My Friend's Dirty Uncle

“You don’t want to go to college?”

“I’m not good at school. I think it would be such a waste,” she said, as she set a few more dresses on the bed.

“But aren’t you going to USC?”

“Yeah, but not by choice. My dad is an alum, so it took next to nothing to get in. I want to be a fashion designer. I’d rather go to art school, but when I mentioned it, I thought my dad was going to have a heart attack. So I haven’t brought it up again.” She took one of the dresses and brought it up to me. “I don’t want to spoil our night by talking about this depressing stuff.”

“Why, what are we doing?” I asked, as I looked at the dress she was holding up to me. It was a slinky black outfit that looked like it wouldn’t even cover my ass.

“Well, if you’re going to spend the summer with me, what better way to start it than with a party?” Justine said, as she thrust the dress at me and pushed me toward the bathroom. “Now, go change. We don’t have all night, and I still have to do your make-up.”

“I don’t really know about this dress…,” I hedged, examining the outfit more closely. It seemed to have only thin straps holding it up. There was no way this was going to fit me.

Justine sighed. “Look, this summer you are going to have to trust me. I’ve lived here my whole life! I know exactly what to do in order to fit in. Don’t you want to fit it?”

The idea of sticking out was not at all appealing to me. I already felt alien around my own family. I looked back at Justine and smiled weakly. Because if I was going to have the best summer of my life, I had to let go a little bit. No more uptight Dani, hellbent on her studies. Instead, this was supposed to be a summer of fun and reacquainting myself with family.

So I shot a weak smile at my cousin. I did trust Justine. I knew she was going to take me places I had never been before, so I took a deep breath and nodded my head.

“Good,” she said, that wicked smile coming back on her face. “Now go try on that dress.

***

A few hours later, I was already regretting it. I pulled my dress down for the ninth time as we walked up the steps of the second biggest house I had ever seen … at least, that day. The mansion was an enormous white monster, kind of like a cross between the White House and Buckingham Palace, if that’s possible. Music blared from the front door as colored lights flashed in the windows. I put my arms around my shoulders, already a little nervous.

Justine turned to me, cocking her head to the side. “Stop with the awkward hand movements. You look like a deer caught in the headlights. If you go in there like that, they’re going to eat you alive.”

“But this dress,” I said, as I pulled the fabric down again, trying to bring the hem to my knees. “It doesn’t fit!”

“Stop yanking at it,” Justine scolded. She swatted my hand away. “You’re going to stretch it! And besides, that dress looks freaking hot on you. You look amazing.”

I had to admit that at least I didn’t feel like myself. After only an hour, my cousin had transformed me into another person. Justine was a whiz with makeup and she’d swept blush and bronzer over my face until I actually looked like I had cheekbones. My eyes were hot and itchy with mascara and shadow but I kept my hands glued to my sides out of fear that I’d ruin her artwork.

I could admit the dress was great too. Sure, it was uncomfortable and insanely small, but it hugged my body in all the right places, making my curves look like curves and not fat lumps. But that didn’t stop the fact that I felt utterly naked in the thin piece of material. I knew I’d have been more comfortable in jeans.

Justine went to knock on the door. I could hear music blaring on the other side. “Just take a deep breath. I’ll be right next you. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay,” I said finally. “But you better not ditch me.”

The door was unlocked, and my cousin swung the wood open. Loud music greeted us as the blonde led me inside. I shut the door behind me and turned around the look at my surroundings. There were people everywhere, pouring out of every room. Mostly kids around my age, holding red cups. Some people were dancing, others were just chilling and talking. It looked exactly like the parties I had seen in all the typical teen movies. The only difference was you could tell these kids weren’t your typical kids. They screamed money. Most of the girls were wearing clothes that I’d never seen the likes of before – real designer stuff, not something from Gap and Target. And the guys were dressed up in mostly preppy outfits. They definitely weren’t the sloppy high school kids I was used to seeing back at home, dressed in hoodies and regular jeans.