Ella

"Don't let Liam scare you girl, this city isn't that scary," Carissa says, grinning. "I know all the best places!"

She hooks her arm with mine and practically drags me through the hotel lobby to a waiting SUV out front. She may not be dressed to the nines like she was for dinner, but she manages to walk a fine line between fashion forward and casual comfort... a look that somehow would make me look homeless.

"I know, Liam, just..." I trail off, not knowing how to finish my sentence.

Is intense? Is over protective... Worries about me?

"Is Liam," she laughs, opening the back door for me and slides in after me. "I haven't known him as long as Terrance has, but I'm no stranger to his... quirkiness, so no need to explain."

"Good," I say with a sigh. "I don't think I could if I tried. The man's a mystery."

"You sure about that?" she asks with a sly smile. "From where I was sitting, you looked to have him wrapped around your little finger."

"How much did you drink that night?!" I chirp, feeling like my face may catch on fire.

"Nowhere near enough to be oblivious to THAT chemistry." She bumps her shoulder playfully against mine. "I'll drop it for now. This is a girl's day, after all."

"I thought we were just shopping?" I ask, raising a brow.

"Well... I thought after working as hard as you did, you deserve some pampering," Carissa says with a pout.

I laugh at her theatrics and struggle to find a reason to shut her down. She's not wrong. We did put in a lot of long hours at that crappy office. Kicking back might not be bad.

"I'm easygoing," I assure her. "You don't have to go to any great lengths for me. I'm just glad you could help me pick up something to wear."

"Pa-lease girl!" she drones. "You're doing me a favour. It's been far too long since I last had someone to have a girls' day with."

"That feels like a stretch," I scoff, but don't press her anymore.

Her driver drops us off at the front of a gigantic shopping mall, which makes my stomach sink. Sensing my apprehension, Carissa hooks her arm in mine and leads us in.

This isn't the first time I've been to a crowded mall, but I definitely prefer shopping in Sophia's closet. As Carissa marches us with a purpose towards her store of choice, we pass floor-to-ceiling glass displays with trendy, high-end fashions that Soph would love.

These two would be fast friends!

Her eyes light up, and we pick up the pace, making a hard left. "This is my favourite shop. Come on." She tugs me into a designer boutique. Edgy fashion hangs on mannequins in every corner and she quickly digs into the nearest rack.

I leaf through some dresses, looking for something to catch my eye. Really I need two dresses with Sophia's birthday party. Carissa squeals, pulling a silver sequin dress from the rack.

"I can find your size, too." She waggles her brows. My eyes skim over the flashy, scant fabric, and I just shake my head. I pull out a simple black dress with a conservative neckline that looks to go up the neck. Why is it that the two options here are either nun or way less coverage than I'm comfortable with?

"That's your style?" Carissa asks with a guarded tone. Her gaze shifts between me and the ultra-conservative dress.

"Not really?" I shrug, cramming it back. "But I don't think I'm brave enough to pull off that." Cringing, I point at the scrap of sequins in the palm of her hand.

Carissa steps back and rakes her gaze over me as though she's looking at me for the first time. She bites her lip and cocks her head as she looks deep in thought.

"You are more than capable of pulling a dress like this off. In fact, you could be even bolder," she assures me. "But for comfort's sake, we can totally find something more appealing for you."

"Thanks," I whisper, feeling my cheeks heat.

"I'm all about comfort level." She gives me a reassuring smile. "No one should dictate to you what you can and cannot wear. Women get so fucked over in that regard, eh?"

"W-what?" I stammer, taken aback by her statement. She stands there unfazed and begins to leaf through the racks again.

"Magazines, TV, you name it, tell us what we should and shouldn't wear from day one," she clarifies. "Society says if I want to be proud of my body and show it off in this—" She lifts the silver sequin dress. "Then I'm a slut. I let that rule my life for a long time and was unhappy and stressed out. You know what the real kicker is?"

Chewing on my lip, I lean in, feeling like she's sharing something scandalous. "What?" I ask, engrossed by her candid confession.

"The moment I stopped listening to that little voice in my head that was judging every move I made and telling me I couldn't, life got easier," she says with a wink.

Slack-jawed, I have to force myself not to stare at her. Carissa is beautiful, confident and so put together. I would have never expected her to be so conflicted.

But anxiety can wear many masks.

"I haven't found the off button yet," I whisper.

"Ha, if only it worked like that," she scoffs. "Ohhh, what about this one?" Carissa holds up a classic little black dress with a strappy back. It's modest but flirty and more something Sophia would rock.

"Umm," I mumble, not totally set on a dress with my back exposed.

