‘Are you sure I look okay?’ I asked Haley for the thousandth time without taking my eyes from my reflection.
‘You look amazing, Emmy. Honestly, you look so good. It’s weird to see you dressed like this though.’ Haley commented, stepping into eyesight behind me and I bit my lip.
‘I know, I can’t remember ever dressing up this fancy.’ My stomach was churning. Justin was picking me up in twenty minutes to go to a charity gala that his parents were hosting and I was terrified. I half knew what to expect, I had overheard many conversations while I served the elite at The Marionette about planning for various ones over the years, and I had even worked as a waitress at one when I was living back in Portland but I had never attended one.
Everyone there was going to be able to see right through this dress and the hair, Hell some of the more attentive one may even recognise me. I wouldn’t be able to participate in their chatter and God knows what I would do if Justin left me alone to mingle.
Over the past month, I had never really paid much attention to the obvious differences between Justin and me. I hadn’t really thought about who his father was and where he went to work every day with hundreds of people below him. He was always just Justin to me, if anything I associated him with Phantom and the races, my world, not the caviar and twenty thousand dollar wine world that I knew I would be walking into tonight.
‘When’s Justin coming?’ Haley asked, brushing some of her hair behind her ear and flopping back onto my bed.
‘Fifteen minutes, but I’m going to call him and tell him I’m sick. I can’t do this.’ I panicked.
‘Emmy,’ Haley laughed. ‘Come on, yes you can. Look at yourself.’ She demanded.
Grouchily, I turned my attention from my phone back to the full length mirror and eyed myself. The pale blue dress that I had found on sale which made me nearly die from relief, it covered my feet so I was tempted to wear Vans. Instead, Haley forced a pair of her silver six inch pumps upon me. My hair was curled at the bottom with half of it tied up and a few tendrils loose to frame my face. Haley had gone a little over board with the makeup so I had to wash it all off and start again. I had just applied some foundation and mascara with an extremely thin line of eyeliner. I had run a light pink lipstick across my cupid bow mouth before being happy with my makeup, it was understated but suited the dress well. It was amazing what a nice dress could do. I almost felt like Cinderella, dressed up for the ball. ‘But what am I going to say to these people?’ I asked exasperated.
‘I don’t know but you look perfect. You’ll be fine. I have faith in you.’
I swallowed and nodded, checking inside my silver bag. It only had my phone, keys in it and of course my cigarettes and lighter, with the blue handkerchief folded neatly inside. I let a smile form on my face.
Justin and I had been stealing the handkerchief from each other every time we spent any amount of time together. It had become a little game that we played and I loved finding places to hide it so Justin would have to look harder.
Justin and I had become so close over the past week, seeing each other every day for lunch or just hanging out at my apartment. It was a lot of fun getting to know him better. I was more relieved than I would care to admit to find myself waking up with Justin’s arms wrapped around me Sunday morning. He was warm and when I had tried to move to pee he had nuzzled into my hair, pulling me closer. It caused this warm rush to flow through me so I had turned over and buried my face in his chest, inhaling his scent and slipping my leg between his to get even closer to him. I had woken up again a few hours later to Justin cooking breakfast, he had actually cooked for me.
