She twirled around in front of the mirror, showing off the costume she had on. It appeared to be meant to represent some kind of elf, though I couldn’t imagine any living creature surviving North Pole temperatures with that much flesh showing. The strapless green satin top laced up the front like a corset, hugging her curves and showing an impressive amount of décolletage. The flouncy little skirt—with the emphasis on little—was striped like a candy cane, with a hem that appeared to have been dipped in glitter. Jingle bells chimed on the perky hat atop Jaylene’s blond curls and the pointy toes of her slippers. Elbow-length satin gloves, a green velvet choker, and green fishnet stockings completed the look.
“They call it the Naughty Elf,” she explained with a giggle. “Isn’t that adorable? Ah’m just so glad they had mah size.”
“Um, it’s . . . cute?” Allie seemed to be struggling for the right words. “Doesn’t look very warm, though. You know, for December.”
Jaylene twirled around and craned her neck to check out the back view. “Oh, Ah’m not worried about that,” she said. “Ah’m sure once Ah’m out there dancin’ with Cam, Ah’ll be plenty warm enough.”
“Oh! So Cam asked you to the Ball?” Allie asked, sneaking me a quick look.
Jaylene nodded, making the bell on her hat jingle. “Last night when he dropped me off after our date.” She smoothed down her tiny skirt. “He tells me everyone dresses up for this thing, so Ah didn’t want to waste any time gettin’ started shoppin’ for a costume and miss out on all the good ones. Ah bet he’ll just love this outfit, don’t y’all think so?”
I couldn’t quite seem to respond. Seeing Jaylene there in the flesh—lots of flesh—in her sexy elf costume had apparently robbed me of the power of speech.
Luckily Allie wasn’t similarly afflicted. “Well, since you asked,” she said, “I’m not sure that outfit is, um, exactly Cam’s cup of tea. He’s more the fuzzy reindeer or snowman type of guy. Right, Lexi?”
“Yeah,” I blurted out, trying not to stare at Jaylene’s cleavage. “He’s kind of, you know, conservative that way.”
“Oh, come on, y’all!” Jaylene shimmied in front of the mirror, smiling blissfully as she took in her own reflection. “What self-respectin’ man wouldn’t love a cute lil’ costume like this? Ah think Ah’ll get it. Thanks a bunch for the input, though, y’all!”
She jingled off back to her dressing room stall. Allie grabbed my arm and yanked me into an empty cubicle nearby.
“That was close!” she hissed into my ear. “Do you think she heard us talking about her when we were coming in?”
“Didn’t seem like it. That corset she’s wearing probably cut off the blood supply to her ears.”
“Shh!” Allie looked alarmed. “Let’s not talk until—you know.” She tilted her head in the general direction of Jaylene’s dressing room stall.
She hung the angel costume on the door and started peeling off her clothes. I slumped on the hard triangular seat in the corner of the stall and waited, staring off into space. I was fine with not talking for a few minutes. Maybe that would give me time to figure out whether I’d really known Cam as well as I thought I did.
Allie was adjusting the halo on her outfit when a tap came on our door. “See y’all later!” Jaylene called in to us.
“Bye,” Allie and I called back.
We waited until we were pretty sure she was out of earshot. Then I let out a long breath of frustration. “Listen, Allie,” I said. “Do you think I wasn’t trying hard enough with Cam?”
“Make up your mind—are you trying too hard, or not hard enough? Anyway, what do you mean?” Allie tugged at the hem of her white skirt. “Like, last night at the bowling alley? I already told you, I—”
“No, not that.” I sat up straight and stared at her. “I’m just starting to wonder if Cam was actually as happy in our relationship as I always assumed. Is he really just a conservative, fuzzy-reindeer-costume kind of guy? Or would he maybe have appreciated a little more excitement, a little more naughty elf or whatever, and I wasn’t trying hard enough to see that?”
Allie’s eyes widened. “Oh, Lexi . . .”
“No, really. We thought he’d never go for someone like”—I glanced cautiously toward our cubicle door—“um, you-know-who. But look at them now! Maybe that’s what he likes about her. She keeps him on his toes, gives him something fresh and new and sexy and different. Instead of me, who just sort of took him for granted.”
