In a Rush (Friendship, Rhode Island #2)

by Kate Canterbary

“Wait, wait just a second,” I said, carefully gathering my skirt. I tried descending the step again, but I felt the same tension in the dress that screamed I’m gonna rip! “What’s wrong?” he asked, staring down the curve of the stairwell. I pulled the skirt up as high as the fabric would allow—which wasn’t much. Still no progress. “I guess I should’ve gotten dressed on the sidewalk.” “Emme,” he sighed. “I don’t know what that means.” I drew in a shallow breath because it was all I could manage with this skirt bunched all the way up to my knees and the bodice slicing into my rib cage. “There’s not enough room in this skirt to make it down the stairs. They’re too steep and the dress is too tight.” “Fuck it,” he growled. “We’ll stay here. We don’t need to go to this thing.” “That is not the answer,” I said at the same moment Ines cried, “But the cape!” “You said this was important,” I continued. “That you needed to be at this event.” “It costs five thousand dollars to attend,” Ines said. “Oh, we’re going,” I said. “I am surgically attached to this dress, my hair’s been blown out, and I have twenty-nine different products on my face. We are going to this party even if I have to parachute out a window.”