C13 Chapter 13

“We’re going out.”

Peyton looked up at Mia and shook her head. “I’m never leaving my apartment again.”

She had managed to rouse herself enough to crawl to the bathroom and have a bath without drowning in it. Now she was in bed with her iPad and extensive library of ebooks, hiding from the world and getting lost in the sweet, sweet love of imaginary people. The very last thing she wanted to do was to get dressed and go out. Even if it was the hottest new club around.

“Come on,” Mia said, dragging the covers off Peyton. “I have VIP passes to Vibe. V. I. P. Do you know what that means?” She went on without waiting for Peyton to answer. “It means sitting in the VIP section. It means not having to fight for a seat. It means having a waitress bring your drinks to you instead of fighting for attention at the bar. Come on Peyton! We can’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! We don’t even have to line up outside the club to get in!”

“I don’t want to,” Peyton whined. “I’ve had enough people-ing today.”

Mia sat down on the bed with a huff. “You know that you’re letting him win, right?”

Peyton’s thoughts went immediately to Finn and their little tête-à-tête from this afternoon. Why was this letting him win?

“Dale is out there just waiting to see you fall apart without him. I bet he has a smug little smile on his piggy face just waiting for you to melt down again.”

Oh, right. Dale. She had practically forgotten about her scumbag ex. Her thoughts all afternoon had been swirling with Finn and how her body had responded when she walked into the hospital room and saw him for the first time. Not to mention the way it had felt to be pressed up against him when he had helped her out of the puddle. She wouldn’t even let herself think about the way his jacket had stretched tight across his shoulders as he had changed her tire. Yeah. She probably shouldn’t be thinking about Finn at all.

“I don’t care,” Peyton said. “I don’t want to go out.”

Mia flopped on her back, staring up at the ceiling. “You’re killing me, Peyton,” she whined. “I am your best friend and I have been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you are going to deny me? When will we ever have the chance to be a VIP at a club like Vibe ever again?”

Peyton frowned. “How did you get the passes, anyway?” she asked.

Mia rolled over. She had a wide grin on her face and her eyes sparkled. “I met this guy—“

Peyton rolled her eyes. “Of course you did.”

“No, it’s not like that. I was at that new chocolate shop that opened up in St Kilda—”

“Ashby Chocolates?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Anyway, there was a guy there. He was really cute. He must work there or something. He was telling me all about the chocolates and how they make them and then he told me he had these passes for tonight. There’s some big celebrity thing happening at Vibe tonight and he asked if I wanted to go. Well, I couldn’t say no but I told him I didn’t know him and that I would only go if I could bring my friend.”

“Seriously, Mia? You want me to go as your wingman?”

“It’s kinda perfect,” she said. “You’ve sworn off men so I don’t have to worry about you stealing him from me.”

Peyton threw a pillow at her. “You know I would never do that.”

Mia grinned. “I know, but it still makes you the perfect wingman.” Mia rolled onto her stomach and brought her clasped hands up under her chin, her eyes going big and innocent as she begged. “Come on Peyton, please? I really want to go and I really want you to go with me.”

Peyton loved Mia. They were best friends and she would do just about anything for her. Mia had stood by her this week with all the crap flying around about her, even if it had been Mia’s fault that the video had gone viral. But Peyton was just as complicit. With a heavy sigh, she closed her eyes. One night out, what could it hurt? And she had been eager to try out Vibe. There had been lots of write-ups about it online and it looked like a cool place to go.

“Okay—”

Peyton barely got the words out of her mouth before Mia was screaming. The familiar thumping from the floor below had them both giggling.

Mia jumped up off the bed and went straight to Peyton’s closet. She pulled the door open and stood staring at the nearly empty racks. She turned to Peyton with a look of shock on her face.

“Where did all your clothes go?” she asked.

“I packed them away,” Peyton said, coming to stand next to Mia. “I said on the video that I was no longer going to try and impress men. I figured I’d start by clearing my closet of anything that I didn’t feel comfortable wearing.”

Mia looked at her with an open mouth. Peyton reached up and closed her jaw. Mia swallowed and looked back at the closet. “But what are you going to wear?”

Peyton looked over the clothes she had left. “Jeans,” she said.

“You can’t wear jeans to a club like Vibe,” Mia protested.

Peyton shrugged. “Okay then, a dress.” She reached in and pulled one out. “How about this one?”

It was a classic ‘little black dress.’ Peyton had kept it because it ticked all the boxes. It was comfortable to wear and it made her feel good. It was little more than a slip, really. It had a plunging neckline that meant she didn’t have to wear a bra, spaghetti straps, and a flirty skirt that she could wear panties under and not the dreaded g-string.

“I can work with this,” Mia said.