Vera's words had left a bad taste in my mouth. 

I analysed and dissected what she said over and over, eventually reaching the conclusion that she either thought he wasn't good for me, or I wasn't pretty enough for him. 

If it was the latter, I wanted to prove her wrong. 

And so I hoped and prayed that the hair dye I'd bought was actually a flattering bright red colour... because I'd already smeared it in my hair in an impulse and now there was no way back. 

I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. There was a towel tightly wrapped around my head because I'd been too much of a chicken to look at the dye effects myself. It's not like I could already fully see, with my hair still being wet and all.

There was a loud banging on the door. 

"What the hell are you doing in there that's taking so long?" Skye's voice whined through the door. "There are more people who need the bathroom in this house!" 

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to calm myself down. You know, rather than yell back that she hogged the bathroom just as long as I was doing right now and left her junk everywhere. 

While I knew I couldn't keep my new hair a secret forever - probably not even for a day - I double-checked if there were no strands escaping the towel at the back. 

Skye let out an exaggeratedly deep sigh when I unlocked the bathroom door and stepped out. She even had the nerve to tap her foot while I scooped up my towel from the floor before leaving the bathroom. 

I rolled my eyes at Skye's backside and slipped into my bedroom. 

And now, I waited.

I sat on my bed with a book on my lap, half reading and half listening to what was going on in the rest of the apartment. I heard Paisley and Skye giggling together about silly stories from the night before, exchanging inside jokes. Then I heard the guys each taking five minute showers and generously spraying with aftershave. Logan was still complaining about this girl who didn't text him back to anyone willing to listen. 

Two hours later, Joyce came to my room to ask if I was going to be alright alone tonight. I assured her I would be. And after a bunch of noise in the hallway while everyone got their shoes on, the apartment went quiet. 

My turn to get ready. 

I'd never known just how much a hair colour could change your entire appearance. Frankly, I didn't believe it could in my case. 

But when I finally mustered up the courage to take the towel off of my head, I was nearly blown away by my own reflection. My hair wasn't just soft, orangy-red. It was flaming, deep red and I looked... good. Even better when I slipped the light pink dress on, and applied Joyce's mascara and eyeliner. 

I couldn't stop looking at my own reflection. I twirled circles while watching myself in the bathroom, in the full-sized mirror in my bedroom, in the glass window in between the hallway and the living room. 

Going outside was scary, but after giving myself fifteen minutes to breathe in and breathe out on the couch with a glass of water, I straightened my back and exited the apartment.

The different was immediately noticeable. Tangible, almost. I felt eyes on me. Guys passing by looked at my face, scanned my body. Where the same type of people completely ignored me in my jeans and wide shirt, they suddenly saw me now. 

Like I was suddenly a different person with another hair colour, some make-up and a pretty beach dress. It was almost scary, yet, I pushed on, marching towards my goal: Club Ocean. 

But when I got near, I almost turned right around. 

Right in front of Club Ocean there was an all too familiar rude stranger with a cigarette dangling between his lips. The one who'd called me too ugly to be with Joyce if we'd been lesbians the other night. 

That wasn't the opinion he seemed to have tonight. 

He glanced my way, then did a double take. I swear his cigarette almost fell out of his mouth as he gave me a slow once-over that made my skin crawl. 

He opened his mouth to say something, but I averted my gaze to the ground and hurried on, walking into the club. 

I had made it past the doorstep and that was further than last time, but if I didn't find Ty quickly I was going to walk right out of the place.

In the brief moment in which the heavy base rumbled through my chest and I was part of a mass of people, I already decided it wasnt much fun alone. Without someone to dance and laugh with.

Where was Ty? Or my sister? I darted a glance around before deciding to zigzag and elbow my way to the bar.

My educated guess paid off. I got five for the price of one. Not only was Ty lounging at the bar, so were Joyce, Skye, Landon, Tom... and Paisley who had practically glued herself to Ty. 

Not that Ty seemed to mind much. He was smiling broadly at her, clearly into it. Then his gaze suddenly shifted to me, and just like the creep outside, his eyes went wide.

Ty promptly approached me, while Paisley's smile dropped.

"Wow, look at you!" Ty said in my ear. His breath smelled like an odd mixture of mint, alcohol and smoke, but I didn't mind. Especially not when he reached up, put his arm around me, and playfully tugged on a strand of my freshly dyed hair. 

"Looks good on you, Char."

People were watching us. Or rather, my apartment 'roomies' were. Joyce looked perplexed, Paisley was glaring at me, and everyone else was somewhere in-between the two of them. 

"Thanks," I told Ty with a shy smile, glancing at him before my eyes skirted away on their own. I just wasn't able to keep eye contact for long with his face so close to mine. 

I wasn't actually playing coy, but it still seemed to be working as a flirting strategy. 

Ty laughed. "What? It's true. It does look good on you."

"Thanks," I dumbly repeated.

Ty either pretended not to notice my awkwardness, or still thought it was cute for some reason. 

"Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked.  

"Yeah, I could use one."

I was muttering so there was no way he'd actually heard me, but he seemed to understand the 'yes' anyway. 

Ty led me to the other side of the bar, and I decided not to glance over my shoulder at the others. I didn't need to look. I knew Paisley was still glaring at me and they'd all be talking about me now. 

I was pretty sure Ty was only being nice and that the exaggerated gossip going on was just that: exaggerated gossip. But, that didn't mean I couldn't play it just up a little, right? Even if only to mess with Paisley. 

Ty left my side for a few seconds to grab a drink from behind the bar. When I tried to take out my wallet he placed his hand on mine to stop me and laughingly shook his head.

The drink smelled sweet like coconuts and after a sip I knew there was some real amount of alcohol in there. I didn't want to refuse the free drink Ty got me, however. And I could use it. Against the nerves. 

Ty, again, stood heart-pound inducingly close. But he didn't put his arm around me this time. 

"So," he said, "I see you've decided to change your style to match the other girls after all. Not that I, or any other guy in the club, is complaining. But, why?" 

"Just to see if I could," I replied honestly. 

Ty laughed again, even if it wasn't a joke. "Mission accomplished I'd say. What's next?" 

"Oh I don't know," I said. "I don't think I'm going to stay here long."

I honestly hadn't thought of any follow up plans after this point. I'd pissed Paisley off. I'd 'stolen' Ty from her if only for a few moments, even if things were only friendly. I'd had the guts to dye my hair and go out in a dress. What else was there except going home and feeling accomplished?

Ty seemed to have other ideas. 

His hand slipped onto my lower back, sending a jolt up and down my spine. "Okay. But you're at least staying for one dance with me, right?" Ty asked. "Come on, just one song."

I pretended like I hesitated, tilting my head to the sided and narrowing my eyes. Then, I finished the coconut drink and cheekily grabbed Ty's glass from his hand and finished the last bit of that, too. 

I'd seen Joyce do that before to a guy as a lighthearted flirt. And just like that guy, Ty seemed to enjoy it. He smiled while he lead me to the dance floor.  

I was clumsy but a little tispy, which helped with not caring how I was moving. He was smooth and good at leading. Put those two together, and dancing kind of worked. He made me turn pirouettes every now and then and just laughed when I accidentally stepped on his toe.

As the beat changed, Ty leaned towards me. "The song is over," he said. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for another?"

His hands glid down to my waist, while I felt blood rushing up to my face. There was a tingle in the pit of my stomach. He was looking at me in a certain way which I mostly recognised from the way guys looked at Joyce. Specifically: the guys she went home with or dated.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go home," I replied.

In a way, I wanted to stay, too. But my nerves and completely not knowing how to handle myself triumphed curiosity and kind of wanting to see what would happen. I wasn't like the heroines in my books who would, depending on who they were, would brusquely brush him off or know exactly what to say.

Ty had acted like the guys Joyce dated, but thank God he didn't get pushy like some of them.

"Okay, Char," he simply said. "Will I see you at the climbing hall tomorrow?"

"Yeah, definitely," I breathed.

"Nice." Ty hadn't moved away. He slowly raised a hand and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear with sparkling blue eyes. "Do I get a kiss goodnight?" 

Ty was already leaning down and I automatically tilted my chin up. His lips brushed against mine.

It was over in a second but I was floating on cloud nine. Ty, the hot Club Ocean guy picked me. He picked me over Paisley and all the other girls, even if it was only for tonight. Even if it was only for a fraction of tonight. 

With a start, I suddenly realised they were all still there. I had forgotten all about other people while tipsy on the dance floor, but I instantly sobered up. With a single glance, I could tell from my 'roomies' faces - especially Paisley's incredulous and angry one - that they saw the crucial moment. 

I'd pay for it later, but for now, there was a wide grin on my face as I bid Ty goodnight and walked to the exit of Club Ocean.