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Lysette was seething. After what Marissa told her about Lyle Prince and Addison they decided they'd leave the banquet. She had sent her girls off to bed telling them to get as much sleep as possible before the Prince family's masquerade the next evening. She then sat in the living room and waited for Addison to get home.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, at four in the morning, Lysette decided the little ponce wasn't coming home. He had spent the night with Lyle Prince. She made her way to her bedroom formulating a plan to keep Addison from the celebration that evening.

It was around lunch time when the front door opened and Addison slowly slipped inside. Lysette was ready for him. She approached the boy crossing her arms over her chest, "Have fun last night?" she asked lightly.

Having not spotted her, Addison jumped at the harsh question before he awkwardly cleared his throat, "Um, yeah?"

Not one to beat around the bush, Lysette continued, "You know, I know you're the Daniella that Lyle Prince has been seeing."

Addison's eye's tripled in size from the shock of his stepmother's admittance, "How?" he asked weakly, voice a strangled whisper. There was no point trying to deny anything. She knew. She knew and she hadn't done something to him.

Lysette shrugged, "It wasn't hard to figure out. I've known you work in a gay bar for months now."

"And I'm still alive?" he honestly thought she'd kill him if she ever found out about this stuff. Maybe Addison had misjudged her all of this time.

She laughed, "Oh, Addison, it pains me that you don't feel you can tell me things like this," Lysette walked over to him and pulled him into a loose hug. Finally the parental affection he had craved ever since his dad died and... it was the most awkward hug of Addison's life. He stood blinking, arms down at his side too afraid she'd change her mind and lob his head off to actually move. "As long as you're happy with your life, I'm happy for you," she released Addison from the hug with a tight closed lip smile that didn't quite meet her eyes.

"Really?" he asked scarcely believing what he was hearing.

"Really," Lysette promised, "and to show I really mean what I've said here's the information to the account your father left for you," she handed him an envelope which Addison took gratefully. "There's also some money in there to buy a dress for tonight. If you leave right now you should be able to find an outfit in time."

"But," Addison started and then decided he probably oughtn't push his luck. The questioning look on his stepmother's face pushed him to say, "I'll need to get the dress tailored too."

"Oh yes, how silly of me," Lysette grabbed for a pen and paper. She wrote down an address. "Go to that address and they'll fix you and your dress for tonight.

Addison grinned at his stepmother. Maybe she wasn't so bad. A little prickly around the edges, like a Mammillaria cactus of sorts, but she was doing the adult thing now and that's really all that mattered. "Thank you so much!" he gave her a quick hug and bolted from the house to find the perfect dress for the evening masquerade. It was almost two o'clock giving him about three hours to find a dress before he had to get ready for the grand event.

He's be at the party by six looking beautiful in his disguise. He couldn't wait to see Lyle. To have everyone there know that him and Lyle loved each other. That was the promise that Lyle had made to Addison.

At the end of the masquerade, Lyle Prince would propose to his love.

Lysette watched Addison leave the house in a flurry of excitement a cold glare on her face now that the moron's back was turned. He never suspected that she'd try something to stop him and Lyle's union? Didn't he realize if he wasn't at the masquerade by the end that Lyle would be promised to another as per the agreement made with his parents? The little fool was so easy to manipulate. So trusting. He's see where his trust would get him.

She grabbed her cell and sent a text.

Lysette: Tonight, 5.00 at the predisclosed address. You know what to do.

Shortly later she got a response.

XXXX: Wats predisclosed mean???

It's official, she was surrounded by idiots.

***************************

The Masquerade 6.45 PM

Lyle was a nervous wreck. The Masquerade had started forty-five minutes ago and there was still no sign of Addison. He paced back and forth as he scanned the massive hall for his boyfriend.

Where was he?

The last Lyle heard from him had been earlier that day. His stepmother gave him money to buy a dress, apparently she knew about them now, and he was calling to tell Lyle he, "had found an absolutely beautiful dress," he was going to get it fitted and he'd be at the masquerade by 6.00.

That had been around 4.00.

Mel walked up to him looking concerned. "He's not here yet?"

The anguished look Lyle shot her said enough. "Mel, I'm worried. It's not like Addi to not tell me if he's running late. What of something happened to him?"

Mel sighed. "I tell you what, if Addison's not here in ten more minutes, I'll go looking for him."

Before the sentence was even finished Lyle had embraced her in a much needed hug. "Thanks Mel, you're the best."

"I know," she winked.

