DRESS FOR SUCCESS
Silas got up from the bed, going to the door and opening it.
I wasn’t sure I was ready yet. Could Victor tell what had happened in here? Would he be upset or jealous knowing what was going on and having to sit in the other room?
Yet Silas said nothing about it. He walked out to the dining room.
I followed him.
Victor was in the bathroom doorway in the hallway on the far side, standing there with the door open.
At that same moment, the front door opened. Gabriel appeared. His forehead was spattered with beads of sweat. His sleeves were rolled up like Victor’s, the tie removed and wrapped around his waist like a belt, with part of it hanging down over his thigh. As he walked toward me, crystal eyes wide, his scent was a mix of Kota’s sweet spice, mild soap and a layer of berries and toothpaste.
Gabriel’s face twisted in a mix of emotions. “Sang,” he said and his voice trailed off. He tilted his head, looking me over. He spoke in a stage whisper to keep his tone low. “What the…what’s that mark on your neck?”
Silas turned to him, smirking. “Nothing,” he said, a little too obvious.
I absently touched the spot he’d kissed, worried suddenly about it.
Gabriel gaped. “What the fuck, dude? I have to cover this. Did you bite her?”
Silas tilted his head back, shaking it. “What? No…I…”
“Guys,” Victor said in a harsh whisper.
“Vic,” Gabriel said. He shook his head vigorously, so the blond locks mixed a little more with the russet. “What the hell? I leave for a few and she’s getting bit. Make Silas stop—”
“I didn’t bite her,” Silas said. “Why would I?”
“Guys,” Victor seethed, turning halfway from the bathroom door. He made a motion for us to come over. “Come see this.”
The fire in his eyes was intense.
We moved instantly, although quietly. I hoped North was able to sleep through this.
We stood close together, looking over Victor’s shoulder and staring at the bathroom.
Half of the bathroom wall for the shower was gone, the glass removed. Part of the wall had the tiles knocked out.
“What happened?” Gabriel whispered. “Did someone get into a fight?”
“And knocked out the wall with their body?” Silas asked. “No. Someone would be in the hospital for that.” He moved into the room and then gazed at the crumbling portion still jutting out. He ran his fingers over the edges, feeling the sharp, jutting pieces of tile. “This had to have been done with a sledge.”
“When did this happen?” Gabriel asked.
Victor shook his head slowly and then dropped his shoulders. “Nathan…”
It didn’t hit me until he said it, and then I recalled North and Nathan hiding away in other parts of the house, whispering to each other. Had they done this? “I didn’t hear a sledge,” I said. “Not since I’ve been here.”
“Maybe before you got here,” Silas said. He waved me and the others out. “Let’s go back to the other bedroom.”
I followed them. Silas shut the door behind me, and we all went back into the master bedroom.
With the four of us, it felt a little crowded. Victor moved away from us, heading toward the bathroom and closing the door. Silas sat on the bed, causing a small wave. He pushed against the bubble. “I keep fixing this bed and there’s always an air bubble.”
“There’s a hole somewhere on the top,” Gabriel said and then crawled on the bed. He collapsed, making another small wave. “Don’t they have waveless waterbeds now? This one has been here for years.”
Silas laughed. “Yes, waveless beds. Called a normal mattress.”
Gabriel lifted his hand and dropped it quickly against the mattress. “Fuck yeah. Let’s get one of those.”
The laptop slid precariously close to the edge of the bed. I crawled partway over Gabriel, using Silas as support for a minute, to get to the laptop before it fell off. I took it into my lap while sitting against the headboard and checked in on the cameras.
The boys that had been playing basketball had taken a break, drinking what looked like lemonade and eating sandwiches that had been brought out on a tray.
Carol was at the kitchen table with my dad, and they were eating the same lunch.
I groaned. “Is it lunchtime already? I should start heading back.”
Gabriel groaned. Silas grunted.
Victor returned from the bathroom. His hair was brushed neatly. He grasped the tank shirt and tugged it loose until it was untucked. “It’s my turn to go into the attic?”
“I can do it,” Silas said.
