Free Trance by Tabitha Levin

be, though. It’s one date. I know you like him, and he obviously likes you, so if it works then fantastic, but if it doesn’t, then no big deal. Alright?”
    “Alright.”
    “I mean it, Scarlett. Don’t make this bigger than it needs to be. You’ll do your usual thing and sabotage it. So it’s just a regular old date with a hot guy. And there are plenty of hot guys around.”
    “None that are beating down my door.”
    “If a guy actually tried to beat down your door, we both know you wouldn’t be on the other side by the time he got through. You know you don’t let people get close to you.”
    I picked up two fries, stuffing both of them in my mouth at the same time, so I wouldn’t have to answer.
    “And if you decide that he isn’t for you, then throw him over my way.” She pretended to drool on the table.
    “Don’t even think about it. Where’s the friend code?”
    “But he’s so hot.” She clapped her hands in front of her silently. “Pretty please?”
    She grinned.
    “You know, I’m only teasing,” she said.
    “I know. But really I’m fine. I’m not making this a bigger deal. I’m not putting any expectations on this date at all. It’ll be fun. And if it isn’t then so what? I’ve got hundreds, no thousands, of other things going on in my life. I don’t need a guy.”
    “But I do. Find out if he has any hot friends. Preferable those that guarantee to send shivers up and down my spine. And then, we can double date.”
    “What sort of friends do you think he has?”
    “Oooh, let me see if there are any best buddy pics.” She grabbed her phone and searched online for incriminating photos. I felt cold and looked away.
    “Nothing. Only press photos, nothing personal. He likes his privacy.”
    “And that’s a bad thing?” Suddenly I liked him even more.
     
    My grandparents were asleep when I got home. The porch light off and the side light on so that I could make my way around to the back door. Every time I came home now, since granddad’s fall, I’d become anxious. Of what, I didn’t know - granddad was being extra cautious and my grandmother wouldn’t let him do anything that would aggravate his injury. He wasn’t likely to hurt himself again, but still that nagging feeling that I was leaving them alone and without help caused the hair on my neck to prickle until I was inside and knew they were safely asleep. That’s when I felt calm.
    I locked the back door behind me, checked on them, and made my way to my bedroom.
    Opening my laptop, I checked my email. The theatre manager had confirmed the date of the show, and booked in the previous night for a full rehearsal. That meant everything was set and ready to rock and roll. He wanted to know if the television crew was right to film parts of the rehearsal away from the noisy crowd of a live show. Sure they could, I replied.
    Immediately my thoughts went to costumes. One month might seem enough time to create an outfit, but for something intricate and fitted that would work well on TV, have the right amount of glam I was after, that could take weeks. Plus I needed to be sure I could move easily in it, that it wasn’t going to snag on the back of the disappearing box or something. Now that would be a true wardrobe malfunction. It had never happened to me before, and I didn’t want to press my luck.
    I closed the lid of the laptop thinking about what color I should wear. If grandma and I were to wear matching outfits, it would have to be something that suited both of us. I could go shorter than she could, although she still had killer legs for her age.
    I changed into pajamas and got into bed with a sketch pad and pencil. Something fitted was a must, but something new that had wow factor to it as well. I tapped the pencil to my lips as I thought about ideas, scribbling down rough sketches. Soon my eyelids were too heavy to continue. I looked down. I’d come up with eight pages of drawings. Enough that we could make a decision