Not Perfect, Laura Banister [book club suggestions .txt] 📗

A giggle from the wardrobe startled me.

“I remember wearing this when I lost my V plates”. Emily stepped out of the cupboard holding a dark blue halter-neck short dress. “Year 8, Jayden Wallace, on the beach”. Her eyes dazed with the memory of her first sexual encounter. She smiled sweetly before tossing the dress at me.

“Here, you wear it, it’ll help you get lucky” Emily always enjoyed teasing me at the fact that I was still a virgin at 16 and she wasn’t. I laughed as I caught the dress before it hit my face, then gave her a disgusted look.

“I don’t think so Emily. It must have too many shocking memories of that night that I seriously don’t want to know about”. Emily giggle, snatching the dress from my hands and hanging it back up in the wardrobe. She continued searching her cupboard as I sat quietly on the edge of her bed looking around her room. Her room was large, and pink; pink walls, pink bed sheets, pink curtains, pink everything. A large double bed sat in the middle of her room, a study table to the right and a walk-in wardrobe to the left that held so many clothes in it, you’d think it was a shopping mall.

“I have it!” she called out from the back of the wardrobe, stepping out with two dresses in her hand. One was a short, sparkling, strapless, pink dress, with purple swirls on it. The other was a short, plain, strapless red dress. Emily held the pink dress up to her body.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“On you… Very sexy” I answered back giggling. She laughed and tossed the red dress at me.

“Never been worn” she said as I caught the dress. I stood up and held the dress to my body, looking at it in the wardrobe mirror. Emily’s whistle suddenly made me turn just in time to catch the pair if silver diamond studded stilettos she threw at me. They were brand new, never been worn. The tag was even still on them. I carefully tore the tag off, not wanting to look at the price of them. I hated wearing expensive things, but it seemed like that’s all Emily ever had.  Her mum gave her everything she wanted, or rather, gave Emily the money to buy whatever she pleased.

“Come on, lets go for a shower” Emily was already half way out the door with her pink fluffy towel before her words reached me. I quickly tossed the dress and shoes to the bed before running out behind her.

Emily lived in a large, two story white house, with a red roof and door, and yellow and white roses growing out front. She lived with her mother, Christy, and her older brother, Jake. Emily’s father died when she was nine. He had a fight with Christy that night, and decided to go down to the local pub, have a few drinks and calm down, but by the time he left, he was almost to drunk to drive, and crashed into the lake, drowning himself. Their house was a four bedroom, two bathroom house, and Emily’s and Jake’s rooms were on the top floor. Christy had her room on the ground floor. Emily’s room was to the right of the stairs, the bathroom in the middle, and Jake’s room was to the left.

“Hey Jake”. Emily snapped me out of me day dream. I was still in the shower, the hot water rinsing over my skin. Emily was at the bathroom door, her towel wrapped around her as her hair dripped to the floor.

“What do you want Emily?” Jake’s voice was deep, but sweet, even when he sounded bored.

“Are you going to Ashton’s tonight?” Oblivious it seemed to anyone else but me, that her voice always seemed to get a little higher whenever Emily said his name. Ashton had short brown hair, with dark blue eyes and, as Emily like to say, “the body of a god”. He was muscular, and fit, with a slight tan and the biggest hands I’d ever seen on a guy. He said it was because he played bass in his band, though he never talked much about the band.

“Emily, his my best mate. Course I’m going”

“Good, me and Sienna are coming with you then”. To me, Emily always sounded demanding with her brother, with everyone actually.

“Well I’m going with Adam so..”

“Cool, so we’ll all go together”

“We will if youse girl will hurry up in the bathroom” A door slammed shut just as I shut the water off. Jake was getting frustrated with her. I heard Emily giggle as she closed the door. I quickly climbed out from the shower and wrapped myself in a towel. Emily begun blow drying her hair, a large grin displayed across her face. As I begun to run the brush through my hair, I let my mind wander to thoughts about Emily and I.

