Life as We Know It: A Treasure Key Novel

by Sarah Bates

  “Oh.” I nodded, understanding her meaning completely, and glanced over to where Poppy was deciding between two dresses. “She’s cute,” I said, because even though I didn’t look at other girls that way, I could admit that she was. And actually, now that I knew this bit of information about Demi, I could actually see the two of them together.

  Demi chuckled and pushed away from the table. “She certainly is. Good luck out there,” she gestured out the door and into the boutique. “Margo is bound to drive Delaney nuts with her suggestions on angles and lighting and everything else, and that’ll inevitably end in one or both of them having a minor to major meltdown before this thing is done.”

  I grimaced and shifted to stand up. “Thanks for the warning.”

  She patted me on the shoulder. “What are friends for?” she said, then she crossed over to where Poppy was now studying herself in a mirror with one of the dresses held in front of her.

  I watched her go, then took a deep, fortifying breath, and crossed over to decide on my first outfit.

  “Oops,” Margo said, hurrying over to me when I pulled a pretty pink sundress off one of the racks. “Nope, that one isn’t for you,” she continued, taking the sundress out of my hands. “I’ve already earmarked your outfits. Everyone will all get three, casual, evening, and swimsuit.” She smiled brilliantly when I simply stared at her. “These are for you,” she added, handing a pair of pale linen shorts and a printed blouse out to me. “The white cork wedge sandals that go with these are over on the shoe rack with your name on them, and these are your jewelry selections.” She held up her free hand, handing me a pretty necklace with a collection of enameled sea-scape charms. There was a matching bracelet and pair of earrings, too.

  I stared at the things she held out to me, then shifted and glanced around us, watching as the others all made their own choices. When I looked back to her, she pushed her choices for me closer to me. “Um, I really like the sundress,” I said, shifting to reach for it again.

  “That may be, but I already chose these for you,” she said, pushing her choices toward me again.

  I sighed and folded my arms at my chest. “Margo,”

  “It’s your first time doing this, Coco. You don’t know what you’re doing, and need help,” she informed me. When I narrowed my eyes, she rolled hers. “Come on, just wear these. It’ll look great,”

  “On her mother,” Aunt Connie said before she could finish. When Margo turned to look at her mom, Aunt Connie folded her arms at her chest. “I realize that you’re excited about today, because Lord knows, we all know fashion is your life, but you need to chill out, Margo. You’re not in charge of this photo shoot, and if I hear you trying to bully Coco, Maddie, or any of the other girls into doing what you want again, I’m going to pull the plug on your involvement.”

  “Mom,”

  “Margo.” Aunt Connie gave her a stern look. “You’re bossing people around that you have no right to boss around. This is your aunt’s photo shoot, for her business, not a free-for-all for you to play fashion stylist. Everyone gets to choose their own outfits. That is the deal your aunt made with everyone.”

  “But Coco has never done this before, and,”

  “And she’s seventeen years old and perfectly capable of choosing her own clothes,” Aunt Connie said before she could finish. “She’ll look lovely in the sundress,” she added, reaching out to take it off the rack and handing it to me.

  “I was going to wear that,” Margo said, dropping her arms to her sides.

  “Then I’ll pick something else,” I said. “Not that,” I quickly added when she held her choices for me out to me again. “I want to wear a dress.”

  “Coco,”

  “Margo,” Aunt Connie said in warning, and she shook her head when Margo whined and turned and flounced away from us. “I’m sorry about that, Chloe. Margo just gets really passionate when it comes to fashion. She used to always try to dress Kat and Maddie’s Barbie dolls for them, too.” She grimaced at that, after looking back to me. “She did your makeup, didn’t she?”

  “She did,” I said, and as I blinked one of the corners of the fake lashes she’d insisted I wear got caught in my lower lashes, and pulled free.

  Aunt Connie sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry.” She shifted and hung the pink dress up again.

  “It’s okay. I know she means well,” I said, then I sighed and reached up to take the line of lashes off. “And she did a good job. You know, lashes notwithstanding.”

