Lisel grimaced at her face in the mirror. She shouldn’t have let her roommates do her hair and makeup. They had insisted that she looked like perfection.
Her second mistake had been letting them pick what she wore out tonight. And the third mistake was that she had let them convince her to walk out to the car having not seen any of her new look all together.
She knew that the dress she was wearing was way too tight but at least she could feel the fabric approaching her knees. Yet that had been her only consolation. Now, looking into that mirror in the too bright bathroom she didn’t want to stay for another second.
Having just spent half the night either crammed 3 people deep in a booth or out dancing with everyone on the dance floor there hadn’t been a spare moment to sneak away until now. And maybe the saying was right. Ignorance could be bliss.
Thinking back over how her night had been going, a lot more of the looks and comments she’d received made sense. Her roommate had caked on the makeup. She didn’t even look like herself. Instead, she looked like a walking makeup ad, complete with over-stylized hair and a lacy red dress.
The overall look was making her stagger.
It’s not like she looked depraved or wanton. It wasn’t her at all. None of it was. Everyone she had met and might have been interested in her would only want and see this stranger in the mirror.
“Lisel? Where are you?” She heard Angie calling. Stepping away from the mirror Lisel tried to hide the look of horror she had seen in her reflection.
“Coming.” She called. Squaring her shoulders, she opened the door and plastered on a fake grin. “I haven’t been gone long.”
“No, but Lance is asking where you are. I figured that I wouldn’t make him wait any longer than he has too. A good looking guy like that shouldn’t have to wait for anyone or anything.”
I had to bite back my snort. What did good looks have to do with waiting?
“If Lance can get distracted by another girl because I am not where he wanted to see me the second he wants to see me then I am not interested, ever.”
Angie gave a tittering giggle as if I’d said the most hilarious thing.
I couldn’t think of any way to respond to her giggle, so I didn’t. We were both silent the rest of the way to the booth.
As we were passing the dance floor, Angie started to shimmy as she walked. I rolled my eyes and kept walking.
And there he was, in all of his glory, sprawled out on one side of the booth while flashing around his signature smirk. It seemed to be working well for him with all the other girls at the table batting their eyes and laughing at everything he said, especially with the girl practically climbing into his lap.
I made it all the way to the table before he noticed me. So he definitely wasn’t waiting or looking for me.
“Lovely Lisel.” He called out over the music. “Sit your pretty little self right here by me.” He patted the 2 inch edge of the bench he was on as if that was enough space for me to sit.
Ignoring him, I sat on the opposite side next to a guy who must have joined the table after I had left. Immediately Lance sat up straight and glared at the man sitting next to me. It caught the new guy’s attention and he glanced over at me.
Upon seeing me, the newcomer quickly turned so that his back wasn’t facing me and smiled. “Hello there. You come to see me?”
Lance stood and reached for me. I leaned away and out of his snatching hands, while smiling my best sultry look at the newcomer. “Oh yes. You see I was walking by and noticed that your back was so appealing I just had to sit down.”
He smiled even bigger. “Sweet.”
Lance made another swooping grab for me and I let myself be caught, if only to end the conversation with the apparently brainless newcomer who couldn’t catch sarcasm.
I shot a deadpan look around the table at all the people who weren’t doing anything and refocused back on the newcomer. “This is my table. I came here with them.”
Several of the other girls heard my monotone declaration and were laughing behind their hands. “Oh.” At least he had the decency to look embarrassed at his assumption. Lance, on the other hand, was still tugging fruitlessly at my arm as if he could convince me that he was the man of my dreams simply by yanking me out of my seat and into his arms. I folded mine.
My voice turned achingly sweet. “What’s wrong, Lance?”
“I told you to sit by me.”
Yanking out of his grip I glared at him as fiercely as possible. “I am not a trained monkey, Lance. And I am definitely not going to be ordered around by an immature, conceited boy I met less than an hour ago.”
Right before I dramatically stormed away someone else entirely interrupted me, sliding up next to me.
“Lisel! There you are.” Cue gorgeous man number three. Unfortunately, I didn’t know him either. But he still came right up to me with a huge grin on his face. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I only have about 5 more minutes before I have to leave and you promised me a dance.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to remember if I had met him.
He turned so that neither Lance or the rest of my table could see him wink at me. “You promised.”
The hesitation was slight as I reached to take his outstretched hand. With a crazy beaming smile I said, “Lead the way.”
In seconds, we were out of sight from my table of friends and in the middle of the dance floor. It was a slow song and he pulled me in close.
“I don’t remember promising you a dance.”
He chuckled low in his throat. “I know.”
“What?”
He shrugged and kept his arms loosely around me. “I heard the one guy say your name and after a few seconds I could tell you needed an out that would keep your lame girlfriends from running after you and dragging you back to the table.”
“Well then, I am glad I promised you this dance.”
“Me too.” His smile made his eyes twinkle as we continued to slowly twirl around the other couples. “I’m Brayden.”
