The Line That Binds Series Box Set (50 page)

“And you didn’t find anything new in Dahlia’s journal?” I asked because we hadn’t talked about it since we were in the attic.

“Ripped pages after that threatening entry. Nothing else,” she replied with a sigh.

I took her fingers and laced them with mine when we got to the front door. “We won’t look for anything tomorrow. We’ll just enjoy the party. It should be pretty entertaining,” I said, knowing I was in for a full night of anger management if Ryan showed.

“I can’t wait to see you in an old suit,” she said with a crooked grin.

I opened the door and turned around outside. “And I can’t wait to see you in a corset. There’s something so sexy about those things.” I leaned close to her ear and whispered, “What’s he working tomorrow?”

Her eyes darted around the empty foyer and she whispered back, “Late shift.”

“We might not wear the clothes for long.”

“All right. I’m off to spend the evening with a bunch of rowdy animals,” Dad called up into the attic.

“Can you grab this?” I asked, passing down the bag holding the dress Izzy picked. He took it first then grabbed the hoop cages. “Thanks,” I said, stepping down the ladder with my own dress.

“It’s nice that Izzy’s coming over,” he said with the bag tucked under one arm and the cages threaded over the other.

“Yeah, she’s great. She’s not the dressy type so hopefully it’s fun for her.” I pushed open my bedroom door with my back and tossed my dress onto the bed.

Dad set the rest beside mine and placed his hands on his scrub-covered hips. “The party sounds like it’ll be fun. I’m going to try and stop by when I get a dinner break tonight.”

“Really?” I asked, knowing the reason was probably to keep an eye on Ben and me. I’d hoped after they’d bonded over a common love for old school horror films that Dad would ease up a little. But I guess he wasn’t going to get over whatever his informant had told him that easily. I moved to the bathroom to set out the hair products Izzy and I would need for tonight.

“Yeah, I’m curious,” his voice traveled through the open bathroom door. “I also agreed to let Gavin invite his girlfriend, Taylor. Her father is driving her. This is later than they are usually allowed to hang out on the weekend and I’d like to make sure they don’t get into trouble. Can I trust you to check on them and make sure her drop off and pick up go okay?”

Ah.
That was how he’d be certain Ben and I weren’t doing anything. He wanted me to babysit.
Great.
“Sure. I’m not going anywhere,” I replied, bunching my brows and grimacing to the mirror before I heard his footsteps move toward the bathroom.

He poked his head around the doorframe before stepping halfway in. “Good to know,” he said, though he already knew I wouldn’t have left the
property
. He just didn’t want me leaving the
party
. “Taylor is supposed to get here before the party starts at seven and I believe her dad plan to pick her up at nine thirty.”

“Okay,” I mumbled.

He tapped his hand on the doorframe and stood straighter. “Just please be careful tonight.”

Tearing my eyes from the bobby pins and elastics on the vanity, I finally looked at him. His eyes were heavy, bearing the same weight of every single parent. He was worried. And it was creasing his skin and graying his hair faster than his old job had. “There’s nothing to worry about, Dad,” I assured him. It was a partial truth. His worries were all about my love life when in reality that was the one place I felt safe. My own head was another story. With headaches and high pitches paining me and voices of others wishing to better their life, it often felt like I was losing a battle somewhere deep inside.

He smirked and tapped the doorframe once more. “Okay, well, have fun with Izzy and make sure Gavin doesn’t bail on his girl to play games.”

I smiled before he walked out then stared back at the tangled mess of hair products I hadn’t touched since the move. I’d embraced a simpler life with simple hair. But this new life wasn’t as simple as it was supposed to be. It was starting to resemble the tangled mess sitting in front of me instead.

When I looked up into the mirror’s reflection again, I noticed a slight discoloration inside the bathtub. I hadn’t cleaned it since last week and apparently it needed a good wipe down. The hair elastics could wait. I went to the storage closet beside my room and grabbed cleaner and a sponge. After finding a good water temperature, I plugged the tub and scrubbed the marks over and over.

