The Art of Life (78 page)

               
“What are you talking about?” I
ask.

               
“You and Eric.
 
I see the way he looks at you Isabelle.
 
It wouldn’t take much to get him to go out
with you on a date.
 
I just felt awkward.
 
I had to hold myself back so much.”

               
Crossing my arms, I say, “You
did NOT hold back much.”

               
“Oh, trust me, I did, a
lot.
 
I want whatever it is that you want
and if you want Eric,
then
I will get you Eric,”
Jeremy declares softly, not meeting me in the eyes.

               
Hesitantly, I say, “And if I
wanted something else….”

               
“I would help you get that too,”
Jeremy whispers.
 
“We need to go to
sleep.
 
I have work and you have school.”

               
“Okay,” I sigh.
 
Suddenly, I have a whole lot of weird
feelings swirling around in me.
 
We stop
at the entrances to our rooms and look at each other.
 
“Good night,” I whisper.

               
Jeremy bends over and kisses me
ever so gently on the lips.
 
“Good night
Isabelle.
 
You know where to find me, if
you need me.”
 
He lets go of me and walks
into his room.

               
I turn and walk into mine.
 
When I get into bed, I kind of lay there,
staring at the ceiling.
 
I go to sleep
fighting the urge to go to Jeremy.

               
The next week of school is
great.
 
I eat lunch with Eric and his
friends every day.
 
Jeremy finally
teaches me how to parallel park.
 
We even
take out Cassandra’s car, so I can learn to drive an automatic.
 
It is kind of weird, when you only have
driven a manual.

               
Saturday morning comes around
and I walk into the bathroom.
 
Yawning, I
turn on the light.
 
Suddenly, I
scream.
 
Jeremy comes running into the
bathroom.
 
“WHAT’S WRONG!?!?!”

               
“My bruising, it’s gone!” I
yell.

               
Jeremy grabs his chest,
“Isabelle, dear Lord, you are going to be the death of me.”

               
“It’s gone, it’s gone, it’s
gone,” I cheer, jumping up and down.
 

               
“That’s good baby.
 
Does that mean we can go celebrate tonight?”
He asks, with a mischievous grin.

               
Narrowing my eyes, I say, “What
do you have in mind?”

               
“Clubbing….you…..me, the dance
floor,” Jeremy murmurs, pressing up against me.

               
“You and a whole bunch of girls
in mini-skirts,” I retort.
 
“I won’t even
be a blip on the radar.”

               
He wraps his arms around
me.
 
“You will always be more than a
blip.”

               
“Is it MINOR night, as you guys
call it?”

               
“It is,” Jeremy replies
happily.
 
“We are so going!”

               
With a laugh, I say, “Sounds
good.”

               
We spend the day being lazy, but
when 5 o’clock rolls around, Cassandra calls me.
 
“What’s up?” I ask.

               
“So, we are going to the club
tonight?” She inquires giddily.

               
“Yes,” I reply, with equal
glee.
 
“What should I wear?”

               
She snickers.
 
“Tell Jeremy he needs to bring you to my
place.
 
Put the boots and that little
black dress in your bag, but don’t let him see.”

               
“No,” I hiss quietly.

               
“YYYESSSS,” she draws out.
 
“Either you tell him or I am going to call
him.”

               
I sigh and look at Jeremy.
 
“Cassandra wants you to bring me over to her
place.”

               
“Why?” He retorts.

               
“I don’t know, to get ready, I
guess.”

               
Jeremy groans, “Alright, let’s
go.”

               
“I will be over in a bit,” I
exclaim, probably too eagerly.

               
“AWESOME!” Cassandra
replies.
 
“Bring the dress!”

               
Rolling my eyes, I say, “Fine,
whatever,
see you soon.”

               
When I get up to go to my room,
Jeremy asks, “What are you doing?”

               
“Getting my stuff,” I
answer.
 
“I have to wear something
tonight, can’t go naked.”

               
“OH! I vote for naked!”

               
That makes me laugh.
 
“You would!”
 
I go into my room and grab my duffle bag.
 
I carefully place the dress inside with the
boots.
 
I have never worn either, so
nothing will get dirty.

               
About twenty minutes later, we
arrive at Cassandra’s.
 
As I open the
door to get out of the car, I say, “See you in a little while.”

               
“I don’t know…..you two might be
trouble together,” Jeremy draws out.

               
“Yes, we will, I will still see
you later,” I emphasize.

               
Jeremy leans over the seat, “Say
you
llloooovvvveeee
me.”

               
Bending over, I reply,
“NNNOOOOO,” and shut the door.
 
He gets
an appalled look and I turn to walk away.
 
When I knock on Cassandra’s door, she opens it almost immediately.
 

               
“This is going to be EPIC!” She
yells.

               
I laugh.
 
“Why?”

               
“We are going
to make the boys drool, hard core,” Cassandra replies, yanking me into her
apartment.

               
“Where is Kent?” I ask.

               
She shuts the door and says, “He
will come later.
 
Kent is going to talk
to Jeremy and see what the driving situation is going to be.
 
That is neither here nor
there,
we need to get you ready.
 
Did you bring
the dress?”

               
Lifting up the bag, I
articulate, “Its right here.
 
I don’t
feel comfortable wearing it.”