"Lyle!" and here came the parents. His dad was taking this no show personally. Thought Addison was playing him and now that the time had come for commitment he had run away. "He's still not here?" the man growled.

"No sir, he's not."

"So be it. If he's not here by nine you are getting married to the girl I picked for you," he barked out. Nine was the unofficial end to the masquerade so the time made sense. It just seemed so close to Lyle who desperately wanted Addison to make this deadline he knew nothing about.

"But I love Addison. I don't want to marry anyone else."

His father's expression grew dark and grim. "If he's not here by nine you will," with that remark his parents walked away.

Lyle turned to Mel. "Shit, what am I going to do? I know Addison wouldn't leave me." Why was it suddenly so important to his dad that he propose tonight? Sure it was the end of their deal, but... he found love, found the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and his dad didn't seem to care.

"Don't worry, I'll find him," Mel promised. "But, before I go," here she flashed her best sheepish expression, "any clue where he'd be?"

"None," Lyle moaned in despair.

"I think I might be able to help with that," a perky sounding girl spoke. She was dressed in a purple outfit that was meant to resemble the deep night. And Lyle had absolutely no idea who she was.

"And you are?" Mel asked with a quizzical brow.

"I'm Addison's sister, Rachel."

*************************

"So tell me again why we're the only two doing this," Rachel whined was they made their way down a dimly lit road.

"Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome isn't allowed to leave the party. We're disposable," Mel answered as if it were obvious.

"Yeah, well I hope not too disposable," Rachel mumbled under her breath. She was planning on living through this experience.

After a few more minutes of walking Rachel guided them down another dubious path. "Are you sure we're heading in the right direction?" Mel asked rightfully skeptical. This area looked like an incurable disease that she definitely did not want.

And no, Rachel wasn't 100 percent sure they were heading in the right direction. But this is the shady address she heard her mom whispering into the phone the other night when she thought nobody was around. With Addison mysteriously missing, it only made sense that the two were related. Coincidence? She hoped not.

All of a sudden Rachel stopped moving standing ramrod straight, "Positive," the response sounding forced and strangled as she choked it out.

Mel looked in the direction she was facing. "Shit!"

There, laying prone on the ground was Addison. Mel rushed to the figure and quickly surveyed his form. Most of what was visible looked like bruising.

Heavy bruising.

His eyes fluttered open. He looked dazed and confused. "Rachel? Mel?"

"Yeah, sweetie, we're here," Mel answered trying to be as soothing as possible.

"Addison, what happened?" Rachel asked almost afraid to know.

"I-I got a dress. And came to the address that- that stepmother gave me and..." he trailed off staring into the distance seeing something in the darkness perhaps that they didn't.

"And what?" Mel pressed.

"And... There were so many of them."

"Who?" Rachel cried. Who could have done this to her brother?

"The guys. They beat me up. Took my dress and threw it somewhere. And they took my money."

"Bastards," Mel growled.

"I think you should go to the hospital Addi," Rachel spoke gently.

"I- no!" he yelped when Rachel reached for him.

"No?"

"I need to go to Lyle's party. If I'm not there they'' make him marry someone else," this was spoken with such conviction that neither girl could argue. And how could they when they knew what he said was true. Lyle's father would make him marry someone else of Addison didn't show.

Rachel's eyes softened, "Alright, Addi, we'll take you to the party."

"Really?" he didn't think they'd let him go. Thought they'd insist on the hospital.

"Really, truly," Rachel promised.

At the softly spoken phrase, so often said by his father, Addison felt tears prickle in the corner of his eyes. "Thank you," he whispered.

"But afterwards we're going to the hospital," Mel decided sternly before walking away looking for the bag Addison said he had with him.

"Come on, let's get you ready for the masquerade," Rachel helped him up and they made their way slowly out of the alley.

Mel ran to catch up to them a few minutes later. She grinned, "I found the dress."

*****************

Rachel looked at the dress dubiously. "Maybe it would have been better if you hadn't found the dress."

Mel shot her a glare. "Come on, it's a nice dress. They just ruined it."

"Can you fix it?" Rachel didn't believe there was any way to fix that dress. It was supposed to be white with careful layers of tulle and... well, it wasn't.

"You do his makeup and I'll take care of the dress," was the answer Rachel received.

Nodding her head grimly, Rachel left the room.

