After AnimeCon 2: Dressing Up

    “Well,” Brian said with a long slow sigh. “We’re back.”

    With one final turn he maneuvered into their section of Altamonte Apartments, and then simply eased his car into his normal parking spot in front of his place. The complex was a row of two-story townhouses, though each unit was only single-story and back then he’d been lucky enough to get a ground floor one that didn’t require him to trudge up and down one of the sets of exterior stairs every day. After a couple years the place was comfortable enough, but it never really felt like home. The vehicle in the next space over was one he recognized seeing before maybe, but he’d never really met his neighbors.

    He shut off the engine and then couldn’t help but stretch, because that had been a long ride.

    “That means wake up, Kitten,” Kelly gave Emily a nudge.

    “I wasn’t asleep,” Emily tried and failed to swat away Kelly’s hand. “I was bored. Which is worse. Worse than being dead!”

    “Not Brian’s fault,” Kelly chuckled, popping open her door.

    “I didn’t say it was!” Emily protested. “Although… howww the fuck do you not have a working phone charger in your car?! Huh? Huh?!”

    “Hey, now,” Brian said, laughed. “I have a charger.”

    “A working charger!” Emily growled in frustration. “I mean, how in the heck did you even—”

    “Was working fine last time I needed to use it,” Brian griped, opening up his door and climbing out. “Must mean you broke it.”

    “Yeah, punk,” Kelly teased. “Emily broke it!”

    “Nuh-uh, I don’t think so,” Emily shook her head. “Not a chance.”

    “Coulda used Christine’s phone,” Brian said, glancing over at their silent companion. “She offered.”

    “I’m not using her phone, that’s weird,” Emily refused. “Phones are personal, I’m not getting all up in her personal business just ‘cause I’m bored. We just started getting off on the right foot, I don’t want to start any weird precedents.”

    “I snooped around quite a bit while I was borrowing it,” Kelly admitted with a grin. “Was using it all month. Sorry, Christine.”

    “It’s—no, that’s okay,” Christine said. “It.. to be honest it wasn’t really my phone, it was… it was her phone. I think… I kind of want to maybe reset it. Or, do something. I… I don’t really want to go back through everything in there and relive any of that.”

    “Nah, at least show Brian all your sexy pictures,” Kelly said. “He might like them?”

    “Did we tell you about Chloe’s secret alternate account?” Emily demanded, chasing after Brian as he made his way up to the front stoop of his apartment. “On Nibblr? Not the Chloe-Ravioli one.”

    “Yeah, you guys told me,” Brian said. “But. Honestly, all of that’s up to Christine, now. I’m a little curious, I guess? Like, it’d be interesting to see this other life she had. But, if she wants to delete all that and just start fresh, then I’ll respect that.”

    “Here,” Christine offered up her phone to him.

    “You want me to look?” Brian asked, pausing at the door.

    “I… think so, yes,” Christine gestured it towards him again. “I think Chloe would have hated that. So. Take a look. Whenever you want. It’s unlocked.”

    “How about we get cozy sometime, and go through it together,” Brian accepted the phone and tried to gauge her expression. “Like… I know you said you don’t want to relive it, but I think it’d be different if we kind of unpacked all of that together? Pictures are worth a thousand words and all that, but it’d be more… genuine to have you explain what was really going on back then, with each one. We can cuddle later and go through them. Be probably a better send off for Chloe than what I tried to give her.”

    “...Okay,” Christine said, embarrassed to meet his eyes and starting to fidget.

    “Here, I’ll—” Brian started for his keys.

    “Got it!” Emily already had the door unlocked and twisted the knob so she could shove it open. “Way ahead o’ ya, chief.”

    “How’d you—” Brian said with a grin, his keys still in hand.

    “Yeah uhh, I totally never gave Chloe’s spare key back to Brian, nya-hahhh,” Emily stuck her tongue out and used a finger to pull down one of her lower eyelids as she backed into the apartment. “Waaay back when that smug cunt sent me over to deliver the break-up to you.”

    “I… can’t even picture her sending you around on errands like that,” Kelly admitted, giving Brian a kiss on the cheek before passing him to follow Emily inside. “That’s just fuckin’ weird.”

    “We were… I don’t want to say friends, but we all pretended to be friend-ly, back then,” Emily groaned. “Because, didn’t want to make things shitty for Brian. Well, shittier. Then, when her and Monique were all wanting me to break the news? I fuggin’ volunteered. They were gonna just text you, they were going on and on about what to say. I was like, nah, I’ve got this. TRUST ME. Hah!”

