Wednesday! Wednesday! Wednesday!

Five Word Wednesday today! Thought I'd switch it up and do a historical piece. Here were my 5 words for today:


Heinous
Aristocrat
Bubble
Invention
Plural


       Charlotte’s laughter bubbled up through the air like champagne, and she latched onto Jasper’s arm. The joke he shared wasn’t that funny. But he was rich, and good looking enough for her attention. Today at least.
“Yoohoo!” An airy voice called out behind them.
  They spun around and Charlotte pasted on a smile. Good heavens. The blur of yellow green silk teetering toward them made her skin crawl. Lucille Wellington may be an aristocrat, but that didn’t mean she had any good sense about her. Especially when it came to clothes. Her dress was heinous.
  “I caught you just in time.” Lucille stopped before them and  fluffed her gown.
       Mustard. It was the color of mustard, with enough lace it was a wonder Lucille could walk upright.. Charlotte scrunched up her nose.
  “Dane and I are going to the theatre,” Lucille boasted as she glanced at Charlotte,”but he’s running late, so I’ll take a walk around the gardens with you two.”
  “How nice,” Charlotte beamed.
       As if Dane Abrams was anything to boast about. He was ten years her senior, dull and fat, and not at all charming. Hardly a catch.
       Well, maybe he was -  rumor had it that he was due to inherit everything from both sides of his family. How many silk gowns could she afford if she was Dane Abrams’ wife? But really, Lucille’s nose was turned upward so much at mention of her date it was practically vertical. Charlotte stood a little taller. She never wanted for male company, and had scads of dates, plural.
Charlotte looped her other arm through Lucille’s. “Of course you are welcome to walk with us.”
       She looked up at Jasper, and fluttered her eyelashes as she peered up at him. Was he the competitive sort? What would happen if she showed interest in both he and Dane, and pitted them against each other? It might just be the thing to make one of them propose, and fast.
  Bile rose in her stomach, and she swallowed it down. The thought of Dane Abrams touching her in any way made her skin crawl. But her patience was wearing thin, and the debts were stacking up. Dane Abrams could be the solution to everything.
       It was a plan she hadn’t dared to dream up before, but , as her mother always said, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention.” And she needed money. Charlotte didn’t run in quite the same circle as Dane Abrams, but if she could get to him, maybe just maybe, she could work her charms to her advantage.
      Charlotte turned to the girl beside her and smiled. Naive, stupid, mustard-dress-wearing-Lucille was about to become her new best friend...