Mel took another look at the dress. It really had been beautiful when Addison bought it, she could tell. It was white and soft, almost feather like in the skirt. She quickly rummaged through her art supplies looking for her dye. The colors blue, red and yellow were at her disposal because of a tie dye project she was planning. "What color should I add?" she mused aloud.

Could always do blue. Addison did have blue eyes.

But how much more like Cinderella could it get. Mel was nobody's goddamn fairy godmother. She threw the blue dye bottle away. She went back to staring at the dress. The brown streaks, so nicely applied by the people that beat Addison to a pulp, kind of reminded Mel of ashes. And the feathery wisps... red and yellow dye... Mel knew what she was going to do.

****************************

Addison stood before the three girls (Rachel called Eva to do his hair) looking beautiful, if not a bit dazed.

"Wow," was all Eva could say. The others just nodded in agreement.

His outfit was understated with just enough detail for people to guess that he was a phoenix emerging from the ashes. "Uh, I'm glad you like it, but shouldn't we be leaving?" Addison asked timidly.

Mel whipped out her cell phone and looked at the time 8.58. "Yeah we need to leave... ten minutes ago. Eva, you driving?"

"Sure, I'm totally dressed for a masquerade," she groused motioning to her tattered jeans and oversized T-shirt.

"Shut up and drive," Mel snapped as the four of them headed to Eva's car.

Addison sat in the passenger seat resting his forehead against the cool glass of the window. "Please let us make it in time."

**********************

Lyle was glaring at the clock. Maybe if he willed it hard enough time would turn backwards a few minutes or at least stand still. But the minute hand kept moving forward. 9:05 it said unapologetically.

Where were they?

Mel texted to say they had found Addison ages ago and that's the last Lyle's heard.

His father, who had been pacing anxiously, stormed over to him, "We've waited long enough. He's not coming. You'll propose to the woman I picked for you."

As soon as the words were spoken the actions were put into motion. His dad wasted no time in quieting the hall and calling the girl he picked for Lyle up to the area occupied by Lyle and his parents. The girl stood in front of Lyle expectantly. She had obviously been told what was going to happen ahead of time. Maybe if he acted like he was going to propose and rally drew out how long it would take Addison would miraculously appear. Lyle knew it was a horribly plan but that's really all he had to go with.

The girl already knew she was a second choice so what did it matter if Lyle drew out the motions then took them back? He slowly got down on one knee and reached for the girl's hand. Everyone in the crowd was watching murmuring to one another at the prospect of Lyle Prince finally proposing. Lyle wondered if any of them were surprised to see someone other than Daniella on the receiving end.

Christ, I don't even know her name, Lyle rolled his eyes.

He took a deep breath.

"Lyle!" A startled voice breathed, standing out from the quieted crowd, by the entrance to the hall making Lyle look in that direction from his kneeling position.

It was Rachel, Mel and Eva with... Addison.

He looked beautiful standing there in a feathery flame dress and Lyle couldn't help the immediate physical reaction that came at the sight of him.

That's the man he loved.

To his dismay, Lyle watched as tears started to fall down Addison's face. Then the beautiful man turned and fled. Eva immediately ran after him.

He couldn't believe it. His angel had been here only to turn around and leave when they could finally be together. Why would Addison leave like that? Lyle had to only squeeze his hand which was still grasping what'shername and realize he was still kneeling to see how his actions were perceived by Addison. Lyle was too shocked by Addison's quick disappearance to register that anything else was happening around him. That is, until Mel came bounding across the ballroom and slugged him across his face hard.

"You bastard!" Mel shrieked kicking him in the shin, "I can't believe you'd do this!"

Lyle scrambled to his feet, "Woah!" he dogged Mel's flying fists. "Woah, Mel! I'm not proposing to her," he finally managed to shout, silencing the growing noise in the hall.

"You're not?" said girl pouted. Lyle just shook his head apologetically. "Pooh!" she stomped away from them.

"Sure looked like a proposal," Mel griped.

Lyle blushed, he was afraid of that, "I was stalling."

He turned to face the crowd. "Listen up, everyone. Tonight I planned to propose to the love of my life, and he just ran out the door," Lyle gestured to the door amidst the mumblings of party guests. "I know I'm the host of this party, and it's in bad taste to leave before everyone else does," even though the party officially ended at nine, "but... I hope you'll agree to let me chase after him."

There were words of encouragement from a vast number of the crowd. Lyle felt a gently hand grab his. Turning, he saw it was his mother. "Don't give up on him."

