The Wallflower Ch. 06

"Uh huh. And what were you think of wearing, Ms. Cowgirl?"

Lily shrugged. "I don't know. A simple T-shirt and jeans."

"Dude...do not show up in that."

"What's wrong with that? It's simple. It's not too boring and it's not too extravagant. Plus ...I could never even imagine myself looking good in that."

Vanessa put her hands on her hip in her famous "No-nonsense" pose. "Honey, you have whined and cried to me ever since I've known you about how you think you're ugly and how guys don't think you're attractive. I've seen you bring yourself down time after time. You need to stop doing that. Step out of your cramped little box and stop filling your mind with these lies that people have put into your head. Try something new. And it begins here." Vanessa broke out into a smile.

"What do you mean?" Lily looked at her not convinced at all.

"Pick out an outfit that shows off your body. And don't you dare say 'what body?' like you don't have a clue what I'm talking about. You know what. Go inside the dressing room."

Before she could say anything else, Vanessa dragged her by the hand to a store employee to open a dressing room door for her. Vanessa put her in the dressing room, asked her size, and went back out to go searching for some clothes.

Lily sat in the changing room dumbfounded. The words Vanessa had said hadn't really sunk in yet. Then again when had Vanessa's encouraging words ever sunk into Lily's thick skulled stubbornness? But then again, Vanessa also never forced her into a changing room to make her think about what she just said. Had Lily been really that much of a downer for all these years? But all Lily was doing was stating facts. A day didn't go by in high school when she wasn't reminded by Brandon's words. At first, she didn't believe him, but then again she looked around her and noticed the way people would stare at her look st her and then whisper in the halls. Then there was the fact that she had never been flirted with by any guy, let alone ever had a boyfriend. Vanessa was her only friend. Except for Vanessa, no one would attempt to even talk to her. So what Brandon said about her had to be true. She was ugly and no one would want her.

Changing clothes wouldn't change a thing. It would only be like changing the name of a cactus into a rose, but it wouldn't matter because no one would want it.

Just as she came to that sad realization, Vanessa burst through the door and hung at least a dozen outfits on the hanger. "I want you to put these on, and when you have one on, come out here and model it for me," Vanessa said, bouncing from excitement. "If it doesn't fit, drape it over the door, so I can find another size."

Lily took a quick glance over the outfits. They were all short, short, and super short. "Vanessa, I can't go out in this," Lily whined. "People will stare."

"That's the point." With a look of finality, Vanessa closed the door behind her.

Lily looked over at the outfits and decided to just go in order. The first one was a simple short dress with black, read, and white stripes on the top and a solid black skirt with high red heels. Lily changed into it quickly before turning around to look at herself in the mirror. The dress fitted snugly against her. Actually, a little too snug in the bottom area. When she turned around, she noticed that the seams were straining to keep her butt inside the dress.

"Vanessa..." Lily called.

"Yeah?"

"I can't come out like this."

"Hon, we've been over this." Vanessa exasperated. "Just let me look."

"Vanessa, if I move, I'm probably going to break the dress." Lily heard Vanessa walk over to her dressing room before she opened the door.

"Lily...you may be right," Vanessa said strongly but then tapered off as she saw Lily basically stuffed into the dress. She turned Lily around so she could see. "I need to find you some bottoms that will stretch. Damn, you have a ghetto booty."

Lily rolled her eyes."Vanessa, you can be such a guy sometimes."

Vanessa stuck her tongue out at her. "Only stating the obvious, hon. Just take that one off and try on the other ones."

The same result went on for all the clothes Vanessa brought her. It was either it was too form fitting that it threatened to burst out of the clothes or Lily couldn't even put the clothes on because it wouldn't go past her thighs or hips. The cycle became so tedious after awhile that Lily begged Vanessa to give up and just go to another store. But of course Vanessa being hell bent on finding Lily a dress, she refused. Finally after an hour later, Vanessa found the dress.

