CHAPTER TWO: THE BLIND DATE

"Clara, this is enough. What is all this for?"

Selene's voice came out flat. Her feet dragged across the shiny mall floor like two bags of rice. They had been at it since morning, and her arms were already full of shopping bags that cost more than her mother's rent.

"No, no, no. One more." Clara hurried to the next corner, giggling like a child at a candy shop, and pointed at a glittering necklace behind the glass. "Look at this one! This is the only way he won't suspect you're not me."

"He has never seen you."

"Exactly. So I need him to see something expensive."

Selene sighed and gave up. She had learned a long time ago that arguing with Clara was like arguing with the rain.

The shop girl lifted the necklace out of its velvet box. Selene was afraid to touch it, It felt like holding someone's whole year of salary around her neck.

Selene was sitting very still in Clara's bedroom, while brushes tickled her cheeks. Powder, then more powder. Then something sticky on her eyelids, a pencil stroked her brows. Something pinched her lashes, and she yelped.

"Stop moving!"

"It's trying to kill me!"

"It's called beauty, you peasant."

Selene laughed, and Clara snapped a finger in her face. "Don't laugh! You'll crack it."

When the last pin slid into the blonde wig, Clara stepped back. Her hands flew up and covered her mouth.

"Oh my God."

"What? Is it bad? Do I look like a clown?"

"Turn around."

Selene turned slowly toward the mirror.

A stranger looked back at her.

The woman in the glass had long golden hair that fell past her shoulders in soft waves. Her eyes were a bright, shining green, wide and sharp under dark lashes. Her lips were deep red, her cheekbones glowed, and her neck looked long and graceful beneath the necklace. The dress hugged her waist like it had been sewn on her body. She stood straighter without even trying.

Selene lifted one hand. The woman in the mirror lifted hers.

"That's... me?" Her voice cracked.

"That's you," Clara whispered. "Selene, you look like a movie star."

Selene's lip began to shake. She had spent years in cheap blazers and tired shoes, going to bed with her back aching and waking up with her eyes swollen. Nobody had ever called her pretty. Not once. She hadn't known she could look like this.

A hot tear slid down her cheek.

"No, no, no!" Clara grabbed a tissue and dabbed under her eyes in a panic. "Don't cry! Please! It took me two hours to do that eyeliner!"

"I'm not sad," Selene said, laughing and sniffing at the same time. "I just... I didn't know."

Clara's face softened. She squeezed Selene's hand. "I did."

The building rose out of the night like a giant made of glass.

Selene stood on the pavement with her head tilted back, and it kept going up and up, until the top disappeared into the dark. Gold lights ran along the doors. A man in a black suit stood at the entrance, and two shiny cars rolled past like they were floating. Even the air smelled expensive.

Her knees went weak. She took one step back, then another.

“I can't do this. I'll go home then tell Clara I got sick.”

Her heel clicked on the stone, and in her bag, the thick envelope pressed against her ribs. She thought of the red notice on the restaurant door. Her mother wiping the same dry plate and Jay's torn boots.

Selene closed her eyes.

“It's just a date. Go in…say something rude. Come back, nothing else.”

She lifted her chin and walked forward.

Inside, the floor shone like a lake. A huge chandelier hung over her head, dripping crystals. Soft music floated from somewhere. Heads turned as she passed, one after another, and Selene felt their eyes on her skin like warm hands. A woman stopped mid-sentence. A man nearly dropped his glass.

“Don't stare back.” she told herself. “Walk like you own the place.”

She had no idea how a person did that, so she just walked slowly and tried not to trip.

Then she saw him.

He sat at a table by the window, one hand resting on the cloth. A dark suit. Sharp jaw. Dark hair neatly pushed back, with a single strand that had escaped, as if even his hair was tired of obeying. He wasn't smiling, but the city lights behind him made his eyes look like deep water.

Selene's mouth fell open a little. She snapped it shut.

“Okay. That's not fair.”

Up close he was something else. Her heart gave a loud, stupid thump, and she gripped her clutch to keep her hands still.

She crossed the floor and slid into the chair across from him as quietly as she could. She folded her hands on her lap, then unfolded them, then folded them again.

Everywhere was Quiet, boring and she almost felt Invisible.

Adrian didn't look at her. His phone was pressed to his ear, and a muscle moved in his jaw. He lowered it, tapped the screen, and lifted it again.

Then his cold gray eyes finally rose to meet hers.

"You have two phones?"

Selene blinked. "Sorry?"

"I've been calling your line for ten minutes." He set his phone on the table with a hard click. "You didn't pick up. And that one," his eyes dropped to her cracked old phone sitting beside her plate, "isn't ringing either."

Selene went cold, she opened her mouth but closed it afterwards. She have nothing to say

He had been calling Clara's number all along.