               
“Trust
me,
you will look phenomenal when I am done with you.”
 
We walk up the stairs and Cassandra walks
into her bedroom.
 
I have never been up
here, so I just follow.

               
When we walk inside, I exclaim,
“Oh!
 
A vanity, that is so cool.
 
I have always wanted one of these.”

               
“Ask Jeremy, he will get it for
you, because he gets you whatever you want,” Cassandra teases playfully.
 
“Now, take out the dress.”

               
I place the bag on her bed and
unzip it.
 
“I can’t believe I am going to
do this.”

               
“Take your clothes off and slide
that puppy on,” Cassandra says.
 
“I am
going to do your hair and make-up then.”

               
“I don’t know,” I whisper.

               
Cassandra walks up to me.
 
“You will be stunning.
 
Now put it on.”

               
Sighing, I start to strip off my
clothes.
 
“Are you sure I don’t need a
bra?” I mumble.

               
“Yup,” Cassandra answers.
 
“It will be fine.”

               
I don’t slide the dress on, I
pull it on.
 
“Geez,” I finally gasp.
 
“This thing is super glued to my body.”

               
“That’s the point,” Cassandra
states.
 
“Now, come here.”
 
She grabs my hand and sits me down.
 
“I am going to put your hair up.”

               
“I am going to stick out like a
sore thumb,” I mumble.
 
“With the dress
or not, I look twelve.”

               
Cassandra laughs.
 
“You won’t when I am done with you.
 
Now, turn around, I want it to be a
surprise.”

               
Slowly, I spin around on the
stool.
  
“Don’t make me look stupid,” I
growl.
 
Cassandra smiles and reaches
towards the vanity.
 
She straightens my
hair, just to curl it, which I don’t understand, but she says it will give it a
different curl.
 

               
When my hair is done, she tilts
her head.
 
“Perfect.
 
Now, the make-up.”

               
She reaches behind me and grabs
eye shadow that is nothing but charcoals and blacks.
 
“Whoa!” I exclaim.
 
“What are you doing?”

               
“Making you a vixen,” Cassandra
replies.
 
“Now close your eyes.”
 
I narrow my eyes at her, and she just gives
me a look.
 
I sigh and close them.
 
I feel her carefully put on the eye shadow
and then eye liner.
 
She makes me look up
at the ceiling as she puts on the mascara.
 
Finally, Cassandra pulls out a lipstick.

               
I look at it and my eyes widen,
“That is red, like RED, RED!”

               
“
Shhh
,”
Cassandra replies.
 
“Open your mouth a
little bit.”
 
I do and she gently applies
the lip stick.
 
Pulling pack, she says,
“You definitely could pass as 21.
 
Come here,
put on the boots and then look in the floor length mirror.”

               
Getting up, I do as she
says.
 
When I walk to the mirror, my
heart drops.
 
I am something I never
thought I would be, sexy.
 
My hair is
pinned on top in spiral curls.
 
My eyes
are shadowy dark and my lips a shiny blood red.
 
Turning, I see my legs look longer in the boots.
 
“Oh
my gosh
,” is all
that I can whisper.

               
“You look gorgeous,” Cassandra
says, smiling at me.
 
“Now, it’s my turn
to get ready.
 
What to wear, what to
wear?”

               
As she starts to rip through her
closet, I just stand there staring at myself.
 
I just feel so…..beautiful, sexy.
 
This is the first time in my life that I feel
I should be wanted.
 
I don’t even know
what to say.

               
“What do you think about this?”
Cassandra asks.

               
I turn to see her holding up a
black leather skirt and an off the shoulder, silk shirt.
 
“I think that would look cute.”

               
Cassandra starts to get
dressed.
 
“I cannot wait until the boys
see you tonight.
 
They are going to flip,
and I don’t mean our boys.
 
Poor Jeremy
is going to have a heart attack with all the attention that you are going to
get.”

               
“Oh stop,” I bashfully say.

               
“I am serious,” Cassandra
declares.
 
“You just wait and see.”
 
Unlike me, it doesn’t take her long to get
ready.
 
She obviously has a lot of
practice doing her hair and make-up.
 
Finally, Cassandra slides on her heels.
 
“There, finished.
 
The guys should
be here any minute.”
 
Suddenly, she snaps
her fingers.
 
“You need one more thing.”

               
Confused, I ask, “What’s that?”

               
“This,” she replies, going to
her dresser.
 
I watch as she pulls a
black, lace choker out of her jewelry box.
 
“This will complete the outfit.”
 
I open my mouth to say something, but can’t.
 
Cassandra walks over and puts it on me.
 
“There, now we are good.”

               
The doorbell suddenly
rings.
 
“Wait here,” she giggles.
 
“I want you to be a surprise!”

               
“
Ummm
okay,” I quietly reply.

               
With almost a skip in her step,
Cassandra goes downstairs.
 
I take one
more look in the mirror and shake my head.
 
I cannot believe that is me.

               
I hear murmuring downstairs, and
then Cassandra yells, “Okay, you can come down Isabelle.”
 
Nervously, I walk to the top of the
steps.
 
She waves her hand for me to come
to her.
 
Taking a deep breath, I take my
first step down.
 
“And I would like to
present to you, the very adult, Miss Isabelle.”