That's Amore! - Janelle Denison [40]
A breathtakingly beautiful woman of about her own age with long black hair, ruby-red lips and a slinky body Efi had always dreamed of having but never would had her arms held high and was shimmying in a way that marked the end of the line and the beginning of the individual tsiftetelli or belly dance portion of the dance where everyone broke off and danced solo.
And it was clearly Nick she was dancing for.
"Aphrodite looks very nice tonight, doesn't she?" she heard her mother ask from her other side where they had moved from the patio and were standing off to the side, as the woman in red took center stage, every man in the place clapping in support of her seductive dance.
Efi gaped. "That's Aphrodite?" The same skinny Aphrodite they had all laughed at when they were kids in Greece? Poor thing, they used to say, named after the Goddess of Love and she had the looks that only a mother could love.
The unfamiliar woman in red began to bend backward in a way that required someone to spot her so she wouldn't fall. Efi watched as Nick offered to be that someone. Aphrodite slithered and shook, taking full advantage of the close contact, the V of her dress deep, her breasts full, her hips all too lush.
Efi had watched Nick do the same thing for countless others, Kiki included, but she had never felt the stab of jealousy that twisted in her gut watching him with Aphrodite. Of course, it could have something to do with the way Aphrodite was looking at him seductively, suggestively, as if she was the direct descended of her namesake and was putting him into some kind of erotic trance.
Thankfully the song came to an end and the couple in the middle of the patio earned roaring applause.
Unfortunately Efi was afraid the knife in her gut wasn't going anywhere.
"I SAY WE EXCHANGE HER for the lamb and tie her to the skewer," Kiki said a little while later, in the large upstairs bathroom Efi had gone to. She'd meant to be alone, but her best friend seemed uncannily tuned in to her mind-set and had followed, toying with a tray full of guest soaps in the shape of seashells on the counter while Efi tried to repair her makeup in the softly lit mirror.
She sighed. No matter what lighting she was in, she'd never be as appealing as Aphrodite was.
"And Nick. Okay, he'd danced with her once. He didn't need to dance with her again. And yet a third time…"
Efi stared at her. "Shut up, Kiki."
Her friend was all doe eyes and shoulder shrugs. "What? If I were you, I'd have let him know in no uncertain terms that his attention was a little over the top."
"She's my cousin, for God's sake."
"She's a sexpot."
That Aphrodite was.
And as one dance led into three, with Nick gladly playing to her cousin's apparent need for extra attention, Efi had felt as if her heels were growing shorter and her clothes too big until she feared she might disappear altogether.
She swiped a bit of eyeliner from under her lashes and sighed. "I don't know why I'm wasting my time. I'll never look as good as Aphrodite."
"I wasn't aware that's what you were trying to do."
Efi put away her makeup and leaned against the counter, away from the mirror next to her friend.
After a long silence, Kiki asked, "You know her well?"
"Who? Aphrodite?" She nodded. "Yeah. I spent a couple of summers with her in Greece. The other kids used to call her Scarecrow and she wore glasses and had the biggest nose that side of the Atlantic. My father used to joke you could see her nose coming five minutes before the rest of her arrived."
"Well obviously she grew out of all that."
And then some. "I used to feel sorry for her. Used to stand up for her. Kept her company when the other kids would leave her behind."
"And she thanks you by monopolizing your groom at your wedding party."
They both thought about that for a moment. Then Kiki moved so that she was standing in front of Efi. She gave her a quick once-over, then a more thorough one.
"What?" Efi asked, looking down at her pink dress.
"I don't know. I was thinking this thing