S A R A

Ch 8

8

Now when Bruce said he had a dress; he must have been a little bit confused. This was more like many pieces of fabrics sewn together, I mean was it a halter top, times ten.

Where was the head hole? Where was the arm hole? I just stared at it and tried different things to attempt to understand.

I heard a knock on the door, "one minute!" I replied with my voice was sounding a little bit unsure. How was I supposed to put this on and go out into public?

"Are you doing alright there?" It was Bruce.

"Yes, it's just, I'm a little unsure about the 'dress' though," I was trying to keep calm now.

"I thought you would be," he said self-assuredly. God was I really that basic? "Don't worry it's the latest fashion, trust me."

Ugh. Okay. Nothing to lose now, I guess. I slipped off my simple white sundress and put on the 'dress'.

It...it fit like a glove. How can something that looked so strange on hanger look so different on, me?

This would not have been the case one year ago. I look at the slanted mirror, and did a look over, turning around once. I looked behind my back. It was actually not bad at all. But maybe a little eccentric, it would be fine at a party but walking through the gas station could be awkward.

I walked out; I didn't care anymore. I walked through the gas station, noticing eyes on me, choosing not to feel uncomfortable about it. I was fine. I walked out to the car, where Bruce was already standing, he gave me a thumbs up when he saw me. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

I was about to get into the car, but Bruce stopped me, putting his hand against the door.

"I'll be the driver now, Miss. Clementine," he said.

I hesitated but decided to give up, it's been too much of a day and it was not even noon, yet.

Climbing into the passenger seat, I threw my old dress on the back seat and opened up the mirror above me. I tried my best to tousle my hair and reapply my lip-gloss. Here goes nothing, I thought.

We pulled out of the station and back on the road.

Always on the road.

Right around the time we got onto the private road, leading up to Haden's bachelor pad, I seriously considered jumping out of the car and making a run for it while I still could. But no, then I realized I was going to have to return the car to mom eventually, the dress to Bruce, and a second chance to redeem myself to Haden.

"Ready, Sara?" Bruce asked as we were pulling up to the entrance.

I looked ahead, and as we got closer the image came into clear view. Photographers. Lots of them. I felt like I was set up for some reason, somehow.

The person before me had just gone in, probably somebody important because there was a big commotion and the paparazzi, like animals in herds, were all at the end of the walkway getting their last shots.

So, I was lucky stepping out of the car, thinking maybe I will get through this untouched, but all of a sudden flashes were everywhere. Blinding bright lights. It only took them 10 second though, to realize that I was not anyone famous. At least not yet.

I walked into a marble room which looked more like a lobby of an art gallery, as there were paintings on the walls. But mostly it looked like a model casting. It seemed like everyone was taller than me, and let me tell you I was average height, at least 5'7.

Leggy models and women whose hips would never be too wide or stomachs not flat. To say I felt intimidated would be an understatement, but of course I played it cool and did my best to make use of my earlier dance training in order to move gracefully across the room.