Serenity-JJK✔️

[5]

"Raina, wake up."

Damien nudges her a few times. She opens her eyes and rolls over to look at him.

"Who put the TV up?" He asks as he takes his shoes, putting them back in their box.

She sits up and rubs her eyes.

"The neighbors."

"You asked them for help?" His eyebrows raise at the possibility of her initiating conversation with people.

"No, they offered."

His shoulders slump and he inhales.

"Oh."

Raina watches as he gathers his stuff to get into the shower. When he leaves, she grabs a book out of her bedside table drawer. She leans back against the headboard and opens it up, removing the bookmark from its place.

She gets lost in the story as she reads. The pages flip as she pictures the characters and events in her mind. She smiles as she reads the details of the date that the male lead is taking her on. It's one of her favorite scenes. She has read this book plenty of times. So much so, that she has many parts memorized.

It never takes away the value of the good story.

Raina pictures the picnic and array of foods that the male lead prepared for his date. She pictures the warmth of the sun on their skin as they walked to the place he planned to surprise her. Her smile brightens as she reads about them laughing and talking. And as the sun sets, he prepares to propose. Raina reads his monologue in her log, ready for him to pop the question. Her heart soars-

And quickly plummets.

Damien slowly takes the book from her hands as he looks at her. Her head tilts up at him and she forces herself not to scowl. He closes the book, losing her spot and puts it on the nightstand. Sitting on the edge of the bed in shorts and a tank top, he looks her in the eyes.

"There's a party at a club in Center tonight. I'm not the promoting manager for it but I've been invited. Me and a bunch of my friends. They're all bringing dates and I need you to come with me."

Raina stares at him.

He cannot be serious.

That's all she think as they look at each other. She would prefer to stay home. She doesn't want to go. Last time she went with him to a party, she almost drowned, her AirPods were lost and her favorite book was ruined. Raina does not want to go.

"I don't want to."

Damien sighs and puts his head back. He figured that she would say that.

"Please, Raina? All you have to do is sit there and look pretty. You don't even have to talk to anyone if you don't want to. Just sit there, have a couple drinks and let me network. I even bought you a new dress to wear for it."

He stands up and walks to a pink bag. As he takes the dress out, Raina already hates it. It's blush pink in color and strapless. It looks to be cinched at the waist with underwire in the breast cups. She looks from the dress to him.

"I don't like it."

"It's going to look good on you, Raina. Just go try it on. I promise you'll like it." He isn't going to back down from this. She knows that he won't.

She gets up without another word and takes the dress out of his hands. As she walks to the bathroom, she can feel him staring at her. She remembers that she's wearing a baggy t shirt and sweats and feels better.

When she gets into the bathroom, she closes the door and locks it behind her. She stares at herself in the mirror. With a dull look on her face, she strips out of her comfortable clothes and puts on the skin tight dress. She feels like she's suffocating in it. It's too small, she thinks. It has to be.