Breathtaking Deception (Book 1)

Chapter 3 (Embers Dinner)

"Let's see what we're working with." Piper said flipping through the clothes in my closet. I, on the other hand, sat at the foot of my bed waiting for her to pick something out. I mean how hard could it be? I was beginning to think that Piper was more worried about my outfit than I initially was because she would say things such as "This won't work. Did you get this from your grandma?" And that made me feel bad for 2 reasons one because I began to think did, I really have such bad taste in formal wear? and second, because some of the outfits were my grandma's. I mean my grandma was always a classy lady and wore the most beautiful things. I saw nothing wrong with the simple white dress she had given me but apparently, it wasn't fancy enough for Piper's taste. As she threw the pretty white dress on the floor. "Do you have anything?" Piper asked clearly annoyed before she stopped in her tracks. "Wait," she said before pulling out a dress I had forgotten I owned. It was a short champagne dress with a sweetheart neckline that I had worn a few years ago for my father's promotion party.

"How about this one?" Piper asked enthused that she had found something suitable. I looked at it for a minute "Do you think it will still fit?" I asked. Piper went around behind me and held the dress up to my figure. "There's only one way to know right." She said handing me the dress. I guess she was right it wouldn't hurt to try it on so, I gladly took the dress from her and stepped into the bathroom. I slipped off my outfit and pulled the dress over my head. It slipped on with ease, I was shocked that it still fit, but thankful at the same time. I walked out of the bathroom "What do you think piper?" She turned to look at me and her mouth gaped open "Is it that bad?" I asked. She shook her head and hurried over to me.

"No, no you look amazing, and the color suits you!" She flashed me a wide smile which told me she genuinely thought I looked good. As soon as she saw me in the dress, she rushed over to my vanity that was in the corner of my room. "What are you doing?" I asked although she didn't respond. When she returned to where I was, she was holding a diamond necklace with small jewels, but they were absolutely stunning as well as a pair of earrings. I typically avoided jewelry, but I figured this was a night to make an exception. Piper placed the necklace around my neck and handed me the earrings to which I put on. And when I looked in the Mirror I had to admit I looked good and even better felt good about myself. "Thank you, piper, your amazing," I said pulling her into a hug.

 She was a bit caught off guard but then hugged me back. "Should we get going?" She asked while holding up her car keys. I was already way ahead of her as I hurried down the stairs and opened the car door, I then slid into the passenger seat and piper followed suit as she slid into the driver's seat. She put her keys into the ignition and with that we were on our way to the dinner party. I pulled up the address on my phone and punched it into the GPS. His house was only 15 minutes away, so he was closer than I thought, anyway I left my phone on the phone holder and looked out the window as we passed many rows of suburban trees. I loved the way the wind felt on my face. Piper pulled my arm making my attention go to her.

"Aspen don't put your face out of the window you'll mess up your hair!" She said irritated. She was right if I wanted to keep my hair looking decent it was probably not a good idea to rat up my hair. Piper nudged me and let out a giggle "So, do you like Ember?" I shook my head in disbelief at the ridiculous question as I gave her a slight smile. "Girl, I've only known him for a few days I'm only going to be polite." Even I knew that was a lie I actually started looking forward to the evening once I had slipped on the dress.

 But what I knew, I wasn't lying about was liking him. I have only known him a few days so how could I like him apart from physically of course? The answer was I couldn't and didn't. I smiled at her but answered earnestly, "No, of course, I don't like him." She raised her eyebrows clearly not believing me before she chuckled "So, I suppose you are only going there to impress his parents as that is all you were mumbling about in class earlier," she inquired. I slumped in my seat she was right, however, now instead of feeling excited for the remainder of the five minutes in the car I felt slightly uncomfortable.