going to head downstairs to wait for you guys,” I say.
“Wait!” Vanessa rushes out of her closet wearing a much more appropriate dress. It’s a tad short but the neckline is high and it’s more form fitting than painted-on Lycra.
“You look gorgeous as always,” I say.
Her face lights up like it does every time she receives a compliment. “Thanks.”
“I’m not wearing a dress,” Lauren says, returning to Vanessa’s room and collapsing on the unmade bed in her boy shorts and bra. “I don’t own a dress.”
I pick up a Kit Kat wrapper I spot on the floor. “Seriously, Van, you’re going to give us mice.” Dropping the wrapper with melted chocolate on the nightstand.
Both my roommates are so free with exposing their bodies as I sit here in my usual swing dress—the only style I can pull off that flares out over my hips and thighs.
“Borrow something.” Vanessa rushes into her closet, returning a minute later holding a grey dress with fringe around the bottom. It’s low enough that it will show off Lauren’s sizable breasts but high enough that her cleavage won’t be starting the conversation.
“It’s so…short and…tight,” Lauren says.
Vanessa holds it up in front of her. “It’s perfect for your figure. Come on. This is my dad’s night and if I show up there with you looking like…”
“What?” Lauren sits up, holding the dress in her hand. “Say it.”
“Just you’re beautiful and I don’t understand why you hide it under all those athletic clothes.” Vanessa sits down at her vanity, opening up her make-up bag.
Lauren reluctantly drags herself up off the bed and grabs the dress where Vanessa left it lying beside her. “Because half the time I sweat while I’m at work and my job entails flexibility. Speaking of which, where were you last night when I got home?” Lauren steps into the dress with ease.
“When I got up at 5:00 a.m. she was just sneaking in,” I say, raising my eyebrows in Vanessa’s direction.
She continues to concentrate on the mirror, one eye shut and one eye open, lining her lid with a dark shade of brown. “I told you, I had a date.”
“Really? Because the guy you said you were going out with was at the bar I went to after soccer last night,” Lauren says.
Vanessa’s hand stops mid swipe but continues flawlessly a second later. If I hadn’t sensed Vanessa acting odd lately, I wouldn’t have thought much about it, but she’s always gone at night now—even during the week.
She says she works somewhere only to say she lost the job weeks later when we want to show up and visit her. Something’s off, but Vanessa isn’t the kind of person you try to catch in a lie, you actually have to catch her red- handed. I know this, but Lauren, well, she thinks she can bully the truth out of her.
“Because he was a dud. I picked up a new guy. Lives in Wrigleyville.”
Lauren’s vision shifts to me and I shrug. I’m not sure what she wants. For me to strap Vanessa down on the bed and dangle cupcakes in front of her until she confesses?
“You know you can tell us anything,” I politely say in my motherly tone to suggest we won’t judge.
“Do you want me to describe in great detail all the orgasms his giant dick gave me?” She sets the eyeliner down on the counter and it cracks in half from the pressure.
Yeah, something is definitely up.
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Lauren rolls her eyes and turns around, pulling her long auburn hair up off her neck.
“Did you need me to zip this up for you?” I ask, my fingers already reaching for the zipper.
“Thank you.” She ignores the fact she never actually asked me.
Vanessa’s full-length mirror is right in front of her and I watch as she examines herself. A small smile creases her lips while she stares at her reflection.
“Yeah this is way girly.” Her arms contort in a motion I’m guessing she learned in yoga trying to reach the zipper to undo it.
“Wear it. You look amazing.” I stop her hands and she lowers her arms to her sides.
“I’m going to be uncomfortable all night,” she whines but I think part of her wants to wear it, she’s just not used to flaunting her assets this way.
“That’s the point of being a woman, L. God, you’re such a tomboy.” Vanessa heads back into her closet.
Lauren and I exchange another look until Vanessa emerges holding a pair of