“Oh,” was all Lily could say.
Janica looked like she was going to scream with irritation, but instead she threw her arms around Lily, opting for a pep talk instead. “Thanks so much for doing this for me. I know how much you hate being in front of crowds, but you are going to do so great out there tonight. Have I mentioned lately how you’re the best big sister in the whole world?”
Lily sobered up a little and put on a brave face. “Don’t worry about me, honey. I’m going to do you proud. I promise.” She shooed Janica off. “Go on. Your line is up next. Get back to work.”
Janica dropped a light kiss on Lily’s cheek and scurried off to make sure her lead models were ready to walk. Lily started to rub her eyes wearily, but remembered at the last minute all the makeup she was wearing. A waiter rounded the corner with a tray of champagne and her hand shot out, seemingly of its own accord.
“One more couldn’t hurt,” she said as she brought the rim of the glass to her lips. Besides, all of a sudden being a runway model for a night didn’t seem so bad. She only had to make it down to the end of the plank to pose for pictures. It would take sixty seconds, tops, then she’d go find Luke and they would have a good laugh about it all.
Just so long as he didn’t bring his twin brother with him.
When Travis gave her one of his disdainful looks, or worse yet, ignored her completely, it made her feel like dirt. Less important than dirt, even.
Lily didn’t know how two people could be less alike. It was especially strange considering Luke and Travis were identical twins. Luke was warmhearted, fun and nonjudgmental. On the other end of the spectrum, there was Travis, with his piercing verdicts. Lily had been watching him from afar for long enough to know that all he cared about was pleasing himself and looking at pretty things. And that, Lily knew, was the crux of the problem between her and Travis.
She wasn’t pretty enough for him. Or thin enough. Or perky enough. And none of those things were ever going to change.
As kids, she and Luke and Travis had been inseparable. The three musketeers. But then the boys’ mom died when they were ten, and everything changed. No, she thought with a sigh, not everything. She and Luke had remained incredibly close, best friends to this day. But Travis had never been the same after that. And no matter how much she wanted her old relationship with Travis back, no matter how much she tried to let him know she was there for him, Travis kept rejecting her. Turning his back on her. Lily told herself she had given up on him, but in her heart of hearts, she knew it wasn’t true.
Could you ever completely give up on someone that you loved? From her painful experience with Travis, Lily didn’t think so.
Janica ran back to Lily, breathless, and stuck something in her free hand. “I almost forgot to give you this.”
“What is it?” Lily said as she grasped the edge of a purple feather.
“It’s your mask. Actually, I should probably put it on for you so that you don’t mess up your hair or makeup.” Janica slid the mask down over Lily’s riot of red curls, gently laying it against her face and tying the ribbon behind her head.
“Wow,” Janica breathed. “I thought you looked amazing before, but now you look…” Her words fell away, and Lily’s heart raced with renewed panic.
“Like an old lady on Halloween?” Lily said, mocking herself.
Janica shook her head. “God no. Not at all. You look like royalty. Like a queen!”
The words were no sooner out of Janica’s mouth then the stage manager grabbed her by the shoulder.
“You’re on in sixty seconds,” he said, and Janica turned and ran to get her first model ready to walk.
I look like royalty? Like a queen? The words swam around in Lily’s already muddled-by-bubbly brain.
A part of her wanted to turn around and look in a mirror to see if her little sister was telling the truth, but the other bigger part of her that never ever shut up was scornful, like always.
More like queen-size, that part of her said.
On any other night, Lily would have believed the voice. Being beautiful was laughable. She had spent a lifetime with her shoulders hunched to hide her too-big br**sts and her hair hanging over her face to hide blue eyes too bright and red lips too big. But suddenly, an unfamiliar feeling of boldness swept through her from the tips of her toes to the feathered mask on her made-up face.
Grabbing another glass of champagne off the tray of a passing waiter, she swallowed it in one gulp, letting the now-familiar warmth and easiness flow through her. Without giving herself another moment to doubt, she turned around to the full-length mirror behind her.
Lily gasped. The woman staring back at her was a stranger.
A beautiful, stunning, sexy stranger.
Her hands flew to her hair, which had been brushed and lacquered until her curls looked better than any hair commercial ever did, shiny and glowing as it cascaded past her shoulders. Behind the mask, her eyes shone like the blue of the Caribbean, and her lips looked full and kissable.
She looked just right. Not too big. Not too small. Curvy in all the right places, her large br**sts and round hips nicely offset by her waist.
But even as she surveyed herself in the mirror, Lily knew that Janica’s dress was responsible for the amazing change. She had always known that her sister was incredibly talented, but to see how Janica’s dress had turned Lily from supersize to just right shocked her to the core.
One of the models in Janica’s show stepped up behind Lily in the mirror, the model’s long, ultrathin limbs showcased by the short, strapless dress she was wearing. “Wow, you look amazing,” she said to Lily.