When I'm with You (Hope Town #3)(24)
“What?” I ask around a mouthful of pizza.
My sister just continues to look at me with narrowed eyes.
“Seriously, what is your problem?” I snap, dropping the crust after tearing off the last delicious bite.
“Dad is going to shit his pants when he sees your head,” she tells me, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yeah? And how is he going to find out unless someone opens her big fat mouth to tell him?”
“You two annoy the shit out of me,” Stella bluntly states, causing my sister to snap her eyes over to where she is finishing Dani’s hair. “I’m so happy that my dad didn’t have more kids. I could never handle that crap.”
Dani laughs, earning a scowl from Stella when her head moves too much. “Just imagine having to deal with a miniature version of my dad as a brother!”
“Yeah, no. No way in hell I could handle that shit,” Stella continues, curling another long piece of Dani’s hair around her flat iron.
“You have it all wrong, Stel.” Lyn laughs. “There is no way a sibling could have handled you!”
Everyone laughs, and Stella just shrugs, sprays another lock of Dani’s hair with hairspray, and continues without disagreeing.
“He’s going to find out,” my sister continues as if she hadn’t just been interrupted.
“Shut up.” I groan and move to walk into my living room where the rest of the girls are hanging out in various forms of readiness.
Dani and Stella had been doing everyone’s hair since the moment they all arrived two hours ago; now, the only two left are the both of them. My hair had been first and the beginning of my sister’s annoying chatter about my dad potentially freaking out. The second Dani moved the shorter hair that always brushes over the side of my forehead and got a look at the now yellow and green bruising, she hadn’t stopped.
I can hear her muttering under her breath as she moves around the kitchen to clean up the last of our group’s dinner mess, but she wisely stops giving me a bunch of what my dad refers to as our ‘sass.’
Megan and Lila are talking softly on my loveseat, and judging by the way she keeps turning her phone in Lila’s direction, I’m assuming she is showing off pictures of her newborn son, Jack.
They’re both wearing black dresses, but where Lila’s is on the shorter end of slutty, Megan’s is not. Megan’s is a beautiful shirtsleeve dress that hits her right in the middle of her thighs. Loose in the skirt and hiding what she refers to as her stubborn baby weight.
Lila’s is sleeveless, but with thick straps and a deep neckline that shows off her cleavage impressively. And where Megan’s is loose, Lila’s is skintight and hits her just under her bottom.
Nikki, Lyn, Dani, and Stella are in similar dresses as Lila’s, each a little different from the other but all black.
“We look like we’re going to a funeral,” I mumble before attempting to sit on the couch next to Nikki. But before my bottom hits the cushion, she is pushing against my back and shoving me forward. “What the hell, Nik!”
“You need to go get dressed!” she snaps.
“She’s right,” my sister says, coming in the room. “You’re the last one!”
She pulls me forward and down to my bedroom. When the light snaps on, illuminating what has been laid out on the bed waiting for me like a snake ready to strike, I feel my stomach start flipping nervously.
“Uh,” I start.
“Nope. No. No way in hell,” my sister starts to fuss. “You will put that on and freaking like it.”
“That,” I say, pointing to the blood-red fabric on my bed, my voice getting a little manic as I continue, “is not a dress. That looks like something a toddler would wear.”
“It’s stretchy,” she tells me as if that’s all that matters. She starts to unbutton the shirt that I had put on over my strapless bra earlier and I slap her hands away.
“I’m not wearing that,” I screech.
“Yes, you are,” I hear behind me and turn toward the doorway to see Stella. “My pops spent a ridiculous amount of time hunting for the perfect birthday outfit for you for as he says hours and hours, darlin’ girl,” she says, mocking her pop’s voice perfectly. “You know what happens when you ignore the advice of that man.” She stands up straight, tosses her long curled hair over her shoulder before continuing in Sway’s voice. “There’s certain times in a woman’s life when she needs to make sure to work the goodness God gave her with no hesitation whatsoever, darling girl. Just flaunt all that beauty and make every man you pass die a little inside because he will just not live another second if he can’t have you. For little Miss Emberlyn, that moment will be tonight, and Sway demands pictures and pictures before you hit the town.” She relaxes her posture instantly and shrugs. “So let’s do this.”
OPENING NIGHT IS IN FULL swing.
I’m sweaty and hotter than f*cking hell, but the smile on my face hasn’t left for a second since we opened the doors three hours ago. Even before the six o’clock opening time, the line had been so out of control to get in the door that we went ahead and opened up the holding room at almost four in the afternoon. The girls and guys had been working together in perfectly synchronized movements ever since.