Page 10 of Role Play
Lucy
Omigod!” Andrea shrieked, drawing the attention of every patron at the fancy goth bar. I shrunk down in my bar stool, feeling a bit like a turtle retreating into its shell. My best friend and roommate’s scream left everyone drinking in a ten-foot radius staring directly at us. Which probably wasn’t that big of a deal for Andrea. She’d been bartending here for the last year. And holy shit… the stories she came homewith.
Apparently, LnS was an underground BDSM club as well as a bar. Some private VIP section upstairs that was exclusive. Goosebumps surged a path down my arms when I looked to the door at the back of the bar. A man in a well-cut suit walked through the door with a woman in a tight corset. A thin, leather collar hugged her svelte throat and curiosity churned inside of me. I tore my eyes away from the couple, worried I was staring, but snuck another glance over my shoulder as they slipped into the back room. I knew enough of what happened behind those doors. I knew the textbook explanation of it and the fundamentals. But how it felt? That was a question that I couldn’t get answered from reading and watching the filming of our movie. I pushed away my own memories of my mother being dragged around by her arm. Of my dad slapping a cookie out of her hand and sniping that she would put on weight if she ate it.“Just look at our daughter,” he had said, gesturing to me, on the couch with a bowl of ice cream. “She’s already a chubby thing because ofyou.”
I couldn’t help but wonder if mom blamed me for him leaving… even just a littlebit.
My life hadn’t been truly my own until my freshman year of college when I tossed my closet full of mother-approved a-line skirts and polo shirts, and spent the next year in skin-tight jeans, dancing and drinking with my sorority sisters trying to “find myself.” Apparently, I only thought to look for myself at the bottom of empty bottles of Tito’s vodka. It took me a year and a half to realize that this party girl wasn’t me,either.
Andrea squealed in celebration again and did a little victory dance behind the bar where she was supposed to beworking.
I ducked my head, hiding behind the vodka and Diet Coke Andrea had poured me. “Shhh,” I hissed, but she merely snorted, smiling in mydirection.
“Are you kidding me? My designs might be in the next Jude Fisher movie and you expect me to be quiet aboutit?”
I sighed. Yeah. It was a long shot—Andrea wasn’t even quiet when we watchedThe Bachelorat home on our couch. I took a long sip of my drink through the straw. “You know,” I said, when Andrea returned from delivering a martini to a woman at the end of the bar. “You’re going to need a wardrobe to show them on Monday. Like… a wide array ofclothes.”
Andrea nodded and waved away my warning. “I’ve got designs coming out of my hoo-ha.”
I scrunched my nose. “Well then, you’d better clean them before bringing themin.”
Andrea crumbled a little napkin and threw it at me. It bounced off my cheek and landed right in my drink.With pinched fingers, I plucked the saturated napkin from my glass and put it on the bar beside me. “I’m serious though. My ass is on the line here. My boss flipped the hell out on me for even mentioning the idea of using an under-the-radar designer. She’s going to be nearly impossible to winover.”
Andrea smirked and ran her fingers through her silky blonde hair. She was my opposite in every possible way. Blonde to my brunette. Tall to my short. Dark emerald green eyes that were perfectly proportioned to her dainty nose whereas my brown eyes were just a little too wide set behind my black-rimmed glasses. Andrea grabbed a bottle of gin and poured a couple fingers worth before adding soda water. Her small breasts were perky and strained against the tight black tank top shewore.
I used to dress the same way a couple years ago. I stuffed my C-cup breasts into a too-tight push up bra. Poked my eyeballs every morning trying to put contacts in. Crammed my feet into high heels and my curvy ass into jeans so tight that I could barely breathe. As I swallowed the memory, it burned a path down to my belly. Screw that. What was it for? It was like a lie—I was never that girl. It was fun for a little while. Until it wasn’t. Until I stopped giving all the fucks about impressing the cute frat boy. Until I scratched my cornea and couldn't wear contacts or eye make-up for a week, and my boyfriend actually cringed at the sight of me.Cringed. Like I was the fucking hunchback coming down from the belltower.
But that was nothing compared to the way my mother ignored me when I came home from college for winter break. I was refusing to live by her rules anymore, and so she chose to pretend I didn’t exist. Ironic, wasn’t it? The one thing she was most afraid of in the world was losing me. So she held on too tight, nearly suffocating me in the process. Only to push me away when I didn’t fit into her cookie cutter moldinganymore.
“Honestly,” Andrea said, “I have a closet of my designs that I keep, ready to show local boutique buyers. I’ll be fine. What sort of designs do they need onset?”
I sat back in my seat, closing my eyes in thought. What were the most iconic scenes in the movie? What would ‘wow’ Kelly and Ash? “Definitely bring that emerald green evening gown. It’ll look stunning on Marlena with her red hair and it’ll also reflect the green in Jude’seyes.”
“Do you have Marlena’s measurements? I’ll tailor it to fit her before the meeting so that it’ll look sensational and like it was made forher.”
It was my turn to smirk. “I do have her measurements, and that’s a fantastic idea. Also, bring a couple of suits for Jude. They should be nice—high end. And if their quality doesn’t match Prada, Kelly will annihilate you. She wants designers, Ash wants off the rack. You’re thecompromise.”
Andrea scrunched her nose. On me, it would have looked clumsy, like I was smelling something foul. But on Andrea? It looked freaking adorable. Like she was a little bunny rabbit or kitten or some shit like that. “Off the rack?Gross.”
I shrugged and chuckled inwardly. She might be more like Kelly than I bargained for. “He’s kind of right, though… These characters are wealthy, but not millionaires. A closet full of Givenchy would beridiculous.”
“Does Marlena need a work outfit, too? Something professionallooking?”
I nodded. “Professional but sexy. Unassuminglysexy.”
Andrea gave me a look up and down. “Unassumingly sexy. Much like my bestfriend?”
I snorted a laugh, looking down at my stained t-shirt and boyfriend jeans. Rolling my eyes, I said, “Oh yeah, that’sme.”
Andrea tossed an ice cube at me. “Hey, itisyou. And I would kill for your proportions! Those boobs, and that tiny waist. I mean, comeon.”
That’s what every woman said… until they had big boobs. Then they realized what a pain in the ass they actually were. Having to wear two bras at the gym. Bathing suit shopping. Finding dresses that fit you both north and south. “Anyway,” I continued, “be sure to bring a few pieces from your lingerie line and a casual outfit for both Jude andMarlena.”
“Got it.” Her smile stretched even wider and she squealed again—this time quieter. “Thank you so much,Luce.”
I waved her away. “Shut up. Like you wouldn’t do the same thing forme.”
“Not if it meant potentially getting screamed at by myboss.”
