Sweet Torture Read online

  The weird thing was, even though Dante was gorgeous, he didn’t make me feel like a hideous troll or anything. Even Vlada was falling for him, if she wasn’t almost fifty, I would have been jealous.

  One evening, at my place over Indonesian Chocolate Fondue, something between Dante and I changed. I couldn’t explain what it was or how it happened, but our usual cheerful banter disappeared and there was an awkward pause.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “Nothing.” Dante’s voice was eerily soft. I felt my stomach flip as he leaned in towards me. “I was just thinking that I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”

  “Me too.” I whispered.

  He leaned in even closer and tucked a lock of frizzy hair behind my ear. Before I knew it, his mouth crashed into mine. My body filled with waves of sweet ecstasy as his lips touched mine. The kiss started out slow and mellow, but eventually increased with a vicious passion that scared me senseless. Eventually, we ended up in my bedroom where I hungrily ripped off Dante’s shirt. The sight of his perfectly toned stomach and muscular arms made me weak. Softly, he placed me on my bed where he covered me in delicious kisses. “I think I’m falling for you Claudia, my sweet, neurotic chocoholic,” he whispered.

  Those words filled very inch of my body with chills. “The feeling is mutual,” I said as I gave him another hungry kiss.

  Sweet Betrayal

  The next night was New Year’s Eve, and I was in heaven. Dante and I had spent last night making out in my bedroom and he wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with me. He wanted to take me to a party later that night. He was coming over in exactly one hour, and I was frantically running around trying to make myself look presentable. I actually had spent the afternoon getting my hair and nails done as well as shopping for a new dress. Yes, I know a cliché, but I couldn’t help it.

  Dante was on time and brought me a box of Viennese Chocolates. “You look amazing.” His bright eyes filled with admiration as he glanced over my shiny hair and fancy new Prada dress.

  “You don’t look so bad, yourself,” I said as I looked over his broad shoulders and new blazer.

  “Crap,” said Dante after half an hour of a heavy make out session.

  “What?”

  “I forgot the champagne at my place,” he said.

  “It’s okay, we don’t need it,” I said quickly. I really didn’t want him to leave.

  “But I bought it especially for you; supposedly, it has a chocolate aftertaste.”

  “But, it’s cold outside,” I moaned. “It’s so warm in here.”

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes; I only live two blocks away.”

  “Fine.” I gave him one last deep kiss before watching him disappear out the front door.

  As soon as he left, I heard a phone buzz. Dante had forgotten his phone on the couch I picked it up and placed it on the coffee table. It buzzed again, then again, again, and once more. In the span of two minutes, it must have buzzed at least twenty times. Freaked out that maybe someone had died, I picked it up and took a look at the messages. What. Wait. No. They were from Beatrice.

  1. Did you do it?

  2. Did you make the fatty fall in love with you?

  3. Well?

  4. Did you?

  5. Hello?

  6. Did you make Claudia fall in love with you?

  7. Where are you?

  8. Your silence means you’re still working it?

  9. If you want me, you have to prove it.

  10. Prove how far you would go for a date with me.

  11. So, I’m waiting, did you do it?

  12. I’ll never be your date for the St. Valentine’s Day Dance if you fail.

  13. Remember I need proof. I need pictures and a tape recording.

  14. I’ve seen her naked. If you can do that, you definitely deserve me.

  15. Trust me; I treat my dates very, very nicely.

  16. Hello?

  17. Geez, you haven’t texted me for two weeks.

  18. You didn’t back out, did you?

  19. Answer me.

  20. Now.

  My eyes filled with tears of humiliation, and my hands shook violently. The phone landed with a thump on the wooden floor. It had been nothing but a lie. I had been nothing more than a pawn in Dante and Beatrice’s weird game of foreplay. I knew Beatrice was a stuck up bitch, but I never thought she’d actually toss one of her minions into the ring.

  “Hey, I’m back,” Dante announced. “What’s the matter?” His eyes filled with concern when he saw my face.