“So what are you saying? You’re not giving up, are you?”
“No way. Since when do I back down from a challenge?” I smiled grimly. “No, I’m going to do exactly what you’ve been telling me to do. Pull out that More Than Friends Theory. Give it a real test. Starting with finding my own sexy costume for that Christmas Eve Ball.”
Allie looked dubious. “Um, are you sure?” she said. “I mean, I know I’ve been telling you to do the More Than Friends thing. But I’m not sure a head-to-head sexy competition with Jaylene is, you know, the best way to do it. That naughty elf costume was, well . . . and she has, um, you know . . . I’m just not sure how you’re going to top that, okay? Maybe it’s better if you stick to being yourself.”
“What, you mean dress up as a test tube or something?” I grinned to let her know I wasn’t insulted. “Anyway, that angel costume looks great on you. So get it off and come out and help me find one for myself.”
Despite her doubts, Allie loyally helped me dig through the racks of Christmas costumes. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much luck. All that was left in my size were frumpy Mrs. Claus dresses and a snowman costume that would have made me look like the Michelin Man.
Biting my lip, I glanced toward the clearance rack at the back of the store. That was where the leftover Halloween stuff hung, dusty and forgotten amidst all the Yuletide frenzy.
“Come on,” I said grimly, heading that way. “Let’s see if there’s anything we can use over there.”
Allie trailed after me. “Maybe you could go as a vampire and try to scare Jaylene back to Georgia,” she joked halfheartedly as I dug into the costumes.
“Hey, look at this.” I pulled out a shimmering pair of emerald green see-through harem pants. I held them up against my long legs, casting a critical eye downward. “Looks like they’ll fit.”
“What is that, a genie outfit?” Allie asked. “That doesn’t have anything to do with Christmas.”
“And here I thought you were supposed to be the creative one,” I said. “All we need are the right accessories. . . .”
A few minutes later I was in the dressing room, twirling around in our creation. In addition to the translucent green harem pants, which billowed gauzily around my legs and allowed free view of my (thankfully clean and hole-free) white panties, I was wearing a green vest with red and white trim that we’d taken from a boy’s-sized Santa’s-helper outfit. It ended several inches above the waistband of the harem pants and didn’t quite close across my chest, so I was also wearing a wide candy-cane-striped headband as a makeshift tube top underneath. Oh, and a festive Santa hat just to top it all off. At first I felt a little queasy at the thought of going out in public with so much of me exposed, but I reminded myself it really wasn’t any different from walking around the community swim club in a bikini.
“Ta-da,” I announced, twisting around to check out the back. “We can call it a Christmas Genie.”
“More like a Rated-Xmas Genie,” Allie commented wryly. “Or better yet, a Triple-Xmas Genie.”
“I don’t care what you call it.” I stared at my reflection, trying to imagine what Cam’s reaction would be when he saw me in it on Christmas Eve. Jaylene wasn’t the only one who could make his life fresh and exciting. “All I care about is that it works.”
The sales clerk at the costume shop seemed a little dubious as she rang up the various parts of my costume. But I didn’t care. This was going to work—it had to.
“So what’s your plan?” Allie asked as we headed back out into the mal
l concourse with our shopping bags. “Are you just going to show up in that outfit at the Ball and see what happens?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I bit my lip, realizing I hadn’t really thought this through. That wasn’t like me. “Um, maybe when I get there I can go over and ask Cam to dance, and then . . . Oh, who am I kidding?” I cried, tossing my bag onto a nearby bench and then flopping down next to it. “This is never going to work. You’re right—I can’t compete with Jaylene when it comes to this sort of thing. She’s all cute and flirty and sexy without even trying, and that’s so not my thing. I can’t even imagine going out in public wearing this trashy thing!” I poked at the bag containing the costume.
Allie sat down and patted me on the knee. “Don’t freak out, Lexi. It’ll be okay.”
“How can you say that?” I glared at her. “You’re the one telling me I only have a dozen dates and then Cam is gone forever. Maybe all this scheming and planning is just a big stupid waste of time. Maybe I should just call him up right here and now and come clean about the whole mess—throw myself on his mercy and beg him to take me back.”
