Free My Lucky Days: A Novel by S.D. Hendrickson Page B

adding another yellow-tipped straight pin.
    I gasped as it made contact with my back.
    “Sorry. It just needs to be cinched in a little more. She’s about a size smaller than you.”
    “Maybe if I suck it in.” I tightened my stomach as hard as it would go. I wasn’t overweight. But I wasn’t toned. And I didn’t try to make myself look any different. And I liked to eat bacon. So my stomach wasn’t exactly a washboard.
    “That’s better. See if you can hold that a few minutes longer.”
    Skylar went back to the table, grabbing another piece of fabric. She was designing a costume for the community center production of A Christmas Carol . She often asked me to pose as the model for her creations.
    I held my breath as she worked on the tight seam. Her black hair was in a sleek bun on top of her head. Skylar always reminded me of a ballerina. Tall. Pale skin. Graceful. And a sophisticated nose, which is an odd description for a nose. But she had the prettiest nose.
    “Are you kidding me? Not her. Not her! ”
    I looked over in the living room at Peyton. “Did he give Karina a rose?”
    “Yes. That sucks. Now she’ll go on the overnight date. She sounds like a drunk Disney character when she talks. How does that even turn him on?”
    Skylar looked up from where she was pinning the hem at my feet. “That’s a thing, you know.”
    “What’s a thing?” I asked.
    “There’s a fetish where people like to have sex with other people while wearing animal costumes. Like mascot-looking stuff. Maybe that’s his thing. And he’s bringing a chipmunk costume on the overnight date because he’s found the perfect voice for it.”
    “Don’t say that about him. Brex is not into animal costumes. He’s a distinguished architect. In his free time, he even builds water wells for villages in Africa. Don’t insult him that way.”
    I laughed, feeling the pins jabbing me from every angle. Peyton had gushed and drooled all over Brex since the season premiere. Of course she knew nothing about him. Not really. No one ever really did on those reality shows. But the fairytale portrayed each week was very real to Peyton.
    And it apparently didn’t involve chipmunk costumes. The idea itself just confused me.
    “How does that even work?” Then I turned red when I realized I had said it out loud.
    Skylar laughed. “A couple of weeks with Lucky, and she’s already moving to role-playing.”
    “No,” I protested.
    Peyton walked past us into the kitchen, getting a Coke out of the fridge. “Honestly, it’s not that difficult to do if you’re creative.”
    “And you know this how ?” Skylar mumbled as she held two straight pins between her lips while she fussed with the hem.
    “Well, when I was a cheerleader in high school, I got to know our mascot pretty well. We used to hook up during the third quarter.” She shrugged. “That was always the boring part of the game. So we went under the bleachers. He wasn’t very cute, though. I think he knew it too. So he preferred to keep the beaver suit on when we hooked up.”
    My eyes got big. “You had sex while he was dressed as a beaver?”
    I thought Skylar was going to swallow those pins. Her head fell against my leg as she laughed. “That’s so wrong, Peyton. So . . . so wrong. I did not need that image in my head.”
    “It went a little something like this. Go, Bedford Beavers!” Peyton broke out into a pelvis-thrusting cheer dance. “Go! Go, Beavers! Go, Beavers!”
    They were both cracking up as I watched Peyton sling her Coke all over the floor, which made her laughter turn into that high-pitched giggle. My insides twitched, knowing my roommate would do a half-ass job cleaning up that mess and I would need to get the mop out tomorrow. Or maybe tonight. Another splash went all over the tile. Yeah, it would need to be done tonight.
    “ Ooooh . Commercial’s over.”
    My fingers clenched up as I watched her go back in the living room. I swear our house would resemble a