Wren had thought that she was doing everything right. She had the right career path, the right boyfriend, the right friends. She did everything that she was told, and she thought that she was happy. Until her junior year of college is about to start...
"Are you sure that this is what you want to wear?" Bella asks me with raised eyebrows after I've completed getting dressed on Tuesday. "I mean, you look totally hot but it's not really... you."
I look in the mirror and I like the outfit that I've chosen. I'm wearing my own pair of skinny jeans and my own pair of black wedge heels but I've borrowed a crop top from Bella's closet that's black with skeleton hands that look like they're groping my boobs, and a green cargo jacket because I might get cold. I agree with her—it definitely isn't me—but that's the point. I don't want to be me tonight.
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"I'm sure," I confirm. My makeup is dramatic, my lips are a dark red and my blonde hair is down around my shoulders. The top exposes about six inches of my pale stomach which terrifies me but Bella has reassured me a thousand times that this looks good and that I can pull it off. "Thank you for helping me get ready."
"Yeah, no problem. Have a good time, you rebel child," She tells me as it's time for me to go. It's almost nine o'clock and I need to meet the guy with the tattoos and hope that I'm not dead in the morning. Or hope that I am, I haven't decided.
I say goodbye to her and then head back to my room just to grab my bag with my phone and a little bit of cash so that if this guy tries to rob me again, he won't be getting much. In my apartment, there's nobody in the shared space so I knock on Jesse's door.
"You in there?" I call in.
"Yeah, give me a sec," He calls back. I can hear him rustling through his room and I worry that Clayton might be in there. I don't want to see that, or face the fact that they're still hanging out here instead of at his studio apartment.
"I'm leaving," I say to him through the door before he has time to open it. "If I'm not home in the morning and I'm not answering my phone, you might want to call the police. I'm not really sure what's going to happen tonight."
"Wait, where are you going?" He asks me, opening the door just a couple of inches to peek out. "And dressed like that, what's going on?"
"I told you—I'm going on a date."
"Don't go if you think that this guy is dangerous," He adds. "Why would you even consider that?"
"What do I have to lose?" I ask him before I turn around and start walking toward the front door to leave and head to that address that Tattoos had given me on Sunday.
"At least tell me the guy's name," Jesse says.
"No," I decline just before leaving the apartment with a slamming front door.
The address that he'd given me is just a five-minute walk down the road; it's an apartment building right across from campus. I can feel my heart beginning to race because I have no idea what's going to happen. I can't remember another time when I had no idea what was in store for me and it's incredibly exciting. A little bit terrifying because it's very likely that he only told me to show up so that he could mug me or something, but I'm trying to be optimistic.
