Buried (Bailey Roberts Trilogy #1) Editing

09: What Was I Thinking [3rd draft]

Friday. The Party. April 23rd, 2010.

Friday had finally rolled around and the party Bailey had foolishly agreed to go to was an hour away. Scrambling through her newly purchased wardrobe for something presentable should've been fairly simple, but she hadn't shopped with a party in mind earlier in the week and her room showed the consequences of that mistake. Bailey's usual of jeans and a t-shirt, with some pajama pants were thrown on the floor, failing inspections. Before, she wouldn't have cared what she wore because technically, she wouldn't have been going. Things change.

"You made a commitment to at least try," she whispered as she ran her finger down the line of clothing. Not finding anything at first glance, she pushed the hangers of clothes until she spotted a stray piece of black material, shoved in the corner of the closet. She tilted her head, scowling at the sharp feel of the price tag jabbing her finger. A cute little black dress with spaghetti straps lined in a dark pink and a handkerchief styled skirt wasn't what she'd been expecting to see when she pulled it out.

It was the dress her mom had thrown in the cart on a whim. The dress Bailey had refused to try on. She would never wear it, at least, not under normal circumstances so Bailey hadn't seen the point of it. Taking a deep breath, she turned from the closet, holding it up to the light for a better glimpse at the pink, black, and subtle sparkling dust embedded into the material.

Her nose scrunched at the cute dark pink ribbon tied into a very small bow directly under the breast area. The ribbon circled around into a rather low back too. It was a little too much 'girl fluff' for Bailey, but she had a feeling, if the dress fit her, that it would look amazing.

Nodding, she threw the dress onto her bed and yanked at the hem of her gray t-shirt before reaching for the dress again. She slipped the silken material over her head. She swiveled, letting the movement ruffle the handkerchief styled skirt at her knees.

For the first time in forever she felt like a girl. She felt dainty, small, even cute, and she liked it. Bailey bit her lip and slid her hands down her sides, relishing the way the dress clung to her hips. The girly feeling didn't last long though. She scowled at the loose material surrounding her chest.

"Wouldn't you know it?" Bailey grumbled, hopping in front of her vanity mirror to confirm that what she was feeling was actually happening. She tried popping her chest out; didn't work. She adjusted; wasn't working. "Darn it."

There was no way she was stuffing. She'd read and seen way too many accidents with stuffing. She'd kill for a push up bra right now.

"Duct tape, huh?" Her shoulders slumped dramatically and she bowed her head with defeat as she remembered her mother's words earlier; the curse of having small breasts and wide hips. Gale swore by duct tape. Bailey had firmly shut her down. It wasn't like she wanted cleavage, she just wanted there to not be such a huge gap between the breast cups in the dress and her chest.

Bailey walked towards her door and opened it a little to shout down to Gale before going back to the mirror, "Mom? Did you buy that duct tape?"

Bailey contemplated as she turned left then right. She scrunched her lips to the side of her face and planted her hands on her hips. Wearing jeans and a t-shirt isn't the most horrible idea. When she heard socked feet shuffling up the stairs and the creak of her bedroom door Bailey lifted her head to stare at her mother, who was now leaning in the doorway with a knowing smirk.

Heaving a sigh, Bailey raised her shoulders in an over exaggerated shrug before dropping her hands to her side. "So how is this supposed to work?"

Gale gave a wide, teeth-showing grin as she pulled on the silver roll of tape in her hands. The ripping sound echoed in the room and made Bailey's left eye twitch. "If we wrap the tape on the lower part of your breasts it will push them up. It'll fill in the empty spaces give you some cleavage."