It was an apricot dress that had a stretchy black skirt attached. The top part of the dress was form fitted and had a hole in the middle where the navel should show through. The top wasn't too low, but was still low enough to show some cleavage. When Lily put it on, she could only gawk at herself. She looked...like a woman. She looked feminine. She looked beautiful. The dress showed off curves that she had no idea she had. The apricot color complimented her smooth dark chocolate skin as it brought attention to her small cleavage that led to a small waist. As her eyes slid further down, she noticed the hem of the dress rested at the bottom of her thick thighs.Thighs that she had kept hidden under unflattering clothes. She turned to the side and felt her body heat up as she noticed how her butt pushed out against the fabric, giving it a nice smooth rounded look.

"Would you c'mon out here, girl," Vanessa yelled, banging on the fitting room door. Lily opened the door and slowly came out of the dressing room. Vanessa looked at her with an accomplished smile. "See, I told you I could find a dress that would make you look good. Now all we need are some shoes, makeup and accessories."

Lily nearly groaned out loud from hearing that. It took them nearly an hour just to find the dress alone. It would be a long day of shopping before she got to go home.

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'Thank the Lord, I'm finished.' Lily thought as she walked into the house. Lily had never been so glad in her whole entire life to be home. She trudged up the stairs slowly with her load of shopping bags. They went to so many stores that Lily could go the rest of her life without setting foot in another store. And all just to find one outfit that she was probably going to wear once at some party.

'If I have to go through all this trouble just for one party, I'd rather stay home.' She slowly trudged up the stairs and into her room. She dropped all the bags near her bed and flopped onto her bed. Her nice sweet soft bed. She closed her eyes peacefully as she marveled in its softness.

"Hey cowgirl, what's in the bag?"

'Well it was nice to enjoy the relaxation while it lasted'.

"Not now, Nicholas," Lily groaned into her pillow.

Lily heard the flicks of Nicholas's lighter going off. She turned her body around to see him at the foot of her bed, lighting a blunt. He took a long drag before looking back at her. His eyes drooped to half mast as he looked back at her.

"Where have you been all day?" he asked puffing on his blunt.

"Why do you care?

"I don't. Just wondering."

"I went shopping,"

"For what?"

"Clothes."

"Why?"

"Nicholas, you're being a pain!" Lily exasperated, glaring straight into his eyes. He only looked back at her as if she hadn't just yelled at him.

Nicholas shrugged lazily as he let out a fog of smoke from his nose. "Just trying to be friendly for once."

Friendly? That word and Nicholas didn't go together unless he was being "friendly" with Anna Belle. Now that she thought about it, the friendliest thing he'd done so far is that he stayed true to his word and kept that chick away from the house. But other than that, Lily could never think of an instance where Nicholas tried to strike up a friendly conversation.

Lily looked at him suspiciously as searched his eyes. It was hard to read them since his eyes were full of purple haze and seemed to be swimming in smoke. 'Hmm...'

"Nicholas, what do you want?" Lily said bluntly.

"Nothing. Well...actually I just want to go back to sense of normality."

"Nicholas, you've been possessed by a spirit every day. You work in a tattoo parlor. And you're a pervert...Your life wasn't normal in the first place."

"I'm a flirt. There's a difference. And it's my sense of normality that I'm talking about." He playfully stuck out his tongue while blowing smoke out of his mouth. "I was just thinking about what you said yesterday about not being ...physical with you. I just thought, we don't have to treat each other like we both don't exist, let alone live in the same room. I promise not to touch you or anything. But don't go thinking I won't say something flirty and that I won't stop saying what's on my mind."

'So basically you're still going to be an asshole...' But Lily took what she could get. At least Nicholas wouldn't be feeling all over her.

"But, I can't make any promises that HE won't touch you," Nicholas said, looking down at the ground as he continued to take a drag. All the hope that Lily had vanished instantly.

"Can't you just repress him? I mean it's your body."

Nicholas's eyes slowly darkened to an onyx color as his eyes gazed back up at her. Lily cringed as she shrunk away from him. His hands looked like they were beginning to twitch as he took the blunt away from his lips.

