Shut Your Eyes

New Year’s Eve.

The one time during the year where everyone gets a second chance. You get to bury the past – all your dirty little secrets, all the regrets, all of it get shoved aside for a new beginning. Unfortunately, most people tend to overlook the reflective side of the holiday and instead used it as an excuse to get absolutely hammered.

As irony would have it, my brother was one of these people.

“Oh come on, Maggie, it’ll be fun!” Jordan pleaded enthusiastically.

Max, Jordan, and TK were sitting on the couch in the living room (which I’d finally finished painting), while I was perched on the counter reading a magazine. For the last ten or twenty minutes they’d been dead set on convincing me to come with the rest of the team to one of the local clubs for New Year’s Eve.

“Being packed into a tiny club with hundreds of sweaty strangers doesn’t sound like fun to me.” I reasoned as I flipped another page. Jordan rolled his eyes and turned back to trying to beat Max on whatever video game they had plugged in.

“That’s only if you go on the dance floor! We’re gonna get one of the private rooms so it’ll just be people you know, not a bunch of strangers.” I glanced at TK’s hopeful face over the edge of my magazine.

“It’s a lost cause, TK. Maggie hates clubs; always has, always will.” Max said with a chuckle, not even looking away from the TV in front of him.

TK looked shocked, as if the idea of someone not enjoying the club scene was personally offensive to him. “What? Why not?”

Sighing, I put down my magazine for a moment and looked him straight in the eyes. “Clubs are just excuses for people to get drunk of their asses and makes fools of themselves while simultaneously rubbing themselves all over complete strangers who may or may not have a venereal disease. They’re too loud, too hot, and the strobe lights make me feel like I’m in bad sci-fi movie.”

He stared at me for a moment with a blank face. Then suddenly he added with a snarky smile, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

I smiled up at him and rolled my eyes. “You’re impossible.”

Max glanced back at me. “You know Mags, you might actually have fun. You’ve never been out with the boys before. Plus, Veronique will be there and she doesn’t get along with the other girls like she gets along with you. Do it for her.”

Jordan and Tyler echoed their agreement as I sat silently and thought about what my brother had said. Finally I sighed and gave a mumbled, “I’ll make an appearance.” before turning back to my magazine while the boys started hollering. In my mind I’d throw on a dress, show up for an hour and then escape back to the house before the ball dropped, but of course – Vero had other plans.

“How do I look?” Vero popped out of the dressing room stall like she was coming out of a jack-in-the-box. She’d kidnapped me from editing the pictures from Christmas vacation and dragged the both of us through store after store looking for the perfect party dress. Vero had tried on about a thousand dresses and of course, none of them were right. They were all too long or too short, too colorful or too bland, and my favorite complaint, too pretty.

The dress she was showing me now was absolutely beautiful. It was black, with a gold and silver sequined bodice that shimmered when she walked. It flowed slightly when she moved, and hung right in the middle of her thigh. Not too long, not too short – it was perfect.

“You look beautiful, as always. I think you should get this one.” Vero scrunched up her face in a tell-tale manner and twisted and turned in front of the mirror.

“I don’t know…” She began tiredly.

I could feel a headache coming on. I love Vero, but the thought of two more hours of dress shopping was a little more than daunting. “What, Vero? What’s wrong with this dress?”

“It’s not me! I don’t have the boobs for it.” She let out an exasperated huff. Suddenly she turned and stared at me with a dangerous gleam in her eye. “You know who this dress would look good on?”

“Max?” I answered with a chuckle.

“You.” My head shot up quickly. Vero’s brown eyes were shining with mischief. She followed up quickly with, “Max just doesn’t have the boobs for it either.”

“Veronique…” I warned softly, but she came over anyways and pulled me up by the hand before nudging me into a dressing stall. Only a few minutes later, she’d changed out of the dress and thrown it over the divider so that I could try it on too. I stared down at the shimmering material in my hands. With a heavy sigh and a roll of my eyes, I stripped out of my jeans and sweatshirt before stepping into the body-hugging black dress.

“Hurry up Maggie! I want to see what it looks like.” Vero pleaded excitedly from the other side of the stall door.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” I assured her and pulled the door open so I could step out from behind it slowly. To be honest, I was slightly uncomfortable in the dress. Too much skin peeked out from underneath the soft fabric. I hadn’t worn a dress like this in public in years. Gavin was strict about what I was allowed to wear and what was off limits – and this dress would have definitely been off limits.

