"NO." I stared at myself in the mirror, eyes wide.
"Ahndra, come on," Marshal urged from outside my dorm room. "Everyone's going to be wearing dresses almost exactly like yours."
I tugged up on the bodice, but there was still so much skin showing. And the slit on the side? My stomach slithered to my heels. It was way too high.
"Marshal, I cannot go out in this!"
"Ahndra." He tried the door. It was locked. "Ana, open the door."
"I won't go," I protested. "I feel--naked!"
Marshal released a breath so deep I heard it through the door. "Okay. I guess we won't go then. I'll just tell Sally. . . . I'll just tell her something came up. Why don't you get changed and we'll go to dinner?"
But I remembered all-too-clearly the expression on Sally's face when I said Marshal and I would be coming. I balled my hands into fists and turned to the door to unlock it and step out. He turned from his examination of the far wall. He had dressed in a white tuxedo with a black bow-tie and cummerbund. He had a silver handkerchief in his breast pocket. He looked incredible.
And he smiled at me. "Hey beautiful."
I forced my hands away from my bodice and held his gaze. "I really don't like this."
He took my hands in his and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "I know, chicklit. Just don't think about it."
"Don't think about it?" I lowered my gaze to my chest. "My breasts are practically hanging out!"
Marshal laughed. "No they're not, Ahndra. Calm down." He tucked my arm around his. "Come on. I want to be there before Sally and Zell show up."