Change (Published under The Change For Her)

Thirty-Three

 "Chloe, come out here so I can do your hair!" Ava yells again from the other side of the door. I'm standing in the bathroom wearing the nurse costume, staring at myself in the mirror. I look so different, it wasn't crazy revealing but the top pushes my cleavage together and shows them a little.

The puffy bottom stops mid-thigh, I was wearing white fishnet tights and red high heels. "Chloe!"

I let out a breath and finally exit the bathroom biting my bottom lip, nervous about what their reaction is going to be. The room was quiet, which makes me more anxious about my costume choice. I look up to see both of them staring at me, "What? Does it not look good on me?" I question them while looking back down at my costume.

"Girl, you look hot!" Ava lets out as she stands up to check me out.

"Who are you and what happened to my bestie?" I let out a small giggle at Maria's response. "I'm gonna go put my outfit on, while Ava finishes up your look," Maria tells me before entering the bathroom.

I take a seat at Ava's vanity, letting her get started on curling my hair. As I look in the mirror, I notice that she dressed up as a hot military woman. She is wearing a camouflage short jumpsuit, black boots with fishnets. She had dog tags hanging around her neck, fake bullets wrapped around her like a sash.

Her hair was wavy and to top the look off she was wearing a camo hat. She looked amazing, green really compliments her skin. "You look amazing, Ava," I compliment her.

"Thank you," She smiles as she wraps a strand of my hair around the curling iron. Ava and I are the total opposite, we grew close since the day I came here. I was iffy on how things were going to go down between us while we live together.

Now I'm glad we're roommates because she helps me push myself out of my comfort zone. "Are you excited about your first Halloween party?"

I fiddle with the fabric of my skirt, "Um, yeah," honestly I am excited but I know Conor and Liam are going to be roaming around there. Just like the bonfire, I feel like I'll bump into them or at least one of them.

"You can't hide from them forever," I wish I could. "You have to face them one day, especially since you have classes with Conor and since Liam is one of my best friends."

"I know," I softly say.

Ava turns the seat to where I was now facing her. Ava bends down to where she was eye level to me. She runs her fingers through my hair to toss sections over my shoulders. Ava grabs my nurse hat, places it onto my head and pins it so the little hat won't fall off.

"You really need to hear Liam's side of the situation." I let out a breath of air and rolled my eyes.

"Why do you guys want me to talk to him so badly," I groan.

Ava pulls up a stole and sits in front of me to start doing my make-up. "Listen, I know Liam. Him and I have been friends for a long time. Liam isn't the type of guy people paint him out to be. He might look like a player, a bad guy but he's far from that. Liam, always does whatever it takes to protect the ones he cares for. Even if it gets him into trouble or accidentally causes someone pain." I listen to her closely as she covers my eyelids with eyeshadow. Each word she speaks about him causes my heart to ache.

"Ava-"

"No, Chloe," She cuts me off. "Liam, never does something without having a good reason to back it up. I know what he did hurt you, I also know he didn't mean for it to come out that way." She starts to apply red lipstick onto my lips. "He cares about you Chloe, trust me. I never have seen Liam so smitten about a girl like he is towards you. Just hear him out, please."

Ava tried to warn me that Conor wasn't a decent guy. That he was a player. I didn't believe her and she was right about him. If she was right about Conor, I have to trust her about Liam.

"Okay, I'll talk to him." Ava smiles at me and wraps her arms around me.

"Thank you," She pulls away and sets her lipstick down on her vanity. "Okay, you can finally see your glam." Ava turned the chair so I was facing the mirror.

"Wow," Was the only word that left between my lips. Just like the bonfire, Ava transformed me into a totally different person.

Ava stands behind me, places her hands on my shoulder and leans down by my ear. "Come on, you look great. A lot of guys will have their eyes on you."

Ava turns away from the mirror, "Maria, what's taking you so long?! We have to get going!" She shouts.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," She finally walks out of the bathroom door. "I'm ready to send people down below for all the sinning they have done," Maria smiles as she poses against the entryway.

Ava lets out a whistle and applauds.

"Okay, who are you? What happened to my bestie?" I say the words she said to me. Maia shakes her head as she laughs.

"Okay girls, let's go celebrate!" Ava announces as we follow behind her to finally head to the Halloween party.

******

Blaring music blasts from the giant white frat house; decorated with fake spider webs, zombie graves along the front yard and caution tape on the windows. People dressed in costumes standing on the porch drinking. Ava already making her way up the stairs of the wooden porch followed by Maria, while I'm still standing in place on the walkway admiring the site in front of me.

"Chloe, come on!" I hear Maria shout. I shake my head and quickly catch up with them. Ava opens the door and we get hit by the blaring music filling the whole house. You can smell the mixer of alcohol and sweat in the air. People wearing masks, fake blood or something funny.

We all lock hands and weave through the crowd, Ava leading us to an unknown location. Most likely where the drinks will be held. We move past sweaty bodies until Ava drags us into the kitchen. "Okay, let me work my magic and fix us some drinks," Ava tells us as she releases our hands.

Maria gave me a look that shows she is unsure about the idea. "Don't worry, you can trust her," I whisper to her. Ava starts mixing things into three separate plastic cups. I observed the crowd around us part of me hoping I'll see a familiar face, so far the face I'm searching to find is nowhere in my sight.

My fingers scrunched my skirt trying to calm the jitterbugs playing in the pit of my stomach. Mix emotions fill me, I want to be here just afraid to bump into Conor and nervous how things will go down if I see Liam. Another feeling running through me is unknown, it's the feeling like something is going to happen but you don't have a single clue what it could be.

"Here you guys go," Ava announced as she hands Maria and I, our drinks. "Josh recently introduced me to this delicious sensation. Try it."

I bring the red cup up to my lips and let a small bit of the liquid run against my tongue, down my throat. I hum in response. "It tastes sorta like lemonade."

Maria licks her lips after lowering her cup, "Yeah, it's really good."

"That's what I told Josh, apparently it's called the gummy bear," Ava explains. "Now, let's go have some Halloween fun!" We tap our cups together and cheer.