PARTY WITH THE PRINCESS: HOW VERY SUS

The entire party slowly escalated to a big fat tangle of sus. I knew Henry would never do anything, much less pay any money, without reason - and I'll have you know, Henry paid good money.

Our dresses alone were worth a tidy fortune. I wanted to ask Henry if his parents knew he might be blowing his entire inheritance overnight, but Henry told Elsa to send the bill to his private email address. So no, Henry's parents would not hear of this or any other of their son's wanton spending.

"He's being pretty generous for someone who just got his allowance cut off." I told Fluffy as I stepped out of the cubicle.

Fluffy didn't answer me immediately, which was unexpected because I felt sure Fluffy would have some kind of droll comment for that. I looked up from the black dress hanging from my arm. I was trying to be careful not to brush it against any of the washroom surfaces (now that I knew it was supposed to be art.) The hand-sewn biased tulle hemline was long enough and the toilet cubicle was small enough to make it challenging. But I did it. Nothing fell in the toilet. Nothing even touched porcelain.

"What?" I asked Fluffy. I looked down at my dress. I was quite sure I was wearing it the right way front. The white dress was a little more fitting than the black one. It was sleeveless, held up by just a silken spaghetti strap on each shoulder. I knew which side was front because the front was covered entirely with crystals.

When Fluffy didn't respond, I looked back at him. Maybe the crystals blinded him, "Is it too shiny?"

Fluffy blinked, "What?"

He even forgot to put on his smiling mask when he spoke. I tilted my head to regard my friend. He had a white bolero on a hanger (it's a short jacket that was mostly sleeves) and a pair of white heels in either hand.

The hangers Elsa used looked like art in themselves. Every one of them was encrusted with a gold face of different animals. I didn't like them. They made the hangers heavy and the animals looked anguished with opened mouths and bulging eyes. I had a rabbit head on my dress hanger and it looked tortured worse than any animal cruelty ad I had ever seen.

The hanger with the bolero had a frog. At least I think it was a frog. Its mouth was open. I think it died being stepped on.

Fluffy was nonresponsive so I plucked the bolero off the dead frog hanger in his hand and shrugged it on myself. It was the same material as the dress and now that I had it on, I could see in the mirror how a line of tiny crystals ran down each sleeve.

I felt better with my arms covered. The washroom was chilly. Also, I just wanted to hang out with my friends and feel cool, not having to adjust spaghetti straps should they slip.

I eyed the shoes still propped in Fluffy's hands with misgiving... They were completely covered with crystals and looked more uncomfortable than Cinderella's glass slippers. I shook my head, "I'll stick with these boots."

Yes, I knew they were ink black, but they were suede, and even though they were pointy and killer heeled, they were surprisingly comfortable. Like I could probably run in them, not very well, but there's a reason why athletes didn't wear three-inch heels to train.

I stepped back away from the large shiny mirrors for a better look. The washroom in the Platinum lounge had a round ornate carpet right in the middle of it, topped with a large chandelier, and surrounded by large wide mirrors in golden frames. I turned and checked my reflection in my crystal-bodiced white dress and bolero. The boots looked alright. I might need a black coat instead of the white one if I was being fussy though.

I also realized at this moment that this had to be the most super fancy dress I've ever worn. It even beat the swan lake production I tried the other time at that shop on 16th Street. And it really suited the place I was standing in - even though this place was just the washroom.

"I don't need the shoes, Fluffy." I said. Was Fluffy on mindlink? I didn't sense it, "Fluffy?"

It was like the lights suddenly came on and Fluffy's smile snapped back in place, "Yes, Pretty Alpha?"

Wait, like seriously? Was Fluffy wool-gathering? That was so unlike him.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

Fluffy's smiling mask was as usual unreadable now that it was back on, "My utmost apologies, pretty alpha. Your beauty overcame me."

I laughed. I've heard a lot of dumb excuses for zoning out in my life, some of them my own, but this took the cake.

"That's okay, Fluffy. I was saying I want to stick to my boots." I updated him.

Two sharp knocks and Ki let himself in. He was holding my white coat, "Is everything..."

Opps, were we taking too long?

Ki stopped sharply at the sight of me standing in the middle of the washroom.

Fluffy beamed at him and answered, "Everything is beautiful."

Ki smiled like a flower to the sun, "Goddess is truly the fairest in the land. "

Which was truly weird.

Fluffy nodded, "Like a lily among thorns."

Which was weirder. But this was Fluffy so I naturally ignored him. In fact, I pretended I didn't hear either of them. It was easier to deal with that way.

Like I knew I looked nice, but they were going Lorent on me. This dress... I didn't know dresses could feel like this. Except for the over-embellished bodice, this dress suited my very straight and curveless body to a T. I mean, the bodice even made me look a little fuller where I wasn't, and I liked the way the white silk felt against my legs.

There were some strategically long slits up the skirts. I already found out with the blue dress at the Vday dance that long slits in skirts suited me.

Plus, I really liked how it showed enough of my high suede boots to make the outfit look more glamorous rockstar and less of that expected prom night elegant look.

It's just weird because Ki and Fluffy were looking at me like... like I was Elsa! (I mean the princess, not Graziano.) Were Ki and Fluffy doing it because they felt it was expected of them? Like how the waiters fawned and gushed over my friends' new outfits? It wasn't untrue, my friends all looked stunning. Elsa was undeniably amazing at his work (I mean the designer, not the princess). His dresses were super lux and surprisingly flattering, giving a bunch of teenage cool girls a modern but chic and classy look.

Anyway, Ki didn't waste any more time. He handed over the white coat to Fluffy, "Go change this coat for the black one in the car and put the dress away. Have the shoes returned to Graziano."

"Yes, beta." Fluffy nodded a bow and moved to take the black dress off my arm. He had to get back to work too.

Ki led me back out to my friends and announced, "Alpha Princess is here."

There was a silence, like everyone froze for a split second.

Everyone except Fluffy who busied himself trying to put the shoes into one of the waiter's hands. It was hard because the waiter wasn't paying attention. He was looking at me...

Elsa put his hand over his mouth and gasped, "It's the goddess."

"Oh my god, Zammi!" Zara said.

"Oh.my.god." Leia repeated with emphasis.

I'm not sure who thought it was necessary to do this. Did they think I needed to be gasped at repeatedly? They were really over-acting.

Suddenly EJ collapsed over the sofa, "Mou! Pretty Alpha. My heart hurts just looking at you!"

Did EJ mean his eyes hurt? I looked down at the sparkly bodice. Maybe it was too much after all.

"It's like a Cinderella transformation." Zara said.

Except that my black dress wasn't exactly rags.

EJ bounced back up to his feet, "Just kidding, I don't have a heart."

I decided I didn't want to argue with him about the technicalities of needing a heart to be alive.

Thankfully, Henry smirked and tried to say something smart, "Clothes maketh the man."

Which was true FOR THE GUYS. So far, all the guys around me have been transformed every time they put on a suit. I had yet to meet a wolf who looked worse in a suit than in his sweats. SO FAR. I'm quite aware my experience was somewhat limited to fightdogs and my betas.

Actually, all my guy friends were looking pretty spiffy tonight. See, it was the suit! But Henry wasn't talking about the guys. He wasn't paying for their suits.

I shrugged off the mild discomfort of my friends' reaction. Turning to Henry, I tried to keep the conversation normal, "Are you sure about paying for all this? For someone who's just got his allowance cut, you're being really generous."

I was this close to offering to half the bill with Henry, BUT unlike Henry, I didn't have a secret personal account for Elsa to send the bill to. And I only had $40 in my wallet. I cannot imagine the number of years my parents will make me volunteer at the Packhouse Kitchen till I paid back everything. I might have to sell one of the cars, maybe two. Who knows? Dresses like these didn't come with price tags attached.

Henry looked a little offended that I should think the great young alpha Henry would need help footing the bill, and then a little more contrite when I mentioned the allowance cut.

He cleared his throat, "Actually, I just had my allowance doubled."

Eh? But the bet? I mean, this totally explained why Henry's been so generous, but we lost the bet, didn't we? We didn't win first place in the talent time competition. There was video footage to prove it too. Beta Pete was there with a recording crew for the Silver Mountain Alpha's family video of Henry's performance.

Henry waved it off, "Enough about that. Tonight's on me."

Which I took to mean he didn't want to talk about it. Why would Henry not want to gloat about how he doubled his allowance even though we lost the bet he had with his Dad?

Did his dad realize he was wrong? Did his dad acknowledge his evident (but honestly limited) talent? Why didn't he want to talk about it?

Very sus.

For some reason, I was very sus of everyone tonight. I couldn't decide if everyone was just especially sus tonight, or if I had grown cynical and suspicious of everyone.

From Harvey's "lingerie model" that nobody wanted to acknowledge to Henry's doubled allowance which he didn't want to discuss. Let's not mention this sudden party Henry spontaneously threw at the Platinum Lounge, which had by now doubled in size and was also occupying the Gold Lounge downstairs. Did I tell you how Henry never spent money? Henry only INVESTED money. If he put his money into something, he would be expecting some kind of return. But what?