I slipped the dress carefully over my head and Sasha zipped me into it.

It fit like a dream. I could tell that before I even looked at myself. I thought it had fit well enough before, but this was the difference between a dress that could get over my body and a dress that actually enhanced what I had on show.

“How do I look?” I asked.

She smiled. “Go see for yourself.”

I walked over to the mirror and my jaw dropped.

She had cut a low neckline into the dress, low enough that I seemed to have magicked up a huge dollop of cleavage from nowhere. She had nipped the dress in around the waist because it made it seem as if I actually had a waist. She had taken up the hemline too. It now came down to just above my knees, and the way it clung to my thighs was borderline scandalous. Well, one thing was for sure, she had effectively made it impossible for me to use this as a work dress. There was no way I was going to be wearing this to any job interviews anytime soon. Unless it was for a very specific type of job.

I twisted back and forth in front of the mirror, taking myself in, and then finally stepped into my only good pair of heels that I owned, black and with a bow that tied around the ankles. Okay, I actually looked pretty good. A smile spread over my face as I looked myself up and down, and I tried to remember why I didn’t get dressed up to go out like this more often.

My sister beamed at me. “You look fantastic.”

“You think?”

“Absolutely. I don’t know why you don’t dress like this more often instead of slouching around in those shapeless things you wear.” She came over and started fluffing about with the hem. “I knew I could do something with this thing. You really do look amazing, Madison.”

I gave her a quick hug. “Thanks for this. I really needed this tonight.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” she replied, and I knew immediately she was referring to Eleanor. She had never much liked her, but I tried not to let it get in the way of my relationships with either of them. I told myself Sasha was just protective, but sometimes I wondered if there really was something in Eleanor she needed to protect me from.

Sasha went off to make her tea and I spent a little more time preening myself, making sure my lipstick was perfect and throwing back a bottle of water to make sure that however much I had to drink tonight it wouldn’t leave me with too brutal a hangover the next day. A couple of minutes before half six, there was a knock on the door.

“Oh, that’ll be Eleanor.” I jumped to my feet, and wobbled on my heels and had to catch the arm of the sofa. God, I was just not good at these dangerous things. I could have broken my neck back there.  

I buzzed her in, and opened the door to find myself face to face with Eleanor in her full-glamour mode. She looked damn good, in a short, sparkly silver sheath dress that was practically blinding me even in the dim lighting of the hall outside my apartment. Add to the fact that her heels were high and her hair was teased out and huge, it made her virtually impossible to miss, even from miles away. Which would be a good thing, if she intended to catch the eye of the Subway guy.

The only thing that wasn’t shining about her was the frown marring her forehead as she cast her gaze over me. I felt my mouth go a little dry as she looked me up and down.

“What’s the matter?”

“Your dress,” she blurted out.

“Don’t you like it?” I struck a pose playfully, but she didn’t seem overly amused.

She brushed past me and into the apartment. “Is that the same dress?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. There was that furrow in her brow again, letting me know that somehow I’d done something wrong.

“Yeah,” I nodded, and pointed to the kitchen where Sasha was still rumbling about. “Sasha did a little work on it for me. I think it looks nice. Don’t you like it?”

“It just looks a little…” she trailed off, giving me a long look up and down once more.

Sasha emerged from the kitchen, and her lips tightened when she saw that Eleanor was already there.

“It just looks a little tarty, that’s all,” she finally finished up, and I felt my cheeks flood with heat at her words.

“I can go change into something else,” I suggested, my chin dropping in embarrassment.

“I think you should. Go on then. Quickly.”

“No fucking way,” Sasha said firmly, shooting some serious daggers in the direction of Eleanor. “You look fantastic, and I worked too hard on that for you not to go out in it now.”

“Fine,” Eleanor sighed, tossing her hair over one shoulder as though this was the biggest inconvenience she could imagine. “You don’t have time to change anyway, the taxi’s already waiting outside.”

I gave Sasha another quick hug. “See you soon, okay?”

“I’ll lock up before I leave.,” she replied, throwing another venomous glance at Eleanor. “Have a good night.”

Her words were barbed even if they seemed innocent, and I knew that they were aimed at Eleanor and not me. I got where she was coming from. Sometimes, I felt as though I wanted someone who called herself my friend to treat me with a little more respect, but I knew that she had been through a lot these last few weeks so I couldn’t expect too much from her.

We headed out to the taxi.