Believing Lies (21 page)

“Nobody’s home. Go away,” she grumbled.

“Courtney . . .” I tried to shake her awake again, but she knocked my hand away and rolled over.

“If you don’t wake up and get ready, you’re going to have to go out with pool hair because I’m not waiting for you.” I would totally wait for her, but I liked to act as if I wouldn’t.

“Alright, I’ll get up when you get out of the shower,” she conceded reluctantly.

“Deal.”

I went to Sophie’s room and woke her up before going to take my shower. I washed the chlorine out of my hair, soaped up with my favorite apple scented body wash, and shaved in record time. I was anxious to get our night started, and the sooner I got out of the bathroom, the sooner Courtney could get in the shower.

Thankfully, Courtney got up without complaint the second time. Once I heard Courtney turn on the shower, I went into Sophie’s bathroom.

“I just need to shave my legs, and then I’m done,” Sophie answered from behind the shower curtain before I could even ask her how much longer she’d be.

“Sometimes I swear you’re a mind reader.”

“I am,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Okay, Madam Sophie,” I said playfully. “What am I going to say next?”

She popped her head out the side of the curtain, looked at me, and then took a quick scan of the bathroom. “You’re going to bitch about Cassie coming with.”

My eyes widened. “How did you know that?”

She closed the curtain once more, and answered, “Simple. You shut the door behind you. Either you were concerned about me losing the steam and getting cold or you didn’t want Courtney to hear what you had to say.”

“Huh. That’s a little freaky, but impressive.” I paused. “Anyway, if I drink too much tonight, will you promise to make sure I don’t say anything to Cassie that would upset Courtney? I’m afraid that alcohol will lower my ability to filter what comes out of my mouth.”

“I’ll watch your back if you watch mine. I think there’s more of a chance of me calling her something nasty.”

“Agreed. Code word?”

“For sure. What will we use this time?”

“You can pick.”

“Hmmm . . . How about ‘sledgehammer.’ As in, ‘I want to beat her with a sledgehammer.’”

“Too obvious. There aren’t many ways to throw ‘sledgehammer’ into a sentence without either of them catching on. Try again.”

She hesitated for several seconds. “How about ‘foot?’ As in, ‘I want to shove my foot up her ass.’”

I couldn’t help the overly girly giggle the image coaxed from my mouth. “Better, but still not it.” She shut off the shower, and I handed her a towel through the side of the curtain. “Thanks. Alright, give me a minute then.” She stepped onto the bathroom rug and wrapped her hair in a second towel. “Never mind, I got it. ‘Barstool.’ As in, ‘I want to beat her with my barstool before shoving it up her ass.’ It’ll be super easy to use without being obvious.”

“Perfect! Every time she really pisses us off, we’ll use it in a sentence.” I gave her what I hoped looked like a stern, I-mean-business look. “Try not to take too long getting ready. Remember, we still need to go eat too.”

“I know. I promise I won’t be more than an hour.”

“I kind of believe you. I’m going to go raid my closet for something to wear,” I said, ready to leave the hot, steamy bathroom.

“Your dress is on my bed.”

“What dress?”

She gave me a knowing smile. “The sexy new one I bought for you when you were at your aunt’s.”

“Aww, Soph,” I gushed. “You didn’t have to do that. Thank you.”

As promised, I found my new dress on her bed. It was short, but, other than that, I didn’t see why she called it sexy. I was actually a little disappointed. The dress was a black mini made of some sort of spandex/cotton mix material. It was fitted around the butt and baggier toward the top. The sleeves were three quarters length. I could tell it would lay low on the shoulders, but the neckline was fairly straight across, showing no cleavage.
Oh well, at least my butt and legs will look good in it
.

I tossed it over my arm and took it to my room. Underwear would be tricky with the snugness of the lower half, so I ended up having to pull out a G-string. It wasn’t my preferred choice, but I wasn’t going to go commando. The shoulders of the dress would show bra straps, so I also pulled out my strapless black bra. I put the dress and undergarments on my bed and went to the bathroom to dry my hair and do my makeup.

Courtney was brushing her hair when I entered. She scooted down, so we would both have enough room in front of the large mirror.

“What are we wearing tonight?” she asked.

“Sophie bought me a little black dress. It’s on my bed.” I tried to sound more excited about the dress than I actually was.