  “Get out”! I screamed. I picked up his cell from the ground and threw it at him. “Get the hell out of my house!” I was hysterical.

  “Hey Claudia, calm down, what’s the matter?”

  “What’s the matter? What’s the matter? Look at your goddamn phone!”

  As Dante read the messages, panic washed over his face. “No, let me explain, please Claudia.”

  “Get the hell out before I call security!” I hollered.

  “Please Claudia you don’t understand,” he pleaded.

  “Get out!”

  Defeated, Dante left, and I fell to the floor in feverish tears.

  Sweet Revenge

  For the next two days, I hibernated from the world. Vlada kept knocking on my bedroom door, but I refused to answer. Dante sent me a million texts begging that I hear him out, but I ignored every last one of them. Damn him and damn Beatrice, they had their fun. Dante had proven that he would do anything to get a date with queen bee bitch, and I was as disposable as a chocolate wrapper. The only thing that kept me company was my stash of ever reliable chocolate. Chocolate never failed me or made me feel worthless.

  On the third day, despite my protests, Vlada had James pick my bedroom lock.

  “Miss Claudia, you cannot stay locked in here forever,” she said.

  “Yes I can,” I muttered from under my fluffy duvet.

  “Do you want to talk about?” she asked.

  “No, go away!”

  “I brought you chocolate Belgian waffles.” She tempted me.

  “Fine.” I came out from under the duvet.

  Vlada gasped. “Miss Claudia, you look a mess. What will Mr. Dante think if he see you like this?”

  “Screw Mr. Dante!” I screamed.

  “Tell me what happen.” She sat down on the edge of my bed, and I told her the whole sordid tale through mouthfuls of waffles.

  After I was done she said, “you must see Mamba Clara, she will help.”

  “Help how?” I asked.

  “She will help you heal.”

  “Fine, gimme the address.” If some crazy voodoo lady could help me heal, why not? I just wanted the pain to go away.

  After getting myself together, I went to Mamba Clara’s shop. Surprisingly, it was only a few blocks from where I lived and wasn’t at all what I expected. It was brightly lit and smelt like jasmine and sweet honey. All the shelves were tidy and filled with exotic stones, herbs and random potions.

  “Claudia.” A pretty lady with large, brown eyes greeted me. Her dark skin was flawless, and she was elegantly dressed in a flowing, floral gown.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “I’m Mambo Clara; Vlada said you were coming over. She told me what happened. Have a seat.” She pointed to a leather couch that sat in the corner of the room.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing here,” I admitted as I sank into the coach.

  “Sure, you do,” she said. “You want vengeance, don’t you? You want vengeance on Beatrice; you want her to feel how you feel. You want her to feel ugly and unwanted.”

  “Umm, I guess.” I shrugged not really clear on where this was all going.

  “Here take this, she handed me a voodoo doll shaped in the form of a girl. You take this doll, take a piece of Beatrice’s hair and attach it to the doll. After that, you feed the doll chocolate every night. But you cannot have even the slightest taste of chocolate during this time. If you do, you will get back in double
what you give to the doll.”

  “Are you serious?” I asked as I took the doll from her hand. “What if I want revenge on Dante?”

  “You can’t take revenge on both Dante and Beatrice, because this is your first time, you must pick one.”

  “Definitely Beatrice,” I muttered. Even though, I was beyond pissed off at Dante, Beatrice deserved what was coming to her more than he did. Beatrice always made other people feel like crap, now it was her turn.

  Sweet Victory

  “Hey Claudia,” Beatrice chirped. School had started up again, and Beatrice looked stunning after a sunny two week vacation. “You look awful; didn’t you get any rest over the holidays?”

  “I did, but of course, I can never look as hot as you.” I gave her a tight hug and ran my fingers through her hair. “Your hair feels amazing!” I gushed.

  “I know right, it’s awesome.” She was entirely oblivious to the fact that I had pulled out a couple of strands which I quickly stuck between my history textbook.

