Experiment in Terror 04 Lying Season by Karina Halle Read Free Book Online

opening my hands and placing the dress in it.
    “ I don’t want to wear this tonight, it won’t be appropriate for a first date.”
    “ Fuck tonight,” she scoffed. “I know tonight’s just a distraction. This is about Friday. Dude, nothing matters. You’re going to go to that Christmas party looking like a million bucks and you’re going to show that stupid whore who’s the boss.”
    I couldn’t help but laugh at Ada getting all jealous and protective. She looked as worked up as anything, her feverish expressions causing her smudgy makeup to settle beneath her eyes. I didn’t have the nerve to tell her that it wasn’t the point of the trip, that I didn’t have a chance in hell, and that I was, according to Uncle Al, heading straight into heartache.
    “ Don’t pretend,” she said, coming closer. “Just put the damn dress on and I’ll tell you the truth.”
    I sighed and pointed at the door. “Well at least give me some privacy.”
    She didn’t budge. “You’re going to have to get used to people seeing you naked,” she teased.
    “ I’m already used to it,” I answered without thinking. Her eyes widened.
    “ What!?”
    “ Get out, let me change,” I told her, opening the door and pushing her out of it.
    “ But, but,” she protested and I locked the door in her face.
    “ Perry!” She pounded on the door. “What do you mean? Who has seen you naked!?”
    “ Ada, shut the fuck up!” I yelled back, knowing that was the last thing my parents needed to hear.
    She shushed up as I quickly stripped out of the black dress and shimmied into the teal one. It was too tight for my liking and I couldn’t zip it up all the way by myself but…
    I reached over and opened the door. Ada’s eyes bulged comically.
    “ Holy shite, where the hell do you get your boobs from?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Can you just zip me up?”
    She nodded quickly and ran it up the rest of the way. I sucked in my breath and the extra few inches of support made my breasts prop up even more.
    Ada was speechless for once. I took a step back from the mirror and tried not to be too critical. The color made my skin glow and my hair seem like rich ebony. The darker edges around my light blue irises looked saturated, like the teal color was leaking into them. It was shorter than I would have liked but at least my waist looked small. My breasts weren’t obscene or anything, but there was no mistaking them. I turned to the side and eyed my butt and hips. Again, no mistaking them. They were both out there for the world to see, like it or not.
    “ You look like Joan Holloway,” Ada breathed. She apparently watched Mad Men like the rest of the world.
    “ Thanks. A compliment, right?” Although I found Christina Hendricks sexy, it didn’t mean my waifish 15-year old sister did.
    “ Of course you dummy,” she said, now turning her attention to my feet. “Are you wearing those clunky black things you wore the other night?”
    “ You mean the only heels I have? Yes.”
    She rolled her eyes again. “Hold on.”
    I wasn’t holding onto anything. I was finding myself not only liking the dress but liking the way I looked in it. Wasn’t this what Uncle Al was warning me about, with all the maybes and what ifs?
    I shook my head in an attempt to snap out of it. I admit, I did want to go to the Christmas party now looking like a million bucks. It wasn’t to win over Dex. I knew him well enough that the way I looked wouldn’t change anything. But I did want to show to everyone else that I wasn’t some fat, dumpy, stupid ghost show host. I knew Miss Anonymous wouldn’t be there but I still knew that everyone would have read those comments and I needed that one extra push that no, I wasn’t like that at all. Miss Anonymous, what a stupid, jealous bitch, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
    Ada came back in with a computer printout in her hand.
    I took it from her and peered at it. “What’s this?”
    “ I got a gift