My Sweetest Escape (16 page)

“What do they look like again?” Hunter

said, patting his hands on the floor.

“They’re little gold studs. Remember,

Taylor gave them to me?” Darah said,

closing one eye and putting the side of her

face on the floor.

“Right,” Hunter said.

“Found it!” Mase held his hand out to

Darah, and she gave him a kiss.

“Thanks, baby.” She stood up and

brushed off the front of her black dress and

put the earring in her ear.

Both Hunter and Mase had nice dress

shirts on and nice pants with dress shoes.

“Where have you been?” Renee said,

slipping her heel into her shoe and walking

down the steps at the same time.

Paul was just behind her, making sure

she didn’t take a dive down the stairs. She

had one of her best dresses on; green with

swirls of black on the hem. Paul was also

wearing a green shirt. Oh, no. They’d

become one of “those” couples.

“You’re not wearing that,” she said,

pointing to my torn jeans and gray thermal

shirt.

“I’m sorry. I completely forgot. I’ll go

change.” Shit, what was I going to wear?

Everything nice was packed away. “I don’t

have anything,” I said, biting my lip.

“Are you serious? You used to wear

dresses and skirts more than pants.” She

put her hands on her hips.

I shrugged. “I don’t have any.”

“Okay, let me think.” She put her fingers

to her temples.

“I think I have something that you can

wear. Come on.”

She lunged out, grabbed my arm and

dragged me upstairs.

I bumped into Taylor on her way down

from the third floor. She had a baby-blue

dress that looked like it could have

belonged to Audrey Hepburn and her hair

was loose around her face.

“Hey, Jos!”

“Wardrobe crisis,” Renee said before

yanking me into her room and throwing her

closet doors open. Taylor followed, and

Darah was right behind her.

A flurry of activity followed, where I

wasn’t allowed to talk or say anything.

Much like a mannequin.

They held things up to me and messed

with my hair.

Darah had the best hair skills, so she

braided it, starting above my ear on one

side of my head and going to the other,

making a sort of crown. Back in my previous

life, I’d been a big fan of buns, and had

slicked my hair back so people could see

that I was put together and meant business.

Darah let my hair wisp out around my face

and pulled a few strands loose.

“There,” she said, putting a few bobby

pins in place.

Renee and Taylor were tossing dresses

on the floor and finally settled on a sparkly

gold party dress with a flared skirt.

“I’m not wearing that,” I said as they

started undressing me. “Jesus, can I have

some privacy?” I ducked into the closet and

pulled the door semishut. I didn’t care

about Renee seeing me mostly nude, but it

felt weird having the other girls there.

The dress had enough going on the top

so it covered my bra, which was good. I

adjusted it a little and tried to zip it up in

the back, but my arms didn’t move that

way.

“Um, can somebody give me a hand?”

Renee hauled me out of the closet and

zipped the dress up.

“Perfect!” she said, hooking the clasp at

the top of the dress so the zipper wouldn’t

come down and cause a wardrobe

malfunction. That would be just fantastic.

She spun me around and the other two

shoved earrings in my ears and started

applying stuff to my face.

“I am not a Barbie,” I said as Taylor

swiped something on my eyelids. I was too

busy concentrating on not getting poked in

the eye to see what color it was.

“You are right now, my dear,” Taylor

said, smudging some of the color. Renee

was busy looking through her makeup to

find a color that would work on me and

found some pink lip gloss.

“Yes. Here we go.” She put it on my lips

as Taylor tried not to jab my eye out with

mascara.

“Isn’t this unsanitary?” I said. “Shouldn’t

you be disinfecting that before you stick it

near my eye?” Renee was a big proponent

of hand sanitizer and disinfecting things and

coughing in your elbow.

“Are you saying that you don’t want to

share my germs? I mean, you are my sister.

Are you saying you’re too good for my

germs?” She pretend-glared at me.

“Fine, fine. Am I done yet?” I really

wanted to see what they’d done to me. I

hoped it wasn’t like when one of my little

sisters decided to play dress up and used

my face to practice their makeup skills on.

“Just about,” Taylor said, spritzing me

with some of Renee’s perfume. Was that a

subtle way of telling me that I smelled bad?

“Done,” Renee said, straightening one of

the straps of the dress.

“Uh, shoes?” I was still barefoot.

Through some miracle of genetics, Renee

and I had identical-sized feet, so she shoved

some black ballet flats on my feet. I was out

of practice when it came to wearing heels.

I’d probably fall on my face if I tried.

“Okay, now you’re done,” Renee said.

I turned and looked at myself in Renee’s

full-length mirror. I looked like before me,

only not. I never would have worn this

dress, or done my hair this way, or put that

much eye shadow on. Taylor had given me

a sultry look that I was pretty sure I could

never pull off, but it made me look older

and mysterious. That illusion would be

shattered the second I opened my mouth.

“What are you doing up there?” Mase

yelled up the stairs.

“Making my sister sexy,” Renee yelled

back. I gave her a look. “Oh, come on. I

couldn’t let you go to a party in your frumpy

wear. We should definitely go shopping.” I

hated shopping. I’d always pretended to

like it back when it had been a social

obligation. I was actually thrilled that I

didn’t have to do it anymore.

“Yeah, maybe.” I probably wouldn’t

have a choice. She’d force me to do it as

some sort of sister bonding and attempt to

get me back to the way I was. It would take

a lot more than putting on my old clothes.

Or new clothes that would have worked on

the old me.

“Can we go now?” I said, uncomfortable

with attention already.

