White Noise

3

"I don't understand why I can't just wear jeans and a cute shirt."

"Kate," Lauren bit out. "You're wearing the dress and that's final."

It was Friday night and all four of us were over at Bridget's house getting ready for Austin's party. In my opinion, we had spent far too long getting ready for this thing. 

After school, we went shopping at the mall to pick out a birthday dress for me, which seemed a little ridiculous. But Lauren and Bridget were so enthralled and excited about it all that I couldn't possibly say no. We spent two hours browsing the shops around the mall. At each store, Lauren, Bridget, and Emily would "divide and conquer,"—their words—each picking out multiple different dresses for me to try on. Then I was shoved into a changing room and forced to model each of their dresses. Lauren's choices were the only ones that made me cringe as I slid the form-fitting fabric over my torso, tugging down hard on the bottom. She generally picked out the shorter, tighter dresses.

The winner was one of Emily's picks. It was a white sundress that was fitted in the right places, but more modest and loose at the bottom. I was actually pleased with how I looked in it. The white contrasted nicely against my slight summer tanned skin and darker hair. Luckily it was only thirty dollars and all three of them kindly pooled some money together to buy it for me, despite my objections.

After, we went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant. Best Italian in the entire county, I swear. Unfortunately, Lauren tipped off the waiter that it was my birthday celebration and I was served a cupcake at the end of dinner and was serenaded by multiple employees. The cupcake was red velvet and melt-in-your-mouth delicious, so I forgave my best friend despite the embarrassment and attention she had drawn from the birthday singing.

Now, we were coming up on a full two hours of getting ready for this stupid party. Bridget's entire closet had been splayed on her floor as each of them tried on every piece of her clothing, attempting to find the "perfect" outfit. Then, Emily straightened my hair and Bridget did my makeup. The eye shadow was a little dark for my taste, but overall it wasn't too much. Thank God.

After I was finished, they began working diligently on themselves. I'd been sitting on Bridget's bed for half an hour now, watching each of them do their hair and makeup. The last person we were waiting on was Lauren, who was still messing with her makeup.

"Need more bronzer," Bridget joked. Lauren had been packing on the powder for what seemed like five minutes now. She already had naturally tan skin anyway, so it wasn't like she was making a huge difference.

Lauren scowled at our one blonde friend and harshly snapped the bronzer shut, knowing she had no real comeback.

"We should get going anyway," Bridget continued. "It's almost ten and that's the perfect time to get there."

My stomach tightened at the realization that this was actually happening. I dreaded these parties. And I knew this time would be worse because it wasn't just a party. Lauren and Bridget were going to make sure everyone knew it was my party. I was thankful to at least have Emily on my side.

It took us about ten more minutes for everyone to gather their belongings—keys, wallet, phone, lipstick just in case, concealer just in case. Once everyone's purse was packed and ready to go, we made our way out to Emily's car. She had nicely offered to stay sober and drive.

We hopped in her little Toyota and Bridget played some upbeat music from the passenger seat as we headed towards Austin's house. Lauren and Bridget were both dancing in their seats and singing along to the lyrics at the top of their lungs. Lauren grabbed me and tried to force me to dance as well, but I just glared at her as she flung my limp arms around. As we neared Austin's house, Lauren told Bridget to turn down the music.