Emily Chase. We had met in year 10, she was my first friend, ever. Emily was tall, with long legs and an amazing figure. She wasn’t thin but she wasn’t fat either, just like I am, we were healthy looking. We almost looked like twins due to us both having long, straight, pure blonde hair, only, the past few months, her hair had begun to go dark. She had dark blue eyes, darker then the ocean, and bright pink lips that were always covered in lip gloss, whereas, I had bright green eyes and blood red lips that always made people think I had been drinking blood. Emily and I were the same size in all our clothes and shoes, except for bras. Emily was only jealous about two things; my house and my boobs- they were bigger then hers. But aside from them, she liked everything about me. She taught me how to socialize with everyone and got me to meet new people. While I was the shy, quiet type of person, Emily was the loud, party-all-the-time type of girl. She was a rebel girl, 16 years old and she was drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and whatever else she could get her hands on. Christy, was an alcoholic, had been since Emily’s father died, and had never paid very much attention to what she did. Apart from me, the only other person that cared about her, was Jake. Jake was tall as well, with beach blonde short hair, a strong build and a perfect tan. He was 19 years old and worked as a mechanic at the local car repairs. Emily never knew, but Jake really had an effect on me, I really liked him, though I would never had admitted it, just like she wouldn’t admit her feelings about Ashton.

“Leave your hair out” Emily voice startled me out of my thoughts.

“What?”

“Leave your hair out, let it hang down” Away with my thoughts, I hadn’t realised that I was tying my hair back into its usual high pony tail. I quickly dropped my hair and shook my hair so it would hang loosely around me. A loud bang against the door made me jump.

“Ok, Ok, we’re finished, hold on a sec” Emily rolled her eyes, and tightened her towel around her before turning towards the door. Jake was standing outside the door waiting with his arms crossed over his chest.

“’Bout bloody time” He said as Emily opened the door. Emily smirked at him as she walked off towards her bedroom, leaving me lagging behind when I notice Jake wasn’t wearing a shirt, his stomach and chest muscles exposed for me to see. I looked up at him to see he was watching me staring, winking at me as I turned red in the face and ran towards Emily’s room, turning back just in time to see him walk in to the bathroom.

People were everywhere, anyway I turned, someone would be right there, a drink in their hand, and just about screaming at each other to hear over the music. We had been here ten minutes, and I’d already lost Emily. Weaving through the bodies, I tried to find someone I knew. I reached what looked like the kitchen, where people were lining up shots of tequila. I heard someone call out my name suddenly. I turned around looking to find who called my name, when a hand closed around my wrist and pulled me into the kitchen. It was Ashton, a big smile across his face, and a look in his eyes that reminded me of a little kid with a lollipop.

“I’m glad you’re here Sienna. Have a shot with me?” His breath reeked of alcohol and before I could say anything, he was pressing the shot glass to my lips. I swallowed back the shot, hearing the cheers from the people around me, calling out “again”. Another shot was pressed to my lips before the first was fully down. Again I swallowed back the second shot. After another three shots, I couldn’t take anymore.

“Where’s Emily?” I yelled towards Ashton. He shrugged and shook his head.

“Haven’t seen her” he yelled back.

“I’m gonna go find her” I called back. I felt Ashton close his arm around my waist before I even moved.

“One more shot with me first” He said into my ear, the shot already at my lips. I quickly swallowed it back and ran off before they could get another to my lips. I wandered around the house, people handing me drinks along the way. I finally found myself out in the back yard, no Emily still in sight. I could feel my head pounding in my head, and my legs aching. Where could she be? My body began to shake, and I realised I was laughing, for no reason at all.

“What are you laughing at?” A voice behind me made me stop. I turn around to see Jake staring at me, a big smile on his face.

“I don’t know actually” I giggle. I can feel my cheeks starting to burn in embarrassment. I watch as Jake shakes his head, a small giggle escaping him that almost makes my legs give out from beneath me.

“How much have you had to drink so far?” His eyes questioning me more than his mouth.

“Umm… I don’t know. Wasn’t exactly counting” My giggling responses made me think I was flirting, and by the look he gave me, told me I was doing just that. He stepped towards me, a few more steps and he was directly in front of me.

“So, how are you feeling?” his hand reached up, brushing my hair behind my ear.

“A little dizzy… But I can’t find your sister” I still wanted to find Emily, but in that moment, I wanted to be with Jake more.

“She’s inside with Ashton at the moment” I could feel the warm of his breath on my face, the smell of alcohol stinging in my nostrils. I could feel my legs wobbling beneath me as his eyes burned into mine, like he could see every single piece of me, of my past.

“Walk with me?” His