Cleo’s smile grew. “Nope. Not yet.” She turned and disappeared into the bathroom, rummaging around in the cupboard until she found what she was looking for.
She turned and click-clacked her curling iron and wiggled a bag of makeup in the air. “Now I get to have some fun.”
Thirty minutes later, when Justin knocked on the door, Cleo was just putting the finishing touches on my makeup.
“Come in!” she called as she swiped a shimmery nude gloss over my lips.
The door to the dorm opened, and as I thought, Justin was dressed in a pair of blue pants, a white long sleeved polo and an orange ascot. He made a good-looking Fred as he observed what his girlfriend was doing.
“Y’all aren’t ready yet?” he asked as he peered around Cleo’s shoulder before letting out a whistle. “Damn, Eden, you should dress like this more.”
“Right?” Cleo leaned back with a grin to observe her work. “She’s such a hottie.”
Justin leaned over and gave Cleo an affectionate peck on the lips. While the two were greeting each other, I turned to glance in the full-length mirror, a tiny gasp escaping from my lips.
Cleo had done a great job. My makeup was light, she’d used shimmery eyeshadow in a champagne color to make my blue eyes stand out. A similarly shimmery highlight along my cheek bones made me look straight-up ethereal. She had tamed my blonde curls with her curling iron. The halo was firmly in place, the headband was a white satin color with two gold springs in the middle that held up the gold satin ringlet and made it look like it was floating over my hair.
“Do you like it?” Cleo asked, stepping behind me and nibbling on her lower lip. It was a nervous gesture on her part and I realized that I had spent the past thirty minutes complaining about having to get all dressed up rather than enjoying the pampering treatment that my best friend had given me. I felt guilty and promised silently that I would enjoy the party, if only to make Cleo happy.
“Like it? Cleo, I love it!” I grinned at her and her nervous expression smoothed out into a bright smile.
Cleo squeezed my shoulder before she let out a gasp of surprise. “Oh! Before I forget!” Running back over to her wardrobe she pulled out a pair of low heeled satin gold sandals. They had a simple band across the toe and another that would go over my ankle to make sure that they didn’t fall off.
“I didn’t want you to be in something super tall since I know you’ll be running around and decorating, but you have to have matching shoes.” Cleo held them out to me and I took them, running a finger along the smooth satin.
My throat clogged a little bit. “What did I do to deserve such an amazing best friend?” I asked.
Cleo grinned. “I dunno, maybe you were an angel in another life?” She joked and we laughed together.
“Not to break up the love-fest,” Justin said as he checked the time on his phone. “But if I don’t bring Eden to the house in the next half-hour, Ray is going to throw a fit.”
“Tell Ray to stick it where the sun don’t shine. My girl is doing him a favor, remember?” Cleo rolled her eyes, but she still knelt down to help me buckle the shoes. “Are these comfy enough?” she asked and helped me to my feet.
They were on the tighter side, probably because they still needed to be broken in. But they were comfortable enough and I gave a few testing taps. My feet would probably hurt by the end of the night, but for now they would be okay. “Yep, these’ll do.”
“Okay, well let’s go get this party started!” Cleo gave a little whoop and bounced in her purple go-go boots. “It will definitely be a night to remember!”
At the time, I didn’t know just how right she was about that.
OceanofPDF.com
CHAPTER 7
The old house that Kappa Sigma Psi had chosen for the Halloween Bash sat by itself at the top of a hill. It was about fifteen minutes out of town and when I got out of the car and turned around, I could see the entirety of the little town that surrounded the university. The sun was just beginning to dip below the mountains in the distance, casting a shadow over the valley and cooling off what had been an unseasonably warm October day.
The house itself looked like it had seen better days. At some point someone had painted it white, but most of the paint was faded and chipping, exposing the eerie gray wood underneath. It was a two story structure that looked vaguely Victorian, without any of the fancy embellishments that was characteristic of those styles of homes. A huge porch wrapped around the front of the house and someone was busy with a push broom clearing it of debris. That someone being Kyle.
“Yo, Kyle! You still doin’ that? I thought Ray told you to be fast,” Justin called with a grin. Kyle flipped him off and the two laughed.
I hadn’t seen Kyle since the night of the party, so as we ascended the steps I avoided his eyes as he and Justin talked about how the party set-up was going.
I was so busy trying to talk myself out of my nervousness that I didn’t notice that the two had stopped talking until Kyle addressed me. “Wow, Eden, you look...”
Finally glancing up, I caught heat in his eyes that made my stomach do a little flip-flop. Then the image of his rippling back muscles and the sound of the girl’s moans filled my mind and I broke eye contact, my cheeks heating with embarrassment.
“Holy shit, Eden, you look hot,” a familiar voice said from the doorway. Ray was dressed in what I was pretty sure was a Sherlock Holmes costume, complete with a pipe hanging from his lips as he stepped onto the porch.
Cleo, seeing my face, hooked her arm through mine. “Doesn’t she? Her tits are to die for.”
“Cleo!” I gasped as everyone on the porch laughed. Wanting to change the subject I took a step towards Ray. “Do you have everything ready for me in the house?”
I had him order chalk in different sizes and colors along with all of the other decorations. We were going to turn the house into a haunted cult house and I had a lot of work to do if it was all going to be ready for the party in a couple of hours.
“Yup. I’ve also got a bunch of pledges who are ready to be your minions. Feel free to torture them as much as you like.” Ray placed a hand on the small of my back and led me into the house. The foyer was clean enough, though everything looked run down and old. The wallpaper was peeling in more than one spot and I was pretty sure that there was more than one weak floorboard as we walked towards the sitting room that was in front of the huge staircase.
A line of men dressed in baby bonnets and diapers stood at attention as we entered. “Why are they dressed like that?” I asked as I put my bag down next to a line of plastic tables that had been shoved against the wall.
“They’re pledges, meaning that they are earning their place with Kappa Sigma Psi,” Ray explained, puffing his chest out. “Isn’t that right, pledgies?”
“Yes sir!” they barked.
I never understood the appeal of a fraternity or a sorority. Why would anyone want to be tortured for a year, and why would they let themselves be humiliated by people who were supposed to be their friends?
But it wasn’t my business to judge, it was my business to get this house decorated.
“I’m going to run out to my truck and start getting the speakers set up. You all listen to Eden and do whatever she tells you to do. She is your master for the night, if she wants to step those pretty feet onto your backs in order to put something up, those knees better hit the floor,” Ray said, pointing at each pledge before he turned and headed back the way that we had come.
My mind was still stuck on the ‘pretty feet’ comment, so it took me a minute or two to get myself together.
