

It couldn’t hurt. I shrugged and did as she suggested. I spun around several times with my arms out wide, imagining that I was a powerful Amazon about to conquer Elevated.

I came to a stop and put my hands on the sink until I regained equilibrium.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Honestly? A little dizzy.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing. You’ll be focused on your spinning head and not your anxiety. Go ask him now. And we’ll go shopping after work as a reward for your bravery.”

I nodded. I wasn’t going to get what I wanted if I didn’t go after it. Even if I liked staying on the sidelines, I knew that I had to march onto the field and ask for my chance to play the game. I opened the bathroom door and started walking toward Adrian’s office.

“I don’t know why I’ve been put into this position. You’re supposed to be the encouraging one,” Vella said.

“Maybe we’re rubbing off on each other.”

She scowled. “I don’t want to be cheerful.”

“Sorry not sorry.”

We arrived at my desk, and I took a couple more deep breaths. Despite her protesting that she wasn’t interested in cheering me on, she said, “You’ve got this.”

I went into Adrian’s office before I could change my mind, trying to calm my erratic breathing. I wanted to do a Kool-Aid Man exit through Adrian’s wall, but I stayed put.

“I need to ask you something,” I said to him.

He didn’t even glance up from his phone. “Yes?”

Part of me wanted to chicken out again, but I steeled my spine and squared my shoulders. “Tomorrow, I want ... I want to pitch at Claudia’s potential-client meeting. I know I don’t have the title of event planner yet, but I’d like to head that direction and so I wanted to ask you if that would be okay.” My words came out in a big whoosh and my heart thudded hard in my chest as I waited.

“Yeah, sure. That’s fine with me. Hey, what is the password for my TikTok account again? I can’t remember it.”

I took his phone and put in the password and handed it back to him. He thanked me, and in a daze, I walked back to my own desk. I texted Vella, letting her know that I’d done it, he’d said yes, and the Wonder Woman spin had worked.

She sent me back a bunch of emojis I didn’t understand, including a witch’s hat and a left-pointing arrow.

I set my phone down and thought about how Adrian had agreed so easily that I felt incredibly embarrassed for not asking him earlier.

Maybe after the pitch meeting, if my idea was selected, he and I could revisit the idea of my getting a promotion. I’d promise to train my replacement really well, but I wanted the chance to do more.

To stand in the spotlight for a little bit.

And it had been a long time since I’d felt like that.

Adrian left early in the afternoon without telling me where he was going. Which meant that I was able to leave promptly at five o’clock and go shopping at Vella’s favorite thrift store with her. She had a long list as to why we were only allowed to shop for clothes at secondhand stores, but my primary reason for shopping there was that it was the only place I could afford.

Within a few minutes Vella already had a big pile of clothing draped over her arm and I absentmindedly flipped through their dress section.

Until I came across something that made my heart start racing and my hands fall to my sides.

It was the blue-and-white Monti dress that Queen Katerina had worn on her visit to India with her husband a few years ago. She wore only Monterran designers, and this had been one of my favorite looks on her. I loved her style. The dress had sold out within minutes online after she wore it, so even if I could have afforded it, I never would have been able to grab one before they were gone.

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