Living (RedRibbon13) **Complete**

13. The New Me

Chapter 13

The New Me

Mandy was hopping around the room, trying to pull on her skinny jeans when the doorbell rang.

"Shit, he's early!" she whispered to herself and rushed towards the bathroom to hide. Zipping up her super tight black skinny that MJ had chosen for her, she stared at her reflection in the mirror and contemplated for the hundredth time to wash her face.

She started blushing when she heard a soft knock and the click of her door followed by Ryan's footsteps.

"Mandy, I'm here. Are you ready?" he asked from somewhere in the room, but before she could answer he spoke again, "Never mind. I guess you are ready from the way your clothes are strewn all over the floor."

Inside the bathroom, she blushed again wondering if she left her undergarments strewn on the floor as well.

"Yeah, I'm ready." she said and added as an afterthought, "I guess." as she opened the door and braced herself for her best friend's reaction. His reaction would determine if she should wash her face and change, or not.

Ryan turned around when he heard the door open, and Mandy noticed his eyes widening. Then, he frowned.

"Mandy, you look..." he trailed off, his frown deepening as his eyes roamed around her face and body.

"It's too much, right? I'll just wash my face again..." she said nervously.

"No Mandy, you just look so different and ...well ...amazing!" he said stepping back to analyze her new look and added with a crooked smile, "Not that you don't look beautiful every day, but today you look..." he trailed off again, taking in the chunky ear-rings and the off-shoulder top that made her look like a pop star.

"I look?" Mandy asked hopefully.

"You look smoking hot. And is that make-up? I didn't know you even knew how to use lip-gloss." He said pick up Mandy's basketball and twirled it round with his finger.

"That would be the video tutorial on you tube. And I tried light eye-make up but it got ruined and turned dark. Do you really think I look good? I can remove it anytime and these clothes too..."

"Mandy, you look amazing! Trust me, if I go into my big brother mode I'd never let any of guys see you like this. But as your best friend, I say go get them, baby girl." he said with a wink and stepped forward to pull her into a hug.

As they finally made out of the house after ignoring her dad's questions about 'someone special' in his baby's life, her phone started ringing. Amanda frowned at the unknown number flashing on her screen as they walked in the direction of Sarah's place. Her heart threatened to break out of her rib cage when she decided to ignore the ringing phone.

"Aren't you going to answer it?" Ryan asked sounding amused.

Amanda laughed nervously and shook her head, "Some unknown number, I'm sure it's a wrong number."

Ryan put his arms around her shoulders, and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Really, Miss Ramsey? You think I'm that stupid?"

Amanda just shook her head nervously, as the phone started ringing one more time. "I seriously don't recognize this number."

"Oh, but you've guessed it. Your hands are shaking. Miss Ramsey." he added teasingly.

Amanda glared at him. "Stop calling me that!" she yelled. And just to prove her point, put the phone on her ear. She hoped that it was Olivia.

"Hello?" she said nervously into the phone.

"God, I missed that voice!" the other end whispered hoarsely, making all the graphic dreams about him come to life in her head.