Barbie’s Dykey Little Sister
To my surprise, Molly and Peyton both agreed to go to Taylor’s party. My ingenious plan to get out of going was to say I wouldn’t go unless they did. Considering Molly’s shyness and Peyton’s rabid feminism, I was sure they would say no.
They both let me down, and so the next evening after dinner I found myself standing in front of my closet trying to find something acceptable to wear.
“I’m just wearing this,” Peyton said, motioning to her standard uniform of jeans and t-shirt. She made it look good, though, thanks to her curly hair and the crochet beanie it was stuffed under. Taylor called her style lesbian chic, but I thought it was cute. Molly had put about the same amount of effort into her outfit and the messy pile of blonde hair somehow pinned up into a bun on top of her head, but she too looked cute. I, however, was a lost cause.
For a very brief moment, I contemplated taking Bella up on her offer of a makeover.
An obnoxiously cheerful knock came at the door, followed by, “Are we decent in here?”
“Yeah,” I replied, glad Bella couldn’t see my eye roll from the other side of the door.
“Are you girls ready to go?” She asked, pushing the door open and walking into my room completely uninvited.
I glanced down at my mismatched skirt and t-shirt, then back up at Bella. I thought that pretty much spoke for itself, especially compared to the skin tight, bubblegum pink dress she wore. Molly and Peyton looked equally unimpressed, though Molly at least tried to hide it. Sometimes I wondered if the three of us combined even had the social skills of one normal person.
“Here, why don’t I find you something to wear? I’m sure I have something in your size…” Bella said.
I tried not to look terrified as I imagined myself in some of her skimpy outfits. I was sure that wasn’t what Daniel or Zac had in mind when it came to getting me to loosen up. Shaking my head,I replied, “you really don’t have to.”
“At least let me do something with your hair and makeup,” she practically begged.
Because I was a pathetic pushover, I shrugged and said, “Okay, I guess.”
Bella rushed out of the room, assuring us she would be right back with all the necessary implements to make me attractive. Okay, those weren’t her exact words, but only because I was sure she didn’t know any words that big. They were definitely still implied.
“Are you really going to let her do this?” Molly asked.
“Why not?” I replied as I exchanged my tee for a blue tank that I thought was the same shade as the robot pattern on my skirt. “Maybe if she makes me into her clone, Zac will actually notice me.”
“Is that how you want him to see you? As just another Pageant Barbie?” Peyton asked.
“Better than Barbie’s Dykey Little Sister,” I shot back. “At this rate, I could dance naked in front of him and he still wouldn’t notice that I was a chick.”
“Well, if you drink any of Tay’s hooch at this party, you might do just that,” Molly said, giggling.
While she and Peyton were giggling at the mental image of that, Bella swooped back into the room, her arms loaded down with makeup and hair products. I wasn’t completely clueless about makeup; I did in fact wear it. I just didn’t wear what my lovely new roommate deemed an appropriate amount. She nudged me into my chair and dumped her bag of goodies onto my desk.
“So,” she said, brandishing a giant makeup brush. “I can’t believe you girls are friends with Taylor.”
“Well, I’ve been friends with Zac forever, so he’s how I met Taylor,” I replied, choosing to ignore the obvious implication that we weren’t cool enough to be friends with someone like Taylor Fucking Hanson. It certainly wasn’t the first time we had heard that. Taylor might have been popular, but it was purely because he never met anyone he didn’t immediately befriend. The boy had zero sense of boundaries.
“I didn’t even realize he had a brother,” Bella continued, now coming dangerously close to stabbing me in the eye with a mascara wand. “He’s just nothing like Taylor, you know? Ooh, that green eyeliner looks so good with your red hair, Georgina!”
“Mhm,” I replied with my teeth gritted.
It was nothing I hadn’t heard from her before, and I still resented the implication. However, this time I noticed a hint of admiration for Taylor that I had been too jealous to pick up on before. Maybe it wasn’t Zac she was after. Maybe it was Taylor. Maybe I had nothing to worry about.
Maybe Zac would never know how I felt about him anyway. Maybe it was all irrelevant.
By the time Bella finished my makeup, I was in such a bad mood that I didn’t want to go to the party at all. I sat at my desk and brooded while she touched up Molly and Peyton’s makeup. Every time I thought about my real feelings for Zac, it made me sick. We had been friends for so long that the idea of admitting I wanted to be more than that just seemed impossible. After everything we had been through together, surely I would have known if he had felt the same way. Since he hadn’t ever said anything, I didn’t see a reason to admit to my feelings, either.
“Okay!” Bella cheerfully announced. “I think we’re all ready to go. I’m sure you girls will turn a lot more heads now. If you ever want any more makeup tips or to borrow any clothes, you just let me know. I’ll see you at the party!”
Once Bella was out the door, Molly remarked, “She’s exhausting, isn’t she?”
“And a bitch,” Peyton added.
“Well, I wasn’t going to put it that way…” Molly said as she tied up her beaten up Chuck Taylors which I was pretty sure she’d had since we were high school freshmen.
“You should have,” I replied. “The way she talks about Zac and Taylor makes me so mad.”
“Especially the way she talks about Zac, I’m sure,” Molly said, giggling.
I gave her a serious look. “If you so much as hint to her that I like Zac, I’ll kill you.”
“But it’s okay if I tell her you’re hopelessly in love with him?” She asked.
“I am not!” I screeched, then groaned. “Okay, whatever. The point is, she can’t know I like him. If she’s insufferable now, she’ll be even worse then. It’s bad enough that you two know.”
“Everybody knows,” Peyton replied. “At least, everyone but Zac. Although how he hasn’t figured it out is beyond me.”