“That was nice of her.”

I nodded. After all, it really was nice of her. We dried our hair, and I got to work with the curling iron, while she got to work with the straightener. We both went for smoky eyes and clear lip gloss.

Satisfied with our appearances, we went to my room. Courtney gave a glance toward my dress, and I could tell she didn’t find it to be anything special either. She searched my closet for something to wear and ended up borrowing my gray, strapless, fitted tube dress. Her black hair stood out beautifully against the gray.

I put on my undergarments, and Courtney made a joke about the butt-floss, which I ignored. When I pulled the dress over my head, I instantly realized why Sophie had called it sexy—the dress was backless. Looking in the full length mirror, I couldn’t believe this was the same dress. The front looked much better once it was on, and it fit perfectly. I turned around and looked over my shoulder. Other than my bra, my back was bare all the way down to just above my panties. For once, I was happy that I had a small chest because the bra had to go. It was hands down the sexiest dress I’d ever worn.

“Wow! You didn’t tell me the back was missing,” Courtney exclaimed, coming up behind me.

“I just noticed that myself. Do you like it?

“I love it!”

I decided that the dress made enough of a statement that I didn’t need jewelry. I put on a pair of black heels and took one last look in the mirror. I didn’t consider myself a conceited person, but even I knew I looked damn hot tonight. I secretly wished that Adam would see me in the dress for multiple reasons, which ranged from childish and spiteful, to very adult and naughty.

Ready to go, Courtney and I went to Sophie’s room to check on her status. She was sitting at her vanity, finishing her makeup. Surprisingly, she was already dressed, and her hair was done in a high, wavy ponytail. She was wearing one of my favorite dresses on her. It was a short, brown, draped dress, which hung from a copper-colored wire collar. On the floor next to her were dark brown stilettos.

We lounged on Sophie’s bed while we waited for her to finish. I told her how much I adored my new dress, and then we went over our plans for tonight. Cassie was meeting us at the restaurant, so Courtney called and let her know we were leaving in ten minutes. We were going to drive downtown in Sophie’s jeep and then leave it in the ramp overnight, going back for it tomorrow. So that none of us had to forgo drinking, Cassie’s brother agreed to pick us up at bar time.

We left the apartment and got into the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, my mind began to wander. I was with my two girls, and I was going to live it up tonight no matter what. Even my recent drama wasn’t going to affect me. Heck, I went all day without thinking about Adam, except for that one slipup when I was looking at my dress in the mirror.
Only one time is a really good sign
. . .
Wait
. It was two times since I was thinking about how I wasn’t thinking about him right now.
Whatever. Two times is also a really good sign
.

Chapter Seventeen

“So, then I was, like, totally flattered and all, but, I mean, really?” Cassie rolled her eyes dramatically before continuing on with what I hoped was the conclusion of her story. “Who falls in love with someone over a summer and actually expects it to last? It’s called a summer fling for a reason. Duh! Then I was, like, ‘Listen, don’t confuse out-of-this-universe sex for love, and maybe we can hookup again when I come home for Thanksgiving.’ He told me it was all or nothing, so I chose nothing.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Anyway, that’s my summer in a nutshell.”
Nutshell, my ass! You’ve been talking for twenty minutes straight
.

Cassie had gotten to the restaurant shortly after we arrived and had screeched in excitement when she spotted us. The sound was so high pitched that I was sure every dog in a three-block radius winced in pain.

Her normally bleach-blond hair now had lowlights, which was a vast improvement from the last time I saw her. What hadn’t changed was the amount of caked-on makeup she wore. Her huge boobs were pretty much popping out of her bustier style emerald-green shirt, which she paired with tight, black leather pants. Although I wouldn’t be caught dead in her outfit, I was admittedly jealous of her emerald-green high heels.

Courtney seemed happy to have Cassie around, so that made me happy too, albeit somewhat annoyed. Sophie, however, downed two margaritas during dinner, which either meant Cassie was grating on her nerves more than mine, or she was simply getting started on her night early. The rest of us drank soda with dinner, not wanting to get too drunk too fast. It was around ten o’clock when we left the restaurant and walked to our first bar of the night, The Green Light.

