What You're Not | ✔

34. Paper Cuts

Excitement bubbled inside me as I looked through the rack of my designs. There was still a lot to be done though. The fashion show was less than a month away and so far we only had three completed outfits to be bid on.

That's why, after turning down their offers multiple times, I finally accepted the help of The Twins, Riley, Chelsea and—reluctantly—Vivian. The six of us were hunkered down at the Twin's house since their moms had a craft room with more than enough supplies to help us get the rest of the outfits ready.

"Sewing by hand is barbaric," Chelsea complained as sucked on her thumb. I assumed she poked herself again.

The one thing lacking at The Twin's craft studio were sewing machines. There was only one and it was too complicated (and too expensive) for any of us to even attempt to use.

"I'd take over for you," Vivian offered from her spot on the floor. A stack of freshly printed fashion show programs sat next to her and on her other side was a stack of neatly folded programs. "But Loren doesn't trust me with anything but folding paper."

"She sure doesn't," I said, flashing her a sarcastic smile.

"To be fair," Jem told her, "you did try get information about Loren out of her ex. I wouldn't trust you either."

Vivian exhaled, folding another program and stacking it with the others. "It's not like I even got anything useful out of him."

"Not the point," I said.

"I was joking," she said. "Seriously, how many more paper cuts do I have to get to prove to you that I'm not a bad person?"

"We'll see," I replied. Grabbing an unfinished white, denim jacket from the rack, I take a seat and began working on it.

Vivian got up from the floor and stood in front of me. "What if I get you another interview, or whatever, with my mom?"

I paused, tempted by her offer. Then I remembered my last encounter with Victoria. "That bridge has been burned."

"Not if you show her what you've done," she motions to the rack of clothes. "We can go to my house today and you can talk to her."

As tempting as that sounded I still couldn't get over the fact that I didn't trust her. "I'll pass."

"God, Loren, I'm not trying to lure you to your death," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't be so paranoid."

I was beginning to understand why Miles jumped when he asked her to. She clearly didn't take no for an answer. If I was serious about giving her a second chance, I had to give her fair chance to prove herself.

"Okay, I'll go."

+ + +

Vivian's house seemed bigger without a few dozen people mingling inside. Our footsteps echoed through the foyer as we made our way up the stairs. There were large photos lined diagonally along the wall of the staircase. They were family photos of Vivian, Victoria and who I assumed was Vivian's father. I couldn't see his face because they were all covered with magazine cutouts of various male celebrities.

"My mom can be a bit dramatic," Vivian said, noticing my staring.

"So that's where you get it from," I snorted.

"Funny," she said, looking over her shoulder at me. "Miles always liked funny girls."

I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. It didn't even matter because the idea if discussing my relationship with her made my stomach churn. "Let's not bring him up."