“Photography. It sounded cool, even though I didn’t even own a freaking camera. I just wanted to do something else. Of course then I woke up in the middle of the night and pictured Dad’s face when I told him I didn’t want to work for the company and I was waiting at the guidance office before they opened the next morning to change it back. I never told my parents.” It had been a moment of insanity, and I’d never told anyone about it, not even Sloane.
“I can’t picture that, but I’m sure you would have been a great photographer.” No, I would have been bad at. I couldn’t even take a decent selfie with my phone.
I shrugged and another candle went out.
“We should probably get out before the water gets too cold. Are you hungry?”
“Yeah. I barely ate anything today.” It was a miracle that my stomach hadn’t growled yet.
“Well, we’ll have to do something about that.” He got up and got a towel before he pulled me out of the tub and wrapped me in it, rubbing the water from my body before he wrapped one around his waist.
“I can walk. I think.” I might have moved a little slower than normal, but I made my way back to the couch and slumped on it. Lucah brought me some clothes and I got dressed as he made dinner in his boxers and a t-shirt.
“Can I look at your rooms now?”
“You can look at them anytime you want.” He stirred spaghetti into a pot of boiling water and jerked his head at the three doors. It felt weird looking at these rooms with him here, but I got up and went to door number one.
It was just a closet, really, and was stacked with boxes. None of them were labeled, and despite what he said, I didn’t feel comfortable going through them, so I went to the second door. This room was a little bit bigger, more of a small office size, but it too was filled with boxes, and his guitar. I walked in and shut the door behind me.
I pulled open one box and found there were a bunch of books in there. I skimmed some of the titles and they were some of my favorites. The next box had pictures in it and I flipped through some of them. They were of Lucah when he was younger and oh, boy. This was some quality blackmail material. I made a note to come back and look at those things later.
The rest of the boxes were also books and photographs and some yearbooks and other little things like band shirts and sweatshirts and so forth.
His life was in these boxes, his past, who he really was. Packed and locked away. It was almost tragic, that he had to keep this hidden. I found a few framed photographs with him and two little girls who had to be his nieces, and I gathered them into my arms before going back out into the living room.
Lucah didn’t comment as I placed the pictures on the coffee table and then went back and got some more of his stuff and put it out. I went into the third room and found even more stuff and put that out.
When I was done, all three doors were open and his apartment actually looked like a home. I went to the kitchen and put my arms around him from behind.
“You’re not going to comment on my redecorating?” I said as he stirred some spaghetti sauce so it didn’t burn.
“I haven’t lived in an apartment with my things all out in four years. It’s . . . it’s going to take some getting used to. But it’s nice to see my pretty girls again. Now we just need to put some pictures of you around.” Ugh, I didn’t. I wasn’t that fond of pictures of myself. But if he would be in them with me, that would be okay.
“No nude shots, okay?”
“Oh, I have some of those already,” he said, pouring the sauce over the pasta and stirring it together.
“Shut up, you do not.” I smacked him and he turned around and gave me a smile.
“Maybe I do and maybe I don’t.” I narrowed my eyes. I didn’t want any naked pictures of me to exist. I pinched his butt, and he just kept smiling.
“Asshole,” I said as he carried the spaghetti over to the coffee table which was now cluttered with photographs and other things. I’d also brought out his guitar and propped it against the wall. I was hoping for a performance later. That would be the only thing that would make this night better.
36
“What do you think?” Sloane said as she adjusted the skirt of my dress.
I was officially wearing the most beautiful dress in the history of dresses. Eat your heart out, Scarlet O’Hara. That bitch had nothing on this.
The fabric was black with almost a flower pattern on it that you could only see when you got up close. I swiveled my hips back and forth and listened as the dress swished and moved like a bell.
“Is it possible for me to wear this every single day for the rest of my life? Because I’d love for that to happen.” I would clean in this dress. I would sleep in this dress. “I’m never taking it off.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure Lucah is going to want to take it off you. And it’s going to get pretty funky if you don’t wash it.” She played with the skirt again and I spun all the way around. I wasn’t wearing a tiara, but it didn’t matter. I felt like a princess. Where were the woodland creatures to help me with all my chores?
“Okay, now that you’re set, wanna see my dress?” She wiggled her eyebrows and I had been afraid of this.
“Okay, so we have to talk about that. I know I said I was going to take you as my date, but that was before Lucah got done, and now he’s not going to be able to go, so that means Marisol and Chloe are out as well.” I’d been trying to think of a solution to that, but I didn’t have one and the event was next week.
“So basically you’re telling me that you’re going to invite your boyfriend and bail on me,” she said as I stepped away from the mirror.
“No! No, I’m not saying that. I’m just trying to figure out how I can still get all of you in. So. I’m going to ask Dad if I can just invite all of you. Sure, it’s probably going to piss people off, but I don’t give a shit. I want all of you there.” Sloane beamed and hugged me, being careful not to smush the dress. It was going to get smushed when I danced, but I wanted to keep it perfect until then.
“You are awesome! Okay, let me just put my dress on and then you can tell me how fabulous I look.” She dashed into her changing room and came out a few minutes later wearing a dress that was even better than the drawing she’d shown me. The cutouts were more daring, and plunging, but there was black sheer material that covered her (sort of) so she didn’t look like she was wearing anything too revealing. The rest of the fabric was silk and white with large black tropical flowers printed on it. She spun slowly and I got a look at the back.