Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,37

still not looking up.

“We have company.”

That caught her attention. “What? Oh!” She had finally noticed Anne. “I’m sorry, I was just… in another world, I guess.”

“Mom, this is Anne Lewis. She sits at our lunch table, and she came home with me today to…” Suddenly it occurred to me that I hadn’t asked yet about my trip to the nursery tomorrow. “Michael asked if I’d go out to the nursery tomorrow, to meet his parents. And Anne offered to help me find what I should I wear.”

My mother looked at both of us skeptically. “You need help to figure out what to wear to a nursery?”

Anne jumped in here. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Vaughn. Tasmyn’s just worried about meeting Michael’s parents, and I’m here to calm her nerves.”

“Ah…” My mother nodded in understanding. “I see.”

“It is okay if I go tomorrow, isn’t it?” I asked.

“I think so. But I thought we had a date at the mall.”

“Oooh… I forgot about that.” I felt guilty for blowing off my mom and our planned trip. Then I thought of something. “Why couldn’t we get up early and go first thing? Michael’s not picking me up until lunchtime. We could be back by then.”

My mom laughed. “Okay, that sounds good. Do you girls want anything to eat or drink?” I noticed her eyes were straying to her board, anxious to get back to work.”

Anne answered for me. “Don’t worry about us. If we need anything, Tas will take care of it. I’m going to haul her off to her room now for some serious clothes talk, and we’ll let you get back to work. It was good meeting you!”

I led Anne into my room and was pleased to notice that she looked around approvingly.

“You’re lucky to have a room of your own! I’ve shared with my younger sister forever. One of the perks of being an only child, I guess.”

“I guess.” I looked around the room myself and thought of how often I had wished for a sibling of any kind. “I think you’re lucky to have the sister.”

Anne laughed and flopped onto my bed. “Okay, so the grass is always greener. Open up the closet and let’s get to work.”

For the next hour, I had more fun than I could remember having—maybe ever. Anne loved my closet, and I was impressed by her sense of style. We finally settled on a pair of dark denim capri pants, a pretty cotton shirt that was several steps up from a simple t-shirt but wasn’t too dressy, and a pair of flat, sturdy sandals. The shoes gave us the most trouble.

“You don’t want anything too good that could be ruined,” Anne explained to me. “After all, it’s a nursery. You’re going to be walking around in dirt. But you also can’t wear anything too dressed down with this outfit.”

We accessorized next, choosing a delicate gold and silver entwined chain for my neck, simple gold hoops for my ears, and a silver bangle bracelet.

“Now, if you were Brea, I’d have to do a make-up consult,” Anne mused “But I like what you do—you always look good without being overdone.”

I was sitting on the floor with my knees drawn up, while Anne lay on her stomach on the bed, idly waving her feet.

“I have to confess, I’m a little bit of make-up and skin care junky,” I told her. “It’s my guilty pleasure.”

Anne leaned her hand toward me in high-five position. “Me, too! My mom is a hairdresser, so I get all the samples and fun stuff. I spent most of my Saturday nights in freshman year doing facials on myself and messing around with makeup.”

“I can’t imagine that. You must have had a waiting list for your Saturday nights.”

Anne twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “Nah. I didn’t have a boyfriend at all until last year. Thank goodness for our lunch table crowd. We’ve been friends for so long, they kept me from being a total social outcast.”

I was really surprised. Anne was so pretty and vivacious that I assumed that she had always been popular. I knew she wasn’t dating anyone at the moment, but I had seen the admiring looks that several interested seniors threw her way.

“As a matter of fact,” she continued, “I really don’t deserve how well they treat me. I pretty much blew them off last year when I started dating Nick.”

I cast my mind around, trying to place Nick. Seeing my frown, Anne laughed joylessly. “No,