Everything I Shouldn't / Everything I Need (19 page)

Once we both have arms full of clothes we head back to the fitting rooms. My idea of what a costume should be and Livvie's are completely different things. I like costumes that are fun while for Livvie, the sexier the better. I found a cute pink and black polka dot 50's dress that came with a headband, but that was quickly vetoed. The dress came down to my knees, so it was an immediate "no". She is bound and determined that this year Jeremy
will
notice me so she picked out two very short dresses. The first was a pink and white halter-top dress with a petticoat underneath and a skirt covered in cupcakes. The second was a play on Sleeping Beauty's outfit. Instead of a long skirt though, it had a faux corset top and a tutu.

For herself, Livvie had picked out two costumes that were the color of the streaks in her own hair that we'd just had touched up. I went with pink streaks each time since it's my favorite color, but Livvie never did the same one. So far, she'd done blue, green, and now purple. Some of hers were a pale lilac and some were a deep purple that were hardly discernible with her almost black dyed hair. I don't know why she got rid of her natural chestnut brown, but she'd been trying to get me to go from my light blonde to black too. Sooo not going to happen! She always changed her contacts to match her hair too, so she's rocking violet eyes instead of her normal pale blue color. One of her costumes was a short lilac and black dress with fairy wings and garters to hold up stockings while the other was a pale purple corset and tutu with a very phallic looking unicorn "horn". It was just the type of thing Livvie would go for.

We found two dressing rooms across from each other and right next to the three-way mirror to try our things on. I had just taken my pink t-shirt and jeans off when Livvie's voice came from across the room, "Tyler will be here in a few minutes to help us choose which costume to wear so don't come out naked!"

Like I would do that anyway! "Uh, okay? How did he know where we are?" Livvie and Tyler have been really close since our senior year, but their relationship is really weird. They don't act like friends and Tyler only hangs out with us when Emmett isn't around.

"I texted him silly! I need help picking which one of these to get. That's okay with you right?" She wouldn't have told him to stay away even if I said it would bother me so there was no point in telling her that I don't want him to see me half naked.

I try the first costume on, the cupcake dress, before walking out to look in the mirror. Livvie comes out a few seconds later in the fairy costume and together we turn left and right trying to see every angle of each costume. "I like that one SB! Jeremy will want to eat you up," she says with a wink.

My face immediately turns pink when Tyler's voice comes from behind us. "Love, everyone will want to eat both of you in those." Tyler leers at both of us in the mirror as he puts an arm around each of us. "Let's see the next!"

Livvie turns to kiss his cheek before bouncing back into the dressing room, "Wait until you see the next one, Ty. You're going to
love
it!"

"Ahh, Livvie girl, are you sure you don't need any help?" Tyler exaggerates his British accent when he says this and Livvie giggles before telling him she thinks she has it.

When I try the next outfit on, I decide I'm not leaving the dressing room wearing it. I knew it was short, but I didn't realize it would be
this
short. The top is cute, but the tutu barely covers anything. I turn in the room, trying to look behind me to see the back of the dress, and sure enough, it doesn't cover my ass at all. It looks more like a costume you'd wear to role-play before sex than a Halloween costume. There's no way I'd be able to leave my room, let alone the house in this. Not to mention, David would lock me inside if he ever saw it!

"Come on, SB! Aren't you dressed yet?" Livvie jerks open the door and I wish I'd remembered to lock it when I came back in. "Ohmigosh! I
love
that one! You have to get it!" I don't say anything, still looking behind me in the mirror while biting my lip. "SB? What's wrong?"

Pointing at the short skirt, I tell her, "Um, Livvie? Do you see anything wrong with this? My brother would never let me out of the house wearing this."

"Well, get dressed at my house then! He'll never know." Livvie's grin is downright evil.

I shake my head, "You're crazy. There's no way I'm getting this costume."