  “Are you comfortable with it? I know you don’t wear a lot.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t, but it’s fine.” I did my best to smile in reassurance, then glanced at the rack.

  “If you want to wear the pink one, it’s fine,” she said. “By my last count, she’d earmarked six different things for her to wear.”

  “I thought we were each only doing three things?”

  She smiled ruefully and patted my shoulder. “Such is Margo, always wanting a little bit more than everyone else,” she said.

  “Ah.” I nodded in understanding, then, as she went to check on Maddie, I gave the rack a good look over. While I knew that Margo had been just trying to help, in her bossy Margo way, I couldn’t help but feel like a live, interactive Barbie doll, with the hair and makeup, and the fact she’d even tried to dress and accessorize me.

  Shaking my head at the thought, I poked through the rack, then grinned brightly when I found a different dress.

  With my grin spreading wider, I reached out to take it from the rack, and as luck would have it, it was in my size. Taking it as a sign, I carried it over to the rack of shoes and found the pair I had in mind to go with it, and thought it fate again that they were likewise in my size. Fate, or a little secret nudge from Aunt Nora.

  Taking my dress and shoes with me, I went behind one of the privacy screens to change, then carried my cotton shorts and t-shirt back to the table, where I’d left my tote.

  Margo was there, pouting as she poked at her makeup kit.

  Sighing, wanting her to have a fun time – because at the end of the day it was supposed to be fun (or so I’d been told) – I dropped my shorts and shirt on my bag and held the lashes out to her. “Can you help me put these back on?” I asked.

  She lifted her gaze to me, clearly still unhappy with me for siding with her mother by not wearing what she’d told me to. Then she saw the dress I’d chosen, and her eyes widened in surprise, just before she grinned and laughed.

  “Yes,” she said, and she bounced up and took the lashes from me and gestured for me to sit down. “I should have thought of that,” she added, reaching for the glue. “It’s perfect.”

  “I thought so,” I said. “You know, occasionally, I can actually pick out decent things to wear.”

  She grimaced as I added this last part, then grudgingly nodded. “Point taken,” she said, and she quickly reattached the lashes to my lash line. “About your jewelry,”

  “I’m picking my own jewelry out, too,” I said before she could finish. “Since we get to keep the things we wear for the shoot, I want to wear things I like and will wear again,” I added.

  “Fine.” She shifted back a step and studied me. “You know, I think you need more bronzer,”

  “Margo,”

  “I’m just saying,”

  “I’m pale. I know. It happens,” I said, and I smirked when she rolled her eyes. “I love you cousin. But don’t you think you should maybe start to think about getting yourself ready for this thing?”

  She sighed but nodded, and when I stood up, she sat again and shifted to study herself in the mirror.

  I left her there to get ready, and on the way out to the front of the boutique, I stopped by the display of jewelry and selected a bracelet and a pair of hoop earrings to go with it, and put them on as I stepped through the door.

  Hoping this didn’t take too long, since Hayden had texted earlier and mentioned that he’d made special plans for us, I wound my way through the boutiqu
e to the section that had been set up for the shoot to see how things were progressing.

  Thankfully, they were moving along, with Delaney taking a series of group shots of Maddie, Paris, and their friend Brianna – who I had just learned this morning was Wes’ younger sister.

  Glad to see that at least this part seemed to be going smoothly – Margo hadn’t been out here to nag at Delaney yet, apparently – I made my way over to stand with my mom and Aunt Nora.

  “Hey, wow, you look…” My mom blinked in surprise as she looked me over.

  “I know, Margo got a little heavy-handed with the makeup,” I said when she didn’t continue.

  “Um…maybe a little,” she agreed. “It’s pretty, don’t get me wrong,” she added quickly when I grimaced. “But I’m just not used to seeing you with quite so much on.”

  “I know, but Margo’s a little scary when she’s in beautification mode. I thought it safer to simply comply,” I said. Which was true. It had been the easiest option, at first.

