Rolling Dice [sample]

12: Rolling Dice

Alrighty, so here's part one of the party scenes! Hope you all enjoy! :)

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Chapter 12

I do wear the dress in the end. I choose the white lacey one, instead of the little black dress. I figure if I’m going to wear a dress, why not this one. It’s not that short, really, but I feel so hideously self-conscious that I trick myself into thinking it is short.

                It doesn’t take me very long to do my hair and put on a little makeup. As for jewelry, I find a pair of simple faux-pearl studs and a thick cream bangle with floral patterns which I put on my left wrist. I’m ready within half an hour – which is just as well, considering Summer’s picking me up in ten minutes.

                I grab my overnight bag and jacket, and then head downstairs into the lounge. Dad’s working late, so he’s not home, it’s just me and Mom.

                “Oh, Dice, you look lovely,” she tells me with a proud smile. “What time do you think you’ll be home?”

                I shrug. “Remember, I told you Tiffany said I can stay over. That’s what Summer and Melissa are doing.” I pat the small overnight bag I packed on my shoulder to emphasize my point. My bag’s only got the bare minimum – toothbrush, pajamas, a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I didn’t think I’d need to bother with my flat irons or my makeup, aside from a compact powder.

                “If you want to come home earlier, just let me know.”

                “Yeah.”

                “And I spoke to your dad earlier,” Mom carries on. “We were both thinking, if you do want to take something to drink – not much, of course, but we trust you. And if you’re thinking of drinking there, if the others are, we’d both rather know you were drinking safely.”

                “Really?”

                She nods.

                “Well… thanks,” I say. “But I wasn’t going to drink, so it’s okay.”

                Mom sighs and smiles, the look on her face telling me there are no secrets kept from a mother. She says, “Dice, I know what goes on at parties. I’m not an idiot. And I know what the parties Jenna went to were like. If there’s going to be drinking –”

                “If there’s going to be drinking,” I interrupt, “I don’t really care. I don’t want to drink. But thanks for the offer, Mom.”

                She looks a little dubious.

                “I’m a hundred and thirty eight percent sure, before you ask.”

                “Mm.”

                “Seriously,” I reiterate. “I’ll let you know if I want to come home earlier.”

                “Alright. That’s nice of Tiffany to offer you to sleep over,” she says with a smile. “It makes it a lot easier. But if you do want to come home, just give us a call.”

                I nod. “Will do.”

                “So how’s Dwight these days? You haven’t talked about him much lately.”