The Art of Life

by Carter, Sarah

  “I don’t know…..you two might be trouble together,” Jeremy draws out.

  “Yes, we will, I will still see you later,” I emphasize.

  Jeremy leans over the seat, “Say you llloooovvvveeee me.”

  Bending over, I reply, “NNNOOOOO,” and shut the door. He gets an appalled look and I turn to walk away. When I knock on Cassandra’s door, she opens it almost immediately.

  “This is going to be EPIC!” She yells.

  I laugh. “Why?”

  “We are going to make the boys drool, hard core,” Cassandra replies, yanking me into her apartment.

  “Where is Kent?” I ask.

  She shuts the door and says, “He will come later. Kent is going to talk to Jeremy and see what the driving situation is going to be. That is neither here nor there, we need to get you ready. Did you bring the dress?”

  Lifting up the bag, I articulate, “Its right here. I don’t feel comfortable wearing it.”

  “Trust me, you will look phenomenal when I am done with you.” We walk up the stairs and Cassandra walks into her bedroom. I have never been up here, so I just follow.

  When we walk inside, I exclaim, “Oh! A vanity, that is so cool. I have always wanted one of these.”

  “Ask Jeremy, he will get it for you, because he gets you whatever you want,” Cassandra teases playfully. “Now, take out the dress.”

  I place the bag on her bed and unzip it. “I can’t believe I am going to do this.”

  “Take your clothes off and slide that puppy on,” Cassandra says. “I am going to do your hair and make-up then.”

  “I don’t know,” I whisper.

  Cassandra walks up to me. “You will be stunning. Now put it on.”

  Sighing, I start to strip off my clothes. “Are you sure I don’t need a bra?” I mumble.

  “Yup,” Cassandra answers. “It will be fine.”

  I don’t slide the dress on, I pull it on. “Geez,” I finally gasp. “This thing is super glued to my body.”

  “That’s the point,” Cassandra states. “Now, come here.” She grabs my hand and sits me down. “I am going to put your hair up.”

  “I am going to stick out like a sore thumb,” I mumble. “With the dress or not, I look twelve.”

  Cassandra laughs. “You won’t when I am done with you. Now, turn around, I want it to be a surprise.”

  Slowly, I spin around on the stool. “Don’t make me look stupid,” I growl. Cassandra smiles and reaches towards the vanity. She straightens my hair, just to curl it, which I don’t understand, but she says it will give it a different curl.

  When my hair is done, she tilts her head. “Perfect. Now, the make-up.”

  She reaches behind me and grabs eye shadow that is nothing but charcoals and blacks. “Whoa!” I exclaim. “What are you doing?”

  “Making you a vixen,” Cassandra replies. “Now close your eyes.” I narrow my eyes at her, and she just gives me a look. I sigh and close them. I feel her carefully put on the eye shadow and then eye liner. She makes me look up at the ceiling as she puts on the mascara. Finally, Cassandra pulls out a lipstick.

  I look at it and my eyes widen, “That is red, like RED, RED!”

  “Shhh,” Cassandra replies. “Open your mouth a little bit.” I do and she gently applies the lip stick. Pulling pack, she says, “You definitely could pass as 21. Come here, put on the boots and then look in the floor length mirror.”

  Getting up, I do as she says. When I walk to the mirror, my heart drops. I am something I never thought I would be, sexy. My hair is pinned on top in spiral curls. My eyes are shadowy dark and my lips a shiny blood red. Turning, I see my legs look longer in the boots. “Oh my gosh,” is all that I can whisper.

  “You look gorgeous,” Cassandra says, smiling at me. “Now, it’s my turn to get ready. What to wear, what to wear?”

  As she starts to rip through her closet, I just stand there staring at myself. I just feel so…..beautiful, sexy. This is the first time in my life that I feel I should be wanted. I don’t even know what to say.

  “What do you think about this?” Cassandra asks.

  I turn to see her holding up a black leather skirt and an off the shoulder, silk shirt. “I think that would look cute.”

  Cassandra starts to get dressed. “I cannot wait until the boys see you tonight. They are going to flip, and I don’t mean our boys. Poor Jeremy is going to have a heart attack with all the attention that you are going to get.”

  “Oh stop,” I bashfully say.

