A Thoroughly Modern Cinderella

The music pulsed as she danced and spun, drink in hand. She was aware of the crowd watching her but she was especially aware of his eyes on her. Cinderella knew the effect her silky hair and smooth skin had on people, let alone her tight ass and gorgeous face. She got by with her looks and used this advantage whenever she could, since she was usually just looking for fun anyway. People were so dumb. They would do anything for her as long as she paid a little bit of attention to them. Well, at least the men would. Most women hated her and her frumpy stepsisters were no exception. Unfortunately, they were here at the club with her tonight. The silver lining of their company was a ride home at midnight, so she slammed the rest of her vodka cranberry and motioned to Puppy Dog for another drink.

Prince Charming was enthralled by the beautiful woman dancing solo. Most of the women he knew danced with a group of girlfriends or with their date, but not this one. She was different. He had been watching her from the moment she walked in and he kept trying to make meaningful eye contact. Oh look! There it is! She wants another drink. Prince hastened to the bar and prayed that the bartender knew what she was drinking.

He mentally rehearsed what he would say to her when introducing himself. Things were already getting blurry, however. Ladies at the club were practically falling all over themselves to be with him and he simply kept drinking and turning each one away. He used to play that game quite well... He was a handsome prince, after all, but as he was now pushing thirty-five he was growing tired of the party life. Word apparently got out that the prince was looking to settle down. The women only tried harder, much to his surprise and sometimes pleasure (if he felt like it).

In his drunken haze he thought her condescending smile was interest. In her drunken haze she thought his interest was predictable and pointless. She humored him and snapped selfies together on her phone, letting his hands roam where they wanted. She knew that he was the man her stepsisters always gushed over so she turned her flirting up a notch.

She couldn't stand her stepsisters. She was always cleaning up after those slobs. They tried telling her that she had obsessive compulsive disorder but Cinderella knew that they were just pigs. She swore they created messes just for her to clean.

Puppy Dog kept watching her with his sentimental eyes and brought her yet another drink. Cinderella realized that it was almost time to catch her ride. It was a few minutes until midnight. She asked him to hold her drink while she used the restroom and that's when she made her escape. She didn't have to deal with turning him down if she snuck out. Cinderella knew it was a shitty move but she didn't care.

Prince Charming was in love. He was worried about her because she ran off without her cell phone... Something must be really wrong. Maybe one of the women who she was riding with needed help. Maybe all of the drinks were catching up with her and she was sick. He couldn't fathom why she would leave without saying goodbye.

When he woke up early the next morning, the prince was very hungover with a pounding headache. However, he immediately thought of Cinderella and decided to get out of bed to go find her instead of going back to sleep as he normally would. He was grateful that she forgot her cell phone so that he could return it to her. He remembered exquisite photos she had shown him from high above the city. There were a handful of houses in the mountains so he decided to search there first.

Several of the homes had young women who took one look at him and eagerly claimed the cell phone as theirs... But they could not unlock it with the correct passcode. He remembered that she was very beautiful but the details of her face were unclear in his mind.

When he came to Cinderella's house, her stepsisters were fighting among each other. Each claimed the phone but just like the other attempts it remained locked. Cinderella was still asleep when the prince had arrived, but with all of the commotion she went downstairs in full bitch mode, angry that she was awakened prematurely.

Prince Charming reacted with a mixture of fear and delight. Could this rude, unkempt woman be the one of his dreams? Last night had seemed surreal. His pulse quickened as he noticed her beauty despite her poor manners.

"Give me back my phone!" she barked, her voice hoarse. Her stepsisters were aghast as she unlocked the phone. Prince Charming dutifully dropped to one knee and professed his love with a marriage proposal, not quite as confident as before but still hopeful.

Cinderella's hysterical laughter felt like a slap on his cheek.