"It's my body, but it's not in my control. Let me tell you something." A pause of silence followed him as he walked towards Lily. Each step resounding with ominosity. "This is not like one of those stupid possession movies or some Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde shit. You can't scrunch your face up really hard and concentrate then you can just -" he made a random dramatic motion with his blunt to signify the preposterousness of the whole idea. "Then you can just have complete control over your body. It doesn't work that way. I know because I have tried so many ways to be in control, but I fail time and time again. When your soul is locked in one body with someone else's...the dominant one has control."

"So what am I supposed to do about him when he takes over?"

A silence passed over them.

"Just do what you've always been doing."

And with that, he walked out of the room, leaving her lying on the bed. What she had always been doing? Lily sat up and thought about it for some time. The Spirit said something similar today. The only thing she could make out of it was what the Spirit already told her. Today wasn't the first time he had taken over Nicholas's body without her knowing.

Now Nicholas was repeating the same obscurities. She couldn't ignore it this time. Now what were the clues the Spirit gave her? He talked about the times Nicholas had touched her. And then he talked about the times he sadistically played his "games" with her. The only way she could tell that Nicholas was possessed was the glowing red eyes. She remembered distinctly how he had forced her to look into his eyes as he stroke fear into her heart, reducing her to a hysterical mess.

But that didn't happen when Nicholas had fondled and kissed her for the first time. It was intense and...well hot. Her whole body grew hot just from remembering. 'Stop thinking about it, you idiot. Focus!' What did these two have in common? And why was this all so important?

She scrolled down the mental list of things it could possibly be. The room? No, the kiss was in the kitchen unlike the other clues. Nicholas's slack of sobriety? No, he was sober when he was forced to do those sadistic games. After awhile, she began grasping at any possibility. The time of day. The mood he was in. The subject they were talking about. If he had changed moods. She even thought of the clothes he wore because she was running out of possibilities. Whatever it was, it was so small that it went without detection.

"What could it have been," she said to herself as she mentally replayed the scenes in her head. She analyzed every detail of her memory of these clues. There didn't seem to be any commonalities.

But then it hit her.

Analyze today's session with the Spirit.

She played back the scene in her head. She knew it was Nicholas who bandaged her hand. She knew that because of the enraged fiery gray glare he gave her when he caught her holding the knife. His tone and mood was serious and lacked any of his usual playfulness. Even when given multiple chances to make a flirtatious joke, he shot all of them down by giving a serious response. But then when he was finished, that's when his attitude suddenly changed. He had asked to kiss her finger. That's when the Spirit took over.

But Lily had simply passed it off as Nicholas disobeying her wishes and trying to test his limits. But changing moods didn't match up with the time he cornered her in the bathroom or when he kissed her for the first time. So there was something else she was missing.

If the Spirit took over when he kissed her finger, then why didn't she notice the red eyes? He was too close for her to see anything, but even when he raised his head away from hers, his head wad tipped downward and his hair was concealing his eyes. And all the times Nicholas had touched her...she could never remember seeing his eyes.

'That can't be right...I remember looking at his eyes when he touched..' But when she tried to dredge up the memory of how his eyes looked when he first touched her, all she could see was his black hair covering where his eyes should have been. But it was so dark, the red eyes should have been a dead giveaway. But then she remembered the bathroom door had been open and that the light was on. His red eyes wouldn't have shown.

The time when he had kissed her, she also didn't remember seeing his eyes. She was so deep in thought that she didn't look into his eyes. He had just kissed her out of the blue. Yes, he had lifted her chin, but she never saw his eyes.

Lily clutched at her chest as she began hyperventilating. 'Oh...my...God! WHAT THE HELL!?'

The door closed. She looked up at the door, but all she could see was red. "Took you long enough, Lily. I knew you'd figure it out."

"H-How long...-"

"The whole time. Again you were so lost in your own thoughts and your own problems that you are negligent of what is happening in the world around you." He walked towards her bed and sat down beside her. "But I will say...that it is also your...weakness. Your eyes are opened but closed to the truth that you are so blinded to." He tried to slip his hand up Lily's leg, but she scrambled her way to the other side of the bed.

"Why are you here?" she said through clenched teeth.