“Let’s go, bitches,” Renee said,

whooping. “We have some shit to

celebrate!”

Renee, Paul and I drove to campus to

pick up Hannah. I was so glad she’d agreed

to go, because I figured a lot of the people

there would be upperclassmen that I didn’t

know.

“Damn, you clean up good, girl,”

Hannah said as she swept into the car,

wearing a black shift dress. It was the first

time I’d seen her arms bare, and I saw that

the burn traveled down her neck and over

her arm, as well.

“It’ll be too dark, and most people will

be too drunk to notice,” she said, turning

her arm back and forth as if she was looking

at it for the first time. “Plus, I love this dress

and I’m not going to let anything stop me

from wearing it.”

She was awesome.

The party was at a house just outside of

campus that several of the Steiners rented

together. There were already quite a few

cars there when Renee pulled up.

“Okay, here’s how this is going to go. If I

see a drink in your hand, it better be soda. If

I see you talking with any weird guys,

someone will step in. You have a lot of eyes

on you and this night is about Taylor and

Hunter, okay? No shenanigans.”

“Yes, yes. I got it.” I was kind of offended

that she’d think that I would try to ruin their

special night.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep her out of

trouble,” Hannah said.

“I’ve got my eye on you, young lady.”

We were the same freaking age.

Renee looked at Hannah and then back

at me. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”

The house was already full of people,

none of whom I knew, which made me

beyond grateful that I at least had Hannah.

Hunter and Taylor were being

bombarded with hugs and congratulations

and bits of semisober unsolicited advice.

Renee and Paul went to join them in the

living room along with Megan and Jake as a

few of the Steiners serenaded the rest of

the room with dirty versions of popular

songs.

“Man, I wish I could drink without

pissing your sister off. She scares the crap

out of me, by the way,” Hannah said.

“Yeah, she has that effect on people.” I

scanned the room, looking for anyone that I

might know.

“You look nice.” As per usual, Dusty

Sharp had sneaked up behind me. I spun

slowly, preparing myself for his snarky

comments at the change in my attire. What

I wasn’t prepared for was to make him

momentarily speechless. His eyes widened

and scanned me up and down. Twice. He

swallowed and made a kind of stuttering

noise. Well, that was a first.

“Keep your eyeballs in your head, dude,”

Hannah said, stepping in front of me.

“And you look ravishing as well, Hannah

Gillespie.” He waved his arm to indicate her

dress.

“Nice recovery,” she said, patting his

chest. Dusty didn’t look too bad himself. His

pants almost fit him and he had a button-up

on that was definitely a little tight in the

chest region. Not that I paid any attention

to it. Or the fact that the shirt clung to his

arms, as well. They were…pleasant arms.

Very nicely shaped and muscled. The

kind of arms that you’d feel safe in, if you

tripped. You knew they’d catch you… .

“You okay there, Red?” Dusty peered at

me as if I’d been staring at him. Shit. I

probably had been. No, I definitely had

been. “How about I get you ladies

something to drink. Nonalcoholic, I

promise.”

Dusty saw my hesitation. I didn’t accept

drinks from anyone unless I’d poured or

opened them myself.

“Trust me, Red. I’ll bring you unopened

cans. Tamper proof. Be right back.”

“Smart. I never trust anyone at a party.

Not that anyone would want to drug me,”

Hannah said. She sounded disappointed,

which was a little crazy.

Dusty came back a few minutes later as

Hannah and I were trying to figure out a

good place to park ourselves.

“A can for you and a can for you and a

can for me.” He handed out sweating cans

of Coke. “They didn’t have Dr Pepper,

sorry.” How did he know I liked Dr Pepper?

“I saw you drink it at the house, and at the

Sea Dog.” The question was, why did he

remember that?

“Now how do I know that you didn’t

shake this?” I said, pausing before I popped

the top.

“Because I wouldn’t dare do anything to

that stunning dress. And I know how you

redheads are when you get angry.”

I wanted to shake the can and open it in

his face.

“That is a common misconception,” I

said through clenched teeth. If I’d heard

one redhead joke, I’d heard them all, but

everyone seemed to live under the delusion

that I’d never heard them before.

“Oh, really? Because I can picture you

getting all…fiery.”

He stepped closer and I caught a whiff of

his cologne. Thankfully, it wasn’t one of

those that guys seemed to think it was okay

to douse themselves in. It was nice. He also

smelled faintly of clean laundry.

Hannah popped her can and took a huge

swig.

“You don’t seem like a soda kind of

guy—what’s up with that?” she said,

pointing at the soda in his hand. He opened

it, being sure to point it away from me. How

considerate.

“Been there, done that. It wasn’t pretty,

that’s for sure.” He wouldn’t look at me

when he said it. “More fun, though.”

He gazed at the crowd, who was

definitely having a good time. Some sort of

drinking game was going on in the middle of

the room. It was too cramped to play beer

pong, but they had cooked up some

alternative.

Hannah was studying Dusty with her

head to the side. I caught her eye and she

shook her head. If she was trying to tell me

something, I wasn’t speaking her language. I

finally opened the can of soda and took a

sip.

The Steiners put together a little

performance, and everyone watched and

sang along. Hannah spotted a girl from one

of her classes, but didn’t seem to want to

go over and talk to her, so we stayed in a

corner, talking to Dusty. He left us to go and

sing, but always came back, even though

several of the guys tried to drag him away

or ply him with drinks.

For some reason, he turned them down

and talked with us instead. I couldn’t help