“Paaayden,” comes a purr from behind Brandt. Of course, it is Missy. She slides around her buddy and presents herself, for the lack of a better term.
Missy is brunette, and she is attractive, as Jessie had promised, but man, the girl is trying way too hard.
Her long, sleek hair seems purposely placed over her chest to draw the eye right to her giant boobs, which are nearly falling out of the deep V neckline cut into her skintight black dress. Jessie’s skirt is too short, but tastefully too short. Missy’s skirt can’t possibly be more than one or two inches away from showing the world her panties. Assuming she’s wearing any. She instantly seems like the type of girl who never wears panties, just to be “crazy”.
Crimson red stilettos match her crimson red lipstick and her crimson red nails. This chick isn’t playing around. Jesus. It all seems a little much for a simple “dinner” on a double date with “buddies” just for “fun”. To my knowledge, we’re just going to Bigsby, the biggest town close to Central Creek, unless you go east to Denver.
I really don’t want to be stuck with Brandt for an entire trip to the city, and more so, I don’t want Brandt to be stuck on Jessie for an entire trip to the city.
“Pay, this is Missy, your date for the evening,” Jessie introduces. She is smiling widely... too widely. She almost appears to be gritting her teeth as she nudges me toward her friend.
I stick my hand out, awkward as ever. I really don’t feel like being bearhug attacked by this over-eager sex kitten. Missy grabs my outstretched hand with a soft one of her own and giggles. “Such a gentleman.”
Jessie’s giant eye roll may have gone unnoticed by Brandt and Missy, but I catch it.
This is going to be a long ass night.
4
Jessie
When Missy and Brandt first arrive at my house, I am relieved. It is nice to see friendly faces from campus. But the relief is short lived.
Brandt, who in all fairness is an attractive guy, seems to have missed the memo about the double date being just for fun, or as I am quickly coming to suspect, Missy left out that detail completely when she talked to him. In fact, the more Brandt stares at me, the more convinced I become that Missy had informed Brandt of exactly the opposite sentiment.
Great. What did I get myself into?
I understand the look Brandt was going for, fashion wise. It is cute, in its own way, but Payden is going to have a heyday mocking Brandt’s style decision – I’m certain of that. I can already practically hear his wisecracks in my head.
Missy immediately dismissed Brandt so that she and I could get glammed up for our exciting evening sipping clam chowder and eating overpriced steaks in a slightly bigger town than Central Creek... Good ol’ Bigsby, CO.
My mother seemed more than happy to take over the babysitting of Brandt. When she’d heard the details of my plans for the evening and realized that Payden was not my assigned partner for this glorious double date, she’d nearly clapped her hands in elation.
Brandt probably could have been any guy, as long as he was polite and respectful, mom would be thrilled by him, just for the simple fact that he isn’t Payden.
It seems unfair, and Pay has never actually said a word about it, but my mom had been so close to him his entire childhood that I think she’d even been somewhat of a mother figure to him after River passed. And then one day, it was like a switch flipped in her head and Payden Hardick had become public enemy number one.
Just like that.
I was smart enough to know the timing had a lot to do with us turning eighteen and therefore becoming legal adults, but it had taken me a couple years to realize that she wasn’t just worried about us making out or smoking cigarettes behind the horse barn.
To her, Payden was nothing more than a prison sentence waiting to happen to her precious daughter. That was how Annette Timms viewed the young man she’d once coddled and loved so much.
I was “slipping into the same horrible fate” that had consumed my mother, and it was her sole duty to stop me. I’d blown it off at first, thinking she’d snap out of it, but over time, her shaded view of Pay had come to annoy me greatly. But until the breakfast lecture just yesterday, she hadn’t directly poured her heart out as to her feelings about Payden, the ranch life, and my prospects. That was the first time she’d laid everything on the table, so to speak.
I have a sneaking suspicion that it won’t be the last time.
“Okay, you’re gonna think this is too much, but...” Missy whips a slinky black dress out of her garment bag.
It’s a difficult moment for me. I’m certainly not going to judge her choice harshly, because I’ve worn quite a few revealing dresses in my time as well. I don’t go for the “what a slut” bullshit that men and women both like to throw toward confident females who embrace their bodies and individual sense of style.
But Missy is planning on wearing this Playboy magazine number on her date with Payden.
My Payden.
“I think it’s cute, Miss.” I want to murder her for choosing to wear it tonight, but it is a sexy, hot dress... and she is my friend. And I did agree to this, didn’t I?
I’m the reason Payden is going out with Missy in the first place. He never would have made that move on his own, and I am pretty sure he’d only agreed to go to mess with me somehow. Which had definitely worked. I’d almost chucked the stapler at him when he asked if Missy was hot.
We’re older now, though. Mature. Adults. Or at least we’re supposed to be. And I’m determined to behave like a mature adult, regardless.
“Cute’s not good enough. I’m going for more of the ‘take me now, Payden Hardick, you incredibly sexy young man’ look.” She giggles like crazy, and it is a little bit funny.
A little bit.
Mostly I’m harboring a secret gratefulness for the fact that she is going into the date guns a blazin’.
Payden will hate it.
He’ll be completely overwhelmed, which will cause him to be completely turned off.
I hope.
My outfit pick for the night seems a little on the Amish side after laying eyes on Missy’s get-up, but I’m still happy with my choice.
My dress matches my slightly summer-tanned skin tone almost perfectly. Little sparkles applied tastefully from the bodice to the skirt shimmer whether I stand still or move. I feel like I am covered in stardust.
Of course, my hemline is a tiny bit risqué, and the lack of straps on this dress mean bare shoulders with a tiny bit of extra sparkle powder. My breasts aren’t exposed to nearly the same degree that Missy’s are, but they are definitely making an appearance for the night.
Payden will like this dress. I have no doubt about that, and Brandt probably won’t mind it either.
Not that I care.
I know there is the possibility that Payden might assume I’d dressed like this to make him jealous, but my reasoning is quite different. I want him to look at me and know exactly how he feels. I wanted him to be sure of it... so sure that he can’t keep his mouth shut anymore.
Payden has to tell me how he feels eventually. I’m almost positive that he wants... something with me... But he has to say it. I need to hear it.
I know that he is a skeptic about love and soulmates and the whole nine yards. I’m well aware of that. I’d been there right by his side through the events and traumas that shaped his viewpoint. I understand, and I sympathize with him. But I’m also not getting any younger. There’s a very large (and quiet) part of me that knows I haven’t seriously dated any guys at college because of Pay.