I was important before. “I don’t care about being important. I want to be happy.”
“Everybody cares about being important,” Betty scoffed. “It’s a matter of whether you’re willing to admit it or not. Once we get out of this dump, I’m sure you will love using and abusing your status. Maybe we can hang a curtain so that I don’t have to see your Pepto Bismol colored side of the room.”
“It’s pearlescent pink, not Pepto. And I am NOT going to abuse my status,” I declared adamantly, even as I flashed back to using my rank to force Rocky to let me go to my work meeting. Well, I won’t abuse it anymore, I vowed to myself.
Betty was busy ignoring me as she rifled through her suitcase. She pulled out a luxurious set of sheets and got to work fitting them to the coffin as best she could. When she was satisfied, she took the old sheets and, without any sign of hesitation, hopped up on one of the old chairs in the room and balanced on her eight-inch stilettos as the chair wobbled back and forth.
“Uh, don’t fall?” I offered, helpfully. I watched in awe as she turned a plain bedsheet and some thumbtacks into a decent curtain, all while looking like she just walked off a Parisian runway. I knew we were undead, and she probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt if she fell, but still, this woman was kind of a badass. If I had known her when we were both alive and if she hadn’t wrecked my entire world, I would probably have a serious woman crush on her.
“There. Now we won’t have to look at one another. I need to get ready for tonight’s dinner. I hear it’s quite the event. I suggest you find an outfit that doesn’t look like you’re trying to be Forever Twenty-One incarnate. There will be a lot of eyes on us tonight.”
I set down the unopened blood bag and shoved aside the sheet to talk to her. “What do you mean?” I asked. She huffed, like my presence offended her.
“I mean this is the first time everyone in this community will ever see you. People already don’t want either of us here. I’m too old. You’re too...unimportant for the rank you hold. I suggest you learn as much as you can over the next three hours and look your best, Barbie. I might be old, but I know politics. The show begins tonight.”
I swallowed as Bitchy Betty took out her pearl earrings and started stripping out of her clothes. Nope. I didn’t want to see naked Granny today. I made my way to the other side of the partition and punctured the blood bag with my teeth.
Shit. She was right.
I mentally went over every outfit I had as I sipped my blood. I had a stunning black to pale pink ombre Badgley Mischka gown that I wore for a work conference last year, hanging in my closet at home. That would be perfect, but since Rocky packed for me, I was at his mercy for my fashion choices.
I finished my snack and willed myself to get up and look in my closet, praying to the god of the undead that Rocky slipped something spectacular in there. I was frantically pushing hangers aside and cursing Rocky when there was a knock at the door. I heard Betty open it and then shut it again a minute later.
She came sauntering over to my side of the room holding a giant box with a deep red bow. She handed it to me and perched on the edge of my coffin. I stared at her until she unapologetically said, “I want to see what it is, so you may as well open it.”
“Fine,” I said as I ripped the ribbon off and lifted the top off the box. Inside was a beautiful red dress and a note. I lifted the dress out of the box and held it up. It was an off-the-shoulder A-line with tulle that cascaded down into an asymmetrical hem. All the note said was, “Shine like a ruby.”
“Who’s it from?” Betty teased, knowing full well who sent it. “I bet you’re loving that status now, huh?”
Even though the dress was thoughtful and stunning, I scowled at her. I didn’t like all the things she insinuated. I spent my entire life working for everything I owned. I started at the bottom at my company. I gave up relationships and a social