Hope's Chance (5 page)

I chose the light blue v-neck with a pair
of
dark gray shorts. They were made from
linen. I remembered because Veronica
, my ex, made a big deal about owning a pair of linen shorts. I never would have bought them for myself, but once I tried them on I understood the hype they got. They were comfortable and light. I wasn’t into dancing, but bars could get ungodly hot, and I didn’t feel like sweating my ass off all night. My sister came in as I was putting my white Nike’s on.

“Oh Hell no! You are not wearing those shoes with that outfit. I would have thought
Veronica
taught you better than that.”

“For someone that wants me to go with her, you aren’t being very nice. What is wrong with my shoes?”

“Chance, you can’t wear those expensive shorts with a pair of Nikes.
Here
.
” She tossed me a pair of boat shoes. I know they had some fancy name, but I always thought they looked like something our granddad had worn. “Wear these instead.”

“Yeah, I was going for the old man look tonight anyway.”

“Shut up and get them on. Mark and I are ready to go.”

I slipped the shoes on my feet and
followed
her
out the door. When she turned around to stop me I slammed into the back of her. “Dammit Buffy, watch where you are going.”

“You forgot your hair. Good thing I carry hair gel in my purse. Hurry up, Mark is in the car. I will deal with your hair situation as he drives us there.”

“Wait! I think I want to drive myself.”

She turned around to face me
. Because she was wearing a shor
t leather skirt and a pink top that left her belly hanging out, the bright glare from her belly ring shined in my face. I covered my eyes before I could even talk to her. “Damn girl, you tryin to blind me?”

“You are not driving that bike.”

“Yes I am. Listen, I promised you that I would go, but I can’t promise that I will have a great time. In fact I am counting on it being horrible. With that being said…I think I want to have my own ride. I don’t want to spoil your and Marks time. I will follow you there, and I promise no more than two beers. If I get too drunk we can leave the bike there.”

She seemed to be considering my idea, but when the horn honked she knew Mark was growing impatient. “Fine. Don’t do anything stupid tonight Chance.”

“Okay, I wo
n’t do anything you wouldn’t do.”
She turned around and gave me a smile before heading to the car.

Thankfully she had forgotten about my hair. I put on my helmet and followed them out of the large driveway on my bike. I had already decided that shortly after dinner I was going to head home. Being out at a bar wasn’t my idea of a good time anymore. Not after everything that happened.

Chapter 6

Hope

Rylee
waited until we were a few miles away from my house to apply makeup. As the foundation filled my pours, I started to feel uncomfortable. It was hot outside and the last thing I wanted was something else to make me sweat. The two dresses were bad enough as it was on the ten minute ride.

I hated having someone else put makeup on me, and especially mascara. I couldn’t help but blink, which made it even harder for
Rylee
. After at least fifteen minutes she told me I could look in the mirror.

I didn’t even recognize myself at first. Between the hair and now makeup I looked so much older.

“Wow! I look different.”

“Do you like it?”

“It is different.” Was all I could stammer out.

Rylee
rolled her eyes. “Whatever! You look totally hot. I would do you if I were a guy.”

“Oh my God! Shut up. I am not doing anybody tonight or anytime soon.”

“You never know what could happen. You might want to be the next re-born virgin Mary, but I want something new, something strange to start off my summer.”

I interrupted her. “Don’t talk like that
Rylee
. You sound like a whore.” I didn’t mean it rudely and she knew I didn’t. She had only been with one person and that ended last month. Since then all she could talk about was being single this summer to “experience new things”.

We dro
ve in silence for a few more minutes before pulling over to a local
bar that
was in the middle of nowhere. If you didn’t live in the area, you would never find it.

The Cedar Shack Bar sat off the road. It was a popular local hangout. During the day it was a restaurant, but at night it converted to a bar. I grabbed
Rylee
by the arm, before she could climb out of her car. “Wait! We can’t get in there. It is after eight.”

“Do you really think I wouldn’t come prepared?” She said as she handed a small card that resembled a drivers license.

I looked down and noticed the picture sort of resembled me. We
definitely
had the same features
. “Where did you get this?”

“Duh, Hope sometimes I wonder where your head is. My sister is home from college for the summer. I gave her money on spring break to buy one of her friends I.D.’s. It is yours. Consider it a graduation present.”

I looked down at the Maryland driver’s license again. “It say’s my name is Julie Stanton.”

“Well you better be getting that dress off Jules, so we can get to dancing.” She said sarcastically. “And if anyone asks, my name is
Kara
.”

Kara was her older sister, only by three years, but she was twenty one.

As I slipped out of the top dress, I immediately felt my cheeks becoming red. I had no clue how I was going to make it in this place.
Rylee
handed me the heels and I watched as she
double checked
her lip gloss in the mirror.

I stood up and grabbed my small clutch purse. “So how do I look?”

“Totally do-able.”

I rolled my eyes and foll
ow
ed behind her as we headed to the door. I had never walked in heels, and I found it hard to walk in them on a gravel parking lot.
When we reached the front door, I
was so happy I hadn’t broke an
ankle getting there. I straightened out my dress and handed the bouncer my I.D.

