Mercy

Chapter 38

There I was, standing in the Halloween store changing room with Lacy right outside the door telling me to get out there so she could see my costume. Well, her costume, she had picked it out for me. Although I am not sure you could even call this a costume – I looked like a stripper. The second we got here Lacy was shoving very tiny ‘costumes’ into my hands. The last time I dressed up for Halloween I was seven and I was a zombie. I didn’t do the dress up thing in high school so I missed the whole ‘girls dress like strippers’ thing. I stared back at myself in the mirror, eyeing the tiny black devil costume. “Lacy… I don’t think this will work…” I called, my fingers tugging at the stiff material to try to stretch it to cover more of my exposed body. “Oh, shut up! This will be you and Liam’s first public date, he’s going to be showing you off so you want to look hot!” she yelled from the other side of the door. “So, get your sexy ass out here so I can check out those goodies!” Even though I was alone in the stall my face lit up with embarrassment.

Slowly, I peeked out the door, the embarrassment rising when I saw how many people were in there with the two of them. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and stepped out so that Lacy could evaluate the costume she had picked out for me. She whistled softly as she began to slow clap; the red in my cheeks burning even brighter. “Lacy I look like a stripper!” I mumbled through my clinched teeth as I tried again to stretch the material. “Yeah a sexy devil stripper! Trust me, you have to wear this, you don’t have a choice.” She added, pushing me back into the stall. I quickly changed back into my jeans and t-shirt, feeling more like myself once I was in my comfort zone. My fingers ran across the material of the costume. Maybe she was right, maybe I needed to break out of my comfort zone for him. There was this strange feeling in my chest, I wanted so badly to look good for him. I had never really cared what people thought of my appearance but now that I was with Liam I had this craving to look better for him.  As I stepped out of the dressing room Lacy grabbed the costume and headed to the counter, hers tucked under her arm. “What are you going to be?” I asked, my short legs racing to keep up with her long ones. “That is a surprise, but don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.” She flashed me one of her perfect smiles over her shoulder as she tossed the items onto the counter and paid for them. “Lacy I could have paid for my own…” I felt guilty, maybe Lacy knew how poor I really was. “Oh, I didn’t pay for these. Lover boy gave me his card and told me to get you whatever you wanted. But we all know that I know what is best so…” She shrugged slightly and tossed the bag over her shoulder, linking her free arm with mine. I knew I would have to find some way to pay him back but I had to admit it was nice not to have to worry about money for the time being.

My eyes drifted across my bedroom to the very scandalous costume hanging on the closet door. There was no backing out now, we were only a couple hours until the party and there was no way I could come up with another costume in time. “You know you are going to look like the hottest babe there. Liam won’t know what to do with himself.” I nearly fell out of my seat, not realizing that Lacy had been there watching me. “I’m still not sure how you talked me into this. This is…is a bad idea…” My eyes drifted back over to the costume, “Yep, bad idea.” Lacy rolled her eyes as she turned and headed back to her room to start getting ready. The last thing I wanted to do was get my hopes up but there was a part of me that wanted Liam to feel that way when he saw me.

As I put the finishing touches on my makeup I couldn’t help but smile at myself. Thanks to Lacy I was starting to get really good at the whole makeup thing. I had never been much of a makeup type of girl but now that I was with Liam I felt the need to step up my game. He was gorgeous and he could have any girl in the whole state of California; I wanted to at least hold a candle to some of those girls that were throwing themselves at him.

We had to leave soon to get on the road, the party was about an hour away which meant we would most likely also hit some traffic. I finished putting on my costume, fluffing my curled hair slightly. The thought of wearing such little clothing in public made my stomach turn a little but it was Halloween which meant that all girls at this party would probably look just a scandalous. Lacy had made a good choice the tiny outfit hugged all my curves perfectly.

After checking over my costume about a hundred times, I popped the small devil horns on the top of my head and started down the hall to Lacy’s room. “Hey, you about ready?” I called out, without a word of response she opened the door to reveal herself in a matching outfit but in white; also, instead of little horns she had a small golden halo on top of her head. “What do you think?” She grinned as she struck a pose. I couldn’t help but laugh and shake my head. “It’s perfect.” She hooked her arm in mine and we made our way out to the car.

I was so nervous I didn’t even notice the bite of the cold air on my skin. Lacy must have been able to sense my uneasy feeling because once we were safely in the car she flashed me a smile. “Thank you for doing this, I know how hard it is for you and I really appreciate you going with me. It wouldn’t be the same without my best friend there.” My lips automatically curled into a smile, I hadn’t had someone call me their best friend in so long it was a foreign feeling; foreign but good. That was all it took to help me relax some, we spent the entire ride blasting the radio and singing along. I hadn’t felt to carefree and happy in a long time and I had my best friend to thank for that.

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Sorry for the short update. I plan to update again tomorrow with a Liam POV!