Afloat

Chapter 2

            "You're wearing that?"

I glanced down at my black flowy tank top, jean shorts, and brown sandals. Then I looked back at Lucy. "What? Since Courtney's not here are you taking over as the role of raging bitch?"

"That was not that bitchy," Lucy defended herself.

Like always, Avery had my back. "It was that bitchy."

"Okay, excuse me for wanting to make my friend look hot on her first night out here in almost a year." Lucy huffed and I looked down at my outfit again. It was kind of bland I guess.

I wasn't totally surprised when Lucy started rifling through her dresser looking for options since we were about the same size. As she did this, she called back to me, "You want to look hot, right?"

I shared a glance with Avery and we both widened our eyes at each other. Not in a "help me" kind of way but more of a "here we go again, I guess this is happening" and a "Lucy will be Lucy, good luck" kind of way.

In response to Lucy now, I said, with a hint of sarcasm, "Yes, Luce, I would love to look hot."

She whipped her head around, her reddish-brown hair flinging through the air and she smiled at me. Clearly she didn't catch onto the sarcasm.

Michelle appeared now, struggling to open and close Lucy's bedroom door as she cradled four beers in her arms. Avery ran over to help and I would've too. But Lucy was now standing in front of me, thrusting two pieces of clothing into my chest. All she said was, "change," before walking over to Michelle and Avery and grabbing a beer for herself. Now all three of them had open beers, sitting on Lucy's unmade bed, watching me.

"You don't get a beer until you change," Lucy taunted.

I rolled my eyes and went into the bathroom connected to Lucy's room. I wasn't sure if I was nervous or excited for what she had picked out for me.

First were the light wash, high-waisted jean shorts. They fit perfectly as I buttoned them up. Then I reached for a white, square top. Tight and stretchy. No straps. No way.

I opened the bathroom door and took one step out. I held up the strapless shirt in front of the three judges. "What the fuck is this?"

"A shirt," Lucy said like this was the dumbest thing I had ever asked.

"This is not a shirt," I insisted.

"Yes it is," Lucy retorted without hesitation.

"That is so cute," Michelle added. "And you'd look so good in it."

I looked at Avery, my last hope at getting out of this. She was my swing vote. Her eyes softened and she gave a little shrug. "You can just try it on?"

I groaned. I knew that trying it on meant that it was going to stay on. No ifs, ands, or buts. I was screwed. I pointed a finger at Avery, and said, somewhat seriously, somewhat jokingly, "I hate you."

They all just laughed as I retreated back into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. At this point, the only good to come out of this was going to be a beer, which was much needed at the moment.

In comparison to my flowy black top, the white one made me want to shrink. It was so tight, shaping every curve of my torso and it pushed my chest together to show off more cleavage. I tucked it into the high-waisted jean shorts and stared at myself in the mirror.