Purity | ✓

Chapter 8

P U R I T Y

"Please come out with us, Ives." Caroline begged, her hand leaving her boyfriends hand as she plopped onto my bed on her belly. I dropped my book on the bed and took off my glasses, giving her a look. "Don't look at me like that! You've been cooped inside your room all of Saturday and it's the freaking long weekend. Please come!" She drawled out her last two words, giving me her all too familiar puppy eyes.

I groaned and leaned back on my bed. "Going out to clubs and getting drunk won't help me go to Paris, Care. Staying inside and studying will though."

"Let me rephrase that for you. Giving yourself a night off, relaxing and having fun will help you refresh your mind. You'll get a clean slate and then I'll leave you to write your essay for all of tomorrow and I won't bring up coming out for the rest of the week. Promise. Plus, Tag says he'll be the DD so we can have fun tonight. Right, babe?"

"Right." Tag nodded, leaning against my door. "Please come, Ivy, or Caroline will literally never stop bugging me about it."

Caroline gasped and stood up, jumping on Tag and giggling when he tickled her. I bit my lip and looked away, staring at my ceiling and embracing my loneliness. Maybe dying alone was just meant to be.

Suddenly, going out didn't sound so bad after all. "Fine. I'll go. But don't expect me to drink a whole bunch, okay? I'm just going for the atmosphere."

Care squealed and dropped herself from her boyfriends arms and literally jumped on top of me. She hugged me graciously and I felt her grin in my neck before she parted away from me and gave me my space back. "Yay! Go get dressed, okay? Meet in the living room in fifteen minutes max. Come, Tag, you can help me pick out my outfit. Love you Ives!"

The pair left my room seconds later as I left out a sigh and rubbed my eyes tiredly. "Guess I'm really doing this." I mumbled to myself, using all my will to pick myself up as I pulled my closet door open and scanned for an outfit to wear. It didn't take me long to decide on a tight black minidress which came to mid thigh and had a giant dip in the back. The front was conservative but the back and length did nothing for modesty.

Stripping out of my casual clothes, I slid on the skintight dress with a bit of a struggle then lazily found the first pair of heels I could find. I washed my face ten minutes earlier, with the intent of going to sleep after studying, so I applied my makeup without worry and clipped on my jewellery. My hoops were the last thing on the list as I slung my black purse over my shoulder and made my way out of the room where I heard Tag and Caroline outside.

"Whew!" Caroline exclaimed when she saw me, looking at me up and down. "You look freakin' hot. Shame Kade won't be able to see you! I'm surprised he hasn't made a move yet."

Right. Kade. I hadn't told her about Friday purely because I was embarrassed and honestly didn't want to assume anything. Although he hadn't actually texted me back yet, I was hoping it was just a miscommunication and that he'd appear at my door at any given minute.

Spoiler alert. He didn't. The whole of Saturday rolled by without a word from him and I was already feeling discouraged.

"Ivy-Reese? You okay?" Caroline's voice snapped me out of my trance as I blinked twice before nodding. Plastering a smile on my lips, I eyed her outfit myself before giving her a big smile.