  As Beatrice was going on and on about her vacation, I saw Dante coming down the hall. He gave me an unsure wave, but I ignored him. I never wanted to speak to him again.

  Later that night, I sat in my room with the voodoo doll and attached Beatrice’s hair to it. I took out my chocolate stash from its hiding place and passed it over the doll’s mouth. It took every ounce of strength I had within me not to sneak just as little taste of it.

  I preformed the nightly ritual religiously, but it wasn’t easy. One night, I couldn’t take it anymore and shoved a piece of delicious chocolate down my throat. I mean, it was only one little piece, there was no harm in that, right? Well, I was wrong. The next day, I woke up to find that I had gained five pounds from that single piece of chocolate.

  You see, all the chocolate I was feeding Beatrice’s voodoo doll was making the actual Beatrice gain weight rapidly. Since I couldn’t have any chocolate, my extra pounds were sliding off, and I was actually looking pretty good. A large part of me knew what I was doing was wrong, but I wanted to give Beatrice a taste of her own medicine. I wanted her to feel insecure and flawed. Once I did, I would stop feeding her chocolate.

  Eventually, the early February cold crept in, and it was almost time for the Valentine's Day dance which meant shopping for dresses. Although I had no intention of actually going, I knew that watching Beatrice shop for a dress was going to be hilarious.

  “So are you going to the dance with Dante?” asked Sam, a fellow minion.

  “He’s so hot, too bad he’s gay,” replied Beatrice.

  “Dante is gay?” I asked.

  “Yes, how else can you explain him blowing off my invitation to the Valentine’s dance? I offered him a chance to prove how far he would go for date with me, but he never did.”

  “What do you mean?” I was suddenly way more interested than I should have been.

  “Well, I told him that he had to make you fall in with him, when I sent him my request he never replied. He totally blew me off. So that must mean that he is clearly gay. Let’s face it; no one ever blows me off.”

  I clenched my fists. Although I had known for some time that I was part of her cruel plan, the fact that she had no shame in openly admitting it to my face made me feel like punching her. Maybe Dante wasn’t a jerk after all; maybe he really had liked me. If that were the case, I had messed up that relationship so badly that there was no way that he would ever speak to me again. “I was a part of this plan?” I asked as calmly as I could.

  “OMG, you don’t mind, do you? I mean I was kind of doing you a favor actually. You would have gotten to make out with Dante. I mean there is no way he’d ever touch you otherwise even if he were straight.”

  Breathe, I told myself. Just breathe. “Yeah, no worries.” I shrugged off her nasty comment.

  “This is the dress you wanted.” The saleslady brought over a black Gucci dress.

  “What the hell is up!” Beatrice whinnied as she tried on the dress.

  “There must be something wrong with the label. I’ve always been a size two. This is obviously not a size two!” Beatrice huffed as she tried to squeeze her newly plump frame into one dress after another.

  The saleslady looked mortified. “It’s a size two Beatrice, maybe you’ve, umm, grown over the holidays?”

  “Grown? You mean like fat?!!!!!” Beatrice screamed.

  “I’ll see if I can find other designs.” The saleslady bolted out of the dressing room area.

  “What do you think Claudia? Have I gained weight?”

  Seriously, how could she not see that she had gained thirty pounds in the last month, and I had dropped twenty five? The next thing that came out of my mouth was probably the defining moment of my high school career. It was the moment I stood up for myself and told Beatrice off. “Yeah, I think you have.”

  “What?” Beatrice’s large eyes filled with fury as she turned to look at me. “How can you of all people say that?”

  “Because it’s true.” I said easily. It was time that someone put her in her place.

  Confusion crossed her face as she glanced over my newly thin body. “How did you do that? What did you do?” Her voice was ruthless.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re, you’re thin!” She hysterically screamed. “You’re thin and I’m fat!”

  “I’ve just been cutting down on the chocolate like you’ve always told me to. It’s not my fault if you can’t control yourself.”

  “You bitch!” She slapped me. “Don’t ever speak to me like that again!”

