“How would I know?” Harlow said, shrugging her shoulders before flopping onto my bed. “I’m just a dumb Lower who might end up working for Victoria. But seriously, could you imagine working for that harpy? I would rather die. I would leave Crimson and take a job cleaning sewers or something. I would lose my mind.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I said, flopping on my back onto the bed next to her. We automatically held hands to comfort each other, and even as I told her she didn’t have to be worried, I was filled with anxiety over Victoria’s demands.
She wasn’t the kind of person you could trust, she was always looking out for herself and nobody else, and she took great pleasure in causing other people pain and suffering. Whatever Victoria had up her sleeve, it was no good.
We lay for a few moments until my eyes grew heavy and threatened to drag me into my dreams. I took a deep breath, sat up, and said, “Let’s find you something to wear.”
And we did. After many different changes, she finally settled on one of my long black dresses. She looked really beautiful, other than the look of pure disgust on her face as she surveyed her image in the mirror.
“I’m such a sellout,” she said. “I don’t even look like myself.”
“Victoria and Grace will approve,” I said, standing beside her in my own red dress. We’d done our hair the same way, in loose wraps with tendrils of hair spiraling down our necks all over. Our make-up was similar, too. We both had smokey eyes, but Harlow’s were deeper set, so she had an ethereal, mysterious vibe about her. I was still too tall and thin to pull off anything other than a ‘nervous rich girl with fabricated problems.’
“Fuck those bitches,” Harlow said, almost spitting on the floor as she said it.
“Ew, I’d rather not,” I grimaced, and we burst into laughter.
We left for Decker’s building, and I regretted the short time we had to get ready. I hadn’t been able to contact any of my three. This felt a little odd, sneaking into the men’s side without them knowing.
I just hoped they were there and they’d be happy to see me.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to shake off the feeling that Victoria was leading us right into a trap.
CHAPTER13
“If I don’t getsomething to drink, I’m going to lose my mind,” Harlow grumbled after we’d been there about twenty minutes. Decker’s dorm was essentially a mansion on the men’s side, with the main floor that had a large living room and kitchen with a dining area and a few other rooms. There was a live DJ set up in the living room, and people were doing shots in the kitchen and playing beer pong on the dining table. Harlow and I weren’t exactly into either activity.
I wasn’t interested because I was on the hunt for any of my three men. Harlow wasn’t just because of her general disdain for humanity. She really was unhappy at the party, and I was doing my best to make it tolerable for her.
“I guess my rating system isn’t keeping you distracted enough?” I laughed. I’d been rating party goers based on a number of traits, kind of like a super judgmental wildlife documentary narrator. I was giving it the full David Attenborough treatment and al.
Harlow was not amused.
“I need something to take the edge off, not distract,” she replied, chewing the side of her thumb with anxious, nervous energy. “I hate it here.”
“I know,” I said. “Thank you for coming, not that Victoria gave us a choice. What the hell was that all about, by the way?”
“I have no idea. She hasn’t paid any attention to us yet,” Harlow replied. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I’m not going to seek her out or anything. Let’s enjoy being ignored. Maybe she won’t threaten to request me if she forgets about me.”
“I wonder if I can request you,” I pondered. “Would that keep you off the chopping block or anything?”
“You think I know how any of this works?” she scoffed. “I’m as confused as you are. Maybe more so.”
“Then drinking is clearly our only solution,” I said and hooked my arm in hers to drag her to the kitchen area. She had filled out and was no longer the skeletal girl who had come out of the Pit. I still felt weird and guilty whenever I thought about it, but Harlow didn’t seem to bear a grudge.
We cruised the counters in the kitchen and finally found a fridge full of cans of girl drinks. I didn’t care if they called them girl drinks; I was a girl, and I just happened to like drinking sparkling, fruity vodka.
We cracked them open, toasted to our friendship, and finished the first ones in record time. We finished two and then a third. The conversation started to get livelier the more we drank, and by the fourth, we were giggling and talking louder and louder.
We opened the fifth cans, and I was about halfway through when Grace bumped into me, spilling a pink strawberry drink down the front of me.
“Fucking watch out,” I blurted and shook the droplets off my red dress, but a lot of liquid had already penetrated the fabric. “Fuck, now I need to go dry off.”
“Oh my god,” Grace said, and for once, she seemed genuine. “I’m so, so sorry. There’s a bathroom just at the top of the stairs, to the left. You can dry off in there.”
I turned and looked to find the staircase, looked back at Harlow, and said, “You stay here and keep drinking. I have a feeling we’re gonna need it tonight.”
“I can totally show you,” Grace said. “I was just going up there anyhow.”