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 "DAMN YOU, PIESZECKI !" She yelled, throwing the invitation card on the passenger seat in sheer frustration.
 
Bette Porter was lost… Bette Porter was lost and she definitely wasn’t happy.

This hadn’t started as a good day, and apparently it wasn’t getting any better.
 
For one thing, having gotten ready with time to spare this morning, she had decided to relax for a few moments on her lounger with a cup of coffee before heading to the wedding. Well at the time it seemed like a good idea… Until she reached out for the newspaper and clumsily spilled the dark liquid all over the front of her dress. A dress that she had specially bought for the occasion. Swearing to no one but herself, she had rushed to her bedroom to change, only to find out with horror that all of her best suits and dresses were either used or at the dry cleaner. And the only appropriate dress left for such an event was one that she had bought and worn only once before she decided that its black and white patterns made her look like a waitress. A very chic waitress, but a waitress nonetheless. She had rolled her eyes, looked at the dress with contempt, and put it on with a sigh.
 
"Okay, you get a second round, but don’t get your hopes too high, this is a booty call and nothing else. After today, you and me are over!"
 
She had looked at herself in the mirror and shrugged.
 
"This will have to do… Oh well, it’s just a wedding and I’m Alice’s date anyway. Who would I want to impress!" And with this, she had rushed out the door.
 
But then, as if to follow a conspiratory pattern of unwelcomed hazards, her car had refused to start, and she had been forced to borrow her best friend’s old truck at the last minute. Well, borrow would be a gentle way to put it as she had almost given Shane a heart attack when she had tumbled through her door and litterally snatched her car keys from her before running out again yelling a hurried "Thanks, I’ll meet you on the beach before you leave, I promise!"
 
And now, as if to put the cherry on the cake she thought sarcastically, she was lost in the middle of nowhere… Well, not exactly nowhere since she was facing an ocean which she was pretty sure was the Pacific.
 
"Although at this point, I wouldn’t mind a confirmation of that as well", she told herself bitterly. 
 
After getting to the hills of Malibu and driving around for the last half hour, Bette was quickly losing patience and the very fancy invitation card holding the precious directions to the Peabody mansion was the poor victim of her growing frustration.
 
Just as she was pulling her phone out to call Alice, still unsure whether she would ask her for better directions or just tell her to find herself another date, a huge white limo, with lots of pink and white ribbons and a just married flag clung to it, overtook her. She barely had the time to register the fancy "Peabody 2" car tag before she crushed the gas pedal and bolted on the road behind it with a piercing shriek.
 
"Saved by the wedding bells, Al!" she muttered, shaking her head.
 
Okay, for the first time today, luck was on her side. Maybe the day wouldn’t be that bad after all…
 
 
 
 
TBC…?