Page 21 of Roque

“Yes.” She pushed me down. “Mom’s out having a girl’s night. We can raid her makeup and tools.”

“She’s going to kill you.”

“It’ll be worth it. I’ve always wanted to get some bronzer and my mom’s pro curler on you.” Tati’s mom owns a chic salon in Princeton. She gives Tati some things but her own personal stash of beauty products in her home she’s pretty anal about. “I’ll be right back.”

“Fine.” I sighed, sitting down stubbornly. Maybe she’s right. I want to blend in and I sure as shit do not right now with my $4.99 dye job and baggy clothes. The cheap drugstore dye was surprisingly the only thing that could hide the vibrant red in my hair. Ever since puberty, it had grown redder and redder. It’s a flame. A symbol of the burning fury deep inside me. But I had to hide it. Mask it. Until it’s time to let it burn.

“I’m going to make you look so damn hot girl, whoever this mystery frat boy you have your eye on is going to drop dead.”

“Good.” I smirked. “Because that’s exactly what I want.”

Tati got to work twirling my hair in a hot iron and left it hanging down in loose waves. She brushed a pale bronzer on my face and painted my lips a pretty shade of dark pink.

“No.” I balked when she held up a pair of false lashes.

“Yesssss.”

“Ugh, fine.” I snapped.

Resigning myself to my fate, I closed my eyes and let Tati work her magic.

“Done.” She uttered in a sing-song voice.

My eyes popped open. She transformed me from a mousy girl in hiding to… someone who can’t be missed. My hair was thick with sexy waves. My brown-colored-contact eyes looked wide and sparkly with the expert eye makeup she put on. I could easily pass as a college freshman. “Now your clothes.”

She opened her closet door, taking out a shimmering black tank.

“I have no boobs.”

“They won’t care. Boys just want to see some skin. Besides, some guys prefer the petite ballerina body type.”

“Or they prefer curves they can grab onto like yours.”

“Good. Then we’ll never have to fight over a guy.”

“As if,” I scoffed. “I’ve never even had a crush.”

“Never?”

I looked away, feeling my heart pound. My feelings for Roque had changed over the years. He’s changed. The man/boy is all man now. The photographs I hired my PI to take are stashed under my mattress. I might look at them every night… His eyes. His eyes are the same though. Two soul-sucking, heat-searing missiles. I feel them go right through me every time I stare at the pictures.

“Nope. I have better things to focus my time on besides boys.”

“Like training for some Ninja TV show? You might be small, but you are toned as hell, D. I’m jealous.”

Tati’s been calling me D forever. She never thought Diana fitted as my name. Little did she know how right she is.

“Don’t be. I train for a purpose other than vanity.”

“Will you ever share these secrets?”

I sighed. “I can’t.”

She sat quietly on her bed. “Did… did someone hurt you D? You know how I mean…,” she trailed off biting her lip.

I shrugged not wanting to cry. If I did, my fake contacts could slide out. Tati still has no clue what I really look like. My persona is almost as much as a farce as Roque pretending to be a frat guy. “It was a long time ago. And it wasn’t sexual but yes someone did hurt me.”

“That doesn’t matter. It still happened, right?”

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