The Pink Journal

Title: Ambushed
Character: Dana Heart
Prompt: Birthdays (N1)
Word Count: 228
Rating: PG
Content Notes/Warnings:

Dana glared at the date on her phone. It was her birthday. Normally, it didn't bother her but this year she was turning thirty five.

Thirty five!

Dana sighed. She picked up her keys and bag and headed out the door. She had to get to work. It was going to be a day like any other.

Another boring day!

When she arrived at work, there was a large vase of flowers and several small boxes waiting for her on her desk.

Dana looked around. No one would make eye contact with her. She sat her bag down and picked up one of the small boxes.

“So do you all know it’s my birthday.” Dana glared at them all. “How did you find out?”

One of her coworkers, a woman in a plain gray dress, handed her a memo.

“It was sent around last week.” She told Dana. “Just enjoy yourself. We're having cake in the breakroom this afternoon.”

Dana sighed. “Thanks Peggy. You all didn't need to do anything. Really you didn't.”

“Dana we know you don't like attention but we are all looking forward to the cake.” Peggy shrugged. “Happy birthday!”

“Please tell me its chocolate.” Dana sighed.

“Of course it is. Chocolate with chocolate icing.” Peggy laughed. “We made sure.”

Dana sat down at her desk. “As least, that's something to look forward to today.”

Title: Sanctuary
Fandom: Original Universe
Characters: Dana Heart
Author:  sidhe_faerie
Rating: Gen
Length: 204
Content notes: “Dana Heart” is an original universe based on a woman in her late twenties, not pretty or slim and very single.      
Summary: Sometimes you just have to stop rushing around.

Dana stood still on the crowded street. She needed to take a breath. She had been rushing around all morning trying to get her errands done and she still had some that needed to be done. There never seemed to be enough time on her day off to get everything done.

Dana looked around and realized she wasn’t the only rushing. The street was full of people rushing in all directions. They seemed to be getting nowhere fast.

Dana spotted a coffee shop at the end of the block. All she wanted was five minutes and some caffeine, then she would finish the rest of her errands. She pushed her way down the block to the door.

She walked in and inhaled the scent of coffee and old books. Even though it was the middle of the day, the place was nearly empty. No one was rushing in here. It was if the world had a different pace in this little coffee shop.

Dana ordered and took a seat by the window to watch the people rush through their lives. The errands will still be there later but for now Dana needed a sanctuary from the world. The coffee was just a happy bonus.  

Plus Size Trauma
Character: Dana Heart (Original Character)
Word Count: 237
Rating: G
Stop Challenge 9/21/15

Dana was excited to get some new clothes for the fall season. That was until she walked into the store and everything was dark and drab and baggy. She sighed as the excitement left her.

It wasn’t fair. Just because she wasn’t a size two that didn’t mean she deserved to be dressed in the most hideous clothes that could be made. What did she expect? It happened every time she went clothes shopping.

Granted, it wasn’t polyester and elastic waistbands like it was in her mother’s day but plus sized clothes were still horrible. The colors were unflattering and the cuts made women look even bigger than they were.

Her skinny friends told her she should just lose weight. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that what they wore wasn’t much better. Maybe she should. It may open their eyes to how women are told what beautiful is by the fashion industry. 

She looked around one more time before she ventured into the various racks to find something that she could stand to wear to work. She headed to the black slacks and went from there. By the time she had left the store she had spent too much money on things that didn’t really excite her.

It made her wish she had taken that sewing class at the community college instead of the cooking class. Maybe next semester she would take that class.

Part 1
Dana Heart was a single girl with all the ups and downs that entails. She was a green eyed brown haired woman. She wasn’t exceptionally pretty or smart. Her life was nothing special but it was still her life. As much as she would like sometimes it made her feel more than she wanted to feel. But that is life. Isn’t it?  

Suspicion
Harper Deale was Dana’s on again off again boyfriend. Right now they were on. Harper invited her to a dinner being held in his honor. He had been selected as man of the year for his humanitarian efforts at a free clinic in the worst part of the city.

The night started out fine but Dana could feel that there was something off in the way Harper was acting. It was suspicious. Dana didn’t like suspicious behavior especially from him.

Dana eyed him as he checked his phone for the third time in the last five minutes. There was something not right about the whole thing. It wasn't like her sometimes boyfriend to check his phone during dinner, especially when the dinner was in his honor.

“Harper? Are you expecting a call. You’ve checked your phone three times in as many minutes.” Dana finally asked.

“No. I'm just bored. I was just checking the time.” Harper told her. He put his phone back on the table and tried to look like he was relaxed.

Harper wasn't always truthful. He was no stranger to lies. Dana had found that out the hard way. She had caught him in a lie about what he was doing and who he was doing it with. Poker with Doug turned out to really be sex with Diane.

