Because of a Girl Like Me

Chapter 5.

I had spent the entire day with Stella. We shopped for hours, then she came back to my house with me and ended up staying the night. She was just easy to talk to. Within a few short hours of knowing her she'd managed to get me to open up to her about all kinds of stuff. Things I didn't talk about to anyone, even Sean. I told her about my mom's death, my dad's absence, and even my relationship issues with Sean.

The two of them had met yesterday, and to say it didn't go well would be an understatement. They both started the whole thing out like they already didn't like each other. It was especially weird because Sean was the type of guy who'd make friends with the person in line behind him at the grocery store.

Even without knowing Stella long at all, I had already picked up on the fact that she could sometimes rub people the wrong way. She was incredibly blunt. Whatever came into her head, was going to come out of her mouth, no matter what. I thought it was a good thing, it makes her really genuine, but that meant that she didn't hold anything back when she met Sean. Stella sure as hell didn't hold back her feelings about Stoneacre or the people who live here and Sean was quickly offended by her.

"That girl is bad news, Sienna." He'd told me earlier tonight. "She isn't the type of person you need to be hanging around with."

I had gotten angry, yelling. "Who the hell are you to tell me who is good for me? You're my boyfriend, not my dad, just in case you forgot."

"I'm well aware of that, babe, but honestly, I can't figure out why a girl like you would want to be around a girl like that." He'd said. "She dresses like a slut, Si, that's not the girl you are. You're too smart to get mixed up in trouble, and that girl? She's big trouble." When he was done lecturing me, he'd reached out for me, trying to pull me over to his bed, but I slapped his hand away. "What the hell, Sienna?" He demanded. "Why are you being like this?" He'd asked loudly. When I'd tried to leave his room, he'd caught me by the wrist, pulling me back to him and wrapping me in a hug. "I don't want to fight with you, Sienna." He whispered, rubbing my shoulder. "I love you, and I'm only trying to look out for you. But, hey, if you trust her, then I trust her, ok? Let's just not talk about it anymore." Then he kissed my forehead.

There he went again, being perfect, all the while I was fighting with him for no reason. Why did it matter if he liked Stella or not? It's not like he had to be friends with her for me to be. I had been being silly and selfish. I looked up into his eyes and I'd seen so much love for me there.

I swallowed my pride, and kissed him hard. I wanted so badly to make myself feel the way I should about him. I pushed him over to his bed and when he sat down I straddled his lap as he wrapped his arms around me, sighing happily.

When we'd finished he fell asleep, as he usually did, and I had quietly slipped out.

Now, sitting at home alone, I still felt bad. I really didn't deserve him. I just can't figure out what is wrong with me.

My phone buzzed where it was laying on my pillow beside my head and I picked it up to check the caller ID, and I answered when I saw that it was Stella.

"Girl!" She giggled into the phone. "You have got to come hangout with me. I've got an address to a real life actual party. Can you even believe people around here throw parties?" She asked and you could hear the excitement in her voice.

I chewed on my thumb nail and sighed. "It's late, I don't know." I told her. "My dad is home and I'd have to walk passed him to get out and I don't want to wake him up." I knew it was a lame excuse but I didn't really feel like partying. I should have known thought that 'no' was not an option with Stella.

"Great!" She cheered. "I'm right outside, come let me in and I will help you get ready." I could hear the smile in her voice and it made a smile spread across my face too.

Isn't this what friends are for? To push you outside of your comfort zone and pull you out of your slums even if you don't want to be. It has been over a year since I've been to a party. The last one I can remember was the senior end of the year party where Sean had gotten so wasted that he threw up down the back of my dress. I shuddered at the memory, hoping that this party wouldn't be anything like that one.

I let Stella in and she marched straight over to my closet, shifting back and forth through the hangers. She was dressed for a party alright. She had on a skin tight baby blue tube dress that was just barely doing its job of covering the important parts of her body, and the way she had her hair pulled up was only drawing even more attention to her chest. She turned to face me and groaned. "Don't you own anything sexy?" She asked sounding annoyed as she playfully slapped my shoulder. "I had a feeling this would happen." She told me, as she dug through her bag, pulling something out. "That's why I brought you this." She said holding up a shiny black mini dress. It was pretty adorable. I thanked her and hurriedly got dressed.

"Girl!" Stella whistled at my once it was on. "Why have you been hiding all of that?" She giggled gesturing towards my body as I went to check myself in the full length mirror on the back of my closet door.

I was laughing with her until I stopped dead when I caught sight of myself in the dress. She wasn't wrong. The dress wasn't as short as hers was, but it did show quite a bit of leg. The top was a subtle sweetheart cut that made my 36B look more like C. It hugged my body at my waist but then came away from me towards the bottom, giving it swish that I was in love with. I let Stella do my makeup and then she curled my hair into thick ringlets.

"Wow." Was all I could say when she was done.