    “That… wasn’t entirely it,” Christine admitted. “Chloe kind of manipulated Emily into feeling that way. Chloe thought that if Emily saw Brian at his worst, crying or being emotional about it, then rather than evoke sympathy it… would actually make Emily lose respect for him. See him as less of a man, less masculine. Then, that would hurt Brian even more.”

    “Yeah, except—he wasn’t exactly getting all weepy over Chloe,” Emily giggled. “Oh no, a single tear rolls down my cheek! Nah, he just looked tired and just real fuckin’ over it.”

    “If it was me? I’d have been hopping on his dick that first night,” Kelly chuckled. “Emily, you really were a bit slow on the…”

    “Nooo, no—I didn’t want to just be like, the rebound hookup,” Emily protested. “I wanted a real shot. I mean, even then, what I thought I wanted fell real fuckin’ short of what we all wound up getting, but… yeah, who coulda thunk?”

    “Thunk?” Brian laughed, finally entering the apartment after it became clear that Christine wanted to defer the privilege of stepping in next to him. “Did you just say ‘thunk’?”

    “Think! Thank! Emily yelled. “Thunk!”

    They’d tidied up a bit yesterday morning before heading out, but the furniture was still out of place, and the once familiar apartment still seemed a bit strange to him. Emily and Kelly were bustling about as if they were used to living there already, and they were—they had inhabited the place for this whole past month while Brian was still unconscious. Which, despite knowing that to be what happened, Brian really still had trouble really accepting. It was just too weird.

    Not BAD weird, maybe, Brian thought as he tugged the one end of the sofa back into proper position and then sunk down into it. Just a little weird.”

    “What time is it?” Emily called. “My phone literally just started charging again.”

    “It’s—” Kelly leaned to one side at the counter to read the digital display on the oven. “We’ve got less than an hour. Before the bonfire’s supposed to start. What are you wearing?”

    “Clothes, again,” Emily grumbled. “I don’t like, dress up to hang out with those losers. They’re my friends, if they can’t love me at my worst, they—”

    “Brian, help me dress Emily, please?” Kelly asked. “I need to do my makeup and figure out what outfit to go with. What are we doing with Christine? Does she have any clothing here?”

    “I… don’t think so,” Brian shook his head. “Think it all went with her when she moved out.”

    “Sorry,” Christine winced. “Monique’s place isn’t that far away, I can—”

    “Is Monique a Brian friend, or a Chloe friend?” Kelly asked.

    “A Chloe friend,” Christine lowered her head.

    “Hm. Wear something of mine for right now, I’ll show you my stuff,” Kelly decided. “We don’t need to deal with any of Chloe’s friends, right now. And Emily—take your whole hamper out into the living room and let Brian pick out something for you. I want you to look nice.”

    “We’re not gonna do this whole fashionista thang every single time, are we?” Emily scoffed. “Puh-lease. And like, last time we tried this, my neat sexy shorts wound up ripped to shreds!”

    “You loved that part the most!” Brian let out an uneasy laugh. “But um. Yeah, I am really sorry about that. Those ones looked great on you. I’ll get you a new pair, I swear.”

    “I don’t blame you, I blame Kelly!” Emily snorted. “She’s always wanting to play dress up, when we all know that, at the end of the day? Everything’s just gonna come right off. Or get ruined.”

    “How dressy is too dressy for tonight?” Kelly asked. “I’ve never been over there.”

    “Kelly, wear whatever, it doesn’t even matter!” Emily argued. “I’m so serious, they will not care. Michael will have the sleeves ripped off his t-shirt or something like an eighties frathouse jackass, and Mark will dress like a total tryhard in his stupid ricer Japanese street fashion shit that just does not look cool on awkward, lame, skinnyfat loser dorks—”

    “Whoa, whoa, Mark’s not that bad…” Brian couldn’t help but laugh. “I mean Emily, if you’re gonna put all our friends on blast, wait ‘til we get there. ‘Cause, I want to see their faces when you try to roast them. See, Emily thinks she can dish it out, but she can’t take any of it when they—”

    “Will is our thriftshop hipster hobo, he wants to look slam poetry intellectual, but he only really manages ‘broke beatnik,’” Emily continued. “There’s a good chance both him and Michael will smell like weed. Becky, too. Becky has coasted waaay way too far on having a real cute face, and has not come to terms with the fact that she has a beer gut now, so expect her to be bursting out of whatever she tries to squeeze into. Tanya’s lovely and I have no clue how she fell in with our total clown show… but she also gives no fucks, so she’ll just wear a hoodie and pajama pants, probably. Whatever’s comfy? Kelly, you’re seriously way overthinking this, you look amazing in everything you wear, because you’re a fuckin’ goddess anyways.”

