I smirked, partially convinced.
“Fine. If I find a guy with an eight-pack tonight, I’ll go home with him.”
“Atta girl!”
“But he also has to be phenomenally good-looking with a decent personality,” I said as Evie groaned.
“Oh, please – who cares about personality? It’s a one-night stand. You’ll never see him again!”
“Yeah, well, I need to trust him enough to go home with him, ‘cause there is no way in hell I’m having sex with some guy in Emmett’s house.” I shuddered. “That’s just… gross. And way too weird.”
“Fair enough,” Evie declared, sliding my shoebox across the floor at me. “Now hurry up and put on these fuck-me heels. We got eight-packs to hunt for, and time’s a wastin’.”
2
ALY
“Hold up – what are you wearing under that dress?”
Evie’s question came only once we hit the dance floor at Godsend, the absolute jungle of a nightclub she’d brought me to. Hanging from the ceiling and snaking up the walls were vines upon vines of beautiful flowers and plants, their petals illuminated by the black lights.
At first I liked the lights. Then I realized they lit the white of my bra on fire and made it shine like two blazing suns under my black dress. I was legitimately blinding people on the dance floor. One guy actually passed me, yelped and shielded his eyes like he’d stared at the eclipse. Beyond that, I was getting taunted left and right.
“Hey! Hush!” Evie scolded two girls who shimmied past me and yelled, “Nice bra!”
“It’s okay, I deserve it!” I yelled over the music, still dancing as I stared down at myself. For God’s sake, there were polka dots on the bra. Pink ones. They were so bright they were distracting even me.
“Do you not own a black bra?” Evie shouted over the blaring EDM.
“Do you not recall the fire that ate everything I’ve ever owned?” I countered.
“Shit, right!” Evie cursed, still grooving as she tossed her honey locks over her shoulder. Peering around the floor, she looked back at me and laughed. “Alright, girl, we’ve got way too much weird attention right now. You gotta lose the bra.”
“Really?” I crinkled my nose. I had far too much boobage to dance comfortably without a bra, but Evie was right – I also had way too many guys staring at me with grins that ranged from leering amusement to flat-out creepiness.
“It’s okay, the dress is tight enough to keep the girls contained!” Evie yelled, reading my mind. “Now go, go, go!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll be back!” I shouted before heading off to the bathroom.
The first one I located had a line spilling out the door, but thanks to a shot girl who took pity on my radioactive chest, I managed to find my way to an empty employee bathroom on the second floor.
In the last stall, I peeled Evie’s skintight dress down to my waist, unclasping my bra and laughing at myself as I whipped it off. It had been on clearance at Victoria’s Secret, and for good reason – it was ridiculously over-the-top girly. Even its polka dots had polka dots. But that was precisely why I bought it. Once upon a time, for all the wrong reasons, I was that stone-faced tomboy who wouldn’t cry and scoffed at all things pink. I went as far as to wear undersized sports bras to minimize my curves because I felt the urgent need to hide all shreds of femininity. Like it was something to be ashamed of.
I was stupid then.
So these days, I was making up for all the years I forced myself to be what somebody else wanted. These days, I no longer hid my body. I no longer scoffed at “girly” fashion. Gone were the sports bras, oversized button-ups and shapeless loafers. Replacing them were things I’d always liked but never let myself wear – all the shift dresses, pencil skirts, ballet flats and espadrilles.
And occasionally, the neon polka dot bras.
I snorted at myself as I exited the stall, swinging my bra on my wrist and rather enjoying the feeling of going braless in public for the first time in my adult life. Gathering my hair to the side, I gazed down my front, giving myself permission to admire my heeled feet, my smooth legs and the poor, braless boobs that I’d hidden from the world since the summer they came.
Poor girls. It’s your time to finally shine tonight, I decided with a giggle, reaching under my neckline to give my cleavage a boost. But just as I scooped and lifted, I heard a groan.
“Fuck – what are you doing?”
“Omigod!” I yelped in shock, clasping my hand to my chest as my eyes shot up to see whom the voice belonged to.
Holyshitholyshitholyshit.