When you’d been best friends with someone for as long as we had, you had a tale as old as time for everything.
Getting ready was fun when you did it together. You could both read each other, so you never needed to ask for help with something like a zipper. You could also be brutally honest about how the other one looked, and you knew how to condense your approval or criticism like we’d just done.
Basically, it made it a blast, and you knew the other one wasn’t lying when they gave you feedback. It was peace of mind at its best. I’d missed moments like this with her, but this one felt weightier than I’d expected it to.
Straightening my leg and lifting it into the air, I looked at my shoes. I usually went for flats or flip-flops because I was most comfortable in those, and I could also run in them after years of experience doing it. Tonight, I was wearing tan-colored high-heeled sandals, which had a thick strap around my ankle. I’d bought them on a whim three years ago, and when she’d found them, Maddie had insisted I wear them tonight.
“Do you think I’m going to trip up and break my leg with these?”
“Maybe,” she shrugged, looking at me in the reflection of the mirror. “But I think you’re underestimating your man. There’s no way on God’s green earth that man would let you trip, fall, or even get a paper cut if he could stop it.”
“He’s not my man, and he can’t stop everything,” I muttered, putting my foot down again before I got a cramp in my thigh. Fit and athletic, I was not.
Waving a dismissive hand at me, Maddie nodded at her reflection. “Looking hot to trot. Let’s go through and wait for him to get here.”
During the dinner we’d all shared after the condom incident, Jinx had offered to come and pick us up tonight so we could both drink alcohol tonight. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it’d be unlikely I’d feel comfortable enough to drink around strangers because alcohol left people vulnerable, so I’d sat back and let Maddie make the arrangements with him.
The task of preparing myself mentally for tonight had come from many avenues. Meditation, which was key to calming my mind down whenever I was anxious. Distraction, which helped me not dwell on things and become overly anxious in the first place. And, I guess, the will to want to be better had played the biggest part in it.
It’s not that I hadn’t wanted to before, I just hadn’t had a reason to. I eschewed medication for my anxiety wherever I could. I didn’t find it helped all that much, plus again, vulnerability. So long as I felt in control of myself and my faculties at all times, I was okay.
Strangely enough, I did feel in control tonight. I knew that if I was uncomfortable or something happened, Jinx would get me out of there ASAP. He’d said as much at dinner and during our chats since then and had even added that his club would help out if it was needed. I wouldn’t say I felt relaxed, though, more like really freaking nervous, but it beat full-on anxiety any day.
Sipping her wine, Maddie smiled at me. “I’m glad you’re giving this a chance, honey. We’ve never done this before, and I’m kind of excited. The last time we went out, we were headed to the movie theater to watch The A-Team. Times have changed, right?”
It was sad that we hadn’t, but I was determined not to let anything affect my willingness tonight. “You’re just excited because there’s going to be a bunch of hot guy bikers there.”
Raising her glass to me, she cheered, “That too.” Then something occurred to her. “Hey, how are we all going to fit on Jinx’s bike? I’m kind of the size of a child, I guess, so y’all could squeeze me into the middle or put me on the gas tank, but I think it’s illegal to do that in this country.”
Chuckling, I checked my purse one final time, purely to distract my brain from what was coming. I knew I had everything I needed because I’d checked it five times already. After that, I did a quick peek in the mirror over the fireplace in my living room, checking to make sure my lipliner hadn’t smudged.
What I saw in the reflection was a face with light makeup on it, applied by my best friend, that looked like it hadn’t any other time I’d seen it. I looked excited and relaxed even though this was the opposite of what I was used to.
Movement over my shoulder showed Maddie standing behind me, watching me with a small smile on her face. “You look great, honey. You’ve even got a twinkle in your eyes, and I love it.”