"I'm not going to be your wing woman," Cami stated coldly after she had changed out of her ridiculous work uniform into normal clothes. That was often her favorite part of the day: when she got to take off the ridiculous red and pink striped dress to throw on a dark oversized sweater and shorts. Gio, who was also changing, did not mind the uniform as much but she too felt immense relief when she got to hang it up. Nany had left long before to tend to Kitty, and unfortunately, she did not get to see the three foreigners.
"Pleeease!" Gio sang, making a puppy face at Cami as if it were going to have any effect on her.
"Why do I have to pretend to like that stuck-up weirdo? Take your cousin."
"Nany had to take care of Kitty," Gio reminded her, "and besides, you have no choice. I'm your ride home."
Cami opened her mouth but surprisingly, no snarky remark left her lips: she truly did not have a witty comeback. Gio was right, otherwise she would have to venture to walk back home in the dark, risking her body, possessions and life, or worse- being seen by a friendly neighbor who tried to strike conversation. She would have to suck up her pride and tolerate the scholar in candy corn attire.
"I have nothing nice to wear," Cami finally retorted after a solid minute.
"So? We'll stop by your house before going to mine."
"We can't go to my house," Cami said, alarmed, "my grandpa would kill me if he found out I was going out at night. I'd rather tell him we finished late at the restaurant."
"Fine, I'll let you borrow my clothes."
"That's generous but you're assuming I want to impress someone," Cami said, proud, "if I go I'm going in my hobo attire," pointing at her clothes.
"That's fine by me," Gio said. By that point, she could not care less- she was even willing to pay Cami to come with her.
Once they finished locking down the restaurant, they hopped on Gio's car and went to her house. Gio's mom was not home from work yet, thank goodness, and her older brother was out with his own friends. While Gio showered and picked out a nice outfit to wear, Cami scrolled through memes on her phone.
"Don't you want to do your makeup at least?" Gio asked, but regretted it immediately afterwards.
Makeup hit a soft spot in the hardened heart of the girl who was forced to drop out of Cosmetology.
"I'm not trying to impress anyone," Cami said to diffuse the situation. After Gio was done, the contrast between the two was impressive: Gio looked like she could belong on a magazine cover, with her long, shiny hair flowing over a new floral romper that her mom had bought her. Cami, in exchange, sported dark- Chanel- bags under her eyes and messy hair, damaged by all the dyes she had tried out in her student days.
"What's the plan?" Cami asked.
"I thought we could go to Cloudy's," Gio mentioned, nonchalantly. Cami was shocked.
Cloudy's was a club located near the town's community college, known for its wild parties and several run-ins with the law for numerous reasons. Neither of them had ever been into the wild parties that took place in their high school, so it seemed extremely rare for Cami that Gio would want to initiate herself at Cloudy's.
"Are you insane?" Cami said in disgust.
"No," Gio said,"but since they're not from here, I think they should see the best."
"You don't even drink!" Cami accused her.
"Listen, we'll go to Cloudy's in like a half an hour," Gio said looking at the clock, "which is early in terms of party culture- don't worry, the kids at college have educated me. Then we can all sit down to have drinks, I go dance with Taehyung a little while you keep Namjoon entertained and we come back early, before the club actually gets wild."
