1 Welcome to New York City

The alarm clock was going off a few minutes before my senses slowly started returning. I removed my eye mask and threw my right hand at the snooze button. Huh, first morning in the greatest city in the World! I jumped out of the bed almost instantly, I couldn't miss the best view of the sunrise from my bedroom window for the world. Truly breathtaking, I thought to myself.

I moved from Toronto after the offer that I was waiting for so long, finally came. I will be the assistant editor of a publishing house in the city, well, some day I think I will be an author myself.

This apartment was a dream come true for me, a luxury studio apartment with a very affordable price just because my friend was renting this out and she wanted someone who would take care of the place as their own. Well, being a Virgo comes with many positives as well as negatives and being a neat freak is both good and bad, it turned out good for this once.

My room lit up in a golden hue as the sun slowly peaked over the buildings, I soaked it in with a deep breath feeling so grateful for this new turn of life.

"Oh no, I have nothing to wear for tonight's party! I think I should just skip!" I thought as I looked at my calendar on the bedside table.

I will call Carol and tell her that I am not feeling that well. I thought and picked up my cell and clicked on her contact. But then I noticed that Carol had already sent something last night. I thought it is best to check what she sent before talking to her. I opened the inbox and saw pictures of two dresses, one in red and one in black, and I understood she was asking me to choose the best one for the party tonight.

Hell! She won't let me back out anymore. I went on and typed "the red one looked good". In a few seconds, she responds asking, "what are you wearing?".

Damn! That is exactly what I was thinking. I ran towards my wardrobe and brushed through all the party wears I had in store. I am not really a party person and I never had been out for a few months because of the strenuous application process for this new work and of course I am a workaholic. Carol really wanted to attend this party and do some socializing since she thought I am being too uptight lately.

"Ah! I have nothing to wear!" I announced as soon as Carol picked up my call.

I knew what Carol would be saying, I knew her from more than four years now. She is that extrovert you find in the class who gladly adopts an introvert, thankfully she chose me. I used to be that girl who was socially awkward, sat with a 500-page book in a corner of the classroom.

My anxiety told me that everyone hates me, which prevented me from starting a conversation with anyone. Carol came up to me for the first time when we were put together in a group project and she realized for the first time that I was not someone everyone thought I was. Since then, she never left my side and became my lifesaver for the rest of my college days.

I picked the call and heard her scream, "Well babe, welcome to New York City first of all and guess what, we are going shoppiiiinngggg!!!!" And I sighed knowing this was going to be a looong day.

She picked me around 2pm from my apartment and we headed straight to the mall in Brooklyn. The store was pretty full as we looked around through different racks trying to see which one would suit me the best. Carol kept on showing me A-line party dresses which were too revealing for me. I always have been a coy, modest dresser but Carol always disapproved of my choice of clothes.

"Okay, listen babe! You are too uptight! This party is really high-end. I am surprised that we even got invited so let's keep our hotness meter matching the party standards." Karen preached as I dived in through the rack which had bodycon dresses. I rolled my eyes and nodded at her in agreement.

Carol grins and picks out a dress which was off-shoulder with black feathers stuck to a very shiny fabric on the breast area. It was a very short dress that covered my bottoms just enough. I gave her a questioning look, it was clearly not my type of dress.

"I am not even trying that dress, Carol! Are you kidding me?" She handed me the dress forcefully and pushed me to the trial room. "What is wrong in trying it out?"

I walked into the trail room almost dragging myself without any will to try that outfit on. Well what can I do if I have such a pushy friend? Apparently, I think she is expecting to see some celebs or something at the party. Typical! I changed into that dress and dared not to look at myself in the mirror. Yet.

"Come in, Carol!" I called out to her. I heard no response so I opened the door and peered to find my stupid ass friend, I cursed her under my breath for making me do all this! I inched even harder as she was completely out of my sight all of a sudden. Where is this woman?

I got myself out of the cabin and Carol was standing right behind the door which I noticed when she pushed me completely out of the room. I noticed all the guys, even girls were checking me out. My cheeks turned crimson red with a burning feeling all over.

"See.. I told you! You deserve some eyes over you, gurl!" Carol laughed. I felt so uncomfortable that I wished I could just drown myself in my own shame.

I ran back into the cabin pushing Carol out of the way as she continued to laugh her ass off. I picked my clothes and started to unzip the dress but I thought, why don't I look at myself before I got rid of it off my body. And my jaw was left open for literally a minute.

I couldn't believe my eyes that I looked this perfect. I checked myself in all angles and a surge of confidence washed over me, making me smile with a tinge of natural blush forming around my cheeks, but this time, it was not out of fear or shame. There was something missing though, I put my hand on my messy bun and put down my black curly hair over my shoulders and I knew this is it.

I got out of the cabin with a smile, which surprised Carol. "Wait! Are you smiling? Did you decide to buy?" I nodded and walked right off to the billing section. She began jumping up and down in triumph.

"We need to get the right shoes for this beauty now." She said pointing at the bag which had my newly bought dress. I gave her a look because she was standing right outside the greatest luxury shoe store.

She turned around excited and pushed open the door to the world of most expensive and best shoes in the world. I picked beautiful silver stilettos which I knew would be perfect with the dress. "Babe, you gonna kill this party!" Carol said as we got the shoes packed as well.

I arrived at my apartment back at five in the evening knowing that I had so much to do before the party time. We had to be there by at least by eight and Carol takes so long to finally feel ready to make an appearance.

I made my way straight to the washroom and changed into a towel to begin the most requited routine before a night out. The sound of razor echoed through my apartment for about an hour. Being single it was quite long that I didn't care about hair growth on my body. I checked the time on my phone and I am left with two and half hours to get ready, which panicked me a little.

I hopped into shower and cleansed every inch of my body with my lavender shower gel. I felt so relaxed and clean as I got out of my shower. I did my make up before I stepped into my beautiful dress that I was itching to feel on myself since I have seen it on me last time. I slipped into it and looked myself in the mirror and felt how pretty I was.

I put the shoes on as well to get to the last part of getting ready and that was to dry my hair. And definitely a night party calls for smoky eyes and red hot lipstick with a tinge of blush, and my party look was all set to rock. My phone starts chiming like five minutes into my hairstyling session. I reached out for it and saw Carol's name pop on the screen. I accept the call and put it in loudspeaker as I continue to do my hair.

"You ready, baby girl?" Carol asks, her voice louder and high pitched. "Almost!" I answered and checked the time and my eyes widened in surprise. It was 7:30pm already. Damn, time runs so fast when you are getting ready.

"I am leaving the house now, will you pick me up in 15 minutes?" I couldn't believe that Carol was already leaving the house! So unlikely of her, I thought.