"Not the one," she announces, putting the dress back. She turns back to the rack and keeps flicking through options. "Terrance helped me a lot."

"He seems nice, pro-ball, hmm?" I ask.

"Ex. He was gonna be one of the greats, but then he blew out his knee and that ended that." She pulls out a dark blue dress and holds it up for me. The cut and fit are much closer to my style, so I take it from her.

"That must have been devastating," I admit. Having something snatched away from you just as all your dreams come true would be life altering.

"It was, and it hit him hard. He had lived for football his entire life, got the contract and two seasons in, boom, injured, no more ball. After throwing himself a pity party, he changed direction and went into business. Oh, yay!" she squeals, holding a red dress up to her chest.

"What kind of business?" I ask, picking up a red and black dress that's more my speed.

"Oh, he does a little of everything," she dismisses, waving me off. "The point was he threw himself into that and no more pity parties. He's contagious, helped me to really figure out who I was and what I wanted to be."

"Sounds like a good guy."

"The best." She grins to herself, then holds up a red dress for me. It's flashier than I would have normally chosen. "That look says on the fence. Why not try it on, and you'll know for sure?"

"Fine," I relent, taking the dress and heading over to the change room.

First up is the blue dress, which falls to just above my knees but is designed for bigger boobs than I have, leaving the chest sagging.

Nope.

Next up is the black and red dress. It fits like a second skin, making my average bust look bigger and my ass fantastic. I step out and twirl, showing Carissa the full package.

"Now we're talking!" She squeals, shimmying in her silver sequin dress. It covers everything, barely, but damn, she looks hot!

"Holy hell!" I gasp. Her grin at my reaction just grows. "You trying to kill Terrance?!"

She waggles her brows seductively at me and laughs. "Girl, please, he's seen me in less. Do you know he's the first guy I've been with that doesn't try to hide me?"

My eyes practically pop out of my head. "Looking like that, I think it's impossible to hide you!" I blurt out.

"I think he likes it," she whispers, mischief dancing in her eyes as her hands run down her sides.

"Hmm?" I mumble.

"It's like big dog shit, other men looking at me, knowing I won't pay them any attention, knowing I'm going home with him." There's pride shining in her eyes as she tells me this and a confidence I can only wish to possess.

"That's so caveman," I laugh.

"It absolutely is, but he's my caveman." She laughs, then runs her eyes down my outfit. "That dress is hot on you, but you need something a little more for the place we're going. Let's see the final choice."

I groan and change into the red dress. It's sleeveless with a slit down the center that's laced shut. The corset effect does wonders for my cleavage, but the colour is quite bold.

"Come on, lemme see," Carissa calls, knocking on the door.

I open it up and she has her red dress on, considerably bolder than mine. The halter neck widens to cover both breasts and continues to criss-cross, showing off more skin than it covers. Suddenly, my dress looks very modest.

"Fucking hot," she announces, raking her gaze over me. "But it isn't you, at least not right now, eh?"

"Not so much," I mumble. "I'm more of a little black dress kind of woman..."

"Smile for a picture and we can leave it behind." She pulls her cell out and gets in close for a picture. I breathe a sigh of relief when she doesn't push me at all and smile for her picture.

After changing back, we cash out. Carissa buys both while I stick to the black and red one for Sophia's party. We decide to grab lunch at the food court before the next store.

"They have surprisingly good food here," she says, taking another bite of her burger.

"Might be the best burger I've had," I admit. The mozzarella cheese, bbq sauce, bacon burger is an entire meal in one, something I'll have to try to make.

"Rissy, is that you?" a high-pitched voice calls from behind me. Carissa keeps her face even, but her posture stiffens instantly. "Oh my god, it is you!"

"Courtney, hi," she replies with fake enthusiasm. "Laura, long time no see."

Both women come into view and look down their noses at me before turning back to Carissa. They look like the real housewives of lord knows where, a bleach blonde and a Kardashian wannabe; both are wearing enough makeup to never know what they actually look like underneath.

"See, this is why she needs us. What on earth are you eating?" Courtney asks, twirling a lock of her blond hair as she pulls a face at Carissa's burger. "Laura, go grab a couple more chairs. We'll be back in five."

"No, no, we don't want to interrupt you guys," Carissa replies diplomatically, waving them off. Unfortunately, Laura is back with chairs, and Courtney takes Carissa's burger away.

They can't be serious?!

I stand there slack-jawed and Courtney returns a moment later with three of the blandest, all-green salads I've ever seen and begins chatting insistently. Courtney and Laura do ninety percent of the talking, pausing on occasion to get agreement from Carissa and completely ignoring me. The more they talk, the more my skin crawls, eager to be anywhere but here.