  Delaney, hearing this last comment, snorted softly and lifted his camera to take a couple more shots of the girls. “Probably a wise choice, all things considered.” He straightened from his crouch and checked the pictures he’d just taken on the small screen on his camera. “If you’re ready, I’ll take you next.” He glanced at me and smiled. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’d like to get the easy girls done first, to help keep things on schedule.”

  “No offence taken,” I assured him, though now my palms were beginning to sweat. “I’d just as soon get my part in all of this wrapped up as soon as possible. Hayden has plans for us for later.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll get you out on time,” my mom said. When I glanced at her, she smiled. “I’ve already assured him you’ll be ready to go when he gets here to pick you up.”

  “Wait, so you know what his plans are?” When she nodded, I frowned. “He told me it’s a surprise. Where are we going?”

  “If I told you then it wouldn’t be a surprise,” she pointed out, then she nodded toward Delaney. “Remember to smile.”

  I gave her a forced smile, but went over to wear Maddie and her friends had been standing. “Um, how do I do this?” I asked Delaney, shifting awkwardly in the center, standing on the giant blue X taped to the floor.

  “Think of it kind of like when you get your school pictures taken,” he replied, adjusting some of his equipment. When I shifted again, stiffly, he looked up from the view finder, and hummed, looking over to Aunt Nora. “Would it be all right to do some more group shots?” he asked her.

  “Group shots work for me,” she said. “In fact, they’d save me on print space, so I could cut down on the size and cost of the flyer.”

  “That’s true,” he said, looking back to me. “And it’d be less work with the editing, too.”

  “Okay,” I said, though I wasn’t sure I was actually a participating member of the conversation.

  He smirked – clearly I wasn’t – and leaned back to peer into the backroom. “Let’s see…Demi, Jenny, and…Kat,” he decided, calling out their names. “Y’all ready?”

  “Yeah, we’re ready.” Demi came out in a new pair of distressed, dark wash skinny jeans, a black tank top paired with them, and black leather sandals on her feet. She’d added a set of golden bangles to her left wrist, leaving her right one bare to show off her lightning bolt tattoo, and had done her makeup, going with that sleek cat-eye look she seemed to favor, her full lips painted a deep ruby red. “Not all of us take forever to put on some makeup and clothes.”

  “Excellent. Then you ladies can join Coco. Nice,” he added as Jenny came out in a more sporty, casual look, while Kat came out in her signature sundress, which she had paired with copper-toned jewelry for the occasion. “I like the different looks. It’ll make their shots more interesting and eye catching,” he said to Aunt Nora.

  “Agreed,” she said, even as Margo hurried out of the backroom, her mouth opened to protest. “Except they don’t go at all,” she said, shaking her head.

  Ignoring her, Delaney had the others join me around the giant X on the floor. “Now remember to relax, smile, and think of something fun,” he said, lifting his camera. “And…something fun,” he said again when, after the first few clicks of the shudder he clearly hadn’t gotten anything good.

  Knowing it was because of me – the others had all done this before, after all – I took a deep breath, let it out, and then ran through my thoughts for something fun to think about.

  “Think about Hayden,” Kat whispered in my ear. “That always makes you smile.”

  And it did. Just the mention of his name had the ability to relax me, and I smiled as I remembered the night before – part of it spent hanging out by the pool, the rest curled up on his bed, having our quiet moments between some really great kisses.

  “And there she goes,” Delaney called out cheerfully, and then he started snapping his pictures in quick succession.

  I blushed softly, but managed not to tense up again, even when he had us change our positions and called out other suggestions as he walked in a semi-circle around us, taking picture after picture.

  And it turned out, it was more fun than I had thought it would be.

  ☼

  Keeping her promise, my mom made sure that my part in the photo shoot had just wrapped up when Hayden arrived at the boutique.

  We had just finished the beachwear portion, so I was still in the pink string bikini with the cute little white daisy print when he came through the door. Leo, to my surprise, was with him.

