“Yes. You’re thinking it might be a little too much.”

Oh, she’s quite good.

“But trust me, you look hot, Aundrea. All the guys will be lined up to buy you drinks tonight!” Smiling at me devilishly, she adds, “And you know we like boys who buy us drinks.” Jean takes one last look at me before turning on her high heels and walking back into my room.

I get up from the vanity bench and follow her into my bedroom. “Where are you going?”

Ignoring me, she makes her way into my closet, flipping through my small selection of clothes. “You can’t wear what you have on.”

Looking down at my jeans and off-the-shoulder orange top, I ask, “What’s wrong with what I have on?”

“You need something sexy.”

“Sexy? I don’t do sexy.”

She pulls out a few shirts, holding them up to me. Shaking her head, she starts digging through the suitcase she brought with her for the night. She has enough clothes to dress every female in her dorm. The woman loves clothes, and clothes love her.

Jean is going to school to become a fashion designer at the University of Minnesota and I just moved in with my sister, Genna, and her husband, so this is the first time I’ve seen her in two weeks.

I watch as she pulls out a black piece of cloth. Turning to face me, she throws it my way, hitting me square in the face as I try to act fast to catch it. “Put that on. I think I saw some red pumps in your closet that will go perfectly with it.”

I hold up the small piece of fabric with wide eyes, stretching it. Is this supposed to be a shirt or a dress? Maybe it’s a skirt? I can’t tell.

As if she can read my thoughts, she answers, “It’s a dress.”

“You have got to be kidding me. What size is this? This won’t even cover my ass!”

Jean is a size four. I’m a size six on a good day. For some ungodly reason, she always thinks I can “squeeze” into her clothes.

“Dre! Stop over-thinking everything. You look great, and this dress, paired with your red shoes, will look even better!”

I cannot believe she talked me into going dancing tonight. Of all the things we could do while she visits me, she chooses that.

“I thought we’d go dancing. Jump around, listen to you scream out the wrong lyrics to the song … who knows, maybe you’ll even get a guy to buy you a drink with those fancy dance moves!” she’d said.

“Jean, seriously, this dress looks as if it was made for a ninth grader. It’s not going to fit me!” Somehow, whenever I let her dress me up, I end up looking like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, minus the red hair.

She snatches it from my hands, holding it out in front of her and stretching it more. “Relax, one of my sisters loaned it to me.” Sisters? She’s the only girl out of four children. I still have a hard time hearing her refer to the women in her sorority as her sisters. “See? It’s spandex. It’ll fit. Go. Put. It. On.” She throws it back at me, hitting me in the face for the second time. It’s strapless and simple with a little lace embroidered up the right side.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, I respond, a little annoyed. “Just because it stretches”—I stretch the dress in the air like she did—“doesn’t mean it will fit me the same as you. You do realize I have seven inches on you?”

Standing at five foot nine, I’m the tallest of my friends. It doesn’t help that my best friend and sister are both five-two, so when I stand next to them, especially if I’m wearing heels, I look like a giraffe.

“So? It will be a little short. You’ll fit right in!” She puts her hands on my shoulders and gives me a slight push toward the bathroom. “Stop being over-dramatic. You have a great ass, Aundrea. If you happen to show a little cheek, you’ll be doing everyone a favor. Trust me. Now hurry! I told Shannon we’d be there at nine and it’s quarter to, so chop chop!” She spanks me on the ass when she says the last part.

Groaning in defeat, I stomp into the bathroom to put on the shortest black dress I will ever wear in this lifetime. And, let it be known, it will be the last.

Speaking through the closed door, I ask, “We’re meeting Shannon?”

“Yeah! Hope that’s okay. I thought it might be fun to make it a girls’ night. She wants to see you too.”

Shannon works for my brother in law, Jason. He owns his own Veterinary Clinic here in Rochester. She’s one of the three vet techs in the small clinic. I’ve known her for a while, but we’re not close. Jean and I came to visit Genna for a weekend earlier this summer and the four of us went out a couple times. We got along well, but she clicked with Jean right away.

“Sure. That should be fun.”

I walk out of the bathroom and Jean’s face instantly brightens. “Aundrea, you look so good! Freaking hot! If someone doesn’t try to pick you up tonight, I will … but you need a strapless bra. You can’t go out with your straps hanging out like that.”

“I figured I’d tuck them in. I don’t think I brought any strapless bras from home. Besides, I don’t think I’d find one in those boxes even if I did.”

“I have a few.”

“Yeah, like those will fit me! I’ll be busting out all over the place.”

“Even better.”

I roll my eyes at her back.

Jean tosses me a black strapless bra. Instead of going back into the bathroom, I turn around and face the wall to lower the dress to my waist. Unsnapping my bra, I drop it to the floor while glancing down at her 32-B cup. This is supposed to cover my 34-C cup? This will never work.