  “I am serious,” Cassandra declares. “You just wait and see.” Unlike me, it doesn’t take her long to get ready. She obviously has a lot of practice doing her hair and make-up. Finally, Cassandra slides on her heels. “There, finished. The guys should be here any minute.” Suddenly, she snaps her fingers. “You need one more thing.”

  Confused, I ask, “What’s that?”

  “This,” she replies, going to her dresser. I watch as she pulls a black, lace choker out of her jewelry box. “This will complete the outfit.” I open my mouth to say something, but can’t. Cassandra walks over and puts it on me. “There, now we are good.”

  The doorbell suddenly rings. “Wait here,” she giggles. “I want you to be a surprise!”

  “Ummm okay,” I quietly reply.

  With almost a skip in her step, Cassandra goes downstairs. I take one more look in the mirror and shake my head. I cannot believe that is me.

  I hear murmuring downstairs, and then Cassandra yells, “Okay, you can come down Isabelle.” Nervously, I walk to the top of the steps. She waves her hand for me to come to her. Taking a deep breath, I take my first step down. “And I would like to present to you, the very adult, Miss Isabelle.”

  When I make it to the bottom of the steps, I can barely look up, but when there is nothing but silence, I have to raise me eyes. Josh, Kent and Jeremy are all there just staring at me. My cheeks flush like they are on fire. Finally, Jeremy is the first to speak. “You are NOT wearing that.”

  Heart broken, I look down. “I look that bad?”

  “NO!” Josh yells. “You are hot as hell. Oh my gosh, if Jeremy has a problem, I will take you out.”

  My eyes drift to Jeremy, the look in his eyes is fierce. “You picked it out for me,” I finally murmur.

  “Forget him!” Josh snaps. He comes over and wraps his arms around me. “You are all mine tonight.” That makes me laugh.

  “No, you are not,” Jeremy states harshly, almost losing his voice. “Get your hands off her Josh.”

  He wiggles his eyebrows. “Are you escorting her, because if you aren’t, I am going to?”

  Jeremy looks at him and narrows his eyes. “Of course I am taking her out tonight. I just…..I mean……I am going to have to FIGHT guys off. I don’t want them to look at her like that!”

  I cross my arms, “Why not!? I actually feel sexy for the first time in my life! I refuse to let you rain on my parade.”

  “Damn straight,” Cassandra interjects. “Let’s go.” She walks up past Jeremy. “Are you driving her, or are you going to have a coronary.”

  “No,” he replies, shaking his head. “We will follow you.”

  Josh sighs sarcastically, “Fine.”

  I kind of stand there as everyone walks to the door. Jeremy comes up and slides his hand into mine. I intertwine my fingers with his, even though I know I shouldn’t. With that, we walk outside. For some freakish reason, it is really warm outside and we don’t need jackets. Talk about an Indian summer, or…..global warming.

  We slowly make our way to the car. Jeremy opens my door for me. Right before I sit down, I turn to him. “Promise me that I don’t look bad. I don’t want to go out and be……ridiculous.”

  There is an instant soft look in Jeremy’s eyes. “No, Isabelle, it’s not that. You are gorgeous, I just…..don’t want to share you tonight.”

  “Then don’t,” I whisper, just looking at him. We stand there staring at each other for a few seconds.


  Finally, we hear Josh yell, “GET IN THE CAR! Come on!”

  As I get in, I try to pull my dress down a little bit. Nope, that isn’t going to happen. I feel slightly awkward, but also slightly….daring. Jeremy gets in and starts the car. His eyes glance down to my legs. It makes me blush. I see him take a deep breath, as he backs up.

  The drive to the club is a quiet one, but the air is filled with an unexplained tension. It’s weird because it isn’t a bad tension. I just can’t quite describe it. We park in the only spots in the club’s parking lot. The sign says VIP. Well, aren’t we special? Jeremy takes me hand and leads me to the entrance. There is a HUGE line, but Josh walks straight to the front. Doing that fist bump thing with the bouncer, Josh says, “Hello Jimmy. We have five tonight.”

  Jimmy looks at me and raises his eyebrows, “Who is the new girl?”

  “Isabelle,” Josh replies, “But hands off, she is Jeremy’s.”

  “Lucky you,” Jimmy says Jeremy.