He looked at it for only a second, before turning all of his attention to my dress. He started at my
face, but made a beeline for my
tits and finally my legs. “Where have you been all my life gorgeous?”

“Maryland!” I blurted out as
Rylee
pulled me inside.

“Holy shit Hope, he was totally hitting on you.”

I looked around the bar. It was filled with people both young and old. The Deejay was already playing some kind of hip hop music but nobody was dancing yet. It was still light outside, and I had heard that bars didn’t get busy until later on.

“Come on
let’s
get drinks.”
Rylee
said as she pulled me toward the bar. We found a corner where nobody was sitting at and she waved down a bartender.

“Hey ladies, what can I get ya?” He asked.

He appeared to be in his twenties and gave
Rylee
a big smile as she leaned in to give him her order. “We will take four shots of
Ja
ger
.”

I smacked her in the side. “I wanted a soda.”

“Lighten up princess. If you want to puss out, I will drink the shots myself.”

She stuck a twenty on the bar while she watched him making the drinks. Another man gave him an order while he was filling ours. When he slid the shots in our direction he pushed the twenty back to
Rylee
. “These are taken care of already.” He said while nudging his head to the man who had spoken to him just seconds ago.

I watched
Rylee
looking the guy over. She stared right into his eyes as she downed the first shot. “He is kinda cute don’t you think?”

“I guess. How old do you think he is?”

She grabbed the second shot and licked her lips before she downed it. “He can’t be older than twenty five. Are you going to drink those?” She pointed to the last two shots.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed one. When that awful taste hit my mouth I wanted to gag.
Knowing we were in a bar full of adults, I manage to regain composure quickly.
Rylee
had a big smile on her face. “Now do the other one and follow me.” She ordered.

I hated the first one, but the second one wasn’t as horrible. Possibly the shock of the taste was over with. As I swallowed the last shot, I watched as she made her way over to the guy that had bought her a shot.  The guy seemed normal enough. He was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of khakis. He smiled as we approached and pulled out a chair for her to sit. I looked around the room and spotted the ladies room, finally hoping for a quiet moment to reassess what the hell I was doing here in the first place.

I signaled to
Rylee
where I was going and she smiled at me before giving the new guy all of her attention. I pushed past a group of people mingling and made my way to the bathroom. When I got in there, the liquor
w
as burning in my chest. I leaned over the sink and looked at myself in the mirror.

It had felt like
Rylee
put all kinds of makeup on me, but I really wasn’t wearing much. She had made my eyes look more enhanced and my hair had settled down from the heat, making it look a lot more relaxed. It was the dress that I couldn’t stand.
It was so tight against my skin, and I never thought of myself as fat, but my curves were so enhanced. I was used to wearing free flowing summer
dresses that
did nothing for a figure.

By the time I made it out of the bathroom, the dance floor had filled up. I looked in the center and noticed
Rylee
grinding all over her new friend. I rolled my eyes and made my way through the people dancing. Since she was my ride I had to at least appease her. The guy handed me a beer, and I noticed they each had one for themselves. I hated the taste of beer, but after the two shots I managed to drink half the bottle before the first song finished.

It was so crowded now, that my dress issue became non-
existent
. We were surrounded by a crowd of people and there wasn’t exactly room for anyone to stare.

Rylee
and I had been dancing around together for years. We would dance in our pajamas u
ntil we literally passed out. As
we got
older
our practice paid off. We were always admired at the school
dances and our boyfriends loved it. This new guy could be added to
Rylee
’s list of admirers he was clearly into her, and she grinded her ass into his legs.

I started to relax and just let the music take over my senses. We were here and it wasn’t so bad. I could handle this. It wasn’t as bad as I had feared it would be.

Chance

I followed Mark and Buffy to the bar on my motorcycle. The drive sucked because Mark drove that SUV slow as hell. If I had known where I was going I would have passed them once we got out of the development.

I was surprised how packed the little establishment was. Maybe everyone in the entire town had come out tonight.
I pulled out my driver’s license even before it was my turn. I had just turned twenty one a few months back and it made me proud that I didn’t need a fake I.D. to get in anywhere.
The bouncer at the door looked at my I.D. twice until he noticed my sister. She
gave one of her million dollar
smiles and he forgot about little me. Once she and Mark made it inside we got a table in the back and started looking at menus. We probably should have got here sooner, if we wanted to eat without loud music.

We each ordered something small and watched everyone dancing as we waited for our food. I was surprised how much my sister’s clothes fit in here. It seemed all of the women were dressed pretty hot. I had stopped being protective of my sister.

One night a guy followed her out of the club. Before she could even scream
,
he had managed to corner her in an alley. She said it only took her a few seconds to realize it and free herself. By the time she had screamed for the first time, the guy was on the ground. She had kicked him so hard in the balls that he fell to the ground. Once he was down she used her
stilettos
as a weapon and beat him to a pulp.

Before the police could come he begged her to not press charges, claiming he was married and it would ruin his life. She told him if she ever saw
him
again she would rip ou
t his balls and nail them to
his front door.