“Nah,” she shakes her head. “It looks nice on you. It helps accentuate your features.”
“Look at you talking all professional,” I tease her for her choice of words, but as I glance in the mirror, I realize my hair’s down to my waist already.
“I’ll cut it if it gets any longer,” I profess.
“If you try, I’ll tie you to your bed,” Holly-Anne threatens. “Then I’ll invite your dudes over to fuck some sense into you. It’s gorgeous, Kara.”
“Even my eyes look brighter blue,” I admit as a humbling afterthought, more to myself than to Holly-Anne.
Chase and Eric have really paved the way for me. I owe everything to them.
“I have to really work hard to keep the weight off this time.” I say it like I mean it.
“Oh, stop beating yourself up.” Holly-Anne rolls her eyes.
“Isn’t that the female nature, though?”
Holly-Anne shrugs. “We’re our worst critics. Inside and out. You are going to be a rock star tomorrow at the pageant, though. You’re gonna blow the rest of those bimbos away.”
“I can’t wait,” I admit. In all honesty, I’m so excited that it’s all I can really think about.
I’m so consumed with the fact that I’ve come this far. I’ll be arriving at the Miss Sexy USA Pageant tomorrow feeling better than ever about myself with a surge of newfound confidence.
I grab my phone, getting an idea.
“Let’s post a selfie,” I say.
Holly-Anne is never one turn down an opportunity to take a selfie, so she scoots in close to me and purses her lips sexily.
“What are we posing for?”
“We’re celebrating,” I tell her and lean in so that our cheeks are touching. “I have the perfect caption, too.”
We take several pictures and then mull over which one best shows our features, makeup, and our hair.
It’s not as easy as it looks.
It’s not just saying, one, two, three, and then, click! ?there we are, uploading a picture. No, now there are expectations and shit. We have to look the part we’re playing: sexy BFFs, one of whom is about to get naked on national television tomorrow.
Once we pick the one that makes us look the sexiest, I upload it with the caption:
Feeling sexy for Miss Sexy USA Pageant! I’m ready to bare it all ;) Thanks for all the love and support!
I seal it with a kiss emoji and hit the share button.
In a matter of minutes, I get over a hundred likes. I scroll through them with gratitude in my heart. Then, I see a name that leaves a sour taste in my mouth and makes me full of bitter contempt.
“Fucking shit,” I snarl.
“What is it?” Holly-Anne grabs the phone from me to see for herself. “Ugh. Fuck that dude.”
Ryan’s name is on my screen with a little heart next to it.
That asshole had the audacity to like my pic.
“Don’t let this get to you,” Holly-Anne advises. “He’s either trying to fuck with you before the big day, or he’s realized how bad he fucked up when he dumped you. Either way—he can eat a dick.”
“Agreed,” I say, turning my phone off for the night. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, and I don’t want to be thinking about the past—I want to be looking forward to my future.