The Court of Stars

Chapter 10

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CHAPTER 10

"So, which one looks best?" I held up a red dress and a black leather shirt and ripped jeans. Ara looked between the two outfits, her face twisted in consideration. She pointed to the black leather shirt but jerked her hand back immediately.

"Just get both of them." She shrugged. "I'll be making extra this weekend anyway."

I dropped the clothes into a growing pile of clothes and turned back toward her. "Why?"

People stared as she ran her fingers through her blue hair. It looked satiny, the lights of Constel Fashion making it almost glow. "I have a show at the club."

Oh. The club. "Why are you a... you-know?"

Ara's stenciled brow arced, her lips twitching. "A stripper?" I nodded, a slight heat running in my veins. My head twisted around to see if anyone heard, but they were all too busy pretending they weren't staring at Ara. "Why not? I've always loved dancing, pretty good at it too."

"Yeah, but you could've been a professional dancer. Not a... pole dancer." I grabbed a zip-through cargo skirt with a checkered belt. Ara smiled at it and grabbed a crop cami top with chain straps. It was an ugly orange color, but it looked nice with the black skirt. I dumped it into the pile of clothes.

"Nana, well she wasn't really my nana but she raised me, told me that if you love something, destroy it before it destroys you. And I've been trying. I thought maybe if I danced in such a way, it would ruin it for me. But, I fell in love with it. The people, the freedom, it was an unleashing. So, I never stopped."

She handed me another outfit, a white tube top and a pair of paperbag shorts. "You're doing what you love."

She turned toward me, her usual edge missing. "That's the problem. Love only brings pain."

"Maybe you're right." I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to be comforting. I obviously wasn't very good at it. "But it's better to enjoy it while it lasts. Pleasure is the greatest thing in the world. That and comfort, but they're like the same thing, so whatever."

She laughed, a deep laugh that threw me off and sent me into my own giggling fit. People stared as we clenched our stomachs, gasping for breaths, but Ara either didn't care or didn't notice, so I pretended not to also. She wiped a tear from her eye, smudging her thick eyeliner, and grabbed a bunch of random clothes and shoes.

"There. Now you're set."

"But, you don't even know if those are cute or matching." I tried to throw out all the newest additions, but her long fingers wrapped around my wrist.

"Well, it's a good thing you look so goddamn sexy in everything," she winked. She picked up the outstanding pile of clothing and dumped it on the counter, dropping a few on her way. I quickly plucked them off the floor and set them delicately beside the rest of them. "So, why is Lupus so pissed at you? He kept going on and on about how 'princess is a prick' and 'princess finds me attractive but won't have a serious relationship'. What was that all about?"

I worked through the clothes, avoiding answering her question. After the... situation with Lupus, I ran into Ara in the hall and begged her to go shopping with me. She gladly obliged and I dragged her to Constel's Fashion. Sometime between Lupus storming off and my dropping off my books, she had to have met with Lupus. "Well, you see, he kissed me. I rejected him because he was like 'you make me feel full' or something and obviously he was just trying to get into my pants. And he was pissed. That's all."

"He kissed you? I saw him flirting, but he's like that with everyone." She told the Star at the counter to just send the bill to Casey and the woman nodded.

I snorted. "He probably kisses everyone too."

Ara began to stuff clothes into the multicolored bags, wrinkling their delicate fabrics in the progress. "He hasn't kissed anyone since-" She stopped herself, as if realizing she was revealing a secret.

"Since Eta?" I guessed. I remember him saying he had been in love with her, but I figured he would still mess around with other girls.

Ara brows flew up in surprise. "He told you?" I nodded. "Huh. Maybe you are something special."

"What? I'm not special. Well, not any more special than you guys."

Her lips turned up in a smile, sending a chill down my spine. "Then you must be something extraordinary. Because our little group is the most special group there is."

"Mentally, yeah..." I started, but was cut off by her playful smack on my arm. "Ow!"

She ran ahead of me before I could smack her back, looking behind her like a cat teasing a dog. "Come on! Let's dine like queens!"

I laughed at her strangeness and followed her around the Sagittarius district.