Take My Dress Off by S. Gilmour Read Free Book Online

were going to do it on the piano!” she laughed. Chaz stood stiffly next to her loosening his hot pink tie.
    “That’s ridiculous. As if, Danielle!”
    “Is there something going on I don’t know about?” she teased and winked.
    “Nothing is going on, just playing it up for the crowd, right?”
    “Looked pretty real to me,” Chaz said flatly.
    I looked past his shoulder to see if Dillon was coming out of the dressing room. “Don’t make anything of it. Jordan was right there watching too.”
    “I bet she wants to kick your ass.”
    “That’s not funny, Danielle. Excuse me. I need to get this horrible dress off.”
    I pushed through the human wall of people and made my way to the dressing room. It was alive with energy as models stripped off garments and make-up. A black curtain divided the guy’s and girl’s sides. I glanced to the other side of the curtain. The male models were in various stages of undress. I felt my throat tighten when I saw Dillon wearing only black briefs as he hung up his clothes. I remembered his body pressed to mine, other parts of him pressed to me, his hands on my stomach, his soft lips. Damn him for doing this to me again!
    “Hey, you keep staring and I’m going to charge you,” warned one of the models.
    Dillon looked over to see who was talking, raised his dark eyebrows at me, and then turned his attention back to folding his pants.
    “Alright, sweetie, move along. I needed that dress back like five minutes ago.” Ramon the wardrobe assistant handed me an empty hanger.
    I quickly changed and handed the dress off to Ramon. When I exited the dressing room a hand caught my shoulder. I turned to find Jordan with a few of her friends. Could this day get any worse?
    “Paige,” she smiled. Her beady brown eyes didn’t change shape to reflect she was smiling. Like if she was crying or furiously chasing me with an axe they would stay their same small, beady, shape.
    “Oh my God! You two were so cute up there!” she said squeezing my hand as if I was eight years old and had just finished a vocal performance of Tomorrow in my parent’s formal living room.
    “Is Dillon still back there? I didn’t see him come out.”
    “I think so.” I didn’t relay to her that I had just gawked at her boyfriend in his underwear.
    I would love to say that this ended like a John Hugh’s movie. That I walked out of the convention center and Dillon was waiting for me, leaning up casually against a red Porsche 911. (Cue music). That he looked up to me through his tousled bangs, caught my gaze, a lazy smile traveling across his lips as he coolly tossed his hair and motioned me over to him.
    But no, that’s not how it ended.
    Chaz picked me up in his old Mustang. I climbed over the door and slid onto the faded, cracked, vinyl seat. We rode over in silence (except for The Smith’s How Soon is Now? blasting over the engine’s roar) to the “after party” at the Holiday Inn Cantina.
    I tried to join in on the festive mood and celebrate a great performance but I don’t think I was fooling anyone. Not Danielle who occasionally nudged me barking, “Snap out of it!” and I was definitely not fooling Chaz. I occasionally caught him watching me from a booth, sitting across from Donny. He sipped slowly on a margarita, absently staring in my direction with a look that bounced between pity and longing.
    Dillon wasn’t there. Donny said he had gone off with Jordan and her friends.
    Of course he had.
    I heard that Dillon and Jordan broke up a few days later. Donny told Maddie that Dillon was going to take some time off from modeling because of the demands of summer training for varsity football. Which was just fine with me.

Chapter Five
    Despite the dramatic send off to summer I was able to let go of the bullshit with Dillon and enjoy spending time with Chaz. He became a regular with Maddie and we modeled together at the mall and in shows for local boutiques. Since Dillon was out of the picture, Chaz was