    “Emily,” Kelly took a deep breath before continuing in a low voice. “Listen. The last time I was at a big get together kind of thing, it was at my ex-boyfriend’s loft in the city. Where I got to see Dale and a girl who I had previously thought to be one of my besties, his arm over her shoulder and pawing at her tits—while everyone there gave me side-eye, just waiting for me to flip out, or make a scene, or to embarrass myself.

    “Well, yeah. That night I did all three of those things, even got smacked around a bit before I was uh, shown the door. Yeah, and okay I did start it. I was just—that night I was exhausted and gross and sweaty, and in literal withdrawal, I was also having a bit of a mental breakdown, and I looked like garbage, was wearing this, this frumpy sweatshirt of Chelsea’s that I’d borrowed, that already had Skyler’s puke on it. Or mine. Who knows! And, that night felt like the very fucking lowest point of my life. I was just there trying to see if he still had some of my stuff! But, the last of it all got thrown out already like yesterday’s trash—like me.

    “Now… I’m starting a new life,” Kelly continued. “I want to look really nice, and make a great first impression. I want to turn over a new leaf. I want to be sexy and beautiful and make you and Brian proud of me, and make everyone else jealous. I want to do this right. Okay? I don’t care if this is vain, or superficial, or stupid and shallow. I’m going to dress up really nice. You’re, fuck, if you’re introducing me as your girlfriend, Emily, because that’s the story, then I want everyone there to be really fucking impressed. You deserve that. Brian deserves that too, if we wind up spilling what all’s really going on between us to all of them. I don’t know how much we trust these people. I, I just want—”

    “Okay, okay…” Emily’s face crumpled. “Sorry. I—we can dress up if you want. I just thought like you were just worried, but… yeah if it’s important to you, then yeah. I get it. Sorry.”

    “Kelly’s right,” Brian said. “Let’s dress to impress. Why not? Kelly—you wear that white halter top you were trying out the other day.”

    “That top?” Kelly gave him a serious look. “Are you sure? I’ve got others. You haven’t seen a lot of the other low cut stuff I have.”

    “Has to be that one,” Brian nodded. “I trust your instinct. That was your sexy one you wanted to wear when Stephanie was coming, but we wanted you to be ‘cute and comfy’ for us having Steph over. Bust out that sexy look for tonight. If you wanted to wear it for Stephanie, then I know it’s the right one for this get-together. We can have everyone’s jaws hit the floor the moment they see you.”

    “Alright…” Kelly’s expression quirked into a small smile, and then that little smile grew across her face until it was positively villainous. “Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

    “Wait, but I don’t have a sexy look!” Emily threw her hands up. “Ugggh!”

    “Emily; Shinobi Souls shirt, that worn out gray one,” Brian commanded. “Then, go with your dark jeans that’ve got the real ragged knees.”

    “...That’s sexy?” Emily tilted her head. “Bro.”

    “That’s the last shirt your dad gave you, and then your favorite pants,” Brian explained. “I’m not blind, I can tell what your favorite outfit is—whenever you do laundry, that’s the first combination you immediately wear afterwards.”

    “Am I… am I that predictable?!” Emily let out a nervous giggle. “I’m in danger! Wait. Like, yeah okay sure that getup is my favorite, but is it really sexy?”

    “That outfit brings out your confidence, and your real confidence, when you deign to wear it, is very sexy,” Brian insisted. “Trust me. That’s the one for tonight.”

     “That’s… that’s…” Emily seemed a little moved. “Fuck. Brian. I actually don’t even know what to say.”

    “Quit goofing around and go change!” Kelly sent a half-hearted kick in Emily’s direction. “I have to do your makeup after mine, because we’re going to match, because we’re a couple. You’re lucky magic bullshit fixed our pores and everything, or we would already not have time for this.”

