“Oh. I never thought of that,” I said.
“That’s good advice,” said Judijean. She took a sip of champagne, nodding thoughtfully.
“What if I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong?” I asked. “It’s hard to stop doing something if you aren’t aware what it is that you’re doing.”
“Well,” said Maggie, “maybe you can find a friend on the show and ask her. I mean, if it comes to that.”
“Which it won’t,” said Betsy.
“Don’t worry, Emma,” said Rachel. “You’ll be great.”
“I don’t think you should ask anyone what you’re doing wrong,” said Lauren. “It will be like relinquishing control. The producers will surely get it on film and you’ll look dumb.”
“The dumber she looks the longer they’ll keep her on the show,” said Maggie.
“I thought you were trying to help me,” I said.
“I am!”
“But it’s up to Bellamy how long she makes it,” said Judijean, “so she needs to not screw it up with him.”
“Judijean is right,” I said. “Let’s stop talking about it. I will just be myself and hope for the best.”
“Good plan,” everyone agr
eed, nodding.
“Where were we,” said Maggie, unzipping a garment bag and pulling out a navy strapless gown. “This one retailed for almost ten thousand dollars. You’ll definitely want to take it with you.”
“She sure will,” said Lauren, passing it on to Judijean to hang up.
“We’d better start the fashion show,” said Rachel, glancing at her watch.
“I can’t believe I’m going to get to wear all these fancy clothes,” I said, grabbing a heap of clothes and taking off down the hall to Betsy’s bathroom to try them on.
“You’re going to have to get over your fear of public nakedness,” Betsy shouted after me.
I ignored her, returning in the navy dress. It was amazing. Insane. Perfect. I stuffed my feet into some businessy pumps for height and spun around in front of them.
“You aren’t serious about those brown shoes, are you?” Maggie asked, mortified.
“No, I’m just wearing them so the dress doesn’t drag on the ground.”
“Whew! You were making me really nervous.”
“Don’t worry, Maggie,” said Betsy. “Emma has good fashion sense.”
“That looks gorgeous,” Lauren said to me.
“I love it,” said Rachel.
“I think you should wear it when you first meet him,” said Judijean.
My confidence rising, I went back to the bathroom and returned in the gold dress. This time I made a point to pair it with strappy sandals.
“Lovely,” said fashion-expert Maggie.
“Divine,” said Rachel.