Better Than Me

Riley stepped out of the shower, onto the slick white tile. She secured a thick white towel around her body and wiped the mirror above the sink free of fog.

"Hurry up, harlot!" Corinne called.

"Ten more minutes!" Riley called back. She carefully applied her makeup, which consisted of black eyeshadow, black eyeliner, and blood red lipstick. She did her hair next, piling it in a simple twist on top of her head and leaving two tendrils to frame her face.

She put on a lacy black bra and matching panties. She debated for a few seconds on whether or not to wear stockings. I'd better, she decided, picking up the sheer black tights. That dress is kind of short.

The dress. Riley smiled to herself as she slipped it on. She'd found it this afternoon and had fallen in love with it at first sight. The dress had been listed as a "red burlesque goth corset rock lace dress," which basically meant a corset made of crushed red velvet that laced up with a black ribbon and tapered down to a tiny skirt covered with black lace.

Riley stepped into her shoes to complete the ensemble and emerged from the bathroom. Corinne was sitting on the bed, reading a message on her cell.

"Damn, Cori!" Riley exclaimed, taking in her best friend's attire. "You look hot!"

Corinne looked up from her cell. "So do you, sexy bitch. Ready to go?"

Riley dropped her cell phone into her small beaded bag. "Yup."

The girls carefully descended the staircase to the first floor. Mr. and Mrs. Howard were in the living room.

"My girls," Mrs. Howard said, smiling. "Y'all are beautiful."

"Thank you," Riley and Corinne replied simultaneously.

Mr. Howard came forward to hug the girls. "Have fun. Be careful."

Corinne rolled her eyes. "We will, Dad."

"We love y'all," Mrs. Howard cut in before Mr. Howard could go into total overprotective father mode.

Riley waved and the girls traipsed out to Mr. Howard's car. The class reunion was being held at the Trussville Country Club. Neither of the girls had ever stepped foot inside the place. This was where the wealthy spent their weekends, eating food that cost more than most people's cars and playing golf.

"We're going behind enemy lines," Corinne joked, parking the Sonata between a gleaming Mustang and some kind of Lincoln town car.

"Do you really think anyone we want to see will show up?" Riley questioned.

"Who knows?" Corinne's mouth twisted with concentration. "How about this: if no one we care about shows up in an hour, we leave and hit a liquor store."

Riley snickered. "Deal."

The two of them climbed from the car and started up the walk that led to the entrance.

"Riley? Riley Winters?" An auburn-haired woman that Riley didn't recognize was seated at a table to the left of the doors leading into the banquet room. "Oh, my God! And Corinne Howard?"

"Jesus," Corinne muttered so that only Riley could hear her. "I'm going to get sick of this rather quickly."

"It's Hannah," the woman pressed. "Hannah Birch? We had Biology together."

"Oh yeah!" Riley exclaimed. "Hi!"

Hannah smiled hugely. "How have you been?"

"Wonderful! And you?"

"Couldn't be better. Drew and I got married as soon as he got out of the military. We have a one-year-old daughter named Katherine."

"That's great," Riley said.

"We'll talk more later," Hannah said, glancing past Riley and Corinne at the group coming towards the table. "Here are your name tags."

Riley and Corinne stuck the name tags to their chests and went inside.

"You have no idea who she was, do you?" Corinne guessed.

"Not a clue," Riley confirmed. "Do you?"

Corinne shook her head. The girls wandered over to the refreshment table and fixed themselves cups of punch.

"Wish I had some rum to put in this," Riley mumbled, considering the red liquid in her cup.

When there was no response from Corinne, Riley looked over at her. Corinne was staring across the room.

"Cori? What is it?" Riley followed the other girl's gaze.

It was easy to see what had caught Corinne's attention. A man had just entered the room, an extremely tall man with pale skin and jet-black hair in a style straight out of the 80's. He was dressed in black jeans, a Guns N Roses tee, and black steel-toed boots. He didn't look like anyone else here, which perhaps explained why basically everybody was gaping at him.

"Damn," Riley murmured. "Who is he?"

Corinne shrugged. Right then, two more guys sauntered in from the entrance hall. They were obviously with the first man: one of them had a light tan, shoulder-length black hair, and had on leather pants with a sleeveless shirt that revealed tattoo-covered arms; the other had slightly unkempt magenta and black hair, a tan that was dark in comparison to his two friends, and was wearing a Steel Panther tour shirt paired with tight jeans.

The guy in the Steel Panther tee was familiar. Corinne studied him for a moment. "Is that--?" she broke off at the shout of "DAVID FUCKING LYNAM!"

Corinne, Riley, and everyone else watched Eric Lawson approach David and shake hands with him.

"Well...David's still cute," Corinne remarked.

"And he has some hot as hell friends," Riley added, eyeing both of the black haired guys with interest.

"Should we go say hi?"

"Let's wait a bit. He'll find us."

Corinne grinned. "You always did like being the one pursued rather than the one pursuing."

"That's because being hunted is an adrenaline rush."

"Especially when you're being hunted by a gorgeous man by the name of Andrew Biersack?"