    “Thank you, magic bullshit!” Emily laughed. “Okay, okay. Shit—do we have time go grab my earrings and choker and necklaces and shit? Like, my punk stuff. All of that’s still over at my mom’s.”

    “Your—? Oh. Oh,” Kelly held her forehead in dismay for a moment. “I… am not ready to meet… your parents. Parent, sorry. Anyone’s parent’s. Not tonight. If you really need your accessories or whatever from over there, Brian can swing you over. She’s already met Brian. That’ll be no big deal. Yeah.”

    “Okay, okay,” Emily nodded along. “Hey—wait!”

    “What?!” Kelly demanded.

    “Brian! Duh,” Emily pointed. “We’ve gotta put him in like, a buncha bandages, or something. Right? His wrist was totally fucked up last time Tanya and Michael saw him. No fucking way it would’ve healed that fast. Not like that.”

    “Uhhh—” Brian muttered, glancing down.

    It took him a moment to realize that while he was actually wearing a bandage, it was high up on his forearm and concealing a fresh bite wound, rather than whatever it was that Tanya and Michael must have seen back then.

    “I’ve got a wrist brace?” Brian said, quickly shifting his train of thought. “Somewhere down under the bathroom sink. Was wearing it for a while after real long shifts.”

    “But, no not just that, your whole face was all fucked up!” Emily explained. “Like, yeah it’s been a month, but there’d still be some signs. Instead of, you know, absolutely nothing.”

    “Fuck, maybe she’s right,” Kelly said, crossing her arms as she inspected Brian’s appearance. “Because, you healed completely. You don’t even look like you’ve been recovering, you look like you’re in peak physical shape. Like you’re some kind of marble fucking statue adonis sent down here to drive innocent girls into sin.”

    “Uhh… thank you?” Brian couldn’t help but grin. “Heh, damn, I mean…”

    “Well, fuck, I guess we can…” Kelly pursed her lips.

    “I can paint on bruises,” Christine spoke up with a bitter smile. “After all, I’ve done it before. I’d practiced. Remember? Just uh, after I did those fake bruises at AnimeCon, I um, I lost that makeup kit for all of that stuff. It’s all gone.”

    “Okay, yeah,” Kelly gestured Christine towards the bathroom. “Gotcha covered on cosmetics, I’ve got a full fucking palette in there. Barely get a chance to play with it, now that we’re magically pretty. You guys go in first, use the better lighting and the mirror. I’ll do Emily here in the kitchen light. Uhh, if you can, do like, light bruising. Old bruises. Discoloration. Not like, fresh bruises like you did back at AnimeCon.”

    “That’s even easier,” Christine said. “Brian?”

    “After you,” Brian gave her a smile.

   * * *

    “So, you know…” Emily started to say.

    “Don’t move too much,” Kelly said, gently drawing on Emily’s eyeliner. “Please. You have really beautiful eyes already, but I can make them just sort of pop out a bit more.”

    “Kelly,” Emily stared at the girl doing her makeup.

    “What?”

    “All that stuff you said back there, about uhh, about that party at your ex’s being your last big get-together,” Emily said. “S’not true. AnimeCon totally counts. You were there with us already, that’s a huge get-together. We were all together—so, I guess, what I’m saying is… I don’t even know. It should count. You should consider time with us as your last big get together, not shitty situations like back then.”

    “I do, sorta,” Kelly smirked. “Just. Well, you get what I mean. AnimeCon doesn’t really count to me as a—a thing, really. I wasn’t dressed up, I was in a costume. It wasn’t even mine, I was borrowing it for a bit. I wasn’t into my own thing and really being myself. The whole cosplay thing still feels like that’s my sister’s domain, and all that stuff is under her field of expertise. I was just visiting through for a bit, so, doesn’t count.”

    “What, so when we do the renfaire it’s not gonna count either? Kelly—” Emily tried to roll her eyes and shake her head, but her movement was stopped by Kelly’s firm hand.

    “Don’t move!” Kelly growled. “This is hard enough. These aren’t my nice brushes, these are my purse ones for emergencies. Now sit super fucking still, we’re having lovely lashes together tonight and you’re gonna look magnifique. You’ll see. Well, you’ll see if you don’t keep moving and wind up with mascara all over your stupid fuckin’ eyeballs. Please? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. You have lovely eyes. But, sit fucking still you little twat.”

    “I’m still,” Emily murmured. “You’re really tense, tonight. You alright?”