  Jeremy just puts his arm around me and pulls me tight against him. Jimmy laughs and pulls the rope back. We walk in and the place is thumping. I have never been in a club before but this is something straight out of a movie. The lights are crazy and there are people everywhere. When you walk in, there are three steps that go down. Those lead to the lower level. I see that it is packed with teenagers. After you walk past them and then the dance floor, you get to the stairs that lead to the second floor. That’s where we go.

  A guy at the bottom just nods his head at us, which makes me sigh in relief. I don’t plan on drinking, but I also want to be on the second floor. We climb the stairs, and I am a little careful because of the heels on my boots. On top of that, I am slightly self-conscious because Jeremy is right behind me, and the bottom of my dress doesn’t come down very far.

  When we get to the second floor, I see that it is even cooler. The DJ is actually up here. The bar is to the right, the second dance floor to the left and tables in between. Josh starts to push through the crowd and we follow. It’s then that I notice there is another level up a few feet. It is barricaded off with ropes. There are only a few people next to one table. Josh walks up to this little area and goes to one of the bar tables. “So, what are we all drinking?” He chirps.

  “Beer,” Jeremy and Kent say at the same time.

  “Rum and coke for me,” Cassandra replies.

  Josh looks at me. I roll my eyes. “I will have a water.”

  He coughs and says, “Underager,” at the same time.

  “Shut up,” I laugh.

  Josh just grins back. “I will go get the first round.” He walks away and I just look around at all the people. It is a little overwhelming.

  Suddenly, Jeremy presses against my back and puts his hands on each side of me on the table. “So,” He quietly whispers in my ear. “What do you think?”

  His breath hot on my skin makes me shiver. “It’s cool.”

  “Are you going to dance with me?” He asks.

  I turn around and look at him. We are very close and face to face. “I have never danced in public before.”

  “There are a lot of people out there,” Jeremy replies. “I would say no one would notice, but you are dressed very alluring this evening. I have a feeling a lot of eyes will be on you.”

  “Then I will not be dancing,” I state. Jeremy gets a wicked look on his face and grabs a hold of me. He ushers me down the steps and towards the dance floor. Giggling, I snap, “Jeremy, I am not dancing!”

  He grabs me around me waist and pulls me into the moving crowd. Jeremy presses himself against me and says, “Just move with me.” At first I feel awkward, but then the beats of the music take over. We dance around with each other. It is actually A LOT of fun. A little while later, I feel hands grab me. I spin to find Cassandra and Josh.

  “Where’s Kent?” I yell.

  Cassandra shakes her head. “He doesn’t dance, so Josh fills that need, so that Kent doesn’t have to beat up another guy.”

  That makes me burst out laughing. So, we all dance. I never quite knew how freeing it feels. The atmosphere is contagious. Jeremy keeps pulling me against him, and I let him, but I giggle at the same time. One of the dances is where you drop to the floor, and we do. It is great. Finally, Cassandra grabs my elbow. “We should go back to Kent. He is going to flip soon.”

  Leaning in by her, I say, “We need to drag him out here then.”

  “If I get a few beers in him, he will,” Cassandra replies, winking. She takes my hand and leads me back through the crowd. Kent waves at us, obviously bored. Cassandra skips up to him. “Thanks for letting me dance baby.”

  “No problem hon,” Kent replies. “You two need to drink your beer before it is warm and nasty.”

  Jeremy lifts his in the air. I follow by opening up my bottled water. There is a pause and then Josh whips out a piece of paper. “So, who is going first tonight!?”

  Furrowing my eyebrows, I say, “Huh?”

  “OH! Isabelle is new, and has never seen this before,” Josh exclaims. “See this is what we do, this is a list of pick-up lines.” He shows me and I just stare at him like he’s babbling a different language. “So, on this list are a whole bunch of bad pick-up lines that I looked up. What we do is see how many we can use and not get slapped.”

  “They aren’t that bad to get you slapped,” Cassandra groans. “You get appalled looks most of the time.”

  Josh gets a huge grin on his face. “I know, it’s awesome! So, we go around the table and do this.”

  “I am not doing that,” I state solidly.

  “No, just the guys,” Cassandra interjects. “I refuse to do it, too.”

  Curious, I ask, “You let Kent do it?”

