Zach pulled the pickup up to the curb and shut off the lights. We both sat in silence and looked at the house for a moment before either of us spoke.
"Are you sure about this?" I asked.
He laughed and got out of, walking around to open my door for me. "It'll be fun, come on," he said, and I followed him into the darkened house.
The girl who answered the door was around the same age as me β 23 β but much taller. She was around 5'8", an athletic blonde with her hair done up in curls pinned to the back of her head.
She smiled when she saw Zach, but her smile thinned as she looked me up and down, taking me in slowly. I laughed a little, thinking she had probably never seen anyone quite like me before.
The blonde was dressed in a black skirt that hit her just above the knees, showing off athletic legs, and as she turned to retreat back into the house, apparently having decided to let us in, I caught a glimpse of a little tattoo on her upper thigh.
She was wearing almost no makeup, save this ghastly dark lipstick. "Someone should tell her that makes her look washed out," I said to myself as we breezed by.
"What was that?" she asked, and I looked at Zach.
"I didn't say anything," he replied, shrugging his shoulders.
The blonde snorted and plopped herself down on the couch next to a very attractive guy, tall, dark and sculpted, just the way I like them. He caught me looking at him and held my gaze for what seemed like an eternity, and I wasn't the only one to notice. The blonde shoved her elbow into him hard and he turned to give her a dirty look as Zach pulled me down the hall and into a basement, where half a dozen people were gathered, all of their attention on a foos ball game that was going on between three guys and pretty little brunette.
"What was that?" Zach asked, gesturing over his shoulder as we descended the stairs. I just smiled back. "Be good," he said.
I didn't answer, but I let him pull me down the stairs toward two girls sitting watching the game. "This is my cousin Cassie," he said, introducing me. These girls didn't take me in the way the blonde upstairs had, they didn't seem to mind my outfit being a bit more stylish than they were used to, at least not too much.
I was starting to rethink my favorite black polyester pants, even though Zach had reassured me repeatedly that I looked great.
I knew I looked great, but I should at least try to fit in with these back road country girls. Before I had come to Montana I had thought it was like a distant planet, and now I knew I was right. None of these girls looked anything like me, or any of the other girls back home, and I was trying not to let it make me feel uncomfortable.