    “I was… weaning off my dependence on Stephanie for like, a whole month,” Kelly said in a slow voice as she leaned in extra close and began to apply Emily’s mascara with gentle, precise strokes. “And then. I relapsed! I had a big fuckin’ weekend relapse just there, where Stephanie’s love and care and emotional support magic or whatever? That shit was goin’ right into my veins, my heart, and making me feel unstoppable. But, now… now I’ve gotta go without, again. Without my Stephie fix. And it gets shittier to try to endure each time, and I… yeah. That’s what’s up with me.”

    “I miss her, too,” Emily said. “She’s great. You really love her.”

    “It’s not that I love her more than you and Brian,” Kelly explained with a grumble. “I don’t mean it to sound like that. It’s not. It’s just. Steph’s my life preserver, she’s the one I count on to make sure I don’t fuck things up with you and Brian. Which, believe me, normally I completely would have by now, already. She makes everything so easy, she can just magically fix everything. All of my fuckups.

    “I uh, I’m not the kind of girl who’s really into sharing my feelings and all of that shit, Em,” Kelly said as she worked. “But, she told us that we need to do that, so that we don’t start having fucking problems. And, I’m going to listen to her, to do my best to do that. I can’t afford to fuck this up. I really cannot. I cannot lose any of you, and honestly I don’t even want little trivial problems between me and you, or between Brian and I to bug Stephanie. So. I’m gonna be opening up. I’m maybe gonna be pissier than normal, or more vulnerable, or—I have no fucking clue.”

    “I’ll cut you way more slack,” Emily promised. “Don’t worry about it so much. Sorry if I’ve been annoying.”

    “You have been annoying,” Kelly was brutally honest. “You’ve got your jokes and stupid humor dialed all the way back up to eleven. Again. So, like what’s up? What’s wrong?”

    “Nothing, really,” Emily sighed. “I don’t know.” 

    “Talk to me, Em,” Kelly said.

    “I guess it’s just—Brian, honestly,” Emily admitted.

    “Brian’s bothering you?” Kelly couldn’t help but sound surprised. “Are you serious?”

    “He’s, no, not exactly,” Emily struggled to figure out how best to convey what she meant. “It’s that Brian’s been bothered, basically? How much that whole thing out there in Tionetta bothered him, got to him. What he had to do to Chloe, and how much he hated that. Seeing him upset like, drives me up the fucking wall, makes me crazy, unbelievably crazy, it’s that maddening sort of itch I have to do something about. So, I uh. I just want to make him laugh, I don’t know. Distract him. Any way I can.”

    “Okay,” Kelly paused for a moment and regarded Emily before switching to the girl’s other eyelash. “That’s actually kind of sweet. In a goofy, stupid, sappy sort of way.”

    “That’s me?” Emily let out a bitter laugh. “I just, yeah. I can’t help it. I know I’ve been getting annoying. Feel like I’ve been just kind of throwing everything I can out there and just hoping some of it sticks? Whatever all I can think of. I hate hate hate seeing how much all of this had him feeling down.”

    “Emily,” Kelly said. “I, uh. Sorry if this is just me only having a hammer, and seeing every problem as something you should take a hammer to. But, well. Have you thought about some other, alternative ways you can take his mind off of things and point that handsome fucking chin of his in a better direction? Put your hands on him. Grab his butt. Put your face right there in the nook of his neck when you hug him. Fucking kiss him.”

    “Wait, that’s right!” Emily slapped her fist into her palm as if just suddenly realizing that. “I can do that, now! Gee whiz Kell, why don’t I also just slobber his knob, while I’m at it! Is that what you want me to say?! Puh-lease.”

    “I’m just saying that the option’s on the table,” Kelly chuckled. “You need to stop pretending it’s not. I seriously do think you keep falling back on old habits from before. From back when you guys were friendzoning each other or… whatever ridiculous bullshit that nonsense was.”

    “Well, I think you’re just a slut. A sloot,” Emily grumbled. “A who—ore. A slooty who—re. Becky’s gonna just love you. She’ll recognize you as one of her own kind. A woman of ill-repute. Lascivious. Lusty lady. How’re we on time?”

    “We’ve got more than twenty minutes,” Kelly glanced at the oven again.

    “Can I play with your tiddies?” Emily asked, peeking down Kelly’s shirt. “I mean, they’re dangling right there.”

