Because of you (20 page)

“
Compared to my family you’re all angels,” I say jokingly.

Chapter 16

Aaliyah

I’m standing in front of the Loren boutique, where they sell elegant garments in the higher price range, and waiting for Addison to join me. When she found out Ryder will be taking me to the ball, she insisted we go together and help each other to choose a dress. As the last lecture ended half an hour ago, I decided to walk here since it’s not that far. Addison is not here yet, and I hear m
y phone ringing faintly
from the purse. I am sure it’s her, so I don’t look at the screen when I answer.

“
Hi, Addison, you’re late, where are you?”

“
Addison, huh?” I am surprised to hear a hoarse voice on the other side of the line.

Caden.

“What do you want from me? I already told you I don’t have any copies.”

“
What? Do I have to have a reason to call my favorite niece?” Why can’t he leave me alone, now that he’s gotten what he was looking for?

“
Leave me alone!” I yell, angrily end the call and stick the phone in the purse. I hear Addison’s voice calling me from the distance, and she’s waving, walking quickly toward me.

“
I’m sorry I’m late, we were writing a paper for some project in Business, and it took longer than I thought.” I’m not really listening to her, trying to figure out why Caden is still bothering me, when I don’t have any more proof against him.

“
It’s okay, I haven’t been waiting long.” We open the door and enter the boutique. The owner, Loren, immediately greets us and takes us into the second room, where a few black, white and black-and-white evening dresses are waiting for us.
I catch my breath
when I see such gorgeous creations. And here I thought the shopping mall had beautiful clothes—this is something else entirely. Loren shows us each three dresses she prepared for us. We go to the dressing room and put them on. They’re all pretty, but none of them reflects my personality. I don’t feel comfortable in any of them—the first
one i
s too big, the second
one
too revealing and the third
one
is too tight around my chest area. I hang them back on the hangers and take them to Loren, so I can try on some others. Addison is standing in front of the mirror, wearing a very intriguing dress—it looks like it was made for her. It is completely black and made of lace. It’s sleeveless and reaches to the middle of her thighs, but the transparent black chiffon, attached to the hem of the dress, reaches to the floor. She’s wearing lacy gloves that reach to her elbows. A big bow on the hip surprisingly doesn’t look weird, it gives the dress an edge.

“
I think you found the one, and on the first try,” I say excitedly as I touch the fabric of her dress.

“
I love it,” she says dreamily, when she turns around and looks at the back. “I think I’m going to take this one. I’ll try on some more, but I’m pretty certain this is the one.” Her gaze falls on the dresses in my hands, hanging from the hangers.

“
Not one?” she asks with a raised eyebrow. I shake my head no and go see the rest. After an hour of trying them on I collapse on the settee in the middle of the room, exhausted. Addison is still walking in and out of the dressing room, always a different dress on her.

“
I can’t do this anymore,” I say, raising my arms in the air. “I give up.”

Addison goes to the counter with Loren to pay for her dress. She decided to get the black lacy dress, and I completely agree—it looked wonderful on her. A little disappointed in not finding a dress for myself, I walk through the front part of the boutique while I wait for Addison. Suddenly, a long black-and-white dress, wrapped in a transparent dress-bag, catches my attention. I carefully pull down the zipper of the bag and run my fingers over the silky smooth fabric. Apparently I’ve been admiring it for quite a while, as Addison and Loren approach me.

“
This one just came in. I didn’t even put a price tag on it yet. It’s gorgeous, right? Would you like to try it on?”

“
Can I?” I ask hesitantly. I don’t know if it’s available for purchase yet.

“
Of course, sweetie.” She takes the dress out of the bag and leads me to the dressing room, while Addison patiently sits on the settee, sipping coffee. I carefully step into the dress and pull it higher, put my arms through the holes and put it on. The bodice is white and a little puffed, shading into grey under the breasts, where crystals are sewn into the dress, and the skirt of the dress is black, reaching to the floor. A few shiny crystals on the shoulder make the dress more interesting. The skirt is flowy and the material looks like silk, gently falling to the ground. If I lift my leg a little a slit reaching almost to my hips is visible. The most interesting part of the dress is the back—there is none. The dress is backless to the top of my butt. Crystals trace the edges of the lower back part of the dress and connect with the crystals under the breasts.

“
Wow, Aaliyah, I almost didn’t recognize you. The dress is divine, you have to take it. It fits you like a glove.” Addison is staring at me with mouth wide open, thrilled by what she sees. I am speechless. I look at myself in the mirror and admire the beautiful garment. I’ve never seen a more gorgeous dress before.

“
How much does it cost?” I bite my lip, expecting to hear a big number. But as she tells me how expensive it is, I get dizzy and need a few minutes to collect myself. The number is much higher than I anticipated. I close my eyes in disappointment and quietly go into the dressing room to change. “I knew it was too good to be true,” I whisper as I dress in my ripped jeans and washed out shirt. I carefully put the dress in Loren’s hands and head toward the exit, downhearted. Where am I going to find an appropriate dress right before the ball? I look at Addison, urging her with my eyes to leave. She looks at me with surprise and walks to me.

“
What is wrong?” I shake my head.

“
Addison, it’s way too expensive, no way I can afford it. I’ll look elsewhere, maybe I can still find something in time.” I open the door and step outside, but Addison doesn’t follow. A few moments pass and when she’s still not coming out, I go in again and find her by the counter, where Loren just put the dress I tried on earlier in a box and gave it to Addison. Addison handed her a credit card. “What are you doing?” I ask as I approach her.

