The Strays ⎈John B Routledge⎈

Party Crashers

Chapter 12: Party Crashers

The last week had been relatively dull. Most of the Pogues were still incredibly banged up and had been using the time to recoup. John B had picked up a few extra shifts whereas CJ had opted to use some of her vacation time. She could easily work still, but a few extra days off didn't sound too horrible. Besides, John B had insisted that she need to rest. So, she traded cooking food and waiting tables for helping JJ fix up the van. It had broken down, so anytime JJ wasn't off cleaning up the island for extra cash, they were working on it.

By now, the bruises from Luke Maybank's assault were practically gone. They all were on the outside, but the deeper bruising in the ribs had been worsened by their latest fight. No remnants of that tussle could be seen in the face, but if you looked lower, the Pogues still wore patches of blue and yellow.

This was good for what day it was. July fifteenth, the day Midsummers was held every year. CJ always found it ridiculous that the Kook's legitimately had a big party just because it was the middle of the summer. Kie had begged the Maybank to go with her and despite desperately wanting to do anything other than attend a Kook ball, CJ was a good friend. Meaning she was now standing in Kie's bedroom looking through dresses. At least she got to use the girl's fancy jacuzzi tub.

"What about this one?" The islander questioned, holding up a floor-length blue gown. CJ titled her head slightly, looked it over, and shook her head. In response, the girl groaned, throwing her head back in exhaustion. "I don't even want to go to this stupid thing. I hate this."

"Yeah, well your mom might not despise me, but if you don't find something to wear soon, she will blame me." CJ reminded her, snacking on a graham cracker.

Kie huffed, walking back to her closet to stuff the thing back in. With a bit of shuffling, she pulled out the next one; a purple piece the seemed to be made entirely of silk. It had bikini straps and the material over the chest fell a little in the middle. Not enough that it would show anything, but enough that it looked sophisticated and classy. "What about this one?"

CJ took a moment to look it over. It would compliment her skin tone nicely and keep her cool. Running her eyes over the material one more time, the Maybank met her friend's eyes and nodded her head with a timid smile.

"Oh, thank god, now we can start getting ready."

The first thing the girls did was take off their bracelets. Where Kie had a bunch over her right wrist, all of CJ's were on her left. They consisted of small music bands and braided leather or string. Kie's necklaces were pulled off next, along with the chain around CJ's neck that held a key to the tiny cabin. That was put in her shorts pocket. Neither of them took off their rings as they never did. The one on CJ's middle finger matched the only one Kie wore and the one on her pinky matched the one on JJ's; they made them when they were eleven.

While Kie slid the purple dress over her legs, CJ pulled up a midnight blue one. This one had two-finger width straps and a v-line neck. It showed off a good amount of cleavage and had a high-low bottom; the front ended just past her knees, but the back continued down to her ankles. Where the top was tight, it tiered off at her waist, ending in a pretty ruffled out bottom with about a foot of lacey overlay.

The girls chatted about random things and fastened dangly silver necklaces from each other's necks. Kie wore a pair of earrings as well, but CJ didn't even have her ears pierced.

After a while, Kie's mom finally came around and helped them with their hair. CJ would gladly just go with it how it was, but the woman insisted that it needed to be touched up. So, CJ's natural beach curls were pinned up until it looked like she had a short bob. She had no idea how the woman had accomplished this, but she had to admit, it looked nice.