As soon as she saw me, Vero’s face lit up like the fourth of July. “Oh Maggie, you look amazing!”

She ushered me over to the mirror and stood behind me as we both appraised the image staring back at us in the glass. We looked kind of silly, with her head propped up on my shoulder like we were something out of a monster movie. I started to giggle, quickly covering my mouth with my hand so I didn’t disturb the other shoppers. Vero shot me a wicked grin.

“What’s got you so tickled?”

“Look at us; we’re a two headed monster.” Vero let out an unladylike snort and started giggling with me, causing more than a few other shop patrons to look at us strangely. We straightened up once the saleswoman shot us a warning glance.

Vero rolled her eyes and set to work tugging the dress back into place after I’d pulled it down as far as I could in an attempt to magically make it longer. “I swear, Maggie. I’ll never know why you insist on covering yourself up. You look spectacular in this dress.”

I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth and began biting on it nervously. I didn’t see what she was seeing; all I saw was the look that would be on Max’s face if I tried to leave the condo in this. First he would glance at me without noticing, followed quickly by the double take with furrowed eyebrows as he realized what I was wearing, and then the trifecta of disappointment would reach its peak with the raised eyebrow and head shaking. “I don’t know, Vero.”

Her bottom lip jutted out just slightly. She resembled a small child with her large almond eyes and pouted mouth. “But you look so amazing! And I have these shoes that’ll match it perfectly!”

“It’s a bit short…”

She huffed and dismissed my comment with a wave of her hand. Giving a short sigh and another pout she stared at my reflection in the mirror. “I’d kill for your boobs.”

Bright red painted itself across my cheeks as a few other women in the store glanced over at us. I turned to the side and whispered her name harshly, hoping she’d stop there. “Vero!”

“Well it’s true!” I quickly hopped off the podium and scurried back into the dressing room, desperate to put my clothes back on. I could hear Vero following me quickly, her shoes thudding softly against the carpet. I’d stripped out of the dress and started pulling my skinny jeans back on when an olive skinned hand poked itself over the door.

“Give me the dress so I can put it back.” I quickly handed over the hanger and she padded off in the opposite direction, leaving me to finish getting dressed. A wave of relief washed over me the minute I was back in my oversized coffee colored sweater and dark blue skinny jeans. My winter clothes doubled as security blankets. It was the one time of year that no one could see my skin, and I liked it that way.

A soft knock rang through the thin wooden door. “Mags, you almost ready?”

I grabbed my thick wool coat and slung my purse onto my shoulder before pulling open the door to see Vero’s warm smile staring back at me. “Yeah I’m ready.”

Closing the door behind me slowly, I started to following Vero to the front of the store until I spotted something that made me stop short in my tracks. Noticing that my footsteps were no longer following hers, she stopped as well and turned around with her eyebrows raised. “What’s wrong?”

I gave her a pointed look and nodded down to the glossy black gift bag in her hand that had the name of the store printed on the front and bright white tissue paper sticking out of the top. “What’s in there?”

Vero pursed her lips slightly. “Would you believe nothing?”

“No.” I answered slowly, matching her tone.

“It’s your dress for New Year’s Eve. Now come with me to lunch, I’m starving.” She turned on her heel as quickly as she had in the first place, and began walking towards the door again without a second glance back as I stood with my mouth gaping open slightly.

I could have argued, or demanded she return it, but I knew it’d do no good. Vero was stubborn in the best possible way, and once she had her mind made up there wasn’t much you could do to sway her. Judging from the way she answered my question about what was hidden inside the tissue paper, I knew she had her mind made up, and that she’d get me in that dress come hell or high water.

I shut my mouth quickly and followed after her out into the cold winter air, shaking my head the entire way.

We walked down the nearly empty sidewalk towards the café that sat on the corner, enjoying the barrenness of Pittsburgh’s streets in the winter. Sure, there were still people that were out and about carrying on with their lives, but most people chose to stay inside and that made downtown a lot more peaceful. It was picturesque the way the snow softly fell onto the naked trees that lined the roads, covering everything with a blanket of glittering white.

