When we walked into the Spa, I was overwhelmed with the perfumes in the air. Anna signed us both in at the front desk and we silently waited for our turn. When the beautician called us back, they placed us in a private room together.

"How did you swing this?" I asked, slightly impressed.

"Your brother's money. That boy won't say no to me."

The beautician came into the room a few minutes later and went over all the various things we could have done while we were there. Anna signed us up for the works, which included the Brazilian wax she mentioned to JD earlier. I tried to object and tell her I had no need for one, but she wouldn't even hear me out. Anna was in the driver's seat. I was just along for the ride.

We were poked, waxed, tweezed, cut, and painted. Every part of my body smelled like a field of flowers and I was shocked at how smooth my skin felt once all the hair was removed below my neck. Anna had insisted on haircuts and having color added to our hair. She went with purple highlights, which reminded me of the last night I was at the house. She couldn't have known that was a trigger for me. She had the nail technician paint her finger and toenails purple to match her hair. She had clearly come here with a colored theme in mind for her birthday look.

After what felt like hours of fighting with her over my makeover, Anna conned me into lightening my blond hair to almost platinum and adding some color at the tips. She tried to persuade me to go with red tips, but I already knew which color I wanted. It was the same color I had been seeing every time I closed my eyes over the last few nights. When the stylist finally turned my chair around to see her handy work, I barely recognized myself. The tips of my hair were the same shade of blue as the eyes that always seemed to be watching me. They were Ezra blue.

When we were finished, I offered to pay for both of us. It was Anna's birthday and I hadn't gotten her anything. It would be the least I could do for the person who was the closest thing I had to a sister. Anna refused to let me pay for either one of us. She said it was JD's treat today. I felt guilty about letting her spend his money on me.

"You know what you can do for me?" Anna said, smiling. Here we go, with Anna she could suggest anything.

"What?"

"Let me pick out your outfit for the concert." She smiled and nodded as if that would convince me to let her. She stuck out her bottom lip when I didn't instantly tell her she could. She was going to pout until she got her way.

"Please be nice to me." I said, caving into her demand.

Anna led the way straight to the local "goth" shop. She said it was the perfect place to find our concert gear. The store was covered with various types of clothing and accessories. More than half of the clothing choices were sheer, spiked, or tied in extremely inappropriate places. The clothes reminded me more of something found in a porno than at a concert. Anna would have limited options to choose from if she wanted me to actually go to the concert. JD would die before he let me step foot out of the house in most of these clothes.

Anna spent an hour trying everything on before deciding on black leather pants and a black top that looked more like a bra than a shirt. Her shirt showed off her perfect midriff and her purple belly button ring. She grabbed a purple mesh half-shirt to go over the top and pulled a couple of accessories to finish off her look.

Once she found everything she needed, she turned her attention to me.

"Let's see," she glanced through the racks with a frown on her face. She seemed frustrated at the lack of Riley appropriate options. There was nothing here that was going to work. I hoped she would give up soon.

"Anna, I have stuff I can wear." I grumbled after she spent fifteen minutes going through one single rack. At this pace, we wouldn't make it through the racks by close.

Her eyes went wide when she stopped on a few pieces of black and light blue fabric. "Oh, hell no, I just found you the perfect outfit."

She walked through the store, throwing things at me and rushed me into the changing room before I could even look at the items in my arms.

"Anna, you're crazy if you think I'm coming out in this." I said as I stared down at the various pieces of fabric in my arms. There was no way she was serious about putting me in this outfit.

"Put it on!' She demanded.

I sighed and did what she told me. When I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I couldn't believe my eyes. It didn't look bad at all. Much more skin was showing than I was used to, but it was an amazing outfit. I needed the self-esteem pick me up that this outfit gave me. Too bad, I would never be able to wear it out of the dressing room without blushing.

"You know my family will flip if they see me like this." I turned and looked in the mirror so I could see what it looked like from different angles to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

"Don't worry. I got you covered. Your Mom and Dad won't be home. They are going out with some friends. I'll come over and get ready with you and have JD pick us up. Don't worry about JD. I'll handle him."

"You've thought of everything." I couldn't hide the smile on my face.

"I'm a planner. That's my job."

I took one final look in the mirror and then stepped out from behind the curtain.

Anna cheered, "Oh hell, yeah. That's it! Blue is definitely your color."