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And it would be with all my friends there, Paige. The guys would be there, LJ, Jax, and Knight, but she needed to be there too. It wasn’t fair if she couldn’t go just because she was a girl and no one ever said girls couldn’t go. They just never tried.
I brought her into a room uncovered with dust, but the stillness, the silence still felt like there were ghosts. I didn’t go in here, wasn’t allowed in here, but we only needed to borrow something.
I turned on the light, making Paige’s eyes adjust as well as mine. The chandelier glistened over the pink quilt on the bed, cherubs and angels decorating the ceiling like out of a storybook. My mom designed it. She’d loved it in here.
I went to the closest, opening it up. So many dresses were in there, perfect still as our housekeepers make sure they were. I plucked a red one, perfect for Paige.
“Wow,” she said, accepting it. She held it up to herself. “How does it look?”
So not like my friend, but not in a bad way. I laughed since she didn’t wear dresses.
She did too, grinning. We both went over to the mirror, and she danced with it, spinning around while she held the dress up to herself.
“Will you go tonight?” I asked, daring. “Now that you have something to wear?” I hoped she was serious. I didn’t like when people lied. People lied to me a lot and thought they could because they are older. I always knew though. I could always see it in their eyes.
Paige chewed her lip a little, the playfulness leaving from her eyes. “Where did this come from, Royal? I mean, who do all these belong to? The dresses?”
My heart squeezed, and I looked at us both in the mirror.
“They were my sister’s,” I confessed.
Her eyes widened, her swallow hard. “You had a sister?”
I nodded, watching as she lowered the dress. I got scared she might not go now, that all this would be weird for her. She didn’t know I had a sister. She just knew about my mom.
I guess I had to tell her about all that now.
I thought she’d ask me right away about my sister but she didn’t. Instead, she grabbed my hand, pushing me out of the room.
“I have to get dressed, silly,” she said, grinning. “You’re taking me to a ball.”
Eight
December - Present
“Hey, bitch! Come back here!”
I ran, the loot in my pocket as I put distance between myself and the convenience store. Thank God I stashed my bag in an alley. I never would have been able to run with it.
“Get your ass back here and pay for that!”
I didn’t, the warm-colored streets of Arizona a blur as I searched for someplace to take refuge. I couldn’t go back for my bag, not yet with this guy chasing me. I hadn’t seen him when I decided to pocket some grain bars and a few snacks. I hadn’t thought at all really. I’d just been hungry, and that hunger caused me to do something stupid. Rounding a corner and nearly clipping a pedestrian, I came across a street naked of people. If that shop owner followed me here, he’d see wherever I went.
I scanned the area like an agent, making a quick decision to shove myself into the nearest store, and as soon as I did, I pressed the door shut behind me. The chime went off, a damn chime that could give me away. I fled from the door like it’d
marked me.
“We’re closed,” shot a voice from somewhere inside the place, and I attempted to be casual, a hand on the stolen shit in my pocket as I approached a shelf of books. Some kind of bookstore. I shuffled around.
“I said we’re…” The boy came out of the shelves, a tall boy with honey-tanned skin and a beanie that covered a wash of dark curls. He had a stack of books in his hands, a curious look in his eyes as he approached in tight, black jeans and a slouchy tee. He slid the books on a shelf. “We’re closing soon. Can I help you with something…?”
He’d stopped because of the voice, the shouting outside his store taking both our attention.
“I’m gonna find you, bitch!” came from outside, the man who’d been chasing me right outside the door. I saw him well through the bookstore’s glass. He turned, hands on his head. “You don’t steal from my fucking store and get away with it!”
He stood there for a second, my heart in my throat as I hoped to God he didn’t take his search just a smidgen to his left. He need only look through the glass to find what he sought for, but as it turned out, someone gave me a break today. Shaking his head, the shop owner continued on down the street, and I closed my eyes.
“So um, if you’ve come to steal something, you don’t have to. This is a library, so just check out whatever you want.”
