In the Best Damn Dress I Own

Gerard’s P.O.V

What was I going to do? Better yet, what could I do? There was no way of me really knowing if Erika had spilled those beads on purpose. Of course in my gut I was sure she had, but was I completely confident with my gut-feelings? That’d be a no.

“Girls, it’s almost time. Finish your make-up and hair quickly please!” Evaleene called from behind us. She caught my eye from my mirror and we shared a subtle grin. How lucky I was to have her there with me!

I glanced in the mirror. Staring back at me were two hazel orbs outlined in black eyeliner and glazed over with crimson eye shadow. My lips, rather plump, were the same shade of red as my eyelids. If there was any blemish on my face, it wasn’t noticeable underneath the considerable layer of pale concealer I had put on.

My midnight hair was curled slightly at the edge to make it look almost feathery. There wasn’t anything particularly special about the way my hair looked, but at least it was better than normal. Normally it just hung loosely at my shoulders. Hopefully my effort would impress the judges even a little.

My dress was just as bloody-red as my lipstick. It had spaghetti straps and a black sash that went around the waist. The crimson piece of fabric hung far past my feet, and I found it quite difficult to walk in, but that was to be expected, right? It’s not like anyone wore dresses so long and exquisite nowadays anyways.

Glancing down at my body, I saw one of my breasts looked a little lumpy. I stuck my hand down the front of the dress, adjusting the Kleenex’s in my bra and trying to draw as little attention to myself as possible. Of course, that’s extremely difficult to do when you’re in a room with twenty-odd girls and you’re sticking your hand down the front of your shirt and it looks like you’re groping your own boobs.

Surprisingly though, only one person was staring at me intently. I’ll give you one guess who it was. That’s right, it was Erika. Her chocolate eyes were fixed blatantly on me, staring me down and making me highly insecure about myself. When she caught my gaze, she smiled as if nothing was amiss. Right, nothing was amiss.

“Girls, let’s go! Alphabetical order! That means you’re first Aarons!” Evaleene called while she stuck her head out of the curtain. I could just see her face, and she looked almost nervous. I couldn’t blame her though; the evening gown section of the competition was one of the ones that people really looked forward too. You know, other than the perverts who only came to these shows to watch beautiful women as they participated in the bathing suit portion of the contest. It almost made my skin crawl in repose just thinking about it.

We all got into line alphabetically. Erika, of course, was right behind me. Only one girl was behind her; Trisha Zanner.

We watched as Rebecca Aarons walked out onto the stage. She did a pretty little turn in her frilly, purple dress. Nicolle was next. She walked elegantly onto the runway like she was a superstar; in a sense she seemed like it all the time. She did her turn in her emerald dress. I could see a man in the front row grinning widely at her, and I assumed him to be her fiancée. She walked back just as elegantly as she had walked onto the stage, but she didn’t disappear to put primp with Rebecca before wishing me good luck with a whisper in my ear.

Before I knew it, Isabella Watson was walking down that runway; I was after her. I could feel Erika’s grasp on my shoulder as she wished me good luck much as Nicolle had. However, the words seemed laced with sarcasm and the grip felt like it was squeezing the life out of me. I was suffocating. I couldn’t breathe. I felt as though I might faint. My world went black.

Isabella came walking back toward us as my vision cleared. It took me but a moment to remember that it was my turn. Clenching and unclenching my fist, I started walking down the thin strip of isle that seemed to be growing smaller and smaller with each step I took.

My first couple of steps were unsteady and unattractive to say the least. The judges probably thought I had downed about five shots of Bacardi before I had decided that I should do this. However, I was simply drunk off the nervousness that was brewing deep inside my gut. You remember the gut that couldn’t be trusted? Yeah, that’s the one.

Much to my amazement, I did a turn and then managed to walk back to backstage without fainting or making an idiot of myself. Erika wasn’t smiling anymore, but seemed almost angry. Her frown was replaced with a forced smile as she began her own walk.

Evaleene gave me a pat on the back as I walked back. I was so fatigued; potential public humiliation really does take quite a bit out of a person. She told me I should go to my mirror to primp, and I did. There was only one problem with the reflection that stared back at me in the mirror.

As I looked at myself I realized what a lie I was. I realized I was a joke, and I realized that I’d dressed myself in those lies I had fed everyone else. I had lied to Evaleene, Mikey, and my parents. It was horrible, but it was who I was.

I managed to let out a small chuckle before Evaleene called us once again so that the results could be announced and we could see who had won this mess of a contest.