Heart to Hart ✔️

16. Too good for me

Thursday night was the night for clubbing if you were young and free. Weekends were so overrated in the summer holidays. Sure that didn't stop us from partying our weekends away. You just had less chance of running into your recently single uncle -or your neighbour's brother's ex-girlfriend who was mutton dressed as lamb- if you went out on an evening that was followed by a working day.

Okay, so Sian was technically part of the working crowd and I was meant to be too when I finally got my life together. For one night only, we could pretend we had zero responsibilities and tomorrow didn't matter.

Sian arrived at my house after lunchtime and we spent the afternoon preening ourselves. Sian even bought some gel nail kit online, so we didn't need to leave the house.

At six pm, needing at least a good few hours to get ready, the three of us rushed up the stairs after we devoured the light dinner my mum made us.

Sian had emptied her bag full of clothes on to my floor, adding to the pile we had already dragged out from my cupboard and chest of drawers.

Rosie popped her head round my bedroom door after a couple of knocks. "Holy strawberries, Batman! What a mess!" She inched further into the room, her mouth agape. "How can you find anything in here?" Rosie thrust a bottle of Prosecco out from behind her back while nudging some of our clothes with her foot as she came closer. "Daniel just dropped this off. Want a glass?"

"Oh Rosie, you little beauty." Sian grabbed the bottle from her hands to open it.

"Mum will kill you. You're underaged. Don't let her catch you and don't get drunk before we even get there or they definitely won't let you in," I chided while glaring at Sian for encouraging her.

"Chill out. It's not like I've never had a drink and I'll be eighteen soon." Rosie crouched down to the pile of clothes, picking up a few pieces to scrutinise.

"Yeah chill out, Nat. She will just have a glass. Two at most. We can make her look older to get in. Trust me. It's not like you never did it." Sian bumped me with her hip to lighten the mood. "Rosie, get ready in here. Pre-party before the main event," she enthusiastically offered.

"Great, I'll grab my make-up and clothes. Oh, and some plastic cups I have in my drawer." She screwed her nose up as Sian took a swig directly from the bottle, then ran to her room.

With our clear, plastic cups filled with sparkling wine, we toasted to letting our hair down and partying like there was no tomorrow.

I stood in the middle of 'Fabric Mountain', in my black lace bra and an old pair of leggings, aimlessly picking up dresses and tops before discarding them to the side. "What on earth am I going to wear? I have no clothes."

"Er, that huge pile on the floor doesn't look like no clothes." Rosie applied mascara to her eyelashes, looking into my full-length, free-standing mirror. Her wavy blonde hair and barely-there make-up made her seem so innocent. The plunge neckline on her blush playsuit screamed otherwise. I wondered what Daniel would say when he saw her going out like that without him.

Sian scrambled around on the floor and pulled out a pair of wet-look black jeans and a black lace bodysuit. "Put these on. As the only single one, we'll be your wing women. Your new vixen title deserves an outfit to make mouths drop. Ditch the bra with the bodysuit," Sian bossed as she held the flimsy scrap of fabric against my skin.

"I'm not going out in that. It's see-through. Everyone will see my nipples," I whined, examining the lace detail on the top. "Plus, I can hardly call myself a vixen after just laying there while I let Max get on with it."

Ignoring my protests, Sian resumed getting herself dressed into a Champagne fitted top and a pair of black paper bag shorts, her hair in its usual tight blonde curls.