$4.39 champagne

The cool surface of the discount store dollar chocolate felt like gold against her lips. She smiled down at her freshly painted toenails, “Empowered Maven,” bargain buy. 

Elise caught her distorted reflection in the toaster. She felt like a queen. Completely unstoppable. The junior studio now felt massive. Her confidence exuding far beyond its paisley walls. 

She thought back to the tongue-tied girl who’d shared her same skin suit. The same small girl who’s nose dipped in the same way, same dotted birthmark on her left wrist. So much had changed. What would those doe-eyes say if they could see her now? Likely nothing, for restraints of bashfulness. But they’d glimmer all the same, unable to mask the layered excitement bursting below the quieted smile. 

Elise raised her glass of $4.39 champagne. “We did it kiddo,” she called to the past. And as she smashed the cheap drink, she knew that no matter what came next, whatever tempting lure of financial or status shift that folded itself into her life, she would never be the same. Because she was no longer the same. 

Empowered Maven, she. 

-b

May 22, 2020