Page 8 of Crash
“Violet’s coming to work at Pulse,” Ash said, smiling at me.
“Holy hell, that’s ace,” Ren exclaimed, throwing her arms around my neck and making me almost spill my coffee all over the both of us. My eyes widened, but it was Ren, so I let it slide. My circle had opened up to include Ren and her best friend, Josie, a while ago now. Since my brother’s girlfriend was a fighter, touchy-feely didn’t bother her in the slightest.
“But,” Ash wenton,“she has to come to the party on Friday.”
“I don’t have anything to wear,” I complained, making a last ditch effort to get out of it.
“She’s trying to get out of it,” Ash said to Ren, totally reading my thoughts.
“Hey, I hate dresses, and I have to wear one becausegirl.” Ren gestured to herself, waving her hands up and down her body. “I have this thing at Myer in the city at eleven. Come with me.”
“Thing?” I asked, flinching at the word ‘city’.
“Personal shopping.” She pretended to throw up. ”Josie set it up. Otherwise I’d be going in jeans and a T-shirt.”
“A sexy T-shirt,” Ash declared, pinching her on the ass.
I smiled as she squealed and darted around the table, but it didn’t reach my heart. It was great that he’d found his happy ending with Ren, but I couldn’t help feeling jealous. They’d overcome everything, and I was still floundering. Maybe this was it for me.
“On me, Vee,” Ash said, flipping open his wallet and pulling out his credit card.
“Oh fuck, he’s pulling out the platinum,” Ren exclaimed, making a grab for it.
Ash pulled his hand out of her reach and slipped the card into my dressing gown pocket. “Buy yourself something flashy.” He pressed a kiss against the top of my head.
“Thanks,” I muttered, shoving my hand into my pocket and running my fingers over the raised numbers.
“It’ll be great,” Ren said, pulling up a chair at the table. “Apparently they stick you in a flash change room and bring you shit to try on. I have zero instincts for material.”
“Fuck, neither do I. Match made in heaven,” Ash said, wiggling his eyebrows.
I shuddered and backed into the bench, sinking into the corner.
“I’ll come get you just after ten,” Ren said. “We’ll go together, just us.”
I thought about what Dr. Ormond told me about trying to make bigger trips. I’d already agreed to go to Pulse and work in theoffice,maybe going shopping with Ren wouldn’t be so bad. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a smaller step than the one I’d already agreed to.
“Okay,” I said, trying to force a smile. “I’ll be ready.”
Ash beamed at me like a proud parent, and I began to realize he had become exactly that in lieu of ours dumping us when we got messed up. Ash was more of a dad to me than the real one was. I smiled again, and this time, it was genuine. Fuck, I loved my brother.
Ren clapped her hands and danced on her chair. “Good, at least one of us will know what the fuck is going on.”
**
The ride into the city had been okay. Ren picked me up and parked in an undercover carpark just behind Myer in Melbourne’s CBD. She’d held my arm as we wove our way through the throngs of people, and when we got inside the store, she pranced through almost deserted departments until we made it to the personal shopper.
Ren was currently twirling about in a black dress, trying to walk in a pair of six-inch heels. She looked more like a velociraptor than an elegant woman. She could fight, but walk in those shoes? Forget about it.
“I feel like a total fuckwit,” she said with a laugh, sticking her foot into the air. “Seriously?Heels and me?Pfft.”
I glanced at the black shoes on her feet, which were patent kitten heels, and rolled my eyes. “They look good on you.”
“They’re also five hundred bucks. I can go down the street and get the exact same pair at Sexyland for fifty. Forty-five at Club X.” Trust Ren to shop for a bargain at a sex shop. Her boldness never failed to alarm me.
“I’ll wait in the car.”
Ren frowned and picked up a purple dress from the rack. “Try this one on.”
