Free Waking Up to Boys by Hailey Abbott Page B

romanced. Sebastian tried to feed her the last piece of cheesecake, but she held up her hand to stop him.
    “I’m so full, I’m about to burst,” she said apologetically.
    Another firework exploded above their heads, and Sebastian looked at her. He smiled shyly, then moved his hand up and gently tilted Chelsea’s chin. Their lipsmet softly, and Chelsea felt a short moment of panic. What if someone could see them: Sara, the other staffers, her parents or—even worse—Todd? She pulled back and looked around anxiously, but all the faces around them belonged to unfamiliar tourist families looking excitedly up at the fireworks show. Their faces dazzled in the darkness.
    “Relax,” Sebastian cooed, bringing Chelsea back to reality.
    Chelsea smiled and touched the downy side of Sebastian’s face, drawing him in toward her for a longer, more passionate kiss. She leaned in and gave herself up to Sebastian, letting the rest of the world fade away. Over their heads, the fireworks bloomed, burst, and faded, leaving gray trailers of smoke like fading flowers in the sky.

Chapter Eleven
    C helsea stood with her hands on her hips and stared at the colorful plastic bags laid out on her bed. She couldn’t believe the sheer amount of shopping she had done that afternoon during her covert solo expedition to the mall in Reno. During her foray through Sara’s closet several days before, she had tried on tons of clothes, noting sizes, colors, and labels, jotting each one down carefully in a small notebook—and armed with the notebook, she had taken the Meadowood Mall by storm.
    Chelsea McCormick was going to arrive at the pool party that night dressed like a girl even if it killed her.
    She reached into one of the many shopping bags littering the surface of her bed and pulled out a tiny brown bandeau-style bikini she still couldn’t believe shehad really just dropped eighty dollars on. She slipped off her clothes and carefully stepped into the new swimsuit, making sure it fit one last time before finally removing the tags.
    For the first time in her life, Chelsea had forced herself to check out some fashion Web sites and magazines, which gave her a bunch of advice she found essentially useless. But they also told her a few important things, like that brown and teal were “in” this season. So, to complement her brown swimsuit, she had bought a simple turquoise necklace and a pair of matching earrings. She had also bought a short, sheer, cream-colored sarong to wrap around her hips. She was sure that wearing just the tiny bikini would make her feel like she was running around the party in her underwear.
    Chelsea went to her computer and pulled up the Web page she’d bookmarked on “Effortless Sexy Hairdos.” With a mouthful of bobby pins, she began the arduous process of creating a bun that looked like it had been haphazardly thrown together in a matter of seconds. I can’t believe I’m doing this, she thought, wincing as she jammed another bobby pin into her head.
    She had even bought herself a tube of mascara at Sephora. Waterproof, of course. After all, it was a pool party.
    And then there were the shoes. Teenvogue.com had said that espadrilles were a great starting point for someone without a lot of experience wearing heels, plus they were totally cute for the summer. So Chelsea had found herself a pair that laced up the ankle. The woven rope heels were of a livable height, so she hoped she wouldn’t go pitching forward into the pool.
    Chelsea looked in the mirror, fully prepared to face a laughably grotesque impression of a gawky girl playing dress-up. But the woman who stared back at her was anything but gawky. Chelsea’s new look was everything the fashion Web sites had promised…and more. The bikini looked great on her long, slim athletic body. The bandeau top made the most of her small chest, and the bottom scooped low to expose her firm stomach, with the sarong adding a touch of flirtiness and covering up her butt.