“He’s better off,” Alyssa said flatly. “You’re the mother he needs. Not her.”
“As much as I despise Kendall, I don’t want to take her place. I honestly wish she was in Mason’s life, but I know it’s better this way. She would never give him stability, and I know she’d just break his little heart.” Audra looked up and displayed a sarcastic smile. “Then I’d have to kill her.”
The girls laughed softly, and it broke the somber mood. Jessi assessed the two girls across from her – one her best friend, the other a close second. They couldn’t be more opposite from one another. Audra never failed to see the bright side of things and was a constant ray of positivity. Alyssa was snarky and sarcastic and had a dark, off-beat sense of humor. She loved them both so much.
The guys’ loud and boisterous shenanigans from the living area overpowered their conversation.
“Oh my God,” Alyssa complained. “I forgot what it was like when those four got together and were amped up about the tour. Welcome to three months of testosterone-filled hijinks. Just shoot me now and get it over with.”
The girls retreated to the back bedroom, where Jessi promptly dropped onto the bed and kicked her shoes off. She rubbed her foot and cast a sullen glance down at her spiked stilettos.
Alyssa picked them up from the floor. “How long are you going to fight it? You can’t shove your swollen feet into these awesome shoes anymore.”
Jessi’s aching feet had rebelled for the last two weeks, but she pushed through the pain. Her waistline outgrew her tight jeans and forbade her from wearing anything that exposed the skin on her midriff. She was holding out on giving up her stilettos, but it was time to admit defeat. She silently chuckled at the play on words.
She got up to put her heels away in the closet and retrieve her slippers, but Alyssa had discarded her signature thigh-high boots and wore Jessi’s stilettos as she posed in front of the mirror.
“Excuse me.” Jessi folded her arms across her chest and playfully smirked at her friend. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“We’re playing dress up.” Alyssa tossed her boots at Audra. “Put these on.”
The long, dominatrix-styled leather boots couldn’t be more opposite of Audra’s aesthetic. Audra wore designer clothes with a rock and roll edge, while Alyssa could swap outfits with Catwoman and no one would ever notice. To Jessi’s surprise, Audra slipped on the thigh-high boots and strutted around the room with her hands on her hips like she was headed down the runway.
That left Jessi with Audra’s Christian Louboutin studded heels to wear. Sweet. She forced her sore feet into the shoes but they hurt too much to stand. That sucked. “Now what the hell am I supposed to do, wear my slippers while you two get to prance around in designer shoes pretending to be fashion models?”
Alyssa pulled her long, dark hair back out of the way and ruffled through one of the duffle bags in the room. She held up Tommy’s Doc Martens with a satisfied grin. “You can play the cool hipster chick.”
“Awesome.” Jessi’s feet floated inside the oversized boots. The minimal heel left her several inches shorter than she was used to, but her feet were in heaven. She stomped around the room and picked up Tommy’s Fender from its stand in the corner. She slung the strap over her shoulder and swung around to face Alyssa and Audra like they were members of the audience. Excited about the tour and giddy from girl-time, she pretended she was Tommy. Her left hand ran up and down the neck of the guitar simulating chords, and her right hand skipped over the strings. She steadied her feet on the floor of the bus and rocked her head back and forth hard enough so that her shoulder-length hair flew in front of her face, à la Tommy Blade. She was full of adrenaline. No wonder Tommy couldn’t sit still on stage. The power of the guitar was uplifting.
Rolling with laughter and on the verge of losing her balance from shaking her head like a rock star, she leaned her back against the wall to steady herself and catch her breath, but she couldn’t stop laughing. When she finally calmed down, all four guys were standing just inside the doorway staring at her like she had lost her mind.
“What the fuck are you doing, you crazy girl?” Tommy took his Fender from her shoulder. “That’s my guitar.” His eyes dropped to her feet. “And my boots. Were you pretending to be me?”
Damien snorted with laughter. “Dude, your ol’ lady just nailed you.”
Jessi’s cheeks flushed red hot. They were probably as pink as her hair. An embarrassed laugh slipped from her mouth. “I was just messing around. We all were.” She motioned to the other girls in the room.