The (not so) Good Girls Bad Boys: The Good, The Bad and The Abandoned

23- Just another Mask

Charlie's Place was as exciting as ever tonight. People laughed and danced drunkenly as they all held bottles of beer or different fancy mixed drinks. Recorded music played as loud as possible while the live band set up their instruments on the stage, and I stared up at the microphone with a look of terror on my face.

Never thought I'd be doing this again...

"Lexi!"

I looked through the crowd where the voice was coming from and my eyes landed on Charlie. He had a smug grin on his face as he approached me; he wasn't going to give me an easy time about coming back.

He walked up to me grinning like the Cheshire Cat, saying, "I knew you'd come back, kid. It was only a matter of time." He took in my appearance and frowned. "That's the outfit you decided on?"

I looked down at what I was wearing a glared up it Charlie. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

He ignored my question and took me by the arm, leading me through the crowd and towards his office. "It's alright, I was prepared for this." He let go of my arm when we stood in front of the office door and quickly walked into his office before coming out with a black, sparkly dress and held it up to my front. "There. Much better."

I looked down at the dress with my jaw dropped, and not in a good way. The dress was fitted and cut short - like, REALLY short - and the V neck went down so low I thought my belly button would peek out. The back of the dress revealed all the way down to the small of my back, with thin straps zigzagging across the back to add some style.

I looked at Charlie with my eyes nearly popping out of their sockets and forced a laugh. "You're kidding right?"

Even though he didn't show it, I could see the amused grin in his eyes. I guess this was payback for disrespecting him the last time I was here.

"I'm dead serious. Go get dressed, you're on in five."

He began to walk out of the office and into the crowd before I stopped him. He turned back at me with a raised brow and I glared back at him. "There is no way I am wearing this dress," I growled.

Charlie raised an eyebrow and said, "I really don't think you have a choice. Either wear the dress or no job."

I held my hard stare for a few moments longer before the spark began to leave me. Charlie must have noticed because he grinned in success. "You're on in four," he said as he wiggled four fingers in the air.

He turned around to leave me but I stopped him again as I realized something. "Wait! You haven't told me what songs I'm singing!"

I looked back at me over his shoulder as he continued to walk away and shrugged. "I have faith you'll recognize them." Then he disappeared into the crowd.

I exhaled sharply at his vague orders before looking down at the dress in dismay. I glanced down at my wrist watch and checked how much time I had before rushing to the bathroom to get changed. I rushed into a bathroom stall and squeezed into the tiny dress that Charlie had provided for me. When I looked into the mirror I gulped.

The dress was flattering-it hugged all my curves and showed some skin-but it showed too much in my opinion. The dress only went down to my knuckles when I clenched my hand into a fist and the heels I wore made it appear even shorter in comparison to my long legs. I turned in the mirror and looked at the back of the dress, which had a zigzagging pattern that narrowed into a triangular shape down to the small of my back. I may have exaggerated on how large the v-neck was, but it still made my angel wings tattoo blatantly obvious. However, I did have a tube of concealer in my purse, and dabbed it hurriedly unto the tattoo as I rushed to get ready. The patch of skin was thick and showed the dark outline of the tattoo through the makeup, but it would have to do for now.