if there was any lipstick on my teeth. Then I bent over, ran my hands through my hair, and
fluffed the ends like I'd seen Jessica do. It looked good.
Unfortunately, it didn't feel good. Bending over had caused the thong to shift westward again.
Walking through the dining room, I could hear Connor talking, and when I got a view of the
foyer, I saw that the Princesses were standing one on either side of him, staring silently up at his
beautiful face. I guess they were too young to appreciate how great his body looked in a pair of
khakis and a dark blue sweater.
Connor saw me and whistled. "Hey, gorgeous," he said, looking me up and down. "Now, that's a dress." The Princesses looked over at me, and then Princess One nodded at Princess Two.
"You look pretty, Lucy," said Princess One.
I wasn't sure if they were going to follow up the compliment with an insult ("Yeah, pretty
slutty"). When neither of them added anything, I said, "Thanks." They returned to gazing adoringly at Connor.
Just then my dad and Mara came downstairs. She was wearing an apron, as if she'd been slaving
away at
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the stove all day, when really she'd spent the better part of the afternoon getting dressed, before
throwing some tinfoil-covered catered platters into the oven. As she came toward us, she
removed her apron, exposing her tiny, pink silk dress, which didn't look all that different from
mine. This could not be a good sign, but I couldn't figure out which of us shouldn't have been
dressed the way she was.
My dad did a double take when he saw what I was wearing, and for a second I was sure he was
going to tell me there was no way I was leaving the house looking like that. I almost wished he
would--my toes were throbbing. But then he just stuck out his hand. "You must be Connor," he
said. "It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, sir," said Connor, and even though it was a cheesy thing to say, I was glad
Connor had said it. I wanted tonight to be perfect, even if perfect meant full of clichés, like
Connor calling my dad sir.
"Lucy's told us so much about you," said Mara. This was a total lie. I hadn't even mentioned
Connor to Mara, and I'd barely told my dad anything about him, just said I was going out on a
date with a guy on the basketball team whose name was Connor. "Won't you come join us for a
drink?" she asked. She tucked his hand under her arm and led him through the arch that separates
the entrance foyer from the living room.
"Actually, we should probably get going," I said to their retreating backs.
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"Don't worry, we'll make it a quick drink," she said, laughing. She still had her hand on his,
practically stapling it to her arm. My dad followed them, and after a second, I did, too.
"What would you like, dear?" she asked, leading Connor over to the sofa. She was being so
solicitous I thought she might actually help him sit down, but at the last second she let him take
care of that on his own. "Shall I mix you a martini?" She laughed again, like she'd just heard the most amusing joke in the world.
Connor told her he'd have a Coke.
"Doug, honey, will you be a darling and get Connor a Coke?" While Mara might be willing to
take people's drink orders, she sure isn't going to hustle into the kitchen to fill them.
"Sure thing," said my dad, smiling.
I headed for one of the wing chairs, but as I attempted to sit, I suddenly realized my dress was
really short. Like, extremely short. Like, you'd-better-not-sit-down-unless-you're-prepared-to-
share-your-thong-with-the-entire-room short. I ended up sort of sliding onto the edge of the chair
and crossing my legs tightly, balancing my weight on my left foot.
Mara turned in my direction. "Lucy, what would you like?"
"I'm fine," I said. She seated herself next to Connor on the sofa, and a second later both
Princesses came in and sat down, something I'd never seen them do in all
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the months I'd lived with them. Had the World Wide Web crashed, leaving them without access
to instant messaging for the evening?
"So, you play basketball?" Mara asked, which answered my question of whether or not my dad
had told her Connor was on the team. "You know, Lucy's a huge basketball fan." She smiled
across the room at me. "Aren't you, Lucy?"
Was I really supposed to answer her question? Since she continued to smile at me and didn't say
anything else, I figured I was. "Sure am," I said, giving her a tight smile. She turned back to
Connor.
"It's unusual to see a girl so obsessed with sports," she said.
Unusual? Obsessed? I felt my hands clenching into fists.
"Yeah, it's really cool," said Connor. I couldn't tell if he'd deliberately misunderstood her insult or was sticking up for me on purpose, but either way, Mara suddenly decided to take a different
approach.
"Living with her and her father, I'm actually starting to care about the sport myself," she said. "I must be getting infected with March Madness."
The only March Madness I'd seen Mara infected with was her insane desire to lose five pounds
off her already skeletal frame before bathing-suit season.
"Yeah," said Princess Two, "Lucy makes it seem like basketball is really interesting. I want her to teach me all
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about it." She actually had the audacity to look at me as she said this, neglecting to mention that
in December she'd suggested I might be A) so tall and B) so interested in basketball because of
an undiagnosed hormonal imbalance.
"Drinks are served," said my dad, coming in with a tray. Princess One leaped to her feet;
skipping around the coffee table to grab the Coke for Connor, she just missed impaling herself
on a glass figurine.
"Thanks," he said, smiling at her.
"Okay," she said, not quite looking at him. Then she went back to the tray, which didn't have any glasses on it now that my dad and Mara had both taken their drinks.
"Lucy, don't you want a drink?" she asked. "I'll get you one."
Connor was smiling at Princess One with that look people get when they're simultaneously
amused and touched by a child's excellent manners. I, on the other hand, was smiling at her with
that look people get when they're pretty sure someone they know well has been replicated by
aliens.
"I'm fine," I said, my teeth clenched. Then in spite of myself I added, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," she said. "If you change your mind, just let me know."
This was all getting to be a little too much for me, and I stood up. "We should go," I said.
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"But Connor hasn't even had a chance to drink his Coke," said Mara, touching him on the sleeve.
My flesh crawled.
"That's okay, Mrs. Norton," said Connor, taking a big swig and smiling at her. "Lucy's right." He stood up, and the Princesses jumped to their feet. After a second, my dad and Mara both stood
up, too.
"It was nice meeting you," Connor said to my father.
"You too," said my dad. He looked from me to Mara like he wished we weren't dressed quite so
identically. Then he shook Connor's hand again. "Enjoy your dinner," he said to him.
"Yes," said Mara, taking his hand and half holding, half shaking it. "Enjoy your dinner." Then she looked over at me and back at Connor. "And take care of our girl."