A smile tugs at my lips. It’s strange, having people who simply decided we’re friends now. No negotiation, no careful testing of boundaries. They just claimed me, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Having finished her business, Cinnamon tugs on the leash. We walk back to our building through the darkening streets, my excitement building with each step. I have plans with friends who want to spend time with me. The novelty still hasn’t worn off.
By the time we get home, it’s nearly eight o’clock. Fresh water goes into Cinnamon’s bowl, and I make sure her food dish is full. She curls up in her bed with a contented sigh, already half asleep.
“Sweet dreams, beautiful,” I whisper, scratching behind her ears.
The doorbell rings. My hand keeps petting Cinnamon’s soft fur.
The bell rings again, more insistent this time.
When I open the door, Anne and Sienna are standing there, grinning like they’re about to commit a felony. Anne holds a bulging plastic bag in one hand. They’re both wearing short, sparkly dresses.
“Ready for dinner?” Sienna asks, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
The bag gets a wary look from me. “What’s that?”
“Backups,” Anne says, pushing past me into the penthouse.
“Backups for what?”
Anne turns to me with a smile that makes my stomach drop. “You’ll find out. Now, what are you planning to wear?”
They follow me to my bedroom. A simple cream blouse and a knee-length navy skirt emerge from my closet. “I wasthinking this?”
Anne and Sienna exchange a look. The kind of look that speaks volumes without a single word passing between them.
“Absolutely not,” Sienna says.
Before I can protest, Anne dumps the contents of the plastic bag onto my bed. Dresses spill across the comforter. Very small dresses. Tiny scraps of fabric in jewel tones and blacks, glittering under my bedroom light.
I dangle one dress between my fingers like it might bite me. “Aren’t these a little…skimpy?”
Anne grins. “They are perfectly appropriate for where we’re going.”
A pulse of anxiety hits. “I thought we were going out for dinner.”
Sienna laughs, the sound bright and unrepentant. “Yeah, at a bar. They have very good food there.”
“A bar?” The dress drops from my hand back onto the bed. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
“Oh, come on.” Anne starts rifling through the pile of dresses, holding them up against me one by one. “You need to let loose once in a while. Have some fun. Be a normal twenty-four-year-old for once.”
“I am normal,” I mutter, but even I don’t believe it.
“You work constantly, you barely talk to anyone, and you live in this gorgeous penthouse all alone except for your puppy.” Sienna’s voice is gentler now. “When was the last time you actually went out and enjoyed yourself?”
My mouth opens to answer, but I realize I can’t remember. Before the housewarming party, I spent most nights reading or training or trying to fill the silence with anything that wasn’t my own thoughts.
“Fine,” I say. “But nothing too crazy.”
Anne holds up a black dress that looks like it might cover the absolutely essential parts of my body and nothing more. “This one.”
“That’s basically lingerie.”
“That’s the point.” Sienna is already pulling off her jacket, revealing her own tiny dress underneath. “Trust us, you’re going to look amazing.”
Ten minutes later, the mirror shows me a stranger. The black dressclings to every curve, the hem hitting just below my butt. The neckline plunges low enough to make me nervous, held together with thin straps that feel like they might snap at any moment.
