Page 7 of Deadly Night
Sydney jabs an eyeliner pencil in my direction, nearly taking an eye out. “Nick is kind of similar to one of those weird little arctic foxes, you know? Only comes out in the winter. This is your window, Hads. You have to strike now before he gets snatched up.” She snaps her fingers a bit too close to my eyes.
I blink and lean back.
Maybe she’s right. I won’t know if I don’t try. What if he really is my mystery guy?
“Now for the final touches.” She yanks my bun out and fluffs my medium-length dark locks around to frame my shoulders. “Now, your ears.” She sticks a headband with fake elf ears on the sides of my head, adjusting my hair around them before plopping a sparkly green hat she must have bedazzled herselfonto my head. “Damn, babe. You’re so totally going to break every man in town’s heart.”
She smiles at me, her ethereal blue eyes bulging with pure pride. As though I’m her latest creation at her art studio.
I cross my arms over my chest, which does absolutely nothing to hide my cleavage. It does the opposite and shows my girls off more. “I can’t do this. I look ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously hot.” She grins and makes a sizzling noise while pretending I’m hot to the touch. “Accept it. This is your Lainey Boggs moment,” she tells me, referring to one of our favorite movies.She’s All That.
“You mean my moment to get eyeballed by divorced dads and middle schoolers?”
“You’re going to send them into puberty.” She laughs. “Or be the beginning of a few midlife crises.”
“I’m glad you find my suffering so amusing.”
She snorts. “I mean, if you’re not leveraging your biggest assets at Santa Land, what are you even doing with your life?”
I groan and look at the green elf shoes she’s produced from her bag.
“How deep is that bag?” I raise a brow. “Do you have a new identity in there for me when this blows up in my face?”
“You know,” she says, her voice taking a demurer tone, “there’s nothing wrong with wanting attention, Hads. Especially from the one guy you’ve always crushed hard on.”
“You mean Nick.” I chew on my thumb. A nervous habit I’ve never been able to break.
“Duh. Who else would I be talking about? The guy has been making puppy eyes at you since middle school. Don’t tell me you forgot the Halloween party where he ‘accidentally’ bumped into you and spilled his hot chocolate on your shirt so he could give you his hoodie?”
Sydney has it wrong. That was Damon. Not Nick. I thought he did it because he was a jerk. Could there have been another reason? He used to always be hanging around but wasn’t really ever a part of our friend group.
I wonder what ever happened to him.
I don’t have time to think about it.
Sydney is all business as she lines my eyes with green glitter and dabs something rosy on the tip of my nose. I barely recognize myself, but Syd seems satisfied.
“There. Sexy and edgy, but cute. Perfect.”
“I’m nervous.”
She nudges me with her shoulder. “The only one who is going to be nervous is Nick when he is trying not to fall all over you. Trust me.”
I hope my bestie is right. For the first time all month, I’m actually looking forward to what happens next.
We leave my place and start down the snow-covered sidewalk, leaving twin imprints of our boots in our wake. There’s no way I’m wearing those elf booties until I have to.
Five
Damon
I light up a cigarette, watching the smoke curl and blend in with the cloud of exhaust coming off my old man’s beat-up truck as our crew starts unloading trees and propping them up against the chain-link fence of the parking lot. At the far end, away from the booths, is where they stick the unsavory sellers. Like the guys selling overpriced Lafufus. Fake watches. Shit, that will turn your skin green.
My brother, Jace, says this is the best spot, but in reality, we both know the committee gave us this location because they don’t want someone like me scaring off families. I see the way they snub their noses at my tattoos. They don’t want the trees that reek of tobacco and exhaust fumes stinking up their minivans. But mostly they don’t want to do business with a convict. I’ve got a past and a reputation. The people of this townpainted me as a monster a long time ago. Long before I ever had a record.
I know what they think of me. They hate me because I don’t give a fuck what they think of me. Watching them all in their matching flannels, wearing their fake smiles, is enough to make me sick. They are all liars and fakes. They all have skeletons in their closet. I display mine with the ink on my skin. Wearing my sins and my scars like badges of honor.
