“Oh,” Mom says, standing up. She rummages around in her purse. “Jennifer called and told Dad about the dance this Friday.” She pulls out a wad of cash. “Dad left this for you. Jennifer explained how extremely important it is for you to have the ultimately perfect, sexy dress for homecoming. Her words not mine.”
I grab the money. “Thanks Mom.”
“Thank your Dad.”
Maybe later. “Talk to you later.”
Chapter Six
“Come on, try the one with the sides out,” Jennifer says, pushing me into the dressing room.
I groan. She is really bossy. “I’ll look like a baby prostitute,” I whine.
“You’ll look hot. Believe me I know fashion.” She twirls around showing off her kitten sweater. “You may not be able to tell because my mother still dresses me, but one day…” she says.
I laugh and lock the dressing room door. I slip into the dress, zipping myself up. “So, what are you wearing?” I ask through the door.
“Oh, I’m not going,” Jennifer says.
What? “What? You’re making me go and you’re not even going? Why aren’t you going?” I ask, stepping out of the dressing room. Jennifer gasps.
“First off, my mother would have a stroke. Secondly, no one asked me. Thirdly, if they did my mother would make me say no.” She puts her hand on her hip. “You know this, now spin.” I spin a circle. “Until then, I will live my dreams through you, my young child.” Jennifer is smiling. “You look amazing. Stunning.”
“I feel like a prostitute.” This is a little bit of a lie. The dress fits to me perfectly. It’s to the knee, well fitted and a hole cut out of each side. I swirl to each side, looking at myself.
“You look hot. Stop being so damn dramatic. Liam is going to love you in this.”
There that name is again…Liam. He has barely talked to me since our ‘moment’ at the beach. He walks beside me, talks to me, picks me up, but something isn’t right. He is being quiet. Too quiet. It makes me want to look as hot as I can. Maybe that will get him talking?
“Yeah, he will, won’t he?” I ask.
She nods, smiling like a lunatic. “So, I talked to him and told him to get a wrist corsage with black ribbon,” she says.
“I haven’t even bought the dress yet, Jennifer,” I say, admiring the way it barely hits my knee.
“Yes, but I hid this dress in the back just for you. I knew you’d get it.” Jen smiles.
I laugh. “That’s why you’re my best friend.”
“Honey, I got this. This Asian knows what she is doing.”
After I pay, we go to the food court. We sit down with our Chick Fillet at a table in the center. I glance around and make sure there aren’t any angry gay people. I don’t have anything against gay people but I sure do love me some chicken. “So,” Jennifer says.
“So,” I say, tearing my chicken strip apart to cool.
“Have you guys done it yet?”
“What?” I bark out. “Who?”
Jen rolls her eyes. “You and Taylor Lautner? Liam, duh!”
“No! Of course not. We’ve only been dating a freaking week.” We’re just pretending! You can’t pretend to do that, it’s either do it or don’t!
She holds her hands up in surrender. “Okay. Okay. I’m just curious. Damn. Can’t blame a girl for fantasying over him. He’s hot. Anybody with eyes can see that.”
Something tingles in my belly. You can’t be jealous of your pretend boyfriend, Katy. “Yeah, he is,” I snap.
“Do you plan on doing it?” she asks, over her chicken strip.
“I don’t know, we haven’t even been going out a week, like I said. That’s a big step for anybody. It took me and Logan seven months before we done it.”
“I hear the second person is easier.”
I roll my eyes. “Jennifer, you’ve never done it, you don’t know.”
“You don’t know if I have, there was a rumor I gave it up at Asian camp,” Jen says.
“You started that rumor.”
She smiles. “It was still a rumor.”
I cock an eyebrow. “New subject, this is making me nervous.”
“What’s making you nervous,” I hear from beside me. Liam is standing above me, his lip curled up into a smile.
“Nothing--,”
“Doing it,” Jennifer blurts out. “You know, shaking the chandelier, getting ya groove on, making babies.”
“I think he got it the first time,” I say.
Liam laughs and sits down beside me. He grabs one of my fries. “Yeah, I knew what you meant. What about it?”