"Girl, just put the bikini on." Crystal rolled her eyes. "It'll be fine. And make sure to take your glasses off."
"Oh?" I bit my lower lip. "I left my contacts at home."
"Girl, I don't care if you left them in an elephants' butt." Crystal rolled her eyes. "You ain't going out there with no librarian glasses."
"Not unless that was part of your dance." Starr added. "These men, they love them a dowdy librarian turned sexpot."
"I won't be able to see much."
"You don't need to see nothing." Crystal responded. "Just hurry up and put the bikini on. We gotta go out in a bit. If we're late, the guys will be mad."
"Okay." I sighed and looked around. "Is there a changing room for me to put this on?" My voice drifted off as they both looked at me as if I were crazy. "Or I can just change here." I sighed and undid my jeans. Hailey really owed me. This was going to be so awkward. I didn't care if I was popping out of a cake, a bunch of random guys were going to see me in a string bikini that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. I cringed as I pulled the top on. It was so small, that I knew my boobs would pop out with one wrong move. The only saving grace was that my ni**les were covered. I pulled the bottoms on and frowned as I realized that my ass was hanging out completely in the thong bottom. I would never wear a bathing suit like this normally. And when I say never, I mean not even if someone gave me $100. I laughed to myself as I realized I was doing it for five grand though. Oh the humiliation. I looked down at my body and ran my hands over my stomach. No one could ever mistake me for a Victoria's Secret model. And I had a feeling I wasn't going to be getting any information from any of the bankers at the party. It wasn't even realistic for me to think that I could go around dancing and asking if anyone knew anything about insider trading on Wall Street.
"Don't worry." Starr looked at me with a smile. "These guys don't want stick and bones. They like women with a bit of meat on them."
///
"Uh, thanks." I smiled back at her, not sure if that was a compliment or not. I didn't want to be referred to as someone with a bit of meat on her. I wanted to be thin and beautiful with a flat, taut stomach and defined abs wouldn't hurt either. Though, I knew that wasn't something to be worried about right now, as I couldn't turn back time.
"Hey, do you guys have any bronzer?" I asked quickly thinking about a magazine article that I'd read that said you could add some definition to your body using makeup.
"Yeah, here." Crystal handed it to me. "You're looking a bit pale."
"It's for my stomach, not my face." I responded, my face burning.
"Oh, oops." She made a face at Starr and they both laughed.
"It's fine." I sighed. "I haven't been able to tan much recently."
"It's fine, many guys like the pale look." Crystal made a face, her dark olive skin glowing as she looked me up and down. "Peaches and cream they call it. You can call yourself Peaches tonight."
"Sorry what?" I frowned.
"Your. Name. Tonight. Will. Be. Peaches." Crystal said slowly. "If any of the guys ask you."
"Oh okay." I shrugged and applied the bronzer to my stomach, hoping to give it definition.
"Unless you'd rather be called something else?"
"Like what?"
"What about tight pus-" She began and Starr giggled and touched her shoulder.
"Be nice, Crystal. We still need Peaches to jump out of the cake. That was a requirement for the night."
"Fine." Crystal rolled her eyes. "You ready?"
"I guess so." I took my glasses off and put them in my handbag. "What do I do?"
"Wait here. We'll get the cake. Just sit in it and jump out when you hear a loud bang."
"Okay," I nodded. "That sounds simple enough."
***
I sat in the cake listening to the music booming and the sounds of a lot of men talking. I was starting to feel hot and I could feel the sweat running down my body. I tried to shift, but there was no where to move. And then I heard a loud bang. "Is this the signal?" I muttered to myself as I sat there. I heard another bang and then popped up out of the cake. "TA DA." I screamed as I jumped up, the cake flying everywhere. My eyes were fuzzy as I looked into the room, but I could tell that everyone was staring at me.
"You were supposed to wait for the loud bangs." Crystal screamed at me as I stepped out of the cake awkwardly.
"I heard the bangs." I said feebly as I listened to the bass of a rap song playing in the background. Was that the bangs I'd been hearing? I made a face and then tripped forward as I clambered out of the cake. I felt two hands grabbing hold of my arms as I tripped and I looked up and saw a masculine face looking down at me. "Sorry." I mumbled and looked away. I couldn't really make out what he looked like.