Vero and I were huddled up next to each other as we walked, our arms linked together and hands shoved in coat pockets even though we both had gloves on. We finally made our way to the café and walked inside. The bell jingled when we pushed open the door, and a wave of heat enveloped us both once we were standing in the entranceway. A friendly barista invited us to sit wherever we’d like and followed us over to a secluded booth in the corner where she handed us two menus and took our coffee orders.

As soon as she was gone, Vero and I began scanning the menus, looking for something that looked good. I focused on the brunch menu – I’d skipped breakfast, a rare occurrence for me, and now I was craving slathered in butter and syrup. Vero chose something quite quickly, and set her menu down before giving me a loaded smile.

“So, I was talking to Sid the other day.” She began with a sly tone.

“Mhmm.” I hummed indifferently, still deciding on my order. I didn’t look up at her, but I knew the look that was on her face, a bright smile and eyes gleaming with mischief.

“He mentioned that you were helping him decorate his new house.” Vero was trying to sound uninterested, I could tell by her tone. Glancing up at her over my menu, I nodded.

“I don’t understand where you’re going with this, Vero.” I said softly, confused as to why she was bringing this up out of the blue.

“I’m not going anywhere with it, I just think you’ll have fun. You’re quite good at that sort of thing. Besides, he needs all the help he can get.” She giggled, and I chuckled with her.

“His entire house is the color of a cardboard box!”

Vero shook her head in amusement, a bright smile on her face. She took a sip of the coffee that the waitress had set in front of her only a moment earlier. “Men. Such strange creatures.”

I nodded and picked up my own drink, a steaming hot chai latte, and took a cautious sip before smiling up at Vero over the edge of my cup. “They really are.”

She sat there with a contended look on her face for a moment before glancing up at me and softly saying, “He’s quite fond of you, you know.”

My eyes met hers quickly, and she stared at me for a second – almost daring me to look away. Finally I looked back down at the menu in my hands and pointed at a random spot on the paper. “I think I’m going to get pancakes.”

The next night I found myself staring down at the sequined dress as it lay flat against my bedspread. I let out an exasperated huff and blew a puff of air up against my bangs. Vero had brought it over to the house earlier, along with the pair of shoes that matched it perfectly. Pumps covered with golden glitter and a black crescent coming up out of the top. She was right, they looked perfect.

Glancing over at the clock, I realized that I was running out of time to get ready if I was going to leave with Max. Reluctantly I admitted defeat and snatched the dress up off the bed, before wandering into the bathroom to get dressed and do my hair.

Twenty minutes later, and a good five minutes before Max’s pre-stated deadline, I emerged from my room with my nice coat on over my dress and zipped up so Max wouldn’t panic. He was already waiting for me in the living room, dressed up in a casual suit without a tie. We were going to Pure, a nightclub that tended to be on the fancier side of things, because the boys knew they could go there without being bothered and Jordan insisted that they served the best drinks.

Max spun around when he heard my heels clicking against the hardwood, and smiled at me before cocking his head to the side with eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Tu as froid?” (Are you cold?)

“Non, pourquoi?” (No, why?)

He chuckled and gestured to my outfit. “Parce que vous avez déjà votre manteau et il est de 70 degrés là-dedans.” (Because you already have your coat on and it’s 70 degrees in here.)

I opened my mouth slightly to answer but no words came to mind, so I ended up looking like a caught fish gasping for air. He narrowed his eyes at me. “Tu portes quoi là-dessous?” (What are you wearing under there?)

I cringed and unzipped the coat so Max could see Veronique’s handiwork. His eyes went wide and he started shaking his head back and forth. “Vero l'ai choisi.” (Vero picked it out.) I explained quietly, an amused smile tugging on the corners of my mouth.

Max was at a loss for words, staring at the dress like he could will it to be longer with only his mind. I gave a little spin so he could see the material on the bottom flow when I moved. “N'ai-je pas l'air bien?” (Don’t I look nice?)

He glanced up at my face with a smile and walked over beside me, pressing a kiss into my hair. “Tu es très belle, c'est ça le problème.” (You’re beautiful, that’s the problem.)

He glanced over the dress once more before sighing and ushering me towards the door. “Pas le temps de changer, je pense que je vais avoir à traiter avec elle pour la nuit.” (No time to change, I guess I’ll just have to deal with it for the night.)

He nudged me ahead of him as he held open the door for me and followed me out to the car, muttering Vero’s name every step of the way.