My appetite dies shortly after they join us and I sit there, saying nothing and hoping we'll leave soon. Carissa, however, appears to shut down in front of my very eyes. Gone is the cheeky, carefree woman, instead she just sits there, letting these two women walk all over her.

By the third time one of the women asks her a question then talks over her answer, I've had enough. There are only so much reality TV recaps and pointless gossip I can sit through and, by her vacant look, Carissa doesn't care either. Her eyes meet mine briefly, and she just gives me an apologetic look.

"What time is our appointment?" I ask, cutting Courtney off when I can take no more.

"Oh?" Courtney asks, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her gaze at Carissa.

"Right, we really should get going," Carissa replies, perking up as she sees our out. Without hesitation, she grabs our untouched lunches and shoves them on her tray to toss them. "You know how busy Nyx is."

"Oh, give us a minute. We can come with you," Courtney says, not waiting for an invitation.

"Uh-umm," Carissa stammers. "I kind of had to beg to get me and El fit in—"

"Come on, Rissy, it'll be like old times," she purrs. "I mean, if they're that booked, maybe Del and Laura could go to Trina's down the street. I've been meaning to spend some time with you. It really has been so long..."

Did she just call me Del?

The pushy woman doesn't take a hint and keeps pressing on, oblivious to the look on Carissa's face that clearly screams 'not long enough.' I look around for anything to help her out of this, curious as to why the beautiful, confident, fierce woman I've only come known let someone walk all over her.

"It's El," I blurt out, shocked by my own outburst.

"Excuse me?" Courtney scoffs, glaring at me.

"My name, it's Ella, not Del, and our schedule is packed. Sorry, maybe you guys can catch up another day." I'm proud of how even my voice is, although quiet because I don't want to cause a scene.

"El, is it?" she asks, taking a step towards me. "I've never heard of you, and we've been friends for years so..." Her use of the nickname only my friends use irritates me even further.

It's deliberate disrespect, as I just told her my name was Ella.

"Listen," I drawl, feeling the woman stir up every ounce of cattiness I didn't realize I possessed. "I'm afraid we really must be going now, and it's just us. She's talked this place up so much. No offense, Laura, I want to go."

The woman's jaw drops and her eyes go wide at Carissa, clearly not used to not getting her way. "Really, Rissy? You're gonna just drop us like that, for her?"

"What do you want, Courtney?" Carissa asks, sounding very tired and defeated. "Tickets? Backstage passes?"

"What? No!" she scoffs, clutching her chest like she's wounded. "I just miss you!"

"You have my number," she counters. "Why now?" Carissa narrows her gaze at the woman, slowly regaining her fire.

"So skeptical, honestly," Courtney scoffs, rolling her eyes. "I just want to hang out like old times... Tonight and I'm not taking no for an answer!" Her over the top fake friend act makes me cringe.

Carissa shrugs and shakes her head. "I really can't tonight, I already have plans with—"

"So, we can tag along," she cuts in with a silly giggle. "We all used to go clubbing together—"

"I didn't say we were going to a club," Carissa interrupts, but her words fall on deaf ears.

"Sure you did—"

"No, she didn't," I cut in, taking her side and earning another glare.

Carissa balls her fists and grits her teeth, catching on. "Oh my God, you never change! You found out we were going and just want—"

Courtney pouts even more, batting her lashes and pulling out the stops with the puppy dog eyes. "Rissy, you know me. I just want to hang out with my friend again. I miss you," she whines.

"Bye, Courtney," she sighs and turns her back on the sputtering woman. I bite my lip to keep from laughing and grab our bags, quickly catching up to Carissa as she storms off, only too happy to leave the horrible women behind.

"I need a drink," she groans, slumping into the back seat of the SUV.

"I think I do too," I say with an awkward laugh. "Listen, we don't need-"

"Oh, you are not canceling on me, girl! After that I need a drink WHILE I get pampered," she clips before breaking out laughing. "But if all you want is a classic black dress, you can just borrow one of mine? I have a walk-in closet full and not all are slutty."

"If that means no more malls, I'm in!" I laugh.

After an afternoon of pampering that would make Sophia absolutely green with envy, I feel like a new woman. Carissa wasn't kidding when she said she had plenty of little black dresses. Her walk-in closet is the size of most people's apartments, but she was right, and I found the perfect dress.

The flash in Carissa's eyes tells me my bold choice is the right fit.

"Forget Terrance. Liam is gonna have a heart attack," she says with a wicked smirk.