Livvie huffs out an exasperated breath, "You're such a prude. Get out here and let Tyler see." Grabbing my arm, she starts pulling me out of the room, but I dig my heels in. There's not way I'm leaving this dressing room with Tyler standing outside. I like him and all, but he does
not
need to see what color my panties are. Unfortunately for me, Liv is taller and stronger than I am so it's not long before I'm standing in front of the mirror, seeing myself from three different angles.

"SB, can you
imagine
what Jeremy will think when he sees you in this? He won't be able to control himself!" Then, mimicking Tyler's accent she says, "He'd spank your lily white arse for leaving the house in
that
costume."

Her accent is
awful
and I can't help but laugh. "What accent was that supposed to be?"

Looking mildly insulted, she says, "English of course. Wasn't it awesome?"

"No," Tyler laughs, "It was absolutely atrocious actually." Livvie glares at him, which just makes him laugh harder. "Livvie girl, I love you, truly I do, but please don't pretend to be British again. It's rather insulting."

Putting a hand over my mouth, I attempt to cover my snort. Tyler's attempt to sound like a snotty Englishman is extremely amusing when you look at him. There's not a spot of visible skin that isn't covered in colorful tattoos aside from his face. Plus, his accent is normally very soft. He's lived in Nashville longer than he lived in London, so it's not as pronounced now.

Tyler turns to me and grins, "Now, love, if you're trying to drive a man to distraction, that's the outfit to do it in. I wouldn't turn you down that's for sure." Liv punches him in the stomach and he lets out a small "oomph" before grabbing her and pulling her into a hug. "Ah Livvie girl, you know you're my favorite, but you did ask for my opinion." She rolls her eyes, but it's obvious she's not really upset with him.

"Guys, there is no way I can wear this to a party. Look! My butt hangs out! Everyone would be able to see my panties."

Liv just laughs. "SB, we can get you a pair of hot pants to wear under it. Problem solved."

Easy for her to say, both costumes she chose for herself cover the essentials. I don't know why I let her talk me into these things; they never end well for me. With a heavy sigh, I head back into my dressing room to put my clothes back on and when I come out, Liv holds out her hand for the sexy sleeping beauty costume. I reluctantly hand it over and she walks out into the store leaving Tyler and I to trail behind her.

"If you really don't want to wear that costume, why don't you tell her no?" Tyler asks sincerely, looking down at me with concern.

I shrug, "Have you ever tried to tell Livvie no? It's pretty much impossible." I don't know what it is about her, but you just don't tell Olivia Barrett "no". "Plus, I
really
like the idea of making Jeremy crazy."

Tyler shakes his head, "The poor bloke never really had a chance, did he?" Then, putting his arm around me, he walks me out to where Olivia is standing in line, waiting to pay. The more I think about it, the more I want to see the look on Jeremy's face when he sees me wearing that costume. Hopefully, he'll be the
only
person to see me in it! We've been slowly getting our friendship back over the past few months, and now, I'm ready to push his limits. Ever since the afternoon he came barreling into my room to "save" me from Wyatt, and he told me about the things his family was doing to him, he's been pulling me closer with one hand and pushing me away with the other.

Halloween finally gets here, and I'm nervous and jittery thinking about how Jeremy will react when he sees this outfit. In addition to the ass-cheek showing costume, Livvie and I got a pair of white hot pants and white thigh high stockings to go along with it. The shorts are super tight, and super short, not leaving much to the imagination, and the stockings come up to about three inches above my knees with little pink bows on the front. The finished product is a mixture of innocent schoolgirl and vixen. Jeremy is going to absolutely flip his shit!

I got dressed at Livvie's house in an attempt to avoid David seeing what I'm wearing, but now I'm headed back home under the pretense that I "forgot" something. Pulling in, I know Jeremy's home because his car is still here and there are lights on inside. I have to take a few minutes to psyche myself up before going inside. I've never done anything like this before, but I have to do something to get to him. He's obviously not going to man up on his own, and I'm hoping that seeing me in this get up will make him just crazy enough that he'll at least kiss me again.

