Page 6 of Picture Perfect Love

“Abby,” he swirled my name around on his tongue, trying it on. “I like it. It suits you. Now what about matter number two?”

I considered it for a moment, but really I didn’t have to. Just like that, my mind was made up.

“Won’t you get in trouble?” I asked. “This is your party, after all. Will your family be upset with you for leaving?”

“My family’s upset with me whether I stay or go. But if they had to choose, I think they like me better when I’m out of sight.”

“That’s sad to hear,” I frowned, feeling a little sorry for him.

“The only thing that makes me sad is the prospect of you turning me down,” he replied. “What will it be, Abby?”

“I don’t have anything to wear,” I admitted.

His eyes scanned the room until he landed on the coat check. “I might be able to dig something up for you.”

“I don’t even want to know what that entails,” I chuckled. “But okay. I’ll go with you. You have to pay me though, like you promised. Give me a few moments to plan my escape.”

His hand wrapped around my arm as he pulled me in close. “You do what you have to do. I’ll fish you up some clothes and meet you around back with my car in ten minutes.”

With that, he winked and set off on his scheme, which I could only assume wouldn’t be his first or last that evening.

I made a few more rounds so I didn’t look so suspicious, since I had just been talking with him so closely. Then I went back into the kitchen and proceeded to cough very loudly. I recovered for a moment, popping open a few more bottles to be delivered, only to erupt into another coughing fit all over again. Everyone was staring at me, especially Valerie with a coy little grin. She knew exactly what I was doing.

“You! What the hell has gotten into you!?” My boss scowled.

“I… I don’t know,” I croaked. “I didn’t feel good earlier, but it seems to be getting worse.”

He seemed unmoved, so I coughed even louder and even managed to fake a few sneezes. Finally, he was so repulsed that he caved.

“Fine! You can’t work like this! Get the hell out of here before the guests see you coughing all over their food!”

I nodded in a daze and slipped off into the back to grab my purse. A few minutes later I was in the alley out back where Joshua’s car pulled up, just as promised.

I couldn’t help but notice there was a bunch of fur bunched in his lap. “What is that?”

“Your wardrobe change, madam.” He held it up to reveal a beautiful fur coat. It was hardly a whole new outfit, but it was better than what I had on.

“Hmmm, okay,” I nodded, biting my lip as I surveyed what I had to work with. “Hold this,” I said, handing him my purse.

I straightened my legs and started ripping at the seams of my uniform. I opened up the stitches on the sides of my black dress pants, morphing it into something that mostly passed for an open, flowy skort kind of garment. Then I turned to my white button-up and ripped off the sleeves. A few buttons undone at the top, and it sort of looked like a chic womens suit.

“There. Now with the fur coat, I think I can pass as someone who knew they were going out tonight… for something other than delivering drinks and food. It’ll be even better if the club is dimly lit.”

He looked me up and down with his lips slightly parted, his eyes stalling around my cleavage and thighs. “You’re more resourceful than I am, and that’s saying something.”

As if playing hookie at work didn’t give me enough of a rush, the way he looked at me only added to the thrill. Maybe I wasn’t the kind of girl I would picture him being into, but he was into me that night. The next day I would go back to my regular life with school and work and maybe a little Christopher on the side. But until then… I was someone else, someone new. Someone that did impulsive things like skip out on work with a stranger and tear up my clothes in the back of a limo to make a new outfit.

This new Abby wasn’t sustainable long-term, but she sure was fun to try on for a bit.

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