“What was that?” I asked, leaning in closer to her.
She frowned at me, utterly confused. I loved knowing something that she didn’t know. And she could tell. That upper hand kept me from taking her frizzy head in my hands and bashing it against the kitchen counter.
I noticed the Peeping Tom album was over and the CD player had switched onto something autotuney. I took another quick sip of wine, being careful with my gloss, and went over to the player. I scoured the stack of CDs lined up alongside it. Only Dex (and I) would still have a lot of CDs.
“Please, nothing weird,” Jenn muttered. I decided to indulge her for now. I selected Beastie Boys Ill Communication and stuck it in the player. I pressed play, the barking dog of “Sure Shot” shooting out from the speakers.
As I did so, I heard the bedroom door open and the sound of dress shoes walking across the floor.
“Tie or no tie?” Dex asked.
I straightened up, turned around and stared.
Dex was standing in front of the bar counter facing Jenn. He was wearing a sharp black suit, shiny dress shoes, a white-collared shirt that wasn’t buttoned all the way up and had a black tie in his hand. His shiny, ebony hair was lightly spiked up at the sides and off of his expressive forehead. His face was smooth, his moustache and chin scruff trimmed down to an inch of their existence. He looked…beautiful.
He noticed me staring at him and turned his body over to look. Our eyes met. They sparkled more than ever. Now he just looked insanely, devilishly handsome. He took my breath away.
And apparently the feeling was mutual. Because he didn’t say anything either.
His eyes fixed on me in absolute surprise. He looked at my chest first, then my waist, my hips, my legs and then back at my face. And when he saw my face, his look intensified. I thought he’d look at me and laugh, considering how different I felt I looked. But he didn’t.
“God, Dex, take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Jenn sneered, placing her wine glass down on the counter with a clank. He barely paid attention as she stormed past him and started pounding on the bathroom door, demanding Rebecca and Emily vacate immediately.
“Perry,” he croaked out. “I didn’t…”
“Recognize me?” I filled in. “I didn’t either.”
I walked over to him so he could get a better look and stopped a foot away. He looked even better close up. My hormones were on fire and making me feel funny all over. I made another mental note to not drink too much.
“Yeah,” he breathed out. “You look…nice.”
I smiled at that. “As long as I don’t look as ridiculous as I feel.”
He was still awestruck. “You don’t look ridiculous. You look…beautiful.”
I blushed on command. I noticed the pounding on the door had stopped and the bedroom door slammed. Jenn was probably attacking her hair in there, de-frizzing the crap out of it even though she didn’t really need to.
“I’m serious,” he added, wiping at his chin and giving me the once-over again. The way his eyes glued to my form, they caused goosebumps to pop on my arms. I hoped he wouldn’t notice. I wanted nothing more than to be beautiful enough that he’d pick me up in his arms, carry me into the den, throw me on the bed and have his damn way with me.
“Well, give Rebecca credit,” I said nervously, waving my hands all over my face. “This was all her magic.”
“It’s not magic, Perry. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known and before you say anything, you’ve always been that way to me.”
My mouth dropped open a little bit.
“And I’ve been with a lot of women, Perry, so I know. Believe me. And you have to learn how to accept a compliment, you got it?”
He reached for my shoulder in a rather awkward manner, then ended up sliding it down my arm, reaching for my hand and holding it in his, his thumb caressing around the welt on it.
I was still speechless but I nodded because I could see how sincere he was. That was maybe the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to me. Aside from the “and I’ve been with a lot of women” part.
“What do you think?” Rebecca’s voice interrupted my thoughts. Dex dropped my hand and turned to look at her. She and Emily were both changed and dolled up. Emily looked cute, albeit slightly uncomfortable with her empire-waisted grey dress, but Rebecca looked wonderful. Her dress was a deep red, to her ankles and slit quite low between her breasts.
She looked down at them and smiled at Dex and me. “I couldn’t let Perry be the only one on display.”
