Jane clenched her teeth together. What girls actually had their own personal seamstress? Though Jane was really more of a jack-of-all-trades. And she was probably the worst wingman in history.
“You girls ready?” Essence asked.
“Jane! Hurry up! We don’t want to arrive too late. It’s rude, and he may not notice us.”
Jane barely managed to hold in her gasp as Esmeralda and Essence tumbled down the stairs and presented their dresses.
Esmeralda’s tight black dress had just enough fabric to cover her surgically enhanced boobs and barely covered her ass.
Essence’s was nearly the same style, except it was white.
One wore purple lipstick, the other had on gray; they were always on top of the newest trends even if the trends were stupid—and ugly.
At Fashion Week, they could get away with it.
In Phoenix they just looked like Bratz dolls.
“Yeah, I think”—Jane coughed into her hand—“he’ll notice.”
“Aw!” Esmeralda clapped her hands and flicked her dark hair over her shoulder. “That’s so nice of you to say.”
“Yes.” Essence twirled a few times to show off her dress to full effect. “How sweet of you, Jane.” With her eyebrows drawn in perfect arches, it was amazing she could even move them. “Jane, why aren’t you dressed?”
“I think I’m just going to stay in,” Jane answered, tugging at her dress self-consciously. It was the best one she could find at the last minute. She hadn’t even known about the party until an hour ago, and the best she’d been able to scrounge up was a dress she’d borrowed for prom four years ago from one of her sisters.
She’d tried her best to make the black cocktail dress appealing.
But you couldn’t fix plain.
And that’s what it was.
What Jane was.
Plain Jane.
Her sisters gave her the same empty-eyed stare. Arguing with them was completely useless. When it was two against one, she never won, not that it mattered in the long run. Her sisters typically got their way regardless of what Jane said. They were pushy—but they were family.
Swallowing back her insecurity, she nodded quickly. “I’ll just grab my purse, then.”
Her sisters whispered under their breaths, though Jane heard every mean word.
“Doesn’t she have any other dresses? Poor Jane.”
“Hey, I offered to help her shop and she said no.”
Jane snorted quietly. She’d said no because Essence’s shopping style was more like buy everything name brand and go into major credit card debt. At one point, Jane had had to use all of the money her parents had left them to pay off the bill.
“Poor Jane,” Esmeralda said again.
She hated pity.
Especially theirs.
She would move out of the house if she thought her sisters wouldn’t starve without her. Well, that and the fact that they were family and family stuck together. Even if family exhausted you, stressed you out, and made you want to scream at least ninety percent of the time.
“Let’s go!” Esmeralda clapped her hands loudly and they were off…headed to a party that Jane didn’t even care about.