I reached into my purse and grabbed my cell phone. It would be so easy to hit that speed dial button. . . .
Allie looked excited. “Oh, that’s a fantastic idea!” she exclaimed. “Do it, Lexi. Call him. Tell him the truth. He’ll forgive you—I know he will. It’s just like my Candid Couple Theory. Even when times are difficult or someone has messed up, being honest is usually the best way to fix your relationship, even if it sometimes makes things seem even worse for a while.”
That brought me back to earth with a thud. I stared at my phone.
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Being honest usually fixes things. Except when it makes things even worse permanently because the trust is gone. Am I really willing to take the chance of losing Cam forever once he hears how crazy and deceitful I’ve been about all this? He’ll never be able to look at me the same way again.”
“But this is you and Cam we’re talking about,” Allie said. “Of course he’ll forgive and forget. That’s the way he is.”
“How do you know that? What if he doesn’t?” I shoved the phone back into my purse. “Sorry, but I can’t take the chance. If he decided never to talk to me again . . .” I dropped my head into my hands, feeling self-pity envelop me like a thick, stifling cloak.
“It’s okay, Lexi.” Allie’s moment of hope and glee had passed, and now she just sounded kind of tired. “We all know how you are. You trust your head more than your heart. I’m sure Cam realizes that too.”
I barely heard her. “All this time, I just wanted to save both of us from a little pain and suffering by being practical,” I moaned. “But now it seems like I just made things worse on both of us.” I paused and frowned. “Well, worse on myself, anyway. Cam doesn’t exactly seem to be suffering now that he’s with Miss Naughty Elf.”
Allie sighed and stood up. “Come on, let’s hit the food court. I suddenly feel the need for some serious caffeine.”
By the time I got to school the next morning, I had formulated a new plan. I found Cam at his locker. Fortunately he was alone, with Jaylene nowhere in sight.
“Hi, Cam,” I greeted him in what I hoped was a normal tone of voice. “Listen, I was just organizing my room over the weekend and I realized I still have a bunch of your CDs and stuff. Do you want to stop by this afternoon and pick them up?”
Cam blinked. “Oh,” he said, sounding kind of subdued. “Um, sure. I guess I could do that.”
“Great.” I smiled, relieved that the pieces were falling into place so easily. “Why don’t you stop by around four? I’ll be ready for you.”
“Okay.”
As I hurried away, my heart was pounding at the thought of what I was planning to do. Could I actually pull this off?
Well, one thing’s for sure, I thought as I headed down the hall toward my homeroom. When Cam stops by this afternoon, he definitely isn’t going to find the same old boring Lexi who always took him for granted!
I tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder, leaving both hands free to fiddle with the waistband of my harem pants. I rolled it down carefully, exposing even more of my bare belly.
“So I decided to ditch the vest,” I told Allie, who was on the other end of the line. “I mean, why be subtle here, right?”
“If you say so. I just hope you don’t give Cam a heart attack.”
Giving one last tug at the pants, I then reached up and carefully tweaked my headband/tube top to allow for maximum exposure. Then I took the phone in my hand and switched ears. “Oh, and I’m wearing a thong under the genie pants. Cam always said I have a cute butt.” I giggled, trying to keep my nerves under control. “Anyway, Allie, you should see this outfit. If you thought it was triple-X before . . .”
I surveyed myself in the full-length mirror on the back of my bedroom door. It was a good thing both my parents were out for the afternoon. There was no way they’d let me leave my room looking like that, let alone answer the door.
And answering the door was the plan. When Cam arrived to pick up his stuff at four—right on schedule, as he always was—I was going to “accidentally” answer the door in my Triple-Xmas Genie get-up. I would pretend I’d forgotten about our appointment and thought he was Allie coming over to see the costume. Oopsie! Blush, wink, wriggle . . . and as Jaylene herself might say, what man could resist that, y’all?
“There’s the doorbell,” I told Allie, glancing at the clock as I heard a chime from downstairs. “He’s a little early—it figures. I’ll call you later and let you know how it went.”
I hung up and tossed the phone onto my bed. Then, with one last glance at my reflection and a quick adjustment to my Santa hat, I headed for the stairs, walking carefully in my mom’s tallest spike heels.
