Stardust

the worst night of my life: the beginning

I still need a drink, put all the glasses in the sink

From chasin' a shot that rang through hell - Daisy Jones & The Six

Stella

- What about this one? - Belly happily skips out of the dressing room wearing another horrible dress. It's blue and mixes a tablecloth checkered pattern with flowers. The puffed sleeves make it even worse. The bruise on the side of Belly's face doesn't make it any better. - It's a little short, but I like it.

It's genuinely the most ridiculous dress I've ever seen in my entire life. That record has been broken twice today.

- Belly... - Laurel spends a few seconds thinking before forcing a smile. - You look lovely.

Once my sister is done, it's my turn to try on clothes for all the deb ball bullshit. We've been here for over an hour and I'm not looking forward to my near future.

- Yes. I love this cut! - Susannah clasps her hands. - And this color looks wonderful on your skin tone.

I don't know if Susannah sees something Laurel and I don't or if she's making shit up. My mom's a photographer, but this is out of my league. If she was here, she'd know. And when we left, she'd whisper to me that the dress resembles a blue version of Lord Farquaad. Belly looks cute in that abomination because she is cute. She'd look adorable in a potato sack.

- What do you think, Stella? - Susannah turns to me, causing the other two to do the same.

- It's nice. - I force myself to be nice. To me this is lame, but Belly is happy and I won't take that from her. - You look beautiful, Bells.

Not a lie. The dress is a disaster, but my sister is freaking gorgeous. She looks more like Laurel every passing day.

- You said that about every dress. - There's a hint of accusation to her tone.

Because they're all horrendous. Somehow it only gets worse.

- Because it's true. - I stand up from my chair in front of the dressing room, grab her hand and spin her around like they do in movies, and she laughs. - You're gonna kill this.

- Really? - Belly bites her lower lip. I know she's nervous about meeting all the other girls and socializing, but I think this could be good for her. Actually good.

- You two are gonna love it, you'll see. - Susannah playfully pokes her best friend. In her defense, this is only the fifth time that Laurel has rolled her eyes today. - Have you decided?

- I'm going with this and the other blue one. - Belly points to, thankfully, the least ugly dress of the bunch.

- Great. I love it. - I swear an evil spark takes over Susannah's otherwise kind face. - Stella, it's your turn.

A woman comes over with the few dresses I picked out earlier plus the ones Belly and Susannah chose. She gives me what I interpret as an apologetic smile and walks out. The inside of the dressing room is blue with some gold details. Kinda cute. The first dress is the one Susannah chose. It's white with flowers sewn into it.

It immediately takes me to a night of my past. What ended up being the worst night of my life.

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Los Angeles, 2 years ago

The nightlife of Los Angeles is a thing of beauty. Even regular party girls like myself and Ashley still get impressed by it sometimes. I don't know the name of the club we're in and the music is so good it doesn't matter. My best friend and I get lost in the high beats, the drinks, and the colorful lights. I'm not sorry I let her drag me out of home. Mistakes aren't real in places like this. Nothing is, not really. I can forget about Conrad and Belly and the guilt that's been eating me alive for the past 3 months.