“
Buying the dress, what else. Ryder said he’s going to buy us dresses, and he gave me his credit card. I already bought mine, and I just paid for yours.”

When we’re on the street again, I manage to pull myself together enough so I can speak. “Why did you do that? I told you it was too expensive. I will never be able to pay him back.”

“Shhh, quiet now. He told me not to look at prices and buy something nice. And we bought something nice – I’m just following his orders.” I shake my head in surrender.

“
But I don’t want him thinking he has to buy me things. I don’t need anything from him except
for
himself.” She wraps her fingers around my upper arm and looks me in the eye.

“
Hey, don’t worry – he knows that.”

Next, we go to the store that sells masks. There are many different models, but we are
only interested in elegant black masks that cover everything but the eyes.

“
Addison, this one would be perfect for you,” I raise it and show it to her. It looks like it is made of lace, it has an interesting design and it matches the dress Addison bought. It fits her face perfectly when she tries it on. From the part between her eyes two wings extend upwards. They look like butterfly wings. I also quickly find a mask for myself. It is also black, framed by white rhinestones
and beautiful patterns are carved into the mask. On the outermost left side there is a soft black feather, four inches long. I insisted on paying for it myself, and surprisingly it wasn’t even that expensive. Happy to have found everything we were looking for, we end the day in a café, where we order two large lattes.

Ryder

“Don’t be so nervous, they’ll be here soon,” Jackson is fed up with me constantly looking at my watch, waiting for them to show up—for Aaliyah to show up. They didn’t want us to pick them up because they wanted to surprise us.

“
They’re taking so long, where are they?”
I impatiently check
the time again, moving toward the bar. The mask I’m wearing is uncomfortable and I can’t wait to take it off. If it wasn’t for the charity, I would never wear it. Every year one of the universities holds a masked ball and chooses an organization they will donate the money, raised on the ball, to. This year it’s our university’s turn and all the money will go to the organization helping sick children. The money is raised in three different ways: with the tickets sold, donations to the organizer, and the band playing donates the money from their performance to the charity. This year there is also an auction, where girls who want to participate come on stage and the gentlemen bid on them. The one with the highest bid may take the girl out. The auction is fun and at the same time raises money for a good cause.

“
Ugh, what is he doing here?” Marc nudges me as he approaches me and Jackson with Nikki on his arm. We both look at who he’s talking about and we all roll our eyes.

“
Ethan,” Jackson spits out. We turn away from him and order beer. In the middle of conversation, soft fingers grazing my hand interrupt me. I quickly turn around to nicely turn down the girl, because I’m only interested in Aaliyah. I am met by crystal blue eyes staring at me through a mask. I would recognize those eyes everywhere. With a smile on her face, she watches me as I eye her from head to toe. Her light blonde hair is up, but a few curls fall down on her shoulders, framing her face seductively. The mask makes her even more desirable, and the dress accentuates her fabulous figure.

“
Wow,” is all I manage to utter, struck speechless by her beauty. She puts her foot on the metal rung of the bar stool, the slit of her dress exposing her long, sexy leg. Eyes wide, I look at her, quickly grab the fabric flowing around her leg, and cover her up. “Are you serious? I don’t want anybody looking at you.” She rolls her eyes and kisses me passionately.

“
You look wonderful, too. I finally get to see you in something other than sports attire or jeans,” she winks at me and I pull her in for a hug. Instead of the dress I only feel the naked skin on her back. I quickly push her away and turn her around, so I can make sure I assumed correctly.

“
Do you have anything to cover yourself? You can’t walk around like this. You’re practically naked!” Her back is completely exposed, and that’s not all – her back is naked all the way to the top of her butt, stirring up a lot of interest from every man in the room.

“
What do you mean by that? Of course I don’t have anything to cover myself.”

“
Ry, don’t overreact, look how gorgeous she looks. You should be happy you have such a sexy girlfriend.

“
That’s just it—she’s too sexy. Everybody will be ogling her and I don’t want that. I’ll even end up in a fight if I see someone looking at her for too long.”

“
Don’t worry, just think about how easy it will be to take it off once we get home,” she winks at me.

“
Oh, God. I can already see all the other men thinking the exact same thing.”

An
all-female band
,
Stormy Surrende
r,
has been playing for the last fifteen minutes and finally they start up a slow ballad, so I can take my girlfriend to the dance floor. I grab her hand and we stop in the middle of the dance floor where couples are dancing. She wraps her hands around my neck, I put mine on her hips, and we sway to the music.

“
Are you having fun?” I whisper in her ear. She nods and presses tightly against me.

“
Thank you for inviting me, I’ve never attended an event like this one. And thank you for the dress. Addison barely managed to persuade me to wear it. I don’t want you spending a lot of money on me.” I kiss her on the nose.

“
You’re worth every cent I spend for you. I want to spoil you and buy whatever you want.” Aaliyah shakes her head.

“
Please, stop. You know I don’t want that. I only want you, that’s it. I don’t need anything else.” She hugs me tightly and we dance in silence for a few moments.

“
I have another surprise for you,” I tell her as I am kissing her neck. She gives me a look.

“
Ryder, stop it, I don’t need anything.”

“
It’s nothing material,” I assure her. “In ten minutes you are going to sing together with Stormy Surrender.” She wrinkles her forehead and gives me a serious look.

“
Are you serious? Why would I sing with them?” I smile faintly.