Metamorphosis (4 page)

“I love it. It’s incredible,” I
whispered, afraid if I said anything else the tears would let loose down my
cheeks. I was shocked, stunned, flabbergasted at the image staring back at me
in the mirror.

“So you can see that I left quite
a bit of length so it wouldn’t be such a drastic change for you,” Nathan
explained as he turned the chair around and handed me a small mirror so that I
could see the back of my hair in the larger one. “The longest layers hit your
back right about your bra strap, and I’ve added some shorter layers to give it
a little shape and body. For your color, I added both highlights and lowlights,
which really bring out your beautiful tan and those big, beautiful brown eyes.
It’s a little lighter here around your face,” he continued. “And this should be
very easy for you to style - all you will need is a large round brush and a
hair dryer.”

I sat there frozen, afraid if I
moved that it would go back to the way it was. I was in
awe,
I had no idea that my hair could look so good. I loved the lighter highlights
that framed my face; they were the perfect shade to compliment the warm rich
chestnut brown that was now my base color; a major improvement to the drab,
lackluster brown it was before.

“Well now that you are looking
absolutely amazing, if I do say so myself, let’s get Becky over here to teach
you about makeup application. And then you will be ready to break all the boys
hearts at that party tonight,” Nathan said.

“Thank you so much, Nathan. I
couldn’t be happier!” I exclaimed and jumped up to give him a hug.

“No worries beautiful. Just come
back to see me every six to eight weeks so we can keep you looking fabulous,”
he said returning the hug.

I sat and waited for only a few
minutes when a middle-aged brunette, who I assumed was Becky, joined me at the
chair.

“Now I hear that I have a makeup
virgin over here, is that correct?” she asked as she walked up dragging a cart
with her full of makeup.

“What you hear is correct,” I
replied. “I’m most definitely a ‘makeup virgin.’ I have only worn stage makeup
for dance recitals and music performances, and even then someone else applied
it for me.”

Much like Nathan, Becky talked
through most of my appointment. However, she spent most of the time explaining
to me how to apply the makeup, and how to create different looks for daytime,
going out, formal events,
etc
… It was so much
information that I’m sure I only retained half of it, but I knew that I’d have
Evie
around to help me.

Just as Becky was finishing up and
putting together a kit for me to take home,
Evie
entered the room and stopped mid-step when she saw me.

“Who are you and what have you
done with my best friend?” she exclaimed. She then ran to me, picked me up, and
twirled me around. “You look absolutely stunning. I am so jealous… I knew you
were beautiful, but Sam… wow. You are drop dead gorgeous.”

“Thank you,
Evie
.
Thank you so much for bringing me here. I feel amazing. I really don’t believe
it yet. I keep looking at myself in the mirror trying to figure out if it’s
really me,” I said trying not to cry again so I wouldn’t mess up my makeup.

“It is really you, and I could
stand here all day and look at you too, but we need to get going so we still
have a few hours to take you shopping,”
Evie
said as
she pulled me towards the front desk to check out.

After we grabbed a bite to eat, we
hit the shops to tackle the issue of my
clothesless
closet. I knew that it would take me awhile to build up a full wardrobe, but
for now I needed to get the basics. Several hours and dozens of stores later,
we were both exhausted but I felt giddy with the bags and bags of goodies in
the backseat, especially the ones from Victoria’s Secret. I had never owned
lacy, seductive bras and panties before, my mom only bought me plain white
cotton undergarments. However, I had read countless books where the girl would
end up in an unplanned sexual encounter only to be embarrassed by her old-lady
panties. So to alleviate that possible humiliation, I vowed to only own and
wear sexy panties from that point forward. I figured I was going to be awkward
enough whenever I did finally find myself in a situation that someone saw me
without my clothes on, so hopefully I would look good enough in my lingerie to
keep their attention off my ineptness.

We finally returned to our dorm room
a little after
seven which
gave us a couple of hours
to recharge before the party. As I was putting away my purchases,
Evie
came into my room and sat on my bed.

“So for tonight… are we still
going to do our book boyfriend challenge?” she asked trying to hide the
hopefulness in her voice.

“Of course, why wouldn’t we?” I
asked.

“I was just making sure you
weren’t haven’t second thoughts… that you just didn’t agree last night because
you had been drinking,” she said. “But yay, I’m glad you still want to do this…
I think it’s going to be a fun way for us to meet new people. Since this is our
first time, I want you to pick the “type” we are hunting tonight… whatever you
will be most comfortable with.”

“Hunting,
Evie
?
Really?” I exclaimed.

“Yes, hunting, Sam. Guys are prey
that you hunt, capture, and slaughter. If you don’t have this mindset, you will
become the prey… I’ve been the prey once, and I’ll be damned if I let it happen
again,” she retorted a little too seriously.

“Okay, whatever, a little dramatic
don’t you think?” I didn’t want to argue with her. The day had been too perfect
to ruin it with something so silly, so I decided to drop it and move on. “Okay,
then to make it easy tonight let’s do the ‘Mr. All-American,’ the college frat
boy, since we are going to be at a college party. There should be plenty of
those to choose from, right?” I asked.

“Sounds perfect, now let’s get
dressed to kill,” she grinned as she walked out of my room.

“Sure thing… just let me get out
my sexy camouflage dress,” I called after her shaking my head.

