Inhibition

Chapter 7

Aubrie’s room was not exactly what Cat had expected it to be. Cat wasn’t one to judge. Really, she wasn’t. On a normal basis. Now, knowing Aubrie as she did, which still wasn’t very well, Cat had gotten an image of this fun, but still cool, popular girl. Emphasis on the cool and popular with an addition of amazingly up to date.

Aubrie was always in the latest things and around the coolest people. Sure, she deigned to spend time with Cat, but in her head, that was how Cat thought about it. She “deigned” to, as in she chose to lower herself. Now, Cat was not one for self-pity, but she could distinguish reality from fantasy. Most of the time.

So when entering Aubrie’s home, Cat was surprised to see that it looked like a normal person’s room; Bright colored, with random clothes strewn everywhere. Well, it looked normal to Cat.

Aubrie also wasn’t jumping around all excited about dressing her. Sure, there was that dangerous sparkle in her eyes that said she was already internally cataloguing everything that may or may not work. But she wasn’t shrieking at Cat and trying to push her around.

Aubrie’s dorm was set up just like Cat’s, with door opening into the kitchen and living room, and three doors leading off into other rooms. Cat didn’t see Aubrie’s roommate, and since Aubrie didn’t say anything, Cat didn’t ask. It felt weird restraining her curiosity, but she did it.

After being forcibly dragged into Aubrie’s room, Cat was sat on the bed while Aubrie disappeared into her closet.

Cat fiddled with her fingers, starting to crack knuckles as she waited. Pop. Pop. Pop-Pop-Pop. POP-POP-POP!

“Stop that!” Aubrie yelled. “Just ‘cause I’m in the closet doesn’t mean I can’t hear you.”

“Fine.” Cat huffed. She sat back down with her hands in her lap, content to whistle herself into boredom.

A glint of something caught her eye. Frowning, Cat walked over to the dresser on the other side of the room. It was a picture frame with lots of girls in it, all lined up and hugging the people on either side of them. They all wore the same black shorts and shirts, and were sitting on their knees. Maybe a team picture? All of their hair was up or pulled back, and they did look the worse for wear. Cat guessed it was a sport of some kind that Aubrie had played, and this was their team picture, but nothing in the picture gave any clues as to what the sport was.

Just then, Aubrie came out of the closet, with lots and lots of clothes thrown over her arm, piled up until Cat could barely see Aubrie’s face through the clothes. With a grace both rare and true, Aubrie managed to maneuver herself and her pile onto the bed, where the clothes were thrown haphazardly down. She then started to arrange them, pairing up shirts and skirts, pants and tank tops, and then laying all the outfits out on the bed.

“Now, let’s get started!” Aubrie walked Cat around the bed where they got to the first outfit . . .

“Not a chance in hell.” Which was immediately vetoed. There was no way that Cat was going out in public in that. And by that Cat meant a short jean skirt that was practically a scarf and a thin, white, strapless shirt that wouldn’t even cover her stomach.

“You’re right. Tonight’s more of a “classy not trashy” night.” Aubrie then moved on to a puke green tank top paired with a flowing brown skirt. Cat just gave Aubrie a look, one of many she learned from Aidan.

They continued on like that, with Aubrie showing and Cat saying “no”. Some outfits actually made it onto Cat’s body, but they were all torn off shortly after.

The red shirt and short skirt had been bad.

The short, ruffled pink dress had looked horrid.

And Cat didn’t even want to start on the green outfit.

But, just when all hope seemed lost, Cat spotted it. Cat was helping Aubrie put away all the clothes that hadn’t worked, when Cat saw the dress hanging on the rack, barely noticeably as it was squeezed between a lot of other, more brightly colored dresses. Immediately, Cat knew that it was the perfect thing for her. She hastily dropped what she was doing, stripped off the clothes she was wearing, and threw on the new dress.

It fit like a glove. The top was heart shaped, sleeveless and fit just well enough that Cat’s breasts weren’t being pushed out and over, nor falling down the dress. The dress nipped in at the waist and the skirt portion was flowed down her legs, folding as it fell and moving around her legs. The dress ended just past mid-thigh, not too short, but still short enough to be cool.

Yet, it was the color of the dress that had really attracted her. It was a motley of dark crimson and bright red, with yellow and orange thrown in. Gold shimmered as Cat moved in the dress, the color splattered across the bottom. The effect of the colors and pattern was a living, flowing fire; molten lava streaming down Cat’s body. It went perfectly with Cat’s pale skin and gold hair.

Aubrie saw the dress on Cat and her eyes lit up. “That’s where that went! I totally forgot that I had it. It really does look nice on you.” She crossed her arms and looked Cat up and down. “Now, to accessorize.”

Aubrie walked back into her closet and brought out a pair of nude heels, about 4 inches tall at the heel with a 1 inch platform. She then walked over to her dresser, where her jewelry box was, and pulled out a thin gold chain with a pendant on it. She handed it to Cat while she walked back into her closet.

Looking down, Cat saw that it was just like the gold choker that Mrs. Wolfe had given her to wear to one of the get-togethers during the break. The moment Cat’s thumb smoothed over the blank pendant, a phoenix sprouted its wings uplifted and ready to fly.

“Sit down at my vanity in the corner.” Aubrie’s voice preceded her appearance. When she walked out, she was wearing a flowing sea foam green dress that hugged her figure and ended in thin pieces of cloth that made up the skirt. She was wearing silver heels, already strapped on and putting in dangling silver earrings as she walked back into her room.

Cat did as she was told and sat at the dark wooded vanity, taking the nude colored heels with her, and slipping them on as she sat. She stared into her own eyes in the mirror and looked over her body, checking for any imperfections. Surprisingly, she found less than usual, and she was relieved. Nobody was perfect, but it felt nice to be closer than she usually was.

When she was seated, Aubrie walked over and set to work attempting to brush her hair. When that didn’t work (because Aubrie got tired of the brush getting stuck and Cat’s screams of pain), Aubrie decided to just leave her hair be. Instead, she grabbed hair from both sides of Cat’s face and twisted them. Then, she tied them and pinned them with bobby pins at the dent at the top of Cat’s neck. All in all, it looked good. Aubrie brushed out her own dark blonde hair and left it completely loose to float around her face.

When given the choice for make-up, Cat went with only a bit of eyeliner and mascara, and Aubrie did the same with just enough to bring out the green in her hazel eyes. Aubrie may have been one for fashion, but Cat was pleasantly surprised to find that she wasn’t really one for makeup. Pleasantly, because Cat hated to lather make-up onto her face, and she would have fought Aubrie if she’d tried. Besides, Cat was too prettily dressed to bury a body.