Sticks and Stones

Nine: Mixing Drinks and Emotions

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8:54 p.m.

Brady would be picking her up in six minutes.

Tatum eyed her outfit carefully. She wore a deep maroon t-shirt with a high front and open back. She sleeves were short and just covered her shoulders a bit. It was one of her favorite shirts. It was simple, but she paired it with some gold jewelry. If she was being honest, she loved how she looked in darker, jewel tone colors. It complimented her light brown skin and dark hair. Her jeans were a high-waisted medium wash with wide legs. She let her dark hair fall loosely down behind her, swishing softly against the exposed skin on her back. Her black booties dug into her heels slightly, but she was just going to ignore that because they looked amazing with her black purse.

She rubbed her hands against her bare arms unsurely. She used to be insecure about her arms looked in shirts with no sleeves. Growing up only seeing one body type in the media taught her to feel a certain way about her body. It took her time to love herself. She tended to be bigger than her other friends growing up. Her thighs always spread out more when they were all sat down. Her arms squeezed the seams of her shirts more than theirs did. While her friends would tend to fit typical beauty standards, Tatum had always been curvy. But she had grown to love that about herself. Her body was healthy, and that was something she valued. Though, sometimes, she just wished she didn't feel different than everyone else. But she made the decision to be kinder to herself one day, and she refused to look back.

Doing some finishing touches to her makeup, Tatum felt good. Really good. She swiped a layer of dark red lip gloss across her lips, inspecting herself carefully in the mirror. While she doubted how she would feel going out, she couldn't help but get increasingly excited as she got ready. She credited it entirely to her getting ready process and gave absolutely no credit to Brady.

She told Kinsley she was going out tonight with Isaac. Tatum had invited her to not seem suspicious, but she already knew her roommate had to stay in to finish an essay due at midnight. If Kinsley seemed surprised that Tatum was going out, she didn't say anything. She had even smiled when Tatum told her. Maybe she thought Tatum was loosening up finally.

The song of her phone dinging echoed in the air. There was a part of her that instantly wanted to tell him that she changed her mind. That this was a dumb idea. But there was a small part of her that wanted her to do this. Besides needing this for her future, she couldn't help but think this genuinely could be fun. Her eyes darted over to Kinsley guiltily, but her friend had her headphones in and made it clear that she was not to be disturbed until she finished this essay. God, it felt like she was betraying her. No matter how much she convinced herself that she wasn't... she just felt like this was wrong. But Tatum didn't know what else to do.

She had to do this. Tatum sucked in a deep breath and grabbed her purse, slinging it over her shoulder. Brady had called them a car on a ride share service, adding a stop at her dorm to pick her up. Being on a lower level of the dorms, she made her way down the stairs quickly.

Once she got to the car Brady described, she swung the door open and placed herself on the seat next to him. She situated herself in the seat before turning to the boy next to her. He was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, his curly hair tussled and messy like always. She froze momentarily when she noticed his eyes trained on her body. When she cleared her throat, his eyes darted up to hers like he was never looking anywhere else.

He hummed. "You look good, Hartley."

"Not too bad yourself," she remarked, nodding once.

"Trying to impress me?" Brady quipped.