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picture hanging on the wall of his boyfriend
Will.
    “ Er, sure.”
    When it came time for makeup, I talked
him into another natural, soft and romantic type look. No heavy
crap caked on. I skipped lipstick and went for pink
gloss.
    When Raphael finished, I stood in front
of the mirror, shocked.
    This was the best I’d ever looked. I
wasn’t hiding behind shadows and liners and fake lashes. Didn’t
look like I was thirty years old. For once I felt like myself. Or
at least, the person I should be.
    That is, until Raphael helped me into
the dress Rachel had been adamant I buy.
    It was strapless, backless, peacock
blue. The top held up by double-sided body tape. The hem of the
skintight dress grazed the tops of my thighs. If I bent over, even
a little, my butt would be on display.
    I wasn’t even sure how I’d get in a
car. If I pulled the dress down to cover the bottom, my boobs
spilled out of the top. And since I couldn’t wear a bra because it
was backless, I risked flashing people.
    I glanced at Raphael who stood behind
me, eyes wide in the full-length mirror.
    “ Oh, honey.” He tapped his
nails on the counter. “You look…nice.”
    “ I look like a slut.” I
wanted to cry. What a time to start examining your life.
    He patted my shoulder. “What’s up with
you? All of a sudden, you’re bucking the system.”
    “ I got drunk and had an
epiphany.”
    “ Shit, this is serious.” He
gasped. “Last time that happened to me, I woke up gay.”
    Wow. “So what should I do? I don’t feel
good dressed like this. Come to think of it, I never liked this
dress.”
    He smoothed the front of this black
vest. “Your father will remove my liver with a fork if I let you
leave looking like that.”
    Resigned, and happily I might add, I
peeled off the dress and donned a fluffy robe. Raphael took the
monstrosity out of the room, and was gone for about fifteen
minutes. I sat at his booth, eating candy almonds and spinning
around in the styling chair until I got dizzy, wondering how I
would go to the dance now. I would never hear the end of it from my
mother if I didn’t. At times like this, I wondered if I could just
move in with my grandmother.
    “ Here we go,” Raphael
slipped back into the room and presented a wispy pink dress and
black flats. “I think this will be more your speed.”
    “ Where did you get
them?”
    “ My friend Shelly has a
vintage boutique three blocks away. I put in an emergency
call.”
    The dress fit and it didn’t come across
slutty. Best of all, it matched my natural look. Light, silky
material floated at my knees, helping to hide the scrapes, a thick
black ribbon tide at my waist, and the black flats replaced killer
silver heels.
    Instead of feeling cheap, I felt
beautiful and classy, like I was being myself for the first
time.
    Raphael dabbed his eyes with a tissue
as I was leaving. “I should go into the fairy godmother
business.”
    The driver my mother hired dropped me
off at the school gym. Everyone was already inside. Music the DJ
played pulsed the floor. I stood on the far side of the room
watching my classmates kick off their shoes and lose themselves to
the rhythm. I spotted Rachel and Nathan off to one side grinding
into each other. She was wearing a similar version of the dress I’d
originally bought. The bottom of it had ridden up to reveal black
lace panties. But no one seemed to notice or care. Not even the
teachers, who were busy ignoring all the students groping each
other on the dance floor.
    I slipped my way through the crowd and
into the girl’s locker room. My purse was in my locker. I grabbed
my cell phone and wallet out of it, putting them in the little
black bag that went with my dress. To kill time, so I didn’t have
to go back out into the gym, I pretended to use the restroom. Then
I checked for messages on my phone. I had too many to count. They
were all from Rachel and Alex. Half of them were apologies, and the
other half called me oversensitive. I needed to