Free Stitch by Samantha Durante Page A

picked up on his meaning.  “Alessa.  And yes, I will absolutely be there.”  Ugh, so boring!  She tried to make up for her inadequate banter with a smile, a real one for once.
    “All right then, I’ll have to look for you.”  He flashed that smile again and Alessa’s grin brightened.  “So do you have any more of those left?”  He indicated the pink flyer she’d just hung.
    Alessa quickly peeled it off the pole and held it out to him.  “Why don’t you take this one?  You’ll save me from adding yet another infraction to my colorful record.”  He laughed.  Finally she’d come up with something worthwhile.
    Nikhil folded up the paper and slipped it into his pocket.  With a coy smile he turned to go, locking eyes with her one last time.  “See you tomorrow, Alessa.”
    “Bye,” she replied, unable to wipe the goofy grin from her face as he sauntered down the path away from her.  Perhaps this party wouldn’t be so bad after all.

10. Preening
     
    The next evening, Alessa found herself staring critically at her own reflection in the full-length mirror that was affixed to her closet door.  It’d been over a year since she’d last devoted more than minimal effort to her appearance, and unfortunately one enthusiastic hour of preening could not quite make up for all that neglect.
    She stepped closer to the mirror, squeezing gently at her skin with her fingertips.  One by one the little bits of goo popped to the surface and she wiped them away with a tissue.  Satisfied with her efforts, she stood back to observe the results.  She was mildly horrified by the splotchy mess she’d made of her face, but she figured the redness would subside in the hour before people started arriving for the party.  Hopefully.
    Alessa had spent the last 24 hours anticipating the upcoming party in a way that she hadn’t felt about anything lately.  She supposed it was due to Nikhil and his promise to seek her out that evening.  She thought about his dark almond-shaped eyes and warm smile, his broad shoulders and unmistakable air of confidence.  For the first time in months, she felt slightly giddy.
    She had spent much of the day replaying her short conversation with Nikhil over and over in her mind, grimacing at her lack of charisma.  She thought about how she could have responded better – should she have been more coy?  More witty?  More playful?  She knew she was probably overthinking it, but she was determined to be mentally prepared to turn on the charm the next time she got the opportunity.
    She wanted to feel confident tonight, but her recent lack of practice conversing with the opposite sex made her wary.  Even before everything had happened with her parents, she’d always found herself clamming up around guys, remaining quiet when she was usually outspoken.  As someone who usually felt relatively self-assured and in control, she found her inability to act normally around guys extremely frustrating.  And in the past year, it’d only gotten worse.  She’d hoped she would feel better tonight if she looked better, so she had spent the last hour conducting a mini-makeover to boost her spirits.
    Overall, her plan had somewhat succeeded.  Alessa at least had to admit that she could be much worse off.  Her skin had always been less prone to blemishes than that of most teenagers, so her complexion was still relatively clear even after months of neglect.  She could have used a little more exfoliation in all that time, but she’d done her best to make up for it with a vigorous scrubbing earlier that evening and her skin glowed faintly as a result.
    Being out of practice with makeup, she’d kept her beauty routine minimal – just a heavy coat of mascara, a thin stroke of eyeliner, and a swipe of shimmer eye shadow in a neutral beige tone.  Though the technique was simple, the result was actually rather striking.  Her bright green eyes smoldered and were the obvious focal point of her face.
    Which