"You look so good!" Briar squealed.
"Are you sure?" Vani looked at herself in the mirror. Briar had put braids in her long hair, done her make up and dressed her up to go out to the alcohol-fueled party scene.
"Is this a club or a pub, or what?" Vani asked pulling her shirt hem down and then the low cut top up. She was in a loosing battle.
"Uh, I think it is like a pop-up beach party thing. Marc got a flier from the coffee place." Briar applied her own lipstick in the mirror.
"Are you sure this top is appropriate?" Vani asked looking at her reflection again.
"Yes. It looks great." Brair nodded with a wide grin.
"I am all boob!" Vani gestured at her chest like a car show model.
"And that is a bad thing?" Briar laughed.
"I don't know I just feel extra aware of the girls tonight." Vani shook her head. She hadn't told Briar about what the Dude-bro had said to her on the beach.
"I think Travis would like to be extra aware of them too." Briar grinned.
"It's not even like that." Vani dismissed.
"Uh OK!" Briar nodded sarcastically.
"I don't look fat?" Vani's tone changed, she was feeling insecure.
"You have never looked fat, and even if you were who the fuck cares. You are more than your waistline." Brair scolded.
"Yeah, but I still don't want to go out looking absolutely ridiculous." Vani said twisting to look at her butt in the mirror.
"You kill me sometimes. You are gorgeous. I don't know how you never seem to see it. We need to work on your self esteem." Briar fixed her eyeliner as she spoke.
Vani thought of the words of the dude-bro, then the words of the party assailant, then rapid fire images of being ignored and passed over. No dates to dances, no one to hold hands with in the halls, no cutesy valentines gifts or birthday surprises.
She remembered how she felt before she had gone out with RC and Joe. She was starting to revert to that feeling of being a shadow.
Vani thought of how she used to love the vicarious attention she received from boys through her friends. It hadn't really occurred to her until recently that she was completely inconsequential to those people. None of them had even bothered to pretend to keep touch after high-school.
Maybe she had a skewed view of the world and relationships. She compared herself to the rest of her family, people who found their life long loves when they were young.
Being single made her suddenly feel homely and gross.
"What just happened?" Briar was studying her face.
"Oh, nothing." Vani turned away.
"Or something." Briar prompted.
"Just feeling kind of... I don't know. Not feeling all... like... hot and stuff I guess." Vani shrugged thinking it sounded stupid coming out of her mouth.
"That's not cool batman. What happened? You were all, sexy jeans and borrowed sweaters a few months ago." Briar reminded her.
"Yeah, but maybe that was like a one off? UGH! I don't know. I just feel very toadish, and not very princess. Ya know?" Vani said dropping her shoulders.
"You, my friend have nothing to be concerned about. You are no where near a toad. Just because you are voluptuous doesn't translate to toad. It translates to vavavoom!" Briar said shimmying her shoulders. "You don't think I would like a little more voom?" She challenged.
YOU ARE READING
Tripping and falling... in love
RomantikusWhen your first kiss results in the boy throwing up in the bushes that obviously means that romance just isn't your thing right? Vani thought so. Boys and romance were just not her thing and she was OK with that...so how on earth did she find herse...
