Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
But it also shows off my waist, my boobs, and my butt. I’m not used to any of this being on display. Right away, I want to cover myself up. Why would anybody want to see me like this?
“That’s the one,” Maya decides once I zip it up. She joins me in the closet with the red cup in hand. “Here. Drink up. Let’s get you some more downstairs.”
“I don’t know. I feel naked.” I follow her out of the closet, where Wren whistles once she gets a look at me.
“You’re a lot less naked than some of the people downstairs will be before much longer.” The girls giggle… but the sound dies when all I can do is gape at them.
“Oh,” Maya whispers. “You don’t know?”
“Some people like to walk around without their clothes on at Carter’s parties,” Wren explains. “But it’s definitely not required. I plan on keeping my clothes on—though I might strip down to my underwear to get in the pool,” she confesses.
“No pressure at all,” Maya insists.
Naked people walking around the house. I’m supposed to feel comfortable around that? The next time I raise the cup to my lips, I drain the contents, savoring the warm feeling that spreads inside me. If anything, that means Carter will be even more shocked when he sees me walking around. I can pretend to be cool for one night. I can do this.
After twenty minutes, I’m wearing lip gloss, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara. My hair is in a thick bun on top of my head, with a few loose tendrils framing my face.
“Do you really need these?” Maya asks, picking my glasses up off the dresser once my eye makeup is in place. “Do you have contacts, maybe?”
“Mom had me get them, but I’ve never really liked putting them in.” The look they exchange tells me I should at least give it a try. And really, after Maya put in all that effort with my makeup, I should at least make sure it’s on display. That means I have to force myself through touching my eyeballs—something that grosses me out more than I can say—but I have to admit it’s nice not having to push the glasses up my nose all the time.
“Wow.” Wren shakes her head slowly, grinning once I’ve put on a pair of black sandals. “I’m not trying to be offensive, but I would literally not recognize you if I hadn’t watched this whole transformation come together. You look gorgeous.”
I think she’s overdoing it, but I do feel prettier than I have in… ever. Like Cinderella before she leaves for the ball.
Only it’s not my wicked stepmother I’m worried about as I venture from my room. The noise immediately gets ten times worse as soon as the door is open, and I’m quaking inside, but the girls give me the courage—along with a drink, which has definitely started loosening my nerves. It must be, or else I never could’ve left the bedroom.
It’s pretty dark down there, and I take the stairs slowly, absorbing the scene taking place below me. There are so many people, bodies moving to the beat of loud, driving music whose bass vibrates up through my legs with every step I take.
So far, everybody’s got their clothes on. Maybe the fun doesn’t really get started until it’s time to get in the pool. That would at least make sense. I can’t imagine people walking around naked for the sake of being naked.
Until a pair of girls pass us on our way to the kitchen, and neither of them is wearing a stitch. I don’t know where to look. How does everybody take this so easily, like it doesn’t even matter? I’m in a whole different world.
I definitely need another drink.
Good thing that’s where we’re headed, to the jam-packed kitchen where people are pouring from various bottles. “Hey, good to see you!” one of the guys calls out. When Wren puts an arm around his waist, I realize it must be her boyfriend, Briggs. The girls told me all about their guys while we were at the diner, but this is the first time we’re meeting face-to-face. The adoration radiating from her when she looks up at him is both sweet and enough to make me burn with a sudden rush of insane envy.
I don’t have much time to focus on that, as it turns out. “Are you fucking kidding me?” All at once, someone is almost on top of me, pressing me against the counter where I was pouring myself a drink from the pink vodka Maya shared. His breath is hot on the back of my neck.
Right away, I freeze solid while my pulse starts racing so fast it makes me dizzy. It’s not hard for him to intimidate me—for anyone to intimidate me, really. But especially Carter, who growls like an animal in my ear. “What is wrong with you? Why are you so fucking determined to piss me off?”