Marina grins. “Knew it. I knew it. Let’s get ready at my place tonight. We need to make sure you look hot.”
Rose nods. “Like hot hot.”
Madeline says, “That’s going to be easy.”
I question all of the life decisions that have led me to this moment because, somehow, I am standing in Marina and Rose’s dorm on campus, feeling envious that I decided not to live in a dorm, and allowing them to do my makeup, which, to my surprise, isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.
“You are so pretty,” Madeline says as she grabs my hair and curls it with the hot iron.
I feel like I’m getting hair and makeup down for a campaign right now, but the fact that it’s my friends–– I have real friends–– doing it out of generosity makes me feel loved in a way that I’ve never had before. I’ve never had girlfriends like this.
I pull out my phone and take a mirror selfie with their smiling faces, laughing. “Can I post that?”
“Oh my god,” Rose blurts. “How many followers do you have?”
I chuckle. “I don’t have to post it.”
“No, post it,” Marina says. “Tag us so we can repost it. Actually, let’s take more pictures.”
The dorm turns into a photoshoot as we stand in every corner and take candid photos of each other, but my favorites are the self-timer photos where we’re laughing our heads off because Madeline jumped on Rose and made her fall to the ground. I hit record, not wanting to miss a single moment of this. Marina gets into the camera’s lens and says, “We’re going to make sure Dylan drools when she walks in.”
I shake my head. “No, no, no.”
Madeline scoffs. “Yes, yes, yes, girl! Look at you.” She steals my phone and films me. I do a twirl in the knee-length skirt with knee-high boots and long-sleeve crop top. Eventually, I stop recording and help with their makeup and outfits. All of our hair is curled, our faces smothered in makeup and glitter, and if I’m being honest, I don’t want to leave this dorm room. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while.
When we reach Rocky’s, we all link arms and walk up the lawn.
“Thank you, Marina,” I say, leaning into her. “This has been so much fun.”
“The night’s only begun.” She leans closer. “I just needed to stop being a jealous bitch. I’m glad to have you as a friend, Ce.”
That almost brings tears to my eyes. Her admitting she was jealous and letting her guard down around me finally. This whole time, I didn’t exactly like Marina, but how could I, when she’s been jealous the entire time? I pull her into a hug and say, “Thank you,” again.
She hugs me back, and it’s healing every piece of me that keeps my guard up. I’ll never underestimate the power of being honest because it’s what helps us grow.
“I needed to hear you say that.”
She grabs my face, confused. “One week of you, and I finally get it. You have a good heart, and you deserve to be happy. Now let’s get in there and show Dylan what he’s been missing!”
I shake my head. “It’s never been about Dylan. This is what I want. I want a group of girlfriends like you guys.”
“Aww,” Madeline and Rose say as they all pull me into a hug.
I hug them back and linger for a moment.
When they pull away, I wipe the small tears from my eyes and say, “Are you guys drinking?”
Marina asks, “Are you?”
I shake my head.
They shrug. “Maybe just one. Come on.”
29
Dylan
The moment someone walks into the room, I swear everyone turns their head. It takes me a second to understand what’s going on until I see her.
