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"I told you it would be," she said instead. "Just wait until it sinks into the heads of some of those other girls at school. They'll be beating down the doors to become your best friend. Anyway, go do your homework or whatever. I have to confer with Mrs. McAlister on tonight's dinner. Basil's coming. He wants to hear all about your first days with the car. I swear, he's acting like a teenager himself these days.

"Oh," she continued in the doorway, "Wade won't be at dinner again tonight. Seems his manager's wife was in a car accident, and he's had to take her to a New York City hospital. Some serious spine injury or something," she said. "So naturally, Wade has to stay at the warehouse to deal with his new emergency. I think he feeds on these business crises. Like a vampire," she added with a short, thin laugh, and left.

The nervousness did not leave my body, despite Ami's happy demeanor. I knew she had seen me take Trevor home. Maybe she had concluded it was better not to be so negative. Maybe she hoped I would come to her conclusions on my own if she stepped back.

I went right to my homework. A little more than an hour before dinner, Ami returned, and to my surprise, she brought one of her dresses with her.

"I thought you'd enjoy wearing this tonight," she said, spreading it on my bed. "I hardly wear it anymore because I have so many others that are similar. It's practically brand-new."

It looked no bigger than a bath towel.

"But I have so many of my own nice things to wear now, Ami," I said.

"Basil loved me in this dress," she said with a cool smile on her lips. "He'll love it on you, too, and we so want to please him tonight after all he's done for you, don't we?" she asked, making it sound as if everything he had done for me, he had done for her as well. "It's just a little thing," she added, "but sometimes the smallest things please a man to no end."

I looked more closely at the dress. It was a flared black short-sleeved dress with a low plunge front with a strap to hold the breast area together, cut out of a very slinky material. The skirt was really a true mini.

"It will fit you better and look better on you than it did on me," she insisted. "You have a firmer, larger bust than I do, and your hips are fuller as well. Go on, put it on, and don't forget to use that cologne Basil loves. We're going to have a wonderful dinner. Mrs. McAlister has prepared one of Basil's favorite meals, rack of lamb. Scrumptious," she said.

She stepped forward to fluff my bangs a bit and then looked at me with what I thought was more like a mother's pride than a sister's or friend's.

"You're very beautiful. Never be ashamed of it. Never," she admonished, as if she was afraid I had been infected with too much humility.

She checked her watch.

"We'll go down on time tonight. He'll

appreciate that," she said.

After she left, I tried on the dress. It was a little more than tight and left little to imagine about my body. I felt constricted, afraid to move, to bend. So much of my bosom showed, my nipples prominent under the thin material. I debated with myself. It makes me look cheap, I thought. I am not a prude, but to wear this to a family dinner? On the other hand, Ami had made it sound so important to please Basil and show gratitude. Wasn't there a nicer way? Wasn't a sincere thank-you enough? I hadn't asked him for the things he gave me. I was excited and overjoyed about them, but there was such a thing as going too far.

"Rip it off," a voice resembling Noble's told me. "It's disgusting on you. It's too tight; it's too short. You actually look ridiculous, look like a caricature of a sexy young girl. It's not you, Celeste, and doesn't Basil like you for who you really are? Didn't he compare you to his wife when she was younger? Ami's wrong."

On the other hand, she is so volatile these days, I thought. Her mood swings are so great. Disobeying her, rejecting her suggestion, could make her maudlin, angry, and the dinner and evening would be ruined. She might get one of her headaches. You'd be the cause of new trouble. Just get it over with, I thought. Wear the stupid dress, spray on the cologne, and get through the evening.

In the end that was what I decided. Of course, when Ami saw me, she exclaimed that she had been right.

"I just knew you would be a knockout in that dress. You could be a movie star easily. How far you've come from that homely, dark-faced waif at the orphanage. They made you sexless and took your selfconfidence. Now you have it back, and how!"

That wasn't how I recalled our first meeting, I thought. She made me feel as if we really were sisters, that my features were very attractive, and that I was bright and lovely and simply perfect.

I smiled, but noted that she was wearing a far more conservative dress, with three-quarter sleeves and an ankle-length hem.

We started down together.

"Wade's missing a very special occasion," she said as we descended. "He's such a fool to be so devoted to that plumbing business. He says he hates it, but just try to tear him away during the day. Just try to get him to attend a luncheon or go to a matinee or anything. He acts like it would be a cardinal sin to desert his precious pipes and fittings."

"Maybe, like us, he's just trying to make his father happy," I offered, and she stopped on the steps as if I had tugged her hair. I didn't mean it to sound sarcastic.

She looked at me and smiled.

"We're just being beautiful, appreciative young women, Celeste. We're not bung up on pleasing anyone more than he should be pleased."

"I didn't mean--"

/> "Well, there you are," Basil cried from the hallway. He wore a black sport jacket, red tie, and black slacks with sporty-looking black leather loafers. "The two of you make my heart race like an Olympic runner's heart. This woman's done wonders with you, Celeste. You're going to conquer the world!" he cried. His exuberance brought a smile to my reluctant, timid lips. "Let's get to that dinner. I'm starving. It smells like gourmet paradise in there."

When we stepped into the dining room, I saw a small, nicely wrapped box by my place setting. I looked at Ami, who wore a conspiratorial smile.


Tags: V.C. Andrews Gemini Horror