A knock at the door startled me, causing me to jump up from my bent position.

“Hey,” Izzy said. Her wide eyes looked at the sponge in my hand. “Gavin let me in.”

“Oh,” I replied still a little dazed. “Sorry, I didn’t hear the bell.”

“No biggie. You look… busy. Everything okay?” she asked with a slight head tilt.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” I glanced back at the tub. There were no suds at the bottom, only a small puddle of clean water. “I figured I’d kill some time before you got here.” I lifted the stopper and tossed the sponge under the vanity.

“I picked up a couple of clips like we talked about at lunch. They could pass for antique.” She placed a plastic bag beside the ball of elastics. “I bought more hair ties, too,” she said with a laugh.

“Thanks so much.” I glanced at my phone and realized it was already six. “I should’ve started my hair instead of cleaning. I’m not sure what I was thinking.” I usually slipped into a zone while I cleaned. It was like autopilot, taking over and allowing my mind to wander. I’d never zoned out this way before, though. I couldn’t remember focusing on anything. My thoughts were blank.

She opened the bag and ripped off the wrappers and tags. “I’m sorry that I need your help with all of this. I wouldn’t even know where to start with a nineteenth-century hairstyle.”

“I had no clue either. I had to look it up the other day,” I admitted, shaking off my other thoughts. “Can you grab the chair by the dresser?” I washed my wrinkled hands in the sink to make sure all chemicals were gone even though I could tell the tub water had been clear for a while.

“Your room’s nice.” She set the chair down and I motioned for her to sit. “I’d die to have a bathroom in my room.”

“That’s definitely the reason I picked this room,” I replied, combing through her long, chestnut hair, parting the sections for braids.

“I’m excited that you’ll be in my Chem class when you start Co-op Monday. It should make tolerating the mayor of snoozeville, Mr. Hobt, a little easier. I have to warn you that Ryan and Adam are in the same class, too.”

“Well, I
was
excited. Now, not so much.”

“They don’t bother me. I’m thinking you won’t be as lucky, though. On the bright side, at least it’s not Emily.”

“True,” I agreed. I wouldn’t be able to tolerate that. And I highly doubted the class would still be dubbed snoozeville if Emily and I were in the same room. “You and Spaz are a great couple.” I decided to change the subject, glancing at her reflection in front of me.

“It took a little while to train him,” she said and we both laughed. “I was going to pass him up when we first met. But he kept bugging me, like an annoying cricket that wouldn’t shut up. What did me in was when, in true Spaz form, he walked right into his own bike while we were talking. He knocked it over and smacked his head so hard I thought he’d have a concussion. At first, I was flattered. I had no idea his klutzy behavior was actually attributed to him breathing, not because he thought I was cute.”

“I’m sure it was a little of both.”

“Maybe,” she said with a smile. “So how are things with Ben?”

I bit my lip and finished with the last braid. It was unbelievable how just the sound of his name could trigger reactions throughout my entire body. My heart quickened, my skin flushed, and I could almost smell his minty grass scent.

“Wow, you have it worse than I thought,” she said with a giggle. I grinned at her blue eyes in the mirror. “Ben is a really great guy and I’m glad he found someone like you.”

“Thanks,” I said, pinning the last braid. I stuck one of the clips at the back of her head above the braids. “Okay, you’re good. Go ahead and use whatever makeup you’d like. They went pretty natural back then, but do whatever you’re comfortable with.”

My fingers worked quickly to braid sections of my own hair. I sprayed and twisted other parts and pinned it all back. After I threw a light dusting of makeup on myself, we both moved back into the bedroom.

“Did you bring hose and shoes?” I asked.

“Hose, I don’t need. Shoes, I brought, though I’m thinking they probably aren’t needed either. No one will be able to see them under this amount of fabric anyway,” she said, lifting the bottom of the green skirt. The layers folded over, consuming her hand.

“True. Maybe we should just wear our boots. No one will notice, except…”

Her blue eyes popped open and a huge smile erupted on her tiny face. “Ooh!” she crooned. “Someone might be knockin’ those boots later, huh?” She winked.