When I reached the door I paused, closed my eyes briefly, and took a deep breath, doing my best to calm my nerves. Then I opened my eyes and flung open the door.
“Hi,” I said brightly. “I—uh—oh.”
I froze. And not only because it was about twenty degrees outside and I was practically naked.
No, it was because there were three people standing on my front porch, and none of them was Cam. I stared in horror from my school principal to ninety-plus-year-old Mrs. Simpson in her wool coat and pearls to some gawky twenty-year-old kid holding a camera.
“Er, good afternoon, Miss Michaels,” Principal Jamison stammered, his startled gaze wandering briefly downward before snapping up to my face again. “We’re, uh, here to surprise you with the news that you’ve won the Simpson Scholarship this year.”
It worked. I was definitely surprised.
Actually, to say I was surprised is an understatement. Stunned was more like it. The gawky kid with the camera had looked kind of bored when I’d opened the door. But now his eyes were practically bulging out of his face. He lifted his camera and quickly snapped a few shots. That jolted me back in action.
“Stop that!” I blurted out, ducking behind the door.
“Sorry.” He smirked. “Just doing my job. I’m with the Claus Lake Courier.”
Mrs. Simpson was peering at me through her spectacles. “Perhaps we should come back at another time, my dear,” she said in her quavery voice.
“No, wait!” I said, not wanting to give them the chance to change their minds about that scholarship. “Um, wait here a second. Please. I’ll be right back.”
I swung the door shut behind me and raced for the coat closet, almost tripping over my own feet in those stupid spike heels. Flinging open the closet, I grabbed my dad’s oversized camo-print hunting coat. When I shrugged it on, it came down past my knees. Perfect. Wrapping it around me until nothing showed south of my neck, I headed back toward the door.
“Um, okay,” I said, stepping out onto the porch and hoping my face wasn’t as crimson as it felt. “Sorry about that . . .”
I’m not sure how I survived the interview that followed, though I do vaguely remember pr
omising the young reporter-photographer to e-mail him a picture of me wearing normal clothes. I tried not to think about where those photos he’d taken of me might end up, but made a mental note to stay off the Internet for a few days just for my own sanity.
We were all still there on the porch when Cam’s car pulled into the driveway, right on time as always. He looked confused as he climbed out and took in the sight of me in the camo coat and Mom’s heels. “Er . . . Lexi?” he said uncertainly, coming closer.
“Hello there, Mr. Kehoe.” Principal Jamison seemed a lot more comfortable now that I was no longer dressed like a stripper. He sounded downright jovial as he greeted Cam. “We’re just here bringing Lexi some good news. She’s this year’s recipient of the Simpson Scholarship.”
Cam smiled up at me from the bottom of the porch steps, shoving his hands into his coat pockets. “Congratulations, Lexi,” he said. “I knew you could do it. Um, and maybe I should come back another time to, you know . . .”
“Thanks, Cam.” I could only watch helplessly as he gave me a wave and then turned and hurried back to his car.
“What about Sugarplums?” Nick said, glancing across the street as he emerged from the steamy interior of the local dry cleaner’s shop. “I know we just picked up pledge forms there last week, but they always get a ton.”
“Good call.” Allie stepped around a slushy puddle on the sidewalk. It had been a sunny and relatively warm day, and some of the snow that had fallen earlier that week had melted, but now the sun was setting, the wind was picking up, and the slush was starting to harden into ice once again. “Plus while we’re there, maybe we can stop and have a hot chocolate or something. I’m freezing!”
I switched my backpack over onto my other shoulder. It was getting heavy. The three of us had been assigned to walk around Claus Lake’s main business district that afternoon and pick up the pledge forms that people had been leaving at all the shops and restaurants. The Christmas Eve Costume Ball was a charity event, and in addition to buying tickets and contributing at the Ball itself, townspeople could pledge additional money while they shopped or ate at sponsoring businesses throughout the holiday season. And people seemed to be in a giving mood, judging by the number of pledge cards we were collecting. With less than two weeks to go until Christmas Eve, Claus Lake was reaching a fever pitch of festive spirit, as usual.
The Twelve Dates of Christmas Page 10
