The dinner turned out to be a happy affair instead of a tense or stressful one for the most part. The food was wonderful. Everyone heaped praises on Sabine for the meal. It was not just tasty. The presentation looked like a five-star restaurant. The jet-black noodles dripped with rich Alfredo. The beef was tender. The burgundy reduction was rich. The homemade bread was plentiful to sop up all the drippings. Paige had stopped with the wine. She needed to focus and more wine wasn’t compatible for the next part of her plan.
Towards the end of the meal, Sabine steered the conversation towards the topic for the evening.
“So, I told Paige about everything I knew leading up to the point you,” Sabine pointed at Andrea, “drove off with Violet to transform her into ‘Super Paige’. You better take it from there about how you pulled it off.”
Andrea was momentarily nervous, then she got into it. She recounted the whole conversation about hair, walk, talk and mannerisms. She had the full attention of her audience. Paige was a little embarrassed and self-conscious that her mannerisms were distinctive enough to be described and mimicked.
Andrea may as well have been talking about wedding preparations, she was so animated and proud of her accomplishments. She next went into the whole process they did at the house. From the hair coloring to the shower with the right shampoo, to the underwear, padding the bra, and then the make-up, she went step by step. Several times Sabine and Henrik tried to ger her to show Paige the picture, but Andrea wasn’t going to spoil it by showing the results too early.
Paige was in awe and also a bit embarrassed at the extent they went. Violet not only wore her uniform; she was wearing everything ‘hers’. Bra? Underwear? Paige thought it was a little too far, and a touch creepy maybe. The next part was maybe even a little creepier. She had to admit; however, the results were absolutely stunning. When Andrea finally showed her the side by side pics, Paige accused her of some photoshop trickery at first, even though she knew better. She stared back and forth between the two images several times.
Henrik started talking about his part, starting with his olfactory observation. Paige was blushing again. Only her Henrik would consider gun oil a perfume. He went on to describe their conversation driving to the base in her Cherokee, culminating in the scene when they arrived at the van. Henrik being the painfully honest boyfriend he was told her about the kiss on the cheek and comment through the open window before he drove away.
Sabine was listening and, more importantly, watching Paige’s reaction as she listened. She could see the whole gambit of emotions playing out on her face. She also was alert to any problems with Henrik and Andrea. She knew after Henrik’s kiss on the cheek confession, it was time to break out the dessert and start the movie.
“Alright everyone, time to move to the couch. I’ll get the popcorn. You guys have seen it. I wrote some note so we can skip ahead through the blank spots, unlike last time. You guys can bail whenever you get too tired or bored, I’ll stick for the whole thing, since I am the one hand receipted for the disk.”
Everyone piled onto the big couch, Paige in the middle, with Henrik on her left and Andrea and Sabine on her right. At the start of the movie, Sabine tried to keep a little disconnect and lightheartedness going with movie theater humor.
“No coming attractions, but we also don’t have to put up with some jackass with a ten-gallon hat or a bouffant hairdo in the row ahead of us.” She had two huge bowls of freshly made toffee popcorn for the four of them.
Paige was a bit surprised when Veronica’s line about ‘the raping of her six-year-old son!’. OK, surprised might be a bit mild. She almost choked on her popcorn!
“Oh, this shit is evil! I’m glad they are on my side!”
The mental torture kept a smile on Paige’s face. Sabine kept fast forwarding the huge blank spot so it took a lot less time to go through than the long slow lead up the first time they watched it. This also moved the feel from creepy horror and suspense to 80’s intrigue and action. Once they got to the bathroom scene, things had settled down to the point Andrea and Henrik were feeling a little silly for their earlier concerns.
The drawn-out violence of Frickel’s demise had everyone silent again. After the fight, everyone was watching Paige, wondering what her reaction would be.
“Well, I guess that takes care of that.” Paige was still digesting what she just saw. She sat there for a few. Sabine took the cue and told the others she would clean up, and they could go ahead and crash. She wasn’t going in until noon so she could sleep in.
Henrik and Andrea knew they still had to go to work in the morning and took her up on the offer. Once they had left, Sabine looked at Paige.
“Did you want to see the final conversation with Violet and Veronica?”
“Yeah, no good reason to stop now.”
They sat and watched Violet and Veronica talking on their drive. Paige was shaken by Violet’s statement about her chances at survival against Frickel and how being knocked out saved her life. Sabine saw its effects and had to speak, had to break the spell.
“Are you OK?”
“Yeah, I guess. I knew it was bad, but some part of me didn’t want to admit I would have been killed that day. I’m lucky to be alive.”
“Yup, you’re lucky to be alive, but that’s just it. You are ALIVE! Don’t let him win! You are alive and free and walking around. He is in the hospital until he goes to prison for the rest of his life. Even if he gets parole, he will forever suffer the errors of his ways. Oh, and he will forever think you were the one who stopped him. You were the one he couldn’t defeat! Even though Violet did the leg work, you were the catalyst. You stopped him. Let’s put him behind you as much as we can. If we move forward, he loses more.”
“Your right.” Paige sat there for a few minutes while Sabine moved some more dishes into the dishwasher and started it. Paige seemed to come to some sort of decision. She explained what she was thinking to Sabine.
“So, would it work?”
Sabine thought for a few moments before she answered.
“Yeah, it will work. You stopped the wine before we finished dinner.” She looked at her watch. “So that should be cleared enough by now. Go with a full dose and be careful. Slow and steady, no roughhousing”
“Thanks. Thanks for everything. I don’t know what I would have done without you other than die.” She gave Sabine a big hug before leaving the kitchen.
Henrik was asleep when he felt Paige come to bed. She slid in carefully. He could feel her slide up against him. It took a few moments for her to make her way up against him. He felt something different than he expected. She was naked.
“Hey, wait. Are you sure? What about your…”
“SSShhh. My ribs will be fine. I’m alive. I could have died but I didn’t. I intend to enjoy life, since we don’t know how long any of us have. Let me be alive.”