by Lila Younger
“Why would we go a day early?”
“So we can party,” she says excitedly. “We can get a room at the Four Seasons and go clubbing all night like I used to. No need to worry about my dad at all.”
Renee is the same age as me, but it doesn’t surprise me that she’s done this sort of thing before. I bet her parents were relieved when she ended up in this sleepy college town. We’ve got two bars, and they both close at 2 a.m. There’s definitely less ways to get in trouble here.
“Won’t it show up on your credit card?”
“Nope,” she says with a sunny smile. “Trust fund comes with my own account. My parents can’t snoop into it.”
I cast her a doubtful look.
“Come on,” she says, leaping off the bed and landing at my feet. “I’m begging you Em, just once, let’s go and have some fun without having to worry about things. I promise you it won’t turn out awful.”
I’m still dithering and she can tell.
“I won’t try to hook you up with anyone,” she continues, “and I’ll make up the lost time to you okay? In fact, I’ll even help you with this paper of yours.”
The thought of Renee actually sitting down and reading through this stuff is so funny that I have to crack a smile, and she does too. We both know that isn’t happening, but I can feel myself giving in.
“Okay, okay. We can go,” I tell her. “But if I do, and I hate it, you have to promise me never to try and make me ‘let the universe take charge’ again.”
“You got it Em!” she replies, jumping up and clapping her hands. “I promise you this is going to be fun, fun, fun! I know just the person to call too. I promise you, you’re never going to forget the night.”
And, as luck would have it, Renee is going to be right about that.
********
We both have morning and early afternoon classes, so it’s not until two that we hit the road. The drive to Manhattan is long, although we did get to sing about a million Taylor Swift songs together. The coolest thing though, was driving over the bridge and seeing that famous skyline. All those gleaming skyscrapers and buzzing activity on the streets got me all excited too. I can’t believe I’m really here.
“This is so cool,” I say, turning from the window to Renee. “Thanks for inviting me.”
“Oh you haven’t seen anything yet,” she replies. “To really experience New York, you can get get out and walk the streets itself.”
In no time at all we arrive at the Four Seasons. A smartly dressed valet comes to take the keys to park Renee’s Audi and a bellhop takes our bags. I feel a little self-conscious about my scuffed luggage beside Renee’s LV branded luggage, but he treats mine just as carefully. We walk through the doors to a room with soaring ceilings and white stone that take my breath away. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such an elegant place. Ever. I know I shouldn’t just stop and stare like this, but I can’t help it.
Renee just walks through the place as if she’s seen it all before. Maybe she has. She’s been to twenty different countries already, and no doubt stayed in hotels as fine as this. I feel awkward about hanging around while she checks us in, so I take the time to call my mom and let her know that we’ve arrived safely.
“Come on,” Renee says when I hang up. “Let’s get ready.”
I head up with her to our rooms. The bellhop’s already gotten our bags there, and I walk through the huge rooms in awe. Renee’s gotten us a two room suite, with gorgeous views of the city and Central Park. The first thing I do is kick off my flats and flop starfish style onto the king size bed. The soft linens feel amazing, and I can’t help but giggle. I’m going to be living like a queen, at least for a night! There’s even a huge wooden desk that I could do my work on, although I won’t have the time.
I slowly push myself off the bed and wander towards the bathroom. It’s covered in marble, and the soaker tub looks enticing. I bet I’d even enjoy reading Kant in there. With a nice glass of wine… Too bad Renee won’t let that happen. Although chances are, Renee’s place is going to be just as nice if not nicer.
“Hey,” she says, popping her head through the door. “Wanna order some room service? We’ll need to eat something so we have enough energy to last all night!”
I follow her to the living room and look over the menu. Everything sounds delicious, but I decide to stick with something I know, a penne pasta, while goes for a strip steak. I try not to look at the prices. I know Renee doesn’t care either, but a tiny bit of me is in sticker shock at the idea of a $30 plate. I can hear my mom’s voice saying ‘You can feed twelve if you made that at home!’ a mantra that she says every time we do end up eating out. It’s not that our family is poor, but she grew up in a family of seven and my grandparents grew up in the Depression too, which had a long lasting effect on them. My granddad has a whole garage full of stuff he’s kept just in case he’d need it because back in those days, people saved everything.
Once dinner’s all finished, we decide to get ready. We take a shower, curl our hair, put on our makeup, and of course, we put on our sexiest dresses. Here’s where Renee and I differ again. I put on a black, off the shoulder dress with an A-line hem. It’s light, it’s breezy, and it shows some skin. Good enough, right?
I walk into Renee’s bedroom, and she’s already shaking her head.
“What’s wrong with this?” I ask her. “I wore the same thing last weekend and you said it was hot!”
“It’s good enough for college,” she explains. “But here, there needs to be more ‘oomph’.”
She holds out slippery metallic dress to me.
“I brought this along just in case,” she says. “You’ll look fabulous in it.”
I take the dress from her doubtfully. Renee’s tall and willowy, with the kind of body that no amount of ice cream could make fat. She was a model at one point of course. So I had no clue how it was going to fit over my body. I’m curvier, softer, with just a little bit extra in my breasts and hips. Next to her I get a little insecure sometimes, but I wouldn’t say my body is horrible at all. Just more average. But I know for a fact that our body shapes are different enough that we’ve never shared clothes before.
“Just try it,” she says. “I’ll turn around.”
I pull off my dress and examine the dress, then take off my bra too. The dress has drape, surprisingly, and I think on Renee it would be airy and light, but it clings to my curves. It’s held up by a delicate chain that crisscrosses in the back, and the fabric dips between my cleavage. The metallic fabric is cold, and I shiver a little, my nipples tightening into points, but it also almost feels like water with the way it shimmers and shines in the light. It caresses my curves, the fabric giving me a soft glow that makes me look almost like a goddess. I look sexy, maybe even too sexy? I’m going to get attention, something that I’m not used to.
I look up and Renee’s beaming at me.
“That. Looks. Amazing. That dress is yours,” she declares. “It fits you perfectly! I love it.”
I look at her dress. It’s a beautiful lacy corset looking dress, black and nude, so it almost looks like she’s wearing nothing underneath the lace. We look so different, but I have no doubt we’re going to turn some heads in our clothes.
“I don’t know, Renee,” I begin to say.
She walks over to me and puts her hands on my shoulders.
“Come on. You look good. We’re going to do things my way tonight remember?” she pivots me towards the mirror. “This is the new you for tonight Emilia. Take a good look at her. She’s fabulous and gorgeous and fearless and she’s going to let all of New York know it.”
Get Loving My Best Friend’s Dad now!
Other books by Lila Younger
What Her Dad Doesn’t Know
Boss of Me
Her Virgin Secret
Filthy Professor
Yes Sir
Bossing the Virgin
His Virgin Babysitter
Taking his Virgin
&nb
sp; Buying his Virgin
His Virgin Ward
Loving My Best Friend’s Dad
About Lila Younger
Lila has spent her whole life in the PNW, where rainy days kept her inside with a book. A lover of the written word, she can’t believe that it’s taken her over twenty years to get around to writing a book. She’s always believed in love at first sight and happily ever afters. When she isn’t working on her stories, Lila likes to bake and hike in the mountains that make up her backyard.