    “You don’t ever have to fucking ask for permission—”

    “Nice!”

    “However, no, you cannot,” Kelly gave Emily a smug look. “Tonight? Tonight I don’t want you distracting or disassociating or getting grabby hands at me to avoid dealing with your own issues. So. Rather than my tits, I want you to sit here and play with your own. Self-therapy session one for Emily… fondling herself, at her girlfriend’s request. For self confidence!”

    “Well, guess what?” Emily cupped her tiny bumps through her shirt. “I don’t really have much of anything to work with. So, whatever you—”

    “But you have something to work with,” Kelly insisted. “So fucking work with it, already. No—don’t stop. Gentle squeezes, take it slow, massage them a bit. Tweak the nips out and give them a little tug. Emmie, back when I was in the music scene, I had friends flat as a literal board who had supreme confidence in their non-existent ta-tas. I’m so serious, my one friend basically just literally had nipples to work with, and that’s it. You have something there. So what if they’re little?”

    “Y’know, I get what you’re saying?” Emily pouted as she slowly toyed with her own chest. “But, at the same time it just really kinda fuckin’ rankles hearing this shit from you when you’ve got those fuckin’ massive battleship-killer torpedos hanging there.”

    “Okay, cool, and I get jealous that you can be such a doof around Brian,” Kelly gave Emily a shrug.

    “Har har,” Emily scowled.

    “I’m being fucking honest with you,” Kelly said. “So, listen up. I literally cannot just be that uninhibited. Not without relying on alcohol, which I’m trying real hard to not get back into. I’d love to be able to make Brian smile and laugh the way you do. To be dead serious with you, I love the way you bring out Brian’s lighthearted and kinda playful side. That doesn’t naturally come out when he’s with me, or even when he’s with Steph—not like it does with you. He’s so comfortable with you that he can relax and just be funny, and he really can be funny. Which was fucking cool to discover. Most of the wise-guys I knew were total clowns, and Brian’s a whole fucking package. I’m not joking around when I say I envy you and how close you are with him.”

    “So… if my charm power was body-swapping…” Emily mused out loud. “Would you switch places with me for a bit, and see what it’s like?”

    “That’d be rad, Emily,” Kelly gave Emily an apologetic look. “It really would. But, sorry, I already got spoiled on what your power really is. Don’t worry, I know, I know. I won’t tell Brian. Big surprises in store for him.”

    “Your future sense thing is bullshit,” Emily huffed. “Damnit. Shit.”

    “I know,” Kelly agreed. “I didn’t want a whole bunch of shit spoiled, either. And, it’s not exactly fun seeing all sorts of dozens of alternate ways other timelines can get things slightly wrong, either. It’s honestly starting to make me paranoid over every little thing.”

    “Sorry,” Emily sighed. “Wait a minute. So, I guess you actually basically already know our stupid fucking friends here in town?

    “Not your fault,” Kelly finished up and re-capped her applicator. “And, no. Not really. The stuff that gets sent is usually just issues to address, things they want us to try and do differently. All I really know is that you and Brian vouch for all of your friends, but then one of them turns out to be a creep, and then you and Brian are both really embarrassed about it. But, it’s okay. I’ve already got the heads-up.”

    “The fuck?! Who is it?” Emily couldn’t help but snarl. “Those ungrateful fuckers. Michael? Better fucking not be. It’s Mark, isn’t it? He has those beady little eyes, of course he’d be a creep. Will? It’s Will. I can already tell. Fucking Will. When did you even get another send?”

    “Don’t worry about it, your friend won’t be a problem,” Kelly promised. “Already know just how to avoid that whole stupid fucking sich. And, I got the last little packet of memories just before we got back to Tionetta for lunch. When I was coming out of that sex-daze. None of them were huge or important, just… little updates and heads-ups. Mostly self-flagellation. Let me know how irritated I was gonna be without Steph propping up my psyche, told me to fucking tone it down with you guys and not snap at anyone. I’ve been trying not to.”

    “Huh,” Emily searched Kelly’s eyes for a moment. “Guess that’s how most sends would be. Am I all done?”

    “You look gorgeous. When everyone compliments you tonight, remember to tell them how I was slaving away for hours over a hot doofus to get things looking this good. This is art.”

    “Can I stop grubbing my jubblies, now?” Emily asked.

    “You can, but you shouldn’t. It’s kinda hot, honestly?”

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