A soft smile graced Riley's lips as she briefly recalled shooting pool with Andy the night they'd met. "Yeah."

"Fuck," Corinne swore. "Heads up."

Riley glanced around and realized a smiling brunette whose face she couldn't put with a name was coming towards them. Riley internally groaned. She wanted to catch up with David, but was it worth this?

**********

"Riley?"

Riley turned at the sound of the voice and found herself face to face with David Lynam. She smiled. "Hi, David."

"Hey!" He hugged her, then directed his attention to Corinne. "And I know this is Cori because you wouldn't be here without your partner-in-crime."

He and Corinne hugged, too.

"So, how have y'all been?" he inquired.

The three of them discussed what they had been up to since high school. David was currently the drummer for a band that had adopted his surname, Lynam. As David was telling about playing Motley Cruise 2008, his friends appeared out of the crowd.

"These are my band mates, by the way," David said. He gestured to the really pretty one with shoulder-length black hair. "This is Cody Elliott. He's from Florence. Cody, these lovely ladies are Corinne Howard and Riley Winters, two of our more alluring troublemakers."

Cody flashed a small, crooked smile that only served to enhance his beauty. Corinne caught Riley's eye and arched an eyebrow. Riley looked at the third man, intending to ask his name. She swallowed the question upon discovering a name tag on his shirt, which designated him as a classmate. Jacob Bunton?

Jacob was watching her face. He smiled. "Imagine me with shorter hair."

"What?" Riley said.

"You're trying to place me. Imagine me with shorter hair."

"And preppy clothes," David chimed in.

Riley blushed, embarrassed that they'd noticed her attempts to remember him. Corinne was now scrutinizing Jacob, too.

"Bluegrass was almost a nonentity in high school," David said. "Y'all aren't the only ones who didn't recognize him."

"Well, excuse me for being more interested in music than socializing," Jacob shot back. "It's why I'm better at guitar than you'll ever be at drumming."

David flipped him off.

"I've got it!" Corinne lit up. "You played 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' in the talent show our sophomore year."

Jacob nodded confirmation. Riley was shocked. This was the guy who had sung "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" so flawlessly in tenth grade? It couldn't be. That guy had been tall and gangly and, not that she had any room to judge, nerdy. There hadn't been a single attractive thing about him, except his voice. And now...

"Is your mind blown?" Jacob queried softly, unheard by any but Riley.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "You're just so...different."

"You can't know how different, since we spoke maybe twice the entire time we were in school together."

Riley met his eyes. They were a pure, stunning blue. Like Andy's.

"It's okay," Jacob commented. "I was the quiet one, always in the background. David was the one who loved the limelight."

"And are you the same way now?"

"Nah. On the stage, I come out of my shell." Jacob paused. "What do you do now?"

"I'm a music journalist in L.A."

"Awesome! Are you married?"

"Nope. And no kids, either." Riley took a sip of her punch. "What about you? Is there a Mrs. Bunton?"

Jacob shook his head. "Girls don't trust rock stars," he joked.

"I do," Riley said. "I'm dating a rock star."

"Anyone I'd know?"

"Andy Biersack from Black Veil Brides. Cori's with their drummer, Christian."

"I love those guys!" Jacob enthused.

Riley smirked. "It's the hair and makeup, right?"

Jacob chuckled. "I do think they look amazing. They remind me of--"

"KISS and Crüe," Riley guessed.

"You hear that a lot."

"We hear that all the time. They love it, though. Those are a couple of their idols."

"Ours, too," Jacob said.

"Hey!" David interrupted, beckoning Riley and Jacob closer to him, Cody, and Corinne. "C'mon. Let's go play in the pool."

"'Play in the pool?'" Riley repeated. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

David blinked his chocolate brown eyes innocently. "Why do you sound so suspicious, Riley? Don't you trust me?"

Corinne snorted as both Jacob and Cody laughed.

"Y'all were never opposed to getting into trouble in high school," David said, pouting at the two girls.

"The stakes were a lot lower back then," Corinne replied. "We have careers and reputations to maintain now."

"In freakin' California!" David protested. "We're not going to get caught and even if we do, who the hell is going to hear about it three thousand miles away!"

"We're not going to get caught doing what?" Riley demanded.

David grinned, dark eyes dancing with mischief. "I thought we could go skinny-dipping."

"Did you forget the part where we're dating Andy and CC from Black Veil Brides?" Corinne said.

"So?" David shrugged. "It's just skinny-dipping. I'm not inviting you back to the house for a fuck or anything."

"Let's do it," Cody urged.

Corinne and Riley exchanged a glance. The temptation was there. The girls weren't lured by the idea of naked guys, they were lured by the chance to do something a little wild and crazy. The girls hadn't been necessarily "well-behaved" in high school, but being around the members of Black Veil Brides had transformed them into full-blown adrenaline junkies. They would do almost anything that had the potential to be fun.

"Let's go," David said. He and Cody were already walking towards the doors at the back of the banquet room.

"What the hell," Corinne said, trailing after them.

Riley fell into step with her. Jacob hesitated a moment longer, then went with them.