Choosing my outfit for the evening
was more difficult than I had anticipated. I knew I was overthinking the whole
thing, but this was a big deal…well, at least to me it was. I didn’t want to
look like I tried too hard, or like I was too fixed up, I just wanted to blend
in
..
. Okay, maybe I wanted to do a little more than
blend in.
Evie
said the party was going to be casual,
to wear something cute and flirty but comfortable. Cute and flirty but
comfortable, huh? Yoga pants were my idea of comfortable, but I guessed that
wasn’t what she had in mind. After trying on everything I had bought earlier in
the day, I finally opted for a denim mini skirt, layered chocolate brown and
light pink tank tops that snugly hugged my C-cup breasts, and my distressed
brown cowboy boots. Unless I was wearing sneakers for a physical activity, my
shoe selection consisted of
flip flops
and one pair of
boots. I owned at least twenty different pairs of
flip flops
in every possible color which I usually wore during the day and with jeans and
shorts. My boots were my “dress-up” shoe, usually paired with skirts and
dresses. I quickly touched up my hair and makeup, and then stared at my
reflection in the mirror. It was show time. For so many years, I had dreamed
what it would be like to get to do this… to do things that most teenagers did,
and the time had finally come. I said a short prayer asking God to keep us safe
and requesting he not let me make a complete ass of myself. I was pretty sure
he chuckled at this
one,
we both knew that was bound
to happen at some point in the night. Minutes later,
Evie
and I were in her car on our way to the beginning of the rest of my life.

The drive to
Evie’s
cousin Jess’ house was quick, only fifteen minutes from our dorm. Unlike
Evie
and I, Jess attended the University of St. Thomas,
another college in the Houston area. I had met Jess many times before. She had
spent a week each summer at
Evie’s
for as long as I
could remember, and her and her parents were frequent guests there for
holidays, as well. I had always liked Jess, she could be a little loud and
obnoxious at times, but for the most part I thought she was hilarious. She used
to tell us stories about the mischievous things her and her friends would do
without getting caught. Both
Evie
and I had always
looked up to her a bit being two years older than us. She knew about my
parents’ issues and had always told me if I ran away, I could stay with her and
her family in Houston. Of course I never did, but it was so sweet of her to
even offer.

The plan for the night was to
leave
Evie’s
car at Jess’ house, an off-campus rental
where she lived with two other roommates. All five of us were going to walk to
the party
together which
supposedly was just a block
or two away from their house. Afterwards,
Evie
and I
were going to crash in Jess’ room for the night. That way we wouldn’t have to
drive late and no one would have to pass on the festivities to be the
designated driver. I also felt better about going as a large group so I would
have several people to stay close to in case I freaked out or something.

We pulled into the driveway of a
cute one-story red brick home. You could tell that it was an older home, but it
had been well maintained and there was definite curb appeal. Before we even
made it out of the car, Jess had flung open the front door and was bouncing
down the front steps to greet us in a hug.

“
Evie
!
Scarlett! I’m so excited y’all are here!” she squealed.

“Did you have any problems finding
the place? How do you like Houston? Did y’all get settled in?” she continued
without taking a breath. She then turned to face me and said, “Wow! You look…
different… incredible actually.”

“Thank you,” I said sheepishly,
still unsure about the “new” me. She was looking me over like she was trying to
figure out everything that was different.

Thankfully getting the attention
off of me,
Evie
answered her questions, “No, we
didn’t have any problems finding the place. So far we
are
loving
Houston. And we are somewhat settled in. We still need to go to
the grocery store and get Scarlett some more clothes, but we will get that
taken care of on Monday before classes start.”

Jess then turned towards the front
door and ushered us inside. “Come in, come in. Welcome to my humble home.”

The interior of the home was like
walking into an Ikea showroom. It was modern but inviting, and the perfect
combination of earth tones and bright funky colors were used which made the
space fun as well as sophisticated. A thin girl with short blonde hair was
sitting on the couch drinking a beer and watching
tv
when we walked in.

“
Evie
,
Scarlett, this is one of my roommates, Meg Scott. Meg and I have been roommates
since our freshman year,” Jess introduced us. She then turned to Meg and said,
“I’ll bet you’ll never guess which one is my cousin,” alluding to the fact Jess
and
Evie
looked so much alike. They could easily pass
for sisters with their super straight black hair that they both wore shoulder
length, with heavy bangs, and their shared olive complexion.

“It’s nice to meet both of you,”
Meg smiled warmly at us without getting up, as we continued further into the
living room.

“Ash will be out in a bit. We are
forever waiting on Ash,” Jess said shaking her head playfully. “Please make
yourselves at home. That’s my room over there,” she continued while pointing to
a door off the living room. “You can throw your overnight bags and purses on my
bed or in my closet. Meg and Ash’s rooms are down the hall. There’s a bathroom
en suite in my room and another down the hall to the right.”

Evie
and I put our things on Jess’ bed
and then went back out to the living area and sat on the couch opposite from
Meg.

“Can I grab y’all a beer while we
wait?” Jess asked as she walked across the room to where I assumed the kitchen
was.

“I’m good,” I answered. My stomach
was tightened into a hard knot from nerves and anxiety and I was sure if I
tried to eat or drink anything, I would puke.

“Scarlett maybe a drink before we
go would help calm your nerves a bit,”
Evie
offered
in a somewhat whisper. I gave her a warning look to tell her not to push me on
this.

“What are you nervous about
Scarlett?” Meg asked nosily.

“Scarlett has never been to a
party before,”
Evie
answered for me.

Meg looked at me confused, “You
mean a college party? It’s really no big deal, not much different than high
school parties to be honest. Where we are going tonight is going to be
extremely laid back. No crazy people running around like idiots or anything.”

Jess yelled from the kitchen as if
I was unable to respond myself, “No Meg, she has never been to a party… period.
Her parents were crazy strict and didn’t allow her to have a social life, she’s
never been to a party, never been on a date… nothing.”