Page 24 of Evil Villain (The Royal Court)

“Yeah, I was thinking that too. How about we do a girl’s night instead? Dinner and drinks?” Avery said.

“Oh, sure. Will we invite Colette too?” I asked.

Avery smiled. “Yeah,” then she reached out for Nikita. “You’ll come too, right Nikki?”

I was surprised she even asked. In all the time I was in The Royal Court, Nikita dealt mostly with Nathan and Jaxon, occasionally Kyle, and that was it. She never came out with Avery, Colette and I. I got the sense she didn’t really like us all that much.

“Oh, you know I’m there,” Nikita replied. “So long as we go to Colette’s mom’s place. Her sushi is my favorite.”

I stopped in place, staring at Avery and Nikita as they walked and laughed side-by-side. It seemed the new romantic relationships weren’t the only thing I was going to need to get used to in the revamped Royal Court.

9

Cherri

Avery flipped through the clothes hanging in my closet. Back before I cut Avery and the rest of The Royal Court off, Avery and I used to love picking out one another’s outfits and dressing one another up whenever we’d go out. In the wake of deciding that we’d spend the day we lost going out for a girl’s night instead, Avery came up to my room and immediately went to my closet. I didn’t stop her. It was nice to have her getting comfortable around me again.

“Wow. Even your style has changed so much. Move over chiffon, leather is in the house,” she joked.

“Yeah, well, I had one of Deon’s jackets that I hung onto, and I realized that it felt more comfortable,” I explained. “I didn’t wanna gofullNikita, but my wardrobe got generally darker and yeah, I had to invest in a few leather and jean jackets.”

“Well, I wanna be Cherri for a day, so you’ll definitely have to pick out some of this stuff for me, but I’d like to see you in…” She came walking out of the closet with a pair of tight fitting black jeans, a light blue t-shirt, and a sleeveless black jean jacket. “This.” She threw them on the bed. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed your lack of heels lately, either. I’ll respect the comfort, but I’m putting you in a pair of my shiny black pumps because they’d be…” She finished the statement by doing a chef’s kiss with her free hand.

I held up my hands. “Fair enough.”

She walked over and fluffed her fingers through my hair. “I never really got to tell you that I love the new haircut. Don’t get me wrong, I loved your hair before, but this just feels like it fits you so much better. The short shows off your gorgeous angles, and the brown color makes your eyes shine.” She squealed. “Ugh. My best friend is so beautiful.”

Tears filled my eyes before I could stop them and I reached out and wrapped my hands around Avery’s waist and buried my face in her stomach. “I don’t know why I thought I could survive without you. You’re gonna leave for school in three months and I wasted six of my last nine months with you being angry.” I really did hate myself for it. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Yes, I leave in a few months, but it’s not like I’m never going to visit you, and it’s not like you’re never going to visit me. I can’t wait to show all those people in New Haven how wonderful and cool you are. Hopefully they’re okay with swearing,” Avery said.

I leaned away, but still kept my arms wrapped around her and looked up at her. “Hopefully, because I did enough prim and proper shit for The Royal Court.”

“There she is,” Avery said with a bright smile. “Okay, come on. Pick something out for me.”

I knew exactly what to pick. Disengaging from Avery, I walked into my closet and sifted through the clothes until I found the few things I had in mind. A pair of form-fitting leather pants and a gray bustier top were two of my favorite things that I owned, and I knew they would look amazing on her. Even though it was pretty warm outside, I convinced her to lace up a pair of my knee-high combat boots, and the way the colors looked against her brown skin was amazing. It was definitely the right way to go. I got dressed in the outfit she picked out for me, and we of course took a copious amount of selfies to mark the occasion.

“Okay. Time for the true test,” she said. She took my hand and led me out of the room and we walked down the hallway to where her and Alistair’s room was located. She knocked a couple of times on the closed door before opening it. “Babe?”

Alistair was laying on the bed flipping through a graphic novel. “Hey.”

“Hey. How do we look?” Avery asked.

Alistair peeked up from his novel, and then suddenly sat straight up. His eyes nearly bugged out of his skull and he smiled. His eyes flicked up and down Avery’s form and I felt a tinge of pride over how excited he looked. He gave me a once-over, though much more respectfully, and smiled. “Damn.” He started to laugh. “Baby, you look smokin’ hot.”

Avery beamed, elbowing me. “Nice pick, Cherri.”

“You look good too, Cherri. You two are gonna knock ‘em dead out there tonight. I damn near don’t want to let you go,” he said.

I snickered and Avery waved her hand. “You know you’re the only one for me, Ali.”

“Still, maybe I should just tag along. I’ll sit a couple tables away with fake glasses and a mustache. It’ll be fine,” he replied.

“Nice try.” Avery hooked one of her arms through mine. “Don’t wait up. It’s our first girl’s night reunited, so we’re partying til we drop.”

“Well Iwillbe waiting up, but only because I’m not letting that sexy-ass outfit go to waste,” Alistair said, then he leaned back on the bed.

I nodded. “Glad to see the love is still very alive here.”

---