I shut the door behind me quietly before tiptoeing up the stairs - something that is about as easy as it sounds. It takes me forever to reach the top and my phone chimes just as I step onto the landing.

Well?? Has he seen u?

Dammit Livvie. I've only been here five minutes! Tapping out a quick reply to let her know that he hasn't, I slide my phone back into the tiny pocket on my costume, not paying a bit of attention to where I'm going.

"
What the fuck
?" Jeremy's voice is deeper and he sounds completely pissed. I'm going to kick Livvie's ass when I get to the party...
if
I get to the party.

Startled, I stumble backwards, losing my balance and putting out a hand to break my fall. A strong arm wraps around my waist, pulling me up against him and keeping me from falling flat on my ass. I didn't even realize he was behind me. "Jesus, Jeremy! You scared me half to death!" I tell him, putting a hand to my chest. He releases me quickly before spinning me around to face him. His eyes travel down my body like a caress before coming back up to meet my gaze.

"What the hell are you wearing SarahBeth?" he practically growls, his hands tightening on my waist, keeping me against his body.

The heat in his eyes has me breathless and it's evident in my voice when I answer him. "It's just a Halloween costume. There's a party on campus tonight that Liv and I are going to," I tell him, trying to play off the fact that I wore it just for him. I have no plans to actually wear
this
particular outfit in public, contrary to what Livvie believes.

"Fuck that. You aren't going anywhere in that." He's glaring down at me and I can't tell if the heat in his eyes is more lust than anger or the other way around.

I hate being told what to do though. Especially by Jeremy. Since last New Year's Eve, he's been distant with me. The only time he really talks is when he's telling me how I shouldn't be doing something, usually something to do with Wyatt. Livvie swears he's jealous, and Wyatt agrees, but I'm not sure. Well, at least I wasn't until tonight. It's obvious that his anger tonight is because he doesn't want anyone else to see me in this outfit. Deciding to antagonize him just a little bit, I put my hands against his chest and push until he releases me. Then, turning, I walk a few steps away, making sure to swing my hips a little more than I normally would...just for his benefit. When I turn back around, his eyes are focused on the bottom of my costume which barely covers the tops of my thighs, leaving a couple of inches of bare skin between the hem and the tops of my stockings.

"You do realize that you're not my dad, right?" I'm proud of the fact that my voice stays level because he hasn't looked at me this way since New Year's and I didn't realize how much I missed this kind of attention.

Jeremy tenses, groans and closes his eyes briefly. His lips move and I'm guessing he's either counting to ten or praying for patience. The patience doesn't come because his eyes snap open suddenly and meet mine. I feel like prey as he starts stalking towards me, making me walk backwards, almost tripping over my own feet until I'm up against the wall with nowhere to go. He places a hand on either side of my head, leaning close to me. In my heels, I'm even with his throat instead of his chest and I can see his adam's apple bob with his fast swallows. His arms are shaking slightly and I know he's mad, but based on what's pressing against the bottom of my stomach, he's also aroused.

"Stop playing games with me little girl," he breathes into my ear.

My breathing speeds up at the feel of his breath against my throat and my voice is husky when I ask, "Or what? You'll press me up against a wall again? Too late for that. I think you need some new moves."

"You don't want to know the answer to that." He chuckles, but it's dark...almost sinister. The deeper quality in his voice has me shaking, but I don't know if it's in fear or because I really
do
want to know the
or what
. "Trust me baby, playing games with me is going to end up with you up against any hard surface I can find." His breath is hot against my ear, and his words have everything south of my navel clenching tight. "I'll be on you and
in
you before you can blink." Before I can catch my breath or say anything else, Jeremy steps back, his gaze traveling down my body once more. It feels more like a caress than a simple glance, but I don't have a chance to analyze it before he walks away...
again
, leaving me standing on shaky legs.