voluminous skirts of her Tudor gown. She stood out too much at this party—which happened when you skipped over the sexy cat costumes and zeroed in on the classy Anne Boleyn Tudor ball gown. Felicity should have worn some cheap costume, but she just couldn’t do it. Halloween was her favorite holiday. She’d scrimped and saved to buy a good costume, one that meant something to her. She’d been lucky enough to find this gown on a deep-discount rack at a costume warehouse. Hence the beautiful, elegant, yet still sexy gown she wore at that moment. At least it had been sexy in the sixteenth century.
I am such a nerd.
She had gotten her share of raised eyebrows and smothered laughs when she’d entered the apartment with her friends, but she didn’t care. She was ready to celebrate her entrance into adulthood at a normal party. Even if it had taken her until graduate school to be brave enough to attend a social gathering like this.
And why shouldn’t she? She’d worked hard—late-night study sessions, endless art exhibit submissions—all in the hope of attaining grades that would be good enough to take her from a small Nebraska town to the hip art communities of Chicago. She deserved a party. And going to one at Layla’s boyfriend’s fancy apartment was safe enough since it was close to the school and the gallery where she worked.
Several laughing girls bumped into her, plastic cups brimming with alcohol. She danced back a step, narrowly avoiding drenching her gown in cheap beer as one of the girls stumbled in her heels, sending her cup flying through the air.
“Shit!” the girl hissed, then started giggling with her friends as she bent over to clean up the mess.
The entire night had been one near miss after another. The last thing Felicity needed was her costume smelling like beer.
She glanced at the group of pretty girls in the bunny ears and the gathering of boys around them.
Why didn’t I think of wearing something like that? She glanced at the girls with their perfect bikini bodies, and she blushed. There was no way she could run around in something skimpy like that and feel confident. She just didn’t look good in tight clothes…or revealing clothes. She was a size twelve, which was just a little too plump to look good in a skintight costume. She shuddered at the thought of being so exposed.
The crowd of people thinned out as she headed toward the room she sought. She took a moment to pause, one hand resting on the wall as she tried to suck in a breath. Maybe the corset was a bad idea.
“Hey!” A familiar feminine voice cut through the noise, and Felicity looked over her shoulder.
Layla was the official hostess of the party even though the apartment belonged to her boyfriend, Tanner, and she certainly acted like it as she strode toward her. She was a sight—five foot, curvy, and completely rocking her zombie stripper costume. Amazingly, Layla managed to look both scary and cute as she crossed the room in her four-inch stilettos. Felicity knew without a doubt that she’d break her neck in shoes like that, which was why she’d opted for red silk slippers that matched her gown.
“Hey, you okay?” Layla reached her and linked her arm through Felicity’s. “I saw you yawning from across the room.”
Felicity wrinkled her nose. “Just tired. Been up since dawn, have a midterm paper due tomorrow, and I feel every minute of a year older.” Felicity wrinkled her nose. “Is it still all right to crash in Tanner’s brother’s bedroom?”
“Of course! I don’t want you having to travel across half the city tonight to get back to that little hole in the wall you live in.” Layla linked her arm through Felicity’s. “I really wish you’d just move in with me.” Her friend pouted dramatically, but Felicity stiffened her spine in an attempt resist Layla’s begging.
“As much as I love your apartment, Layla, it’s out my budget at the moment.” It was double what her tiny place was, and Felicity’s budget was already stretched thin. “You sure Tanner’s brother won’t mind?” It still felt weird to be sleeping in a guy’s bed whether he was there or not.
“Yeah. Jared won’t be back till Sunday night, so you’re welcome to stay the whole weekend,” Layla said. “Besides, even if he wasn’t spending the entire weekend working, he’d never be caught dead anywhere near a party like this. That workaholic wouldn’t know fun