Games of the Heart (The 'Burg #4)(69)

Dusty must have been waiting for them to come back because she met her in the kitchen and off they went shopping.

At first, this made her tense. She’d told her Mom exactly what she wanted for her party. Her Mom wouldn’t care. She’d just grab whatever, get the right colors but not the right stuff and go. But Dusty was artistic and she was worried Dusty would think Clarisse’s vision was lame.

But when they were at the party store and she said quietly and hesitantly that she wanted purple, silver and black, Dusty had decreed, “That…is…inspired. We can so do that!”

Then they so did it and they so did it because Dusty went totally crazy. She bought all sorts of stuff including big bouquets of balloons and trays to put out food and all this glittery, foil wire stuff they could “fashion into a centerpiece” (Dusty’s words).

Luckily they had a craft store down the strip mall from the party store so they went there too. Dusty spent a total fortune on cake decorating stuff, murmuring, “I have all this at home. Should have thought to bring it.” Then announced, “I have an idea for the cake that…will…rock! What do you think of…?” then she went on to describe a total kickass idea for a super kickass cake that Clarisse adored. Then they went to the store to get the stuff for the cake.

So they brought all the stuff back to Clarisse’s house and made it together intermingling cake baking and cake cooling with decorating the house.

No showed with all the food while they were decorating. He hung around and was a total dork but luckily he thought Dusty was a hot babe, “even for an old chick,” (he’d told Clarisse that last part after Dad dropped them off the night they met her). And he’d do anything for a hot babe no matter how old she was, apparently. So he put away the food they’d be fixing later and set out the snack food exactly like Dusty told him to do.

In the end, the cake looked fantastic. The decorations were better not only than any party Clarisse had had, but any party Clarisse had ever been to. And now they were up in Clarisse’s room because, shyly, she’d asked Dusty (whose makeup always looked the bomb) if she would help Clarisse with hers and she’d said yes right away!

“So,” Dusty drew it out, still stroking Clarisse’s lashes with the mascara wand, “Finley’s cute, isn’t he?”

Clarisse jerked and blinked.

Dusty giggled her musical giggle and Clarisse looked at her to see she was pushing the wand into the tube and twisting it closed.

And she did this muttering through her giggles, “The beautiful girl thinks my boy is cute.”

It was weird but way nice that Dusty thought she was beautiful when Dusty was the most beautiful real-life person she’d ever seen.

Dusty stopped twisting the mascara tube and looked her right in the eye.

“He likes you,” she announced. Yes, she announced it straight out! “Like, a lot. Are you two tight?”

“Uh…” Clarisse didn’t know what to say because she didn’t know if they were.

Sure, Fin texted her a lot, she always texted him back and he phoned her daily. They also spent time at lunch, him with her posse, her with his crew daily too.

Was that tight?

She watched Dusty’s arched brows draw together before she asked, “You aren’t?”

Clarisse stared at her.

Then she whispered, “He likes me?”

Dusty’s head jerked and she replied, “Uh…yeah, honey.”

Ohmigod!

Well, she would know. Wouldn’t she?

“You’re sure?” Clarisse asked softly and Dusty’s head tipped.

Then she did something funny.

First, her face got soft. Then her pretty, dark brown eyes moved over Clarisse’s face. Then she got up from the roller seat they rolled in from Dad’s office so Dusty could sit next to her and do her makeup but she did this bent forward. She wrapped her hand gently around Clarisse’s jaw and turned her head to the mirror.

Clarisse stared in the mirror.

Her makeup had never looked that good, ever.

“What do you see?” Dusty asked and Clarisse’s eyes went from Dusty’s awesome makeup job to Dusty who was leaned over, her jaw close to the top side of Clarisse’s head, her eyes looking at Clarisse in the mirror.

“You do great makeup,” Clarisse answered.

Dusty smiled at Clarisse in the mirror then she took her hand from Clarisse’s face and put it on her shoulder. “Look closely, honey,” she whispered and Clarisse looked from Dusty to herself.

And that was what she saw. The same thing she always saw. Clarisse.

“What do you see?” Dusty repeated.

“Me,” Clarisse answered softly, worried that answer wasn’t right.

Dusty smiled at her in the mirror.

Then she said, “Fin sees something else.”

Clarisse felt her heart trip over itself.

“What?” she breathed.

“Beauty. Vulnerability. Delicacy.”

Clarisse was confused so repeated, “What?”

“My nephew is his father’s son. And his father was drawn to things he could look after. The land. The equipment. The family legacy. His wife. The family he made.”

Clarisse didn’t get it and she really didn’t want to sound like an idiot in front of Dusty but this was Fin they were talking about.