Lyle nodded and made his way through the crowd and out the door. About halfway out the walkway Lyle spotted something glistening on the ground. He realized it was a shoe. A fairly large shoe. It was gold with little pearls expertly sewn into the hemline. He knew without a doubt that it belonged to Addison.

"And now the prince must search for Cinderella," Lyle joked to himself as he picked up the shoe and went to his car.

He'd begin his search at Eva's.

Three Days Later

Addison sat slumped at the bar. "Daniella," his manager whined, "You can't sit at the bar looking all depressed," he stomped his foot for emphasis. "Nobody will wanna order from you with that attitude." Addison rolled his eyes, the man was practically pouting.

"Sorry, but this is all the enthusiasm I can muster tonight," Addison smiled thinly.

"Rough day?" his manages asked sympathetically.

"Rough life," Addi answered with a littles sigh.

After he saw Lyle proposing to someone else he fled the masquerade. Eva immediately took him to the hospital for his injuries where he found out they were worse that he thought. He ended up missing three shifts at the grocery store he worked for and they fired him. He was staying with Eva for now because his stepmother kicked him out of his home. And to top it all off, he hadn't heard so much as a word from Lyle. He understood that Lyle picked someone else, didn't expect him to magically appear and make what happened at the masquerade go away. But Addison thought he deserved some kind of apology or at least an explanation.

Yeah, his week wasn't the greatest.

He rested his head in his hands content with staring into the amber liquor bottles until his manager forced him to actually earn his paycheck. Addison kicked his shoes off, which was probably against all kinds of health code rules, but he didn't care his feet were killing him, and rested them against the cool metal of the barstool.

"Is this seat taken?" a familiar voice inquired.

Addison blinked in alarm. What was Lyle doing here after all this time? He had no reason to visit Addison anymore.

"What are you doing here?" he asked guardedly. He studied Lyle's face closely as the man answered the question, wanting to remember exactly how and what Lyle would say to this question. Lyle sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a sure sign that he was nervous. Addison found himself smiling at the little idiosyncrasy despite the situation.

"I... uh, I found your shoe," Lyle produced the shoe that had fallen off of Addison's foot as he fled that horrible party.

"And?"

"Can I put it on you, you know, to make sure it fits?"

What is this, Cinderella? Addison thought. Instead of voicing his snarky come back he held out his foot for Lyle to slide the shoe on.

There was something in the shoe. A piece of paper, maybe? "Lyle, there's something in the shoe," Addison decided to point out even though it was pretty freaking obvious.

Taking the shoe and looking in it Lyle asked, "Is there?" all the while trying to hide a grin that was threatening to escape his façade. The jerk thought this was funny. "I don't see anything."

Addison rolled his eyes, "Give me that," he grabbed the shoe from Lyle. Sure enough, inside was a folded piece of paper. Actually, it was an envelope, Addison realized after he pulled it out.

He gave Lyle a questioning look. The man merely shrugged openly grinning now. Addison carefully opened the envelope and saw account information.

It was all the information for the account that Addison's father left for him. "Oh my God," Adison could scarcely believe it. He thought the thugs had taken all of that when they had stolen the money he had.

"Mel found it in the alley where-

"Thank you so much," Addison wanted to hug the man so badly but didn't know how Lyle'd react to a hug from him now. After all, he had proposed to someone else.

A few awkward seconds passed before Addison realized that Lyle was still on the floor. He was kneeling just like he had been when he had put Addison's shoe on his foot. No, scratch that, Lyle had changed positions slightly. He was now kneeling on the floor one as if he were about to...

"What are you still doing on the floor?" Addison managed to ask around the stupid butterflies that suddenly appeared in his stomach.

"If all goes well, proposing," Lyle answered keeping his eyes focused on Addison.

"What about that girl?" Addison asked ashamed by the biting edge of jealousy he could recognize in his voice. And even so, his heart began to hammer excitedly in his chest as he began to hope like he never hoped before.

"I'm not marrying her. I don't love her."

Addison felt tears brimming in his eyes as Lyle pulled out a box that obviously contained a ring.

"I love you," Lyle grabbed Addison's hand gently. "Daniella, Addison, will you grant me the greatest happiness imaginable and agree to become my husband?"

Addison choked back a joyful sob, "Yes."

It was a simple word that changed so much. A grin erupted on Lyle's face. He gently slid the ring on Addison's finger and leapt from the floor.

Addison laughed, unbelievably happy, as Lyle pulled him close and they shared a kiss that promised a long wonderful future together.

*******************

Picture's of Mel.

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