  Kat, beside me, smiled brightly at this.

  I just blushed, feeling self-conscious, which was ridiculous because I’ve been around all of the guys in a bikini before. Still, it felt different. I was just glad that I had taken some of the heavy makeup off by then, and had brushed my hair out, too, so I at least felt a little more like me when Hayden came to a stop beside me.

  “Cute,” he said, grinning as he looked me over.

  My cheeks warmed as my blush brightened. “Thanks. I’ll just go change quickly, and then we can head out to…wherever it is you’re taking me.” I waited a second to see if he’d give me a clue, and sighed when he didn’t. “No clues? Not even one?” I asked.

  “Nope.” He leaned forward and kissed me quickly.

  I hummed and returned his kiss, then pulled back and poked him in the belly. “Fine. Torture me with curiosity,” I said. I grinned as I took a couple of steps back. “I bet I could coerce it out of you, given time. I have skills now,” I added.

  “Oh, I know, and I like your skills. A lot. But as it is, we’re already a few minutes behind schedule.” He waved me toward the back in a shooing gesture. “Make it quick.”

  I smiled over his clear excitement and hurried to the backroom to change, ignoring the cheeky grin my mom gave me on the way.

  Margo was currently taking her turn in front of the camera – no group photos for her – and was, in fact, driving Delaney nuts with the way she kept directing him on his angles. Shaking my head over it, I grabbed my tote and went behind one of the screens to change into the sundress that I had first modeled, then back on the other side of the screen I tossed the bikini into my bag, along with everything else Aunt Nora was letting me keep, and sat to pull on the pretty pink sandals that matched the bright pink hibiscus flower print on my black sundress. After adding the jewelry I’d worn with the dress for the photo shoot as well, I pulled my hair back into a quick ponytail at the crown of my head, then grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

  “See you guys!” I called out to the room, and waved to the room in general on my way.

  Most everyone either called out their own farewell or waved in return.

  Out in the boutique again, Margo and Delaney were scowling at each other, their arms folded at their chests, clearly having a stand-off, while Esme stood between them, trying to play peacekeeper.

  I turned from them to Kat, who stood off to the side with Leo and Hayden, w
atching the scene unfold. “Good luck with that,” I said, meaning it sincerely. Out of our whole group, Margo and Delaney got along the least (and this was saying something, considering the fact Margo and Demi didn’t get along at all). This was probably due to the fact she knew how to push all of his buttons in the wrong way, and at the very worst times, too.

  “Oh, no. I washed my hands of dealing with that last time around. And in any case, we’re escaping, too,” Kat said, hooking an arm around one of Leo’s. She smiled brightly. “We’re going on our first official date.”

  I grinned at that, even as Leo smiled as well. “Yeah? Have fun.” I gave her a half-hug. “Details when I get back,” I added under my breath.

  She blushed and gave me a thumbs up when I pulled back.

  Happy for her that things seemed to be working out for them, despite the fact Jamie continued to voice his displeasure over this new development between them, I slipped my arm around Hayden’s waist – and only then noticed that he carried a small duffle bag. I could have sworn he hadn’t been when he’d come in, but he seemed to ignore my questioning look and simply slipped his arm around me and led me to the front door.

  My mom was there waiting for us, and smiled when she saw us together. “You have everything you need?” she asked. I opened my mouth to tell her yes, only to realize that she’d actually posed this question to Hayden.

  “I do, yes,” he replied, nodding.

  “You have enough gas in your truck?” she asked.

  “I filled the tank just before I came here,” he told her.

  She hesitated, then nodded. “All right. I don’t mean to seem like I’m hovering, it’s just a big deal for me. I’m trusting you with my baby.”

  He smiled easily, even though I came close to grimacing. Having your mom refer to you as a baby to your boyfriend was a little on the embarrassing side. “I understand. I promise I’ll do everything I can to keep her safe. We’ll let you know when we get there.”

  “When we get where?” I asked, and I smiled innocently when they both gave me a bland look. “It was worth a shot.”