Stay Close, Don't Go

At the moment, Tom had his right arm slung casually around my shoulder while we waited for the guys to get off stage. They were more than halfway through with their last song of the night and we - more like they - were planning on partying later. I personally wasn’t in the mood to head home drunk.

When the music finally stopped, and I was able to hear my own thoughts again, the guys only took a few minutes to cool off and come find us.

“Aye, Tom, we’re ‘eading to Lee’s later tonight. We got to ‘ead by your house first, though.” Matt N told Tom once he approached us, his hair sweaty and clinging to his forehead.

SJ conveniently appeared next to me as well, joining into the conversation. “Why yeh guys do that, I’m goin’ to take Madison with Sam and me to my house. I’m goin’ to dress yeh up.” She said, nudging me with her hip and smiling.

“Oh, great.” I mumbled, not sure if I liked the idea of being dressed up, “And who is Sam?”

Before SJ answered me, Tom removed his arms from my shoulder and kissed my cheek. “I’m leavin’ with then, I’ll see yeh later. You’ll be okay?”

With a nod from me, and a small kiss from Tom, he was suddenly gone, leaving me in the awkward little conversation circle that had formed. Turning my attention back to SJ and Curtis, I let her answer my question.

“Sam is a friend of mine that Curtis is into.” SJ said, winking at Curtis who was next to her. “She was with me earlier-” SJ started to explain before a girl stumbled into SJ, cursing over her shoulder at someone in the crowd that had pushed her.

“What a douche.” She muttered fiercely before glancing over at me, a smile forming on her lips. “Oh sorry, not you. I’m Sam by the way.” Sam told me and gave me a small wave as Curtis wound his arm around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her quickly.

“Sam, this is Tom’s… er, girlfriend?” Curtis explained oddly, eyeing me. I shrugged, honestly not knowing the answer to his question.

What exactly were Tom and I? Friends with benefits, a fling, maybe already together without my knowledge? Why had I never thought of this before?

Before these thoughts could completely overwhelm me, SJ took my arm and began to lead me toward the exit.

“See you at Lee's, Curtis,” she called over her shoulder, and Sam hurried to catch up with us.

“Why are we going to your house again?” I asked her as we climbed into her car. Sam let me have "shotgun," which she claimed was a huge honor if she was in the car. She was strange, I'd give her that.

“So I can dress yeh up, silly pie,” She sang, reaching over to tap my nose with one finger.

“Dress me up?” I repeated dumbly. “But…” I glanced down at the jeans and striped sweater combo I had chosen that morning. “What's wrong with what I've got on?” It wasn't just that I was doubting my ability to squeeze into any of SJ's clothes - or fill them out, though that was another problem entirely.

SJ just laughed at my question and offered no response, leaving me to wonder if I looked alright at the moment.

SJ's closet was immense. It was full of bright colors and clothes I wouldn’t be caught dead in. There was flashy, revealing, and even dressy clothes packed into it. Though I would never chose to wear anything in the closet, SJ and Sam had a different opinion.

After SJ picked through her closet for a moment, she threw a pair of light jeans at me. “See if these fit while I find a shirt.” She said and continued to look at her closet.

Not feeling much shame, I discarded the current pair of jeans I had on and wiggled into hers. After a few minutes of squeezing and maneuvering, I successfully put on and buttoned her jeans. Glancing at a mirror on the door, I noticed that despite the feeling, they didn’t looked too tight at all. How did I fit into these?

“Try this too.” Sam added, nudging SJ over with her hip and grabbing a shirt out of the closet. Before I had a chance to look at what she had picked, it was being tossed in my direction and both girls wandered into the bathroom, leaving me to change.

The shirt, which was a black halter, also required a small amount of squeezing to get into, but the final result of it was an immense amount of cleavage and a seemingly thin waist. I was starting to love SJ’s clothes.

Another thing SJ had that surpassed anything I had ever seen outside of the Sephora store at the mall back home, was makeup. Strewn around the bathroom counter top and in a few cases was the biggest variety of makeup that I had ever seen. She had the rainbow all piled into one place.

“So,” SJ said as she swiped eyeliner onto my eyelid, “‘ow are things with Tom?”

If my eyes weren't already closed, I would have blinked at her. "Um, good?"

“Even after the whole Mercy debacle?” She pressed.

“Yeh heard about Mercy?” Sam cut in, sounding surprised. "God, she was such a mega-douche. Couldn't believe what she did to that kid. He's such a sweet guy."

SJ shushed her and took her hand, equipped with the brush, away from my eye. "Madi?"

I sighed. Opening my eyes, I looked at both SJ and Sam who were looking at me, waiting for some type of response. Groaning, I figured nothing but being honest would get me out of this, “Well together we’re great.” I started to confess, “But we’re not in a relationship or anything, I don’t know what we are. Together, single, friends with benefits? I have no idea.”

“Well,” SJ started to say, returning to her job of doing my makeup, “That could pose as a small problem. Never fear, with a few drinks for confidence in you, you can always talk to him about this.”

“I don’t plan on drinking.” I informed SJ, turning to look at the mirror once she pulled away again. Obviously, she again had other plans for how this night would go down.