  I shoved her into a pile of dresses. She tripped and fell over a Chanel cocktail gown. “Don’t worry; I have no intention of ever speaking to you again.”

  “You’ll be sorry,” she hissed still on the ground.

  “I don’t think so. Come on girls, I think we’ve put up with her torment long enough, I am officially liberating you all,” I said to the minions.

  “I swear if you guys leave, it’ll be social suicide.” Beatrice said.

  “You don’t have to live like this anymore, come with me, and you’ll be free,” I said to the group.

  To my surprise, the minions followed me out the store and left Beatrice lying in a pile of too small dresses. I knew the minions were exactly like me. They were unsure, lacked confidence and only hung around Beatrice out of fear. Did they actually like her? No. they deserved better than her. I deserved better.

  Sweet Surrender

  It was Valentine’s night, the night of the dance. My parents had decided to extend their winter vacation and had flown out to Rio. I was sitting at home watching Chocolat. Although I had stopped feeding Beatrice’s voodoo doll with chocolate, and was free to eat the stuff again, I rarely pigged out anymore. The one month diet had done me wonders. I realized that to enjoy something you didn’t have to have a lot of it. Slowly savoring a piece of really good chocolate was just as satisfying as a whole box. Besides, I liked my new body.

  As I was watching Chocolat, I could help but think about Dante. I couldn’t help but think that maybe he wasn’t actually a bad guy. But I still didn’t understand why he decided to hang out with me even if he had blown off Beatrice’s dare. It was too much of a coincidence. I mean there was nothing special about me. I wasn’t drop dead gorgeous or super smart. Even if, I was thinner, I didn’t feel like a guy like him would ever be interested in me. I had my head in the clouds and chocolate in my heart what was so great about that? My thoughts were interrupted by Vlada.

  “A package has come for you Miss. Claudia,” she informed me.

  “Thanks Valda.” I took the box from her. It was probably a box of Brazilian chocolates from my dad. He must have posted them while my mom was at the spa or something. He always did stuff like that. As I opened the package, I was confused. It wasn’t a box of chocolate at all, but a box full of paper? A note fell off the top of the stack and landed on my lap. I picked it up.

  Before you set this on fire, read it. I
t’s the story of us.

  Dante

  Curious, more than anything, I flew through the two hundred page story in two hours. After it was over, tears filled my eyes. It was the story of a lost writer aimlessly roaming the streets of New York. One day he accidently stumbles into a new coffee shop and sees a familiar face. He’s seen the girl many times at school before but never really paid attention to her because he always had a crush on her friend. However, after actually talking to her friend, he realizes that beauty can easily cover cruelty, and he wasn’t okay with that. He decides to talk to the girl in the coffee shop because he’s feeling a bit lonely. The girl is strange, beautiful and full of passion. She inspires the writer to write more than he’s ever written before. The girl introduces him to a world of chocolate and dreams. For the first time, the writer feels like maybe his own dreams can come true. Sadly, at the end, the girl doesn’t trust the writer enough to believe that he is actually in love with her, and is not just using her for some sick, twisted game of foreplay. Even if, the writer and the girl can never be together, he wants her to know that she is beautiful and the only person who doesn’t believe that is her.

  I grabbed a coat. I had been an idiot. I ran over to Dante’s apartment praying he was home.

  “He just left.” The doorman politely informed me.

  Of course, he had. He probably went to the dance. I couldn’t go there. I wasn’t dressed for it or anything. Besides, he probably didn’t feel that way for me anymore, after I had blown him off, he must have figured he was better off without me. Feeling more than just a little depressed, I headed over to Heaven’s Kitchen.

  The café was filled with happy couples which made me feel even worse. I scanned the room for an empty seat when I saw the back of his head. It was Dante. Silently, I approached him. He was so absorbed in a book that he didn’t even notice me come up behind him.

  “Hey,” I said as I sat down in the chair across from him.

  “Claudia.” His full lips parted in shock.