Lured

Will you go out with me?”

The first time Neela had encountered him, she noticed that he looked at others with an indifferent gaze.

His eyes reflected nothing other than coldness. They were frightening, yet fascinating enough to get her attention. Since then, she couldn’t stop following Seven with her own eyes which always reflected pure happiness and joy - the absolute opposite of him.

When he had walked into class on their first day of university, she had expected him to bring trouble, but she was wrong.

The light blond guy with the fair skin and full lips neither spoke much nor reacted to anyone offering him a talk or their