The bar was well known for their superb martinis, so we all took that route. There wasn’t a dance floor, so we got our drinks, found a table to sit at, and talked. My appletini was out of this world, but because martinis always went straight to my head, I ordered an amaretto sour once I finished. On the flipside, The Green Light was also known for serving weak mixed drinks, and mine was super weak. It was also filled to the brim with ice, and soon became a watered down mess.
Yuck
. After a few sips, I pushed it aside.

Courtney finally filled us in on her summer, explaining how she spent most of it dodging her ex-boyfriend from high school. It was hysterical to hear the lengths he went through trying to see her, including my favorite, which was tossing rocks at her window and breaking it in the process. Her dad had heard the shatter and ran outside wearing only his boxers and waiving around a shotgun. Courtney said she’d finally called his current girlfriend and told her to keep her boyfriend in check.”

“He’s a loser, like, especially if he already has a girlfriend. I’m glad you told her. Maybe she’ll dump him now too,” Cassie said, rolling her eyes for the hundredth time tonight. “I mean, it’s like . . . um, I don’t know. Guys can just be so stupid.” Even though her delivery wasn’t the most eloquent, she did have a valid point.

“My guy isn’t stupid,” Sophie said with a slight slur. “Mine’s frickin’ amazeballs.” She double fist pumped, which was never a good sign. She’d already finished two martinis, on top of her two margaritas with dinner and was officially buzzed. Since it was only eleven o’clock, I felt that it was time to slow her down. “Let’s go dance,” Sophie suddenly said very loudly.
Not a bad idea. At least she won’t drink while she dances
.

“How about we blow this joint and go across the street to Shakers?” I suggested.

Cassie squealed in delight and rapidly clapped her hands in front of her chest. “I’m, like, totally down for dancing.”

“Okay, let’s get out of here. I’m sick of sitting on this
barstool
!” Sophie practically shouted. She hated it when girls did the tiny clap thing. Combine that with the squeal, and no wonder she used the code word.

I choked back a laugh. “Yep, my butt’s getting numb sitting on this
barstool
. Let’s go.”

Shakers was a vast improvement. The four of us danced together, except for the few times Cassie allowed some random guy to grind up on her. It was a bit disgusting to see her let a complete stranger grope her—but to each her own, I guess.

Courtney was hilarious, breaking out dance moves like The Robot, The Sprinkler, and The Shopping Cart. When she broke out The Fishing Pole move, and Sophie played the part of the fish, I almost busted a gut. I loved how we were just there to have fun, regardless of what others might think of us.

Needing a break, we made it to the bar to order our first drinks since arriving. Cassie said she would buy the round, adding some brownie points in my book. While waiting for a bartender to come our way, her phone went off, buzzing and ringing. Cassie put one finger in her ear and put the phone to the other.

“Hi . . . Talk louder . . . Louder! . . . What?” She was basically screaming into her phone. “Are you, like, kidding me? . . . You’re such an asshole, Derek! . . . I can’t hear you again . . . I guess I’ll have to figure it out . . . I said, ‘I guess I’ll have to figure it out!!’ . . . Bye.” She disconnected the call with a huff and looked as if she was ready to kill. We stared at her, waiting for an explanation. She didn’t take long in providing one. “That was my dumbass brother. He went to a house party and got, like, totally bombed. He promised me he wouldn’t be drinking tonight. I’m so totally mad! Now we, like, don’t have a ride.” She rolled her eyes again.

This sucked, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal. “Don’t worry about it,” I assured her. “We can still have a great time tonight and just call a cab when we’re done. No biggie. You can sleep on our couch, or we can have the cab drop you off first.”

Cassie’s eyes glassed over with barely contained tears. Courtney reassured her that I was right, and Cassie visibly calmed down. I didn’t see why she got so worked up in the first place. Then again, sometimes emotions ran wild when drinking was involved.

Sophie had sobered up quite a bit, and she appeared to be deep in thought. “I may have a better solution. Cabs can take forever around bar time. How about we have Conner drive us.”

“Do you think he’s at home on a Friday night?” Courtney asked.

“He’s actually at work right now. They were short an evening bartender, so they asked him to fill in. He wants me to come to his place after we are done since he’s only working until one o’clock, instead of bar time. I told him I couldn’t, but now I kind of want to.” She bit her lip and hesitated. “Should I call him?”