That was break up number two. It looked like they may be on their way to break up number three.

The master of ceremonies announced Harper. The crowd applauded politely.

Harper walked up to the podium and turned to face the crowd. He smiled at the crowd.

That was the moment Harper’s phone decided to vibrate.

Dana looked over at the screen and sighed at the female face on the screen. Unfortunately she knew the woman on the screen. It was Diane again or maybe it had never stopped.

Her suspicions were unfortunately confirmed.  

Adoration
Harper Deale was an applause whore. It seemed to go with the blonde blue eyed doctor thing. It was annoying to Dana at times but it hadn’t always been that way. There was a time when he had been very humble about his accomplishments. Those days were long gone. Now he relished the praise and made no effort to show it.  

Dana used to be one of the adoring hordes. She would look at him with complete adoration. She was younger then and she didn’t know him as well as she did now. She used to think that he hung the moon. She found out that he only hung lies in the air between them.

Dana could now see that he wasn’t even worth the effort any more. It was all right. He had others to adore him. Others like Diane. Sometimes there were more woman adoring him than not.

Diane was one of those who adored him without question. Diane was never a bright woman. Dana thought she was silly but it could all be an act.

Some women thought it advantageous to act stupid. Dana wasn’t one of those women. She believed that she shouldn’t hide behind a mask of stupidity or silliness.

Harper stood at the podium and looked over the crowd. It would have been easy to adore him in that moment but he really didn’t deserve it. At least that was Dana’s opinion now that she knew he was cheating on her again. 

Harper started to speak to his adoring crowd. He began to extol the reasons that he should be adored. It was long winded and self-promoting. He looked over at Dana and smiled sweetly.

Some would believe that the look he gave her was adoration but Dana knew better. It was just another one of his lies. He only adored himself. 

Humiliation
Once again, Dana could feel the sting of humiliation. She had promised herself the last time she took Harper back that she wasn’t going to let herself feel like this again. It didn’t do any good to make that promise. It was hollow as one of Harper’s promises.

She felt like everyone knew what he had done and they were laughing at her. She knew in her head that was probably not true but he heart told her something different. She had to get out of there.

On impulse Dana picked up the Harper’s phone and her purse and slipped out of the banquet hall. She had a flash of inspiration and was about to share the pain.

She went into the ladies room and hit redial on Harper’s phone.

“Hi Baby. Did you get my message?” Diane answered seductively.

“Harper is busy. This is Dana. Remember me, Diane?”

“Yes. You’re his ex. Where is Harper? Why do you have his phone?”

“Harper is getting another award. He brought me here to watch. Since he didn’t invite you, does this mean you two are just fuck buddies?”   

Diane hesitated. “Um… I didn’t know you two were back together. Harper didn’t say anything about you.”

“I’m not surprised. He didn’t say anything about you either. So what are we going to do about it?”

“What!?” Diane squeaked.

“I say we humiliate him. Give him a taste of his own medicine. Are you in?”

“I don’t know.” Diane sighed. “Maybe.”

“Meet me for coffee at Bean Works at nine in the morning. Oh and stop sleeping with that idiot he isn’t worth your time.”

“I think you may be right. See you in the morning Dana.”

Dana disconnected the call and went back to the banquet hall. She sat down at the table and smiled sweetly at Harper, who was still talking at the podium, as she put the phone on the table.  

Contempt
It took all that Dana could do not to show her contempt for harper. How dare he do this to her again? Did he not think about her feelings? Dana knew the answer to that. Harper only cared about himself.

Dana knew she deserved better than this vile vain liar of a man. She deserved someone who didn’t bring up feelings of contempt. Harper was about as contemptible as they came. She deserved someone who respected her and her feelings. It was only now that she realized she deserved better than this. It would have saved her some time if she had realized it sooner.  

It took everything she had to smile through dinner and then the ride to her condo. It was starting to give her a headache.

“Wasn’t that a great evening? I always love to go to those things. The award will look nice on the shelf with my other ones.” Harper said. He was pleased with himself and that just made things even more horrible.

“I’m sure it will. The food sucked as always. I think the drinks were watered down too.” Dana said as she looked out the window of the car. The last thing she needed was an argument in a car,

“Yes but it’s still nice to dress up and see people you know.” Harper said. He turned into the parking lot of her building and stopped the car. “Here we are! Shall I walk you up?”

“No. I’m tired and I think I’m getting a headache.” Dana said.

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” Harper said. He leaned over to kiss her and she backed away. He just shrugged and didn’t say anything.

Dana quickly got out of the car without speaking and hurried into the building. At least he didn’t insist on coming up for a nightcap, which was his code for sex.