Stolen Breaths

Chapter 5 - Devil Among Us

I was jolted awake with the feeling that someone was watching me. A snicker greeted my alarmed brain. Finally, I was awake enough to see Brie perched on the end of my bed, her legs crossed.

"Good morning!" She trilled, smiling hugely.

"Morning," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and sitting up in bed.

"Why are you not up and getting ready for your date yet?" A pillow flew past my face, brushing against my cheek. "It's ten in the morning!"

"You said ten thirty!"

"I had nothing else to do, so I thought 'Hey, I can bug my best friend and get her lazy butt out of bed!'" Brie grinned. "Now, please, get out of bed so you can get ready for your date with Damien!"

"Yes, ma'am." I grumbled while rolling off my bed, earning me another close incident with a pillow zipping past my head.

Muttering some words under my breath at my rude awakening I went to the bathroom to brush out my tangled mess of hair. Having it perfectly arranged after several minutes of tugging, I moved on to a minimal amount of make-up. Minimal meaning a few brush strokes of mascara and a tiny bit of lip gloss. I never was one to cake my face with goop that only ended up making most girls resemble clowns.

I walked back into the room to see Brie's back to me as she rummaged through my closet, tossing a few articles of clothing onto the bed behind her.

"Are you emptying the entire contents of my closet?" I asked as I sat behind the growing mound of clothes.

"No." She paused momentarily, then turned to grin at me. "I'm just going to keep throwing your clothes around until I find something decent enough for you to wear.".

I feigned the resentment in my voice. "All of my clothes are decent! Even better then decent, they're beautiful."

"Mmhm..." Brie plucked one of my worn out t-shirts that I use for working out from one of the shelves. "Is this what you call beautiful?"

"Beautifully unique!"

Silence spread through my room for several seconds before Brie snorted. "Unique, indeed!" Laughter bubbled out of her, and I joined in.

Brie ducked back into the closet still laughing as she continued her quest for a 'decent' outfit. Several shirts in a variety of colours made their way onto my floor, shortly followed by a couple of pairs of pants. A triumphant cry resounded near the back of my closet which was only ten feet deep. Brie came crawling back out on her hands and knees a smile stretching across her face.

"Did my closet finally spit out an outfit that you deem fit for my first date with Damien?"

"The sarcasm in your voice is charming, Ayla." She rolled her eyes. "I have, in fact, found the perfect outfit for you."

Brie stood up, holding her hands behind her back. She paused dramatically before whipping out my favorite pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a casual white, ruffled blouse with wispy sleeves that only cover my shoulders. Her eyes studied me intensely as she awaited my reaction while holding the clothes just out of my reach.

"I must admit to your genius..." I said, quite reluctantly, resulting in a broad grin from Brie and a happy squeal of excitement as she bounced up and down on the spot. "Stop that!" I laughed and yanked the hangars holding my outfit out of her hands before disappearing into the bathroom to get changed.

As soon as I had pulled the blouse over my head I turned to the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door to take in everything. Admittedly, Brie had chosen the perfect outfit for me. The dark blue of the jeans played off the white perfectly while the bright white managed to make my extremely pale skin look a bit darker. After I had finished admiring Brie's handiwork in the mirror, I returned to my room to allow her to see her brilliance for herself.