“Izzy!” I screamed. “You’ve been hanging out with guys too long. You sound like one.” She started laughing and I joined her. It felt nice to have a girlfriend I could relax with. I grabbed my stomach as the laughter began to fade. “Okay, okay. We better quit or we’re going to be really late.” She nodded and inhaled deeply to stifle the rest of her giggles.

I handed her the small undershirt. “First thing’s first.” We both stripped down to our underwear and replaced our modern bras with the undershirt. Next I handed her the corset that was packed with her dress. “I’ll do you up first.”

“I feel like a pig in a blanket!” she said with a laugh and proceeded to squeal every time I tightened the laces. We laughed so much we had to take breaks. Finally, hers was finished and, with some coaching, she returned the favor. We situated the cages next, followed by their ruffled petticoat covers. After we picked up the bottom skirts, the bed was nearly empty. She lifted her skirt above her, blowing and flipping the tiered layers out of the way so she wouldn’t get lost inside.

I lifted mine, too, letting it fall over my head. Its silky red panels flowed down and settled upon my waist with ease, like it was happy to breathe again. The bodices were last. We both slipped our arms in through, careful not to catch the fragile lace trims lining the upper portions.

“Taylor’s here!” Gavin’s distant voice traveled into my room.

Izzy fastened my bodice. Then I did hers, adjusting her corset a bit so the bodice would close. “I might have to beat Spaz away with a bat tonight. He’s liable to rip this off me and it won’t be in a sex-driven craze. It’ll be because he tripped or something,” Izzy joked, running her hands down the cinch of her waist and fanning them out along the mint-green ruffles.

“With the way your boobs look in that dress, I’m sure he’ll be trippin’,” I teased and she grabbed herself playfully. “But seriously, you look amazing.” She’d wished for the guts to wear the dress and now she was completely comfortable. That confidence made her look even more beautiful.

After tucking my phone snugly between my bodice and corset, Izzy and I slipped into our boots and shuffled downstairs, careful not to snag the dresses on anything obstructing our new caged girths.

“Whoa,” Taylor said when she and Gavin met us at the front door. She was decked out cosplay style as a female anime character wearing a black-and-red school-girl uniform. Her blonde hair was hidden under a long purple wig. “Those dresses are amazing.”

“Thanks,” Izzy and I both replied.

“Your costume is, too. And your makeup job is unbelievable. Your eyes look huge,” I added, noticing the liner technique she used to make her anime eyes. I knew exactly why Gavin liked her. She was cute and nice, of course, but he watched anime almost as much as he played games.

“Thanks,” she replied with a smile full of braces.

Gavin dressed the opposite way, choosing to go as a half-assed zombie with only eye makeup and an old ripped shirt. He wrapped his perfectly clean arm around Taylor’s waist. “Let’s go see what this is all about.”

When we got outside, I snatched his arm to slow him down, letting Izzy and Taylor walk ahead of us. “Hey, Dad plans to stop by the party sometime tonight. So don’t leave until Taylor’s dad comes to get her.”

“What if it’s lame?” he scoffed.

I glanced around the property, swinging my hand toward the cars flooding the lot. “It’ll be fine.”

“Okay. But if you leave, I’m gone,” he said before he rushed to catch up with Taylor.

The wire ghosts were as eerie as I thought they’d be, even under tonight’s subdued moonlight. People tramped around the property, laughing as they posed for pictures with the ghosts and Grim Reaper. Others were lined up along the walkway in front of the event house’s doors for the party. We waited in line with them, admiring the carved pumpkins placed along the front garden. Lloyd and Randall had added more decorations while Ben and I were at school. Strings of dim lights wrapped around the front bushes and more webs climbed the stone wall. It was tasteful, and magical.

With one of the doors propped open, music spilled out to greet us under the stone archway. Walking inside was like stepping into a different mansion. More pumpkins overflowed the entrance. Some were carved, but most were painted black or white with intricate line work in the contrasting color. There was also a variety of wreaths hanging from the walls, with strings of dim lights woven through them.