  “Sure, as long as he behaves and doesn’t actually do anything,” Cassandra answers. “I trust my baby.”

  Kent kisses her and she smiles. Josh slams the paper down and shoves it over to me. “I will go first, you pick Izzy.”

  “Me?” I squeak.

  Jeremy puts himself around me and looks at the paper. “Just pick one that is really humiliating. Josh doesn’t care.”

  I look down the list. “These are horrible. You really aren’t going to say these?”

  “Oh yeah,” Josh replies, rubbing his hands together.

  “Okay,” I draw out. Reading, I scan down the lines. I burst out laughing. “These are too funny, oh my gosh. Okay, you need to do either: Are you from Tennessee, because you are the only ten I see, or was that an earthquake or did you just rock my world.”

  “Tennessee,” Kent says.

  “Earthquake,” Cassandra retorts.

  Jeremy smirks, “Tennessee wins.”

  “Excellent,” Josh says, with a HUGE smile. “Now Isabelle, pick the victim.”

  “I have to pick the girl?” I ask, flabbergasted. Josh just nods his head. Turning I look out into the crowd of tables. “I have no idea who to pick,” I mumble.

  Putting his lips by my ear, Jeremy murmurs, “Pick the prettiest girl…I mean, other than yourself.”

  My cheeks burn from blushing. Scanning the crowd, I point to a girl. “That chick in the horrible leopard print dress.”

  “Easy,” Josh shouts. He takes a big swig of his beer and walks over to the girl. I kind of stand there with my mouth open watching this. He casually struts up behind the girl. With the funniest smile, he leans in and whispers in her ear. The girl quickly turns to him with a look of disgust. Josh just wiggles his eyebrows and she shoves him away.

  We all roar with laughter. Josh grabs at his chest and dramatically walks away. I turn around to Jeremy. “That was hilarious.”

  “It is,” he replies. “This is what we do. Are you embarrassed by us yet?”

  “Never,” I say, cheerfully. “It’s your turn.”

  Jeremy gives me a surprised look. “You want me to go hit on a girl?”

  “Only because I am going to give you a horrible pick-up line,” I tease. “Let’s see, what to do, what to do. Oh, I got i
t, my mom won’t be home for hours.”

  With a smile, Jeremy is like, “That’s the one you want me to do?” I nod. “Alright, who?”

  Cassandra jumps up and down. “I want to pick.” She taps her chin and looks out into the crowd. Finally, she points to a brunette. Jeremy shakes his head and makes his way over there. We all watch with much amusement as he talks to this girl. Leaning in, he obviously says the line. The girl gives him the most confused look. Jeremy just winks at her. This chick just stands there in shock. She has much the same reaction as the other girl, shoving Jeremy away from her.

  I laugh my butt off. We go through many more pick-up lines. Such as: Do you know karate, because your body is really kicking; I am not drunk, I am intoxicated by your beauty; I know, I know, I am fricking fabulous; and my favorite, Hey, do you have any band-aids, no, why, because I skinned me knees falling for you.

  Finally, we are almost through the list. I can’t even breathe, I am laughing so hard. Josh suddenly slams his hand on the table. “I forgot one, but it’s specifically for Jeremy. I bet money that he can actually get this one to work.”

  “Huh?” I ask.

  “He needs to say, your lips look lonely, would they like to meet mine?” Josh exclaims. “I read that one and was like Jeremy can pull that off!”

  My chest tightens and I don’t even say anything. Jeremy is standing next to me. I see his face kind of freezes. His eyes drift over in my direction and then he says, “I don’t know Josh, that one is pretty dumb.”

  “No it is not! Come on, you know you can make that one work!”

  Jeremy stares at his friend and doesn’t say anything. “Come on,” Kent starts in, “you need to do that one.”

  “Kent,” Cassandra says under her breath.

  “What?” He laughs. “He can totally pull it off. I would put money on it, too. I sure can’t do it, you would slap me.”

  “That’s true,” Cassandra replies. Her eyes look at me and seem concerned.

  No one says anything, so I finally whisper, “You should do it.”

  “What?” Jeremy snaps, looking at me.

  My heart sinks, but I try to put on a smile. “This is what you do right?” I pause and nearly choke on my words. “Why wouldn’t you want to kiss a girl? Don’t you have a kissing quota?”