I stuffed my phone into my purse and grabbed my keys. “He doesn’t know because he would never think of me that way. He doesn’t want to know, and so I’m not going to tell him. And neither are you two.”
I pointed at them both as threatening as I could manage, but I could tell that neither of them took me seriously. Even though they were my friends, they were highly amused by my feelings for Zac and the fact that Zac was still oblivious. Still, I trusted them both not to tell him. Bella, however, I did not trust, and that was why she had to remain even more oblivious than Zac.
Once I felt Molly and Peyton were sufficiently warned, we finished up our party prep and headed off to Taylor’s dorm. He lived in the upperclassman apartments, Sitlington. Unlike our dorms, they were actually more like real apartments. All the students were older and drinking was allowed, so they were the prime location for parties. Although this one was centered around Taylor’s place, the apartments weren’t that big, and the party would no doubt spread out over the entire first floor.
Through the door, we could already see that the party was raging. I only had to knock once before some upperclassman I didn’t know opened it and let us in without a word. I didn’t really know any of the hoards of people milling about in the hallway, and we had to elbow our way through the crowds to make it to Taylor’s apartment. It was equally as full of people, but at least it didn’t take long to spot Taylor in the kitchen, pouring cups of something I was sure had enough alcohol in it to incapacitate a small animal.
“Georgie, Molly, Peyton!” He called out, holding up a cup that sloshed all over the counter. “I’ve got drinks here with your names on them.”
“And who are these lovely ladies? Freshmen?” A guy I didn’t recognize asked as he leered at me.
“Zac’s friends,” Taylor said. “Girls, this is Neil, my wonderful roommate. Avoid him at all costs.”
“Are you telling me there’s someone out there worse than you?” I asked.
“Define worse,” Neil replied.
“Hey,” Taylor said sternly. “Maybe you didn’t notice the sign, but that one is Property of Zac Hanson.”
I shot Taylor a death glare, but he only grinned. Even Taylor knew how I felt about Zac. If he could see it, there was no reason for Zac to be clueless. I could only assume that Zac didn’t want to see the truth.
“Oh, lighten up,” Taylor chuckle, pressing a solo cup into my hand. “Have a few drinks. Relax. Maybe a little liquid courage will help you finally seduce that boy.”
I glared at Taylor again, but he remained unaffected. At least no one else in the room seemed to be paying attention to our conversation. Neil was definitely too far gone to process any of what was said, and had seemingly made Peyton his next target. That was too funny for me to even attempt to rescue her, so I simply accepted the cup Taylor offered me and took a large gulp of it. It was syrupy sweet, like fruit flavored candy, but not bad. Being friends with Taylor meant I had drank plenty of times, even though I wasn’t even twenty yet.
The most memorable of those times was probably the night of my junior prom, although unlike most teenagers, I didn’t get drunk at an after prom party. Zac and I had both decided to skip the prom, since we were too lame to get dates and I was too chickenshit to ask him to be my date. Instead of getting all dressed up and pretending we could dance, we played board games at his house all night. Taylor, who was home for the weekend, decided that was exceptionally lame, and gave us both our first drinks–vanilla vodka and Coke.
The next year we actually did go to the prom. Zac still wasn’t planning to go, but when my boyfriend James dumped me just two weeks before the big day, Zac stepped in. Even though there was no drinking that time and very little dancing, it was a perfect night.
Speaking of drinking and Zac…
“Where is Zac, anyway?” I asked softly.
“In my bedroom, being lame,” Taylor replied, handing Molly a cup. “And you can tell him I said that. You can also tell him that Warcraft is not mood music, so he’s gonna have to leave if I find a lucky lady tonight.”
“Trust me, Tay,” I said. “Any lady who ends up in your bed is not lucky.”
“You say that now, but you’d be singing a different tune if that lady was you!” Taylor called out as I scurried out of the room to go find Zac.
Sure enough, he was sitting cross legged on Tay’s bed, his laptop in front of him. There were a few beer cans in the floor, but I didn’t think he was drunk.
“I thought you were supposed to be getting me to loosen up,” I said, taking a few steps into the room.
“Thought so too,” he replied, pushing his laptop aside. “Forgot I had a raid planned for tonight. But you don’t wanna stay in here and watch that, do you?”
I sat down next to him and offered him a sip of my drink. “It’s better than watching the hordes out there, trust me.”
“Fine with me,” Zac said. As he passed the solo cup back to me, his eyes lingered on my face. His stare made me nervous. “What’s up with your face?”
“What?” I asked. When I realized what he meant, I scrunched up my nose in disgust. “Bella tried to give me a makeover. I’m lucky a little makeup is all she did.”
“I don’t like it,” Zac replied, making a face of his own. “I don’t want you to be her clone.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I thought you and Bella were bffs now. What happened to me judging her too quickly?”
Zac shrugged. “I’m not saying you aren’t. She doesn’t have to be an enemy, but you don’t have to be just like her, either. It is possible to coexist with people you have next to nothing in common with. I mean, look at me and Taylor.”
“I guess,” I replied, even though I did see his point about Taylor. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he was right, though. “So, is the raid over?”
“Nah, still waiting for it to start,” he said.
“Want some company for it?”
“Sure,” Zac replied, taking a sip from my drink, then laying back on the bed.
I laid beside him, perfectly content to stay there and let the party go on all around us. It was like junior prom all over again, except with the drunken masses a whole lot closer to us. Still, I liked it. I was glad that he didn’t seem to be all that persuaded by Bella’s… persuasiveness. Even though there was no chance of Zac and I being more than friends, at least we still had that.