"I was waiting till you finally got it," he said beginning to stalk up the bed towards her. His stance was predatory as he crawled on his arms and legs and his eyes narrowed keenly on her. The length of his body began to cover hers. Lily started to push against his chest, but it only encouraged him to get nearer. "Now tell me... what is it that you figured it out? I want to hear it out loud."

"Nicholas...never...touched me. It was all you." A smirk crossed his lips.

"Yes...I took control of him when I knew your guard was down, like it was a few minutes ago. But now,...I see no reason to hide behind this body anymore."

"No...I refuse."

"Are you sure, Lily? You haven't even heard what I was going to say."

"I already know what you want from me. You want me to be your sex slave. And I refuse." She openly glared at him.

"Why do you think that?" He looked back at her dumbfounded. For once his red eyes looked lost and confused.

'If that isn't it, then why the hell are you making it sound like you're about to make me have sex with you! I mean you're on top of me and everything!'

"Even if I were to ask that of you, you signed the contract to appease me." He cracked a wolfish smile as he gazed at her. The smile sent a shiver down her back. "But no, I just wish to have a companion. Someone to talk to." He lifted his body off of her and sat on the bed.

"You mean a girlfriend."

"No, a companion. As you would say, a friend." He got off her bed and walked towards his own. "But as a reminder, just because I wish you to be my friend, does not mean I will not severely punish you."

'Oh yeah, that makes me feel so much better.' She turned her body over as she fell asleep.

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'Wow.'

Lily looked at the woman in front of her. Everything about her was flawless. The woman's skin was that of smooth sweet dark chocolate that had a natural warm glow about her. Her face was feminine with her full pouty lips and her dark eyes. The make-up she wore illuminated her face as golden stardust was sprinkled around her bright eyes and her lips shimmered with clear gloss, making them look all the more kissable. Her waist- length hair was cascaded in ringlets , which framed her face as if it was a halo. Lily always wanted to look like that kind of woman. The kind that was perfect in every way. To be a true woman.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Lily, get out of the bathroom!" Nicholas yelled. "I've been out here for two hours waiting to go to the bathroom while you've been playing dress up!"

"Leave me alone, Nicholas!" Lily yelled back.

"I'll leave you alone when you get out of the bathroom!"

Lily let out a sigh as she did another once over of herself. Although she was new to the whole "normal woman" thing, she did pretty well with her makeup. It was very minimal. All she really put on was some light foundation, eye shadow, and lip gloss.

She stood back to look at the rest of herself. She wore the slightly revealing (who was she kidding, it revealed everything) dress that gave her small chest a full deep cleavage. To keep her boobs from being the main attraction of the whole dress, she bought a chained necklace with golden feathers that fell in the center of her chest. The dress led down to her small tight waist that revealed her navel. From there the bottom of the dress reached down to the bottom of her thigh. She still tugged at her dress, feeling like her dress would ride all the way up her butt at any moment. But when she turned her body to the side, it showcased her full butt snugly. Further down, her toned legs were newly waxed and soft to the touch due to the cocoa butter lotion. The golden high heels she bought finished the whole look and showed off her legs.

Content with her appearance, she gave her hair one last fluff before turning around and opening the door.

"It's about fucking-" Nicholas stopped short as he looked at Lily from head to toe. Lily felt her whole body heat up as he felt his gaze roam across her body. She looked down at her feet and crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for him to move. When she stood there for awhile, she raised her head and looked him in the eye.

"I thought you had to pee," she said.

"I did. Now, I don't feel like it," he said smiling.

Lily scoffed as she went around him to get her purse.

"What happened to your bookworm glasses?" Nicholas asked.

"I got contacts."

"Oh. Well...you look nice." Lily looked back at him behind her shoulder, and she swore Nicholas was blushing. It made her smile a little that big, old, asshole Nick was blushing.

"I won't be back for awhile, so don't wait up for me," Lily said, placing the strap over her shoulder.

"Whatever. " Nicholas moved towards the bathroom. "And I'm not the one you should be concerned about waiting up for you." With that, he closed the door behind him.