I was grateful for that. What Jenn has said earlier about it being a work party had been gnawing at my esteem a bit. Rebecca was ensuring I wouldn’t be the sluttiest-looking one there.
When I found my voice, I said, “You both look amazing.”
“Good enough,” Rebecca said, flashing her white teeth at us. “As do both of you.”
She walked over to Dex, her heels stomping across the floor. She took the tie from his other hand and said, “No tie. It doesn’t suit you.”
Then she undid another button his shirt. “You don’t have too much chest hair; you can get away with this.”
If it wasn’t Rebecca up in Dex’s face like that, I would have felt a pang of jealousy.
She peered down at me from the lofty perch of her heels, her hands still around Dex’s collar as she straightened it out. “What do you think of Perry here?”
The question was obviously for Dex.
“I might prefer the way she normally is,” he said to my surprise. “But I think she looks stunning.”
“Damn right,” she said, giving his collar a final tug. “She doesn’t need the makeup, really, but goodness she needs to show off that body more.”
I glanced down at my boobs and the rest of me. From my angle, I looked huge, as always.
I looked back up and saw Rebecca, Dex and Emily all looking at me rather rapturously. I smiled cheesily at them, the awkwardness just flooding my pores, and said, “I think now is the time to do shots.”
Rebecca let out a hoot and she and Emily ran behind the counter, pulling out the Jager, which ended up in the freezer where it belonged.
Dex patted me lightly on the back as we walked over to join them.
“Relax, kiddo,” he said, his voice low and gruff.
I shot him a quick smile. I just felt totally out of my element, yet I was enjoying the novelty of being “hot” at the same time.
Rebecca fished out four glasses from the cupboards and poured us each a shot. We raised them to each other and clinked.
“Wait!” Emily cried out and quickly brought out a tiny camera from her purse. “Pictures!”
“Ems is a mad photo taker,” Rebecca explained.
“And pure evil when it comes to tagging photos on Facebook,” Dex said, half-glaring at the blonde-haired cherub.
She paid no attention, but held the camera out and attempted to get a picture of us all in mid-shot. The flash flared out blindingly.
We all finished the shots, the Jager burning only a little. Emily flipped the camera around and squeeled.
“It worked,” she said, and showed us all. Though Rebecca’s head was half cut-out, it was Dex and me with the shot glasses to our lips and Emily at the corner. It was a rather cute picture considering the subject matter, but that said I unfortunately realized it was the only picture that had ever been taken of Dex and me together. I know I had been called “Paparazzi Perry” in high school, but for some reason taking pictures of Dex and me seemed…weird. I guess because we always had the video camera out. I made a mental note to get a photo of just the two of us later.
Jenn burst out of the bedroom and looked us all over with disdain, her hair piled high on top of her head. “Seriously? Jagermeister? How old are we here?”
I raised my hand. “I’m twenty three!”
I could have sworn a little vein in her head was about to pop. I tried not to smile at that.
“OK,” she said, picking up the cordless phone. “I think we should call a cab now and head over. They did say to be there by 8 and we’re pushing it now.”
Probably promised to meet Bradley at a certain time, I thought. And from the look I caught on Rebecca’s face, I could see she was thinking the same thing. As for Dex, though, I couldn’t tell. He was trying hard not to look in my direction and winning at it.
I grabbed my leather jacket from the coat rack and hustled into the den to grab my little evening purse that Ada had lent me. When I came back out, everyone was at the balcony window and staring outside.
“What is it?” I asked, coming over without tripping over my heels.
“It’s snowing,” Rebecca said incredulously. I guessed it was as rare in Seattle as it was in Portland.
I poked my head out to join them at the fogged-up window pane. Dark clouds, lit up orange from the city glow, had rolled in over the past few hours. Little, miniscule flakes of white were falling from them. So it was snowing after all. Another thing that made me think tonight was going to be different from any other night. This was going to be memorable.
It already was.