“Sang may not get up there if Carol gets her cleaning, too,” Gabriel said. He swung his legs around and sat up. “Or Jimmy gets her to play basketball.”
“I don’t want to go,” I said. I was whining, but I couldn’t help it. I sprawled out on my back when he left room for me to do so. “I’ll stay. You go.”
He smirked and then put a foot on the bed, pushing hard at the bubble. I was forced to turn over, my side colliding with his leg.
“I’m not wearing the dress,” he said.
“I’d do it if she gets to stay out,” Victor said.
“Hell, I’d do it,” Silas said. “She stays out? I’d do it.”
Gabriel laughed and then flopped onto the bed next to me. “One of you wears the dress and Sang stays here? Deal.”
The wave had me rolling to the other side of the bed, and I almost tumbled to the floor until Gabriel caught me and drew me back to the middle.
Their jokes had me feeling better, and I had a feeling that was their goal. They didn’t talk about the bathroom in shambles, or what had happened there. They didn’t talk too heavily. They smiled, joked and teased me.
I wanted this. It was like the way we were before. I didn’t know what had happened in the bathroom, but I could only hope it didn’t have anything to do with me.
But I felt it did. That it was my fault. I simply didn’t know what to think of it at the moment.
Gabriel sat up on the bed, reached for me and then tilted my chin, looking at my neck. “Goddamn, Silas. Half her neck is fucking purple.”
Silas grinned broadly but then shook it off. He gazed at me. “It doesn’t hurt? I didn’t think about it. I just—”
“It’s fine,” I said and lifted my hand to touch my neck. It was odd to talk about this with them, but they didn’t seem upset at all. “It wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for Carol.”
“Probably not good to let Kota see it, either,” Gabriel said. He turned to the others. “We’ve got to be more careful. You’re all in for the plan, right?”
Victor nodded.
Silas shrugged. “If the others are.”
“They will be,” he said. He turned to me again and smirked as he made another wave on the bed. “But let’s try not to irritate them for a bit. Until we’re sure.” Gabriel tugged me off the bed. “Come on, I got to figure out that makeup for…”
There was a noisy shake of the doorknob, and the door opened wide.
North appeared, his dark shirt and jeans rumpled more. His hair was all over the place.
Gabriel moved until he had an arm wrapped around my neck, covering Silas’s mark.
North scanned the room and raised a dark eyebrow at Silas. “What?”
“Nothing,” Silas said, shrugging, yet his cheeks were red. “Sang’s getting ready to go back.”
“Yeah,” Gabriel said and tugged me toward the bathroom.
I knew what they were doing, but I didn’t understand it. North was the one who’d bitten me on the neck before, but then he might yell at Silas for taking the risk around Carol.
Victor made coffee for North. North and Silas sat on the bed, monitoring the laptop.
Gabriel kept the door to the bathroom open while he fixed my hair and makeup. We were mostly out of view as I sat on the counter and Gabriel tried out different makeup blends.
Silas and Victor talked with North, catching him up on what was happening while he was asleep.
“The trailer shouldn’t be a problem,” North said from the bedroom. “I’m more concerned about it getting broken into.”
“Who breaks into security trailers?” Gabriel asked. He held lipstick in his hand, squishing my cheeks so I’d pucker as he applied it in a thick layer around my mouth.
“Idiots do,” North said. “Luke would.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes and then finished my makeup. He tried to grin, but the grin transformed into a more horrified expression. He checked the photo again and then looked at me. “Does this look good to her? You look like a fucking… seventies prom queen?”
I couldn’t disagree with him. I didn’t recognize the girl in the mirror at all.
There was a boom and shake of the house. North appeared in the doorway. He must have jumped off the bed. He was followed shortly by Silas and Victor, trying to peek in.
North gazed at me, his eyes still tired but less so than earlier. He frowned at my face and then at the dress still hanging. “You should douse her in grease and ketchup,” he said. “Make her think twice about sending her to a diner in that outfit.”
Gabriel stared at me and then bobbed his head. “Hey, yeah…actually…” He grabbed a tissue box from under the counter, pulling out a few and holding them to my lips. He made a fishy face. “Do this to the tissue,” he said.
“You want me to kiss the tissue?” I asked.
He rolled his eyes and then reached around to give me a gentle chop on my head. “Very funny. I mean let’s make it look like your lipstick faded a lot.”
I did what he asked. The result was an odd look of the same color, just faded off in patches.
He waved the others out of the bathroom so I could put the dress on. When I had, and Gabriel opened the door again, the others were sitting on the bed.
“Now wipe your brow,” Gabriel said, heading to the bedroom door. “With your arm.”
It ended up getting makeup on the sleeve of the dress and my wrist.
He went out to the kitchen and brought back food supplies.
I felt bad about it, but he put small, excusable dollops of maple syrup, a splash from North’s coffee, and a little ketchup stain.
He finished, and the others and Gabriel examined the results.
North kept a disapproving scowl, but shrugged. “It’s a mess to me.”
“She looks like she does after a day at the diner,” Silas said. “Only the dress…and the makeup…”
Victor grumbled. “Can’t be comfortable.”
“Good for our purposes,” Gabriel said and then waved toward the back door. “Are we ready? Let’s go through the woods. Let’s get them used to you walking through there.”
I didn’t want them to get used to anything.
“I’ll walk with her,” Victor said.
Gabriel held open the door for me. “I’ll do it.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be here later, or too busy with the installation at the diner.”
Gabriel sighed but relented.
Compromise was a little difficult when my time was extremely limited. This was going to take getting used to.
Victor threw the sweater back on, rolling the sleeves up.
Reluctantly, I said goodbye to the others. I kept Victor’s phone on me, and he and I proceeded outside to the back porch. The afternoon air in early January was cold unless you stood directly under the sun. The wind remained icy no matter where you were standing.
The pool was covered. We walked around it and behind the shed in the backyard. He went to the fence, opening the gate and holding it for me.
“Do you think it’s a good idea if I show up with you?” he asked. “To join the basketball game? Or just be known as a coworker at the diner?”
I thought about it as I crossed the bridge, and then turned around once I was on the path in the woods. There were fresh leaves that had been raked away from the path, piled around the trees trunks. I wondered who had the time to come through. “I don’t know. Is it a good idea to let everyone come by at once?” I asked.
“Hmmm, I don’t know. I may need to head over to the diner once the trailer gets here. I feel like I just got to see you, and now you have to go.”
“Hopefully it won’t always be like that.”
He jumped the bridge instead of walking over it, landing close to where I was standing. “Kota and Nathan get to play basketball and slack off.”
“I don’t think they want to.”
“Not my favorite sport, either,” he said.
Not really what I meant, but I think he knew that.
He threaded an arm through mine and held my hand as we walked. “I’m hoping tonight, I get to be the one to sneak up.”
“Just be careful,” I said.
We headed toward where the path met with my backyard. I hesitated, wishing I had more time with any of them and not really wanting to face Carol again.
When I stood there for more than a few minutes without moving, Victor nudged my arm.
“Not that I want you to go,” he said, “but don’t think too much on it now. Just think of it as an Academy operation. I mean, technically it is…”
I breathed out slowly through my lips. “It’s not like helping homeless kids out of a condemned building. Or delivering Thanksgiving dinner to poorer families.”
“It’s just because this is more personal,” he said. “Like when I need to deal with my dad.” His tone softened.
I gazed at him, feeling the makeup on my face and neck and totally not feeling like myself in any of it. I squeezed his hand gently. “Let’s get you out, Victor.”
He smirked. “Working on it. A little focused on you right now.”
It spurred me to try harder and to hurry. I didn’t want Victor having to put up with his father any longer than he needed to, but to focus on him, I had to fix my own situation.
At least he could get out for a week at a time.
He could also spend the night anywhere, and do most anything. He just had to show up sometimes and play a piano.
I wanted to get my situation over with. The faster I convinced Carol to let me go to private school, the faster I would get out of there.
Victor kissed my forehead and nudged me on. “Won’t be long, princess.”
I walked away and on toward the house. Part of my strength came from knowing Kota and Nathan lay ahead. The others were working to get everything situated.
Carol might have taken us by surprise, but now I was going in more prepared, more determined.