Paradise Lost (Private 9)

then it flowed out into a floaty ankle-length skirt. It was made out of a beautiful green-and-blue silk print that perfectly evoked the ocean outside the shop's windows. I couldn't help but wonder what Upton would think of it.

Not that I was going there.

"She's right. It's perfect. Sexy, but not slutty," Noelle said as she shoved aside hanger after hanger on the round rack in the center of the store.

"Kind of like you!" Taylor added, earning a laugh from Noelle and Kiran. She handed me a little black dress with brown beading along the hem.

I glanced at the price tag on the garment and grimaced. "Honestly. I'm really not comfortable with this."

"Well, I'm not comfortable being seen with you in Old Navy all week, so just do it for me," Kiran replied.

"Ouch," I said, not really offended.

"I say these things with love," she told me. Then she took a look at my face and rolled her eyes. "Would it help if I told you I was charging it all to my agency?"

"How are you doing that?" I asked.

"I got an expense account when I landed the cosmetics gig," she said with a one-shouldered shrug. "I could be photographed at any moment, so I always have to look runway-worthy. How are they going to know these clothes are for you and not for me?"

I hesitated for a second, fingering the smooth fabric of the black dress. "You're sure?"

55

"I'm sure," she said. Then she forcibly turned me around and shoved me back into the dressing room with an armful of clothes. "Try the red. You look good in red." She snatched the colorful curtain closed in front of my face.

I took a deep breath and looked at my own eyes in the mirror. Sometimes when Noelle and the others insisted on buying me things, I felt like such a charity case. And I wasn't. I didn't need these things to survive. But I did need them to hang out with these girls. At least, that was how I felt sometimes. Like when Kiran said as much to my face, part of me wanted to walk out and just hand over all this stuff and say no. But then again, if Kiran wanted to use her expense account on me, who was I to stop her?

"Reed! Are you having a wardrobe malfunction?" Kiran called. "We want to see the next dress."

"I'll be right out," I replied. I changed into the red dress and stepped out of the dressing room.

Kiran's eyes widened, and she whistled. "Damn. Okay, not that one. You look hotter than me in that."

"Really?" I asked.

"Which is why she's definitely getting it!" Noelle put in, shoving me back inside to change again.

Fifteen minutes later, we had decided on three dresses and one top-and-skirt combo. Kiran took it all up to the register without even checking the price tags. I wondered if she had ever thought about the cost of anything in her life. Or if any of these girls had. Most likely not.

56

I joined Noelle and Taylor on the other side of the small boutique, where they were trying on wide-brimmed straw hats and checking themselves out in the countertop mirrors. I came up behind them and slung a gaudy pink-and-yellow scarf around my neck for fun.

"You should wear the green-and-blue to the party tonight," Taylor said, donning a pair of rhinestone-rimmed sunglasses.

"Didn't we just have a party last night?" I asked.

Noelle and Taylor exchanged a look in the mirror and laughed. "Yes, but this is the first party at the Simon Hotel," Noelle said, shedding a white hat and reaching for a black one. "Tonight, we party the way we were meant to party."

"Like rock stars?" I joked.

"Well, of course," Taylor replied, pursing her lips and tipping back her head. Then her eyes lit up. "Oh, and you'll finally get to meet Poppy!"

"Taylor loves Poppy," Noelle said, laying aside the hat and running her fingers through her hair.

"What's not to love? Poppy is the coolest," Taylor said enthusiastically. "We all love her."

I glanced at Noelle, who shrugged. "She's right. We do."