The Wildcard

Chapter Ten

“The white, or the blue?” I asked Ryan as I stood in my underwear in front of the full length mirror swapping the dresses over in front of me and eyeing them critically. Personally, I was all for the white, but he’s the one with the professional opinion.

Ryan lounged on the bed with a pack of midget gems – he was already ready to go – a Calvin Klein shirt tucked into a pair of slacks, with his streaked hair standing up on all sorts of angles. He looked casual and elegant in a matter of seconds with his posture.

I always had to try that little bit harder.

“White,” he said, after a moment of contemplation with his jaw working mercilessly on the chewy sweets, “Your tan is amazing right now.”

The summer had been roasting – off the charts hot, especially for this country – and since we had no money, I spent the entire time on a sun lounger in our tiny yard. So yes, it was pretty damn amazing, I had to agree. And the white would set it off, he was right about that.

“You don’t think it’s a bit prim?”

He threw a midget gem at my head, before digging his hand back into the packet with enthusiasm.

“Shut up! With your body, nothing can look prim. Besides, I think the hairstyle fixes it.”

He’d put corkscrew curls into the ends of my hair, and tied it from my face in an intricate ponytail that fell in waves and rings down to the middle of my back. I shrugged, turning this way and that deliberating in the mirror, before zipping myself into it.

He was right – as ever – the dress did look pretty good. It was primarily lace over a tiny white tight under-dress, and it left my back completely bare, reaching mid thigh.

“Gorgeous,” he muttered, coming behind me to smooth out a few stray pieces of my hair with his fingertips, “Can we go now?”

I giggled at the look of pure frustration on his gorgeous face – he hates it when I take forever to get ready. He’d had to fix his own hair twice though, after running his fingers through it and mussing it up trying to help my decision making process. He was just as bad as I was when it came to dressing me up – I have my suspicions that sometimes I’m a sort of replacement for the Action Man dolls he never had as a small kid.

“Stop sulking,” I stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek before darting across to my shoes, “We can’t all be as effortlessly perfect as you are!”

Deciding on a pair of cherry red patent slip-ons and a polka dot purse, we were ready to rock and roll.

                                  *********************************

Admissions gave us some curious glances when we handed in our tickets, but we didn’t really think much of it. The place was just as impressive as the first time – rich velvets lining the walls, and red leather booths – not to mention the hustle and bustle of traffic around the huge space – it was much busier than it had been the first night we arrived. It felt almost alive in here – the hedonism – it was in the air, it intoxicated me. Closing my eyes at the top of the stairs that led down into the main area, I inhaled deeply – just breathing in the room.