Caroline

If getting married for a year could make me return to school, If it could change my life, our life around, then I should do it.

I don't even have to love him. It's a contractual marriage anyway. We don't have to act intimate, we just need to live under the same roof and act like one while I bear the stranger's last name for a year.

It doesn't sound so bad.

"I'll do it, mum. I will get married to Richard Trenton," she smiled and I smiled back at her.

I wasn't sure if I truly wanted this or not, but it was certain I wanted the money.

The night alone on my teenage bed was nostalgic. It was filled with memories of when I was a teen and I would turn around for a very long time, finding it hard to fall asleep even after bedtime.

But now, it seems different as I could feel myself moving closer to the verge of slumber with my eyelids getting heavy by the time and soon, I fell asleep.

****

The journey back to my apartment wasn't so exhausting but it sure was weird with the thoughts of my new neighbour.

The sassy one.

A few weeks had passed and now, I have gotten entwined with my sassy neighbour. Although, she seems forward and always down to business but in some ways, she was the type of a friend I needed in my introverted life.

I stared at the dress she had given me to put on and back at her before speaking.

"You're definitely not making me wear this!" I ascertained.

I don't understand if she had already gotten a glimpse of the kind of person I am or still trying to bypass that.

"The fuck I'm not wearing this, my friend," I said again.

"How about this?" She asked again, bringing out a mini gown which could barely fit or even cover me up. I looked at her as though she was flying and needed to be catapulted down.

Thinking how we got this close was beyond me and now, we're going out and I'm about to wear her dress. A skimpy dress to be precise.

In that short period of time, there was little to nothing she doesn't know about me. Even though there seems to be quite a bit of what I do not know about her.

I wasn't bothered anyway. I would gladly open up my flaws to her until she feels comfortable doing the same.

A dress I'm most definitely certain I could end up not putting on.

Back to when I got here.

After hearing and accepting the news about my marriage, I travelled back to my place since my dad would sign the contract and we'd get married a month after. A thing I just cannot be prepared for.

I wasn't meant to meet my to be husband until during our wedding and I wasn't bothered. It's a contractual marriage after all.

I wanted to come back here to have fun and Clara to me seem to be good at that. Except that, she was beyond that__she's as well crazy.

Protesting doesn't work with her. She doesn't take 'no' for an answer which gave her a way, one way or the other and in a few days we got close. Although, she still calls me 'Carol'.

I haven't grown used to that, but I could overlook a few calls before I get upset.

She told me about a strip club that had just opened in town and that the bouncers there take no charges.

I haven't ever been to one. I in fact do not have friends or the time to explore the world or get wild but wearing this dress and going to a strip club wasn't close to a definition of being wild to me.

In my words, being wild is painting something erotic, reading about some nasty girls' shit, going on a brunch date with a walking sexual fantasy guy or even Netflix and chill with myself.

She called that; the story of my life__boring.

"How about this?" she asked me again and I looked at her with uncertainty.

I was considering it since it looked a little less slutty than the previous ones, but I was still not sure if I wanted the Megan thee Stallion vibe.

"Try it on!" she unbuttoned my jean trouser and pulled my top over my head.

She was about to unhook my bra when I stopped her.

"I'm not taking this off," I wasn't sure if I was shy or wasn't ready to put on a dress without my bra.

"You want a bra in a strapless dress?" she asked, chuckling in between words.

"If it doesn't hurt Michigan, I can," I replied and she scoffed.

"You're not thinking I'm in any way interested in your melons, are you?" she rested her hands on her waist. "If you are, you're most likely to end up in a coma, my friend. Delusional! I'm straight, you know. I love me a hot guy with a thick huge penis with veins as a cord on its sides. I want me a womb shifter, baby," she said, winking and laughing out loud.

"Oh my God, Carol. You should see your face," she said still laughing hard. "That's what I like though,"

"You're exceptionally crazy," I said as I scoffed at her manners.

I took my hands to my back and unclasped my bra, letting my bra fall to the ground and my breast sprung out of its fold.

You wouldn't know the freedom you attain without the bra on until you have it off.

"OMG. That's some huge melons right there," she teased handing the dress to me.

"You talk a lot," I ascertained but she looked at me, stating that she could care less.

"Get me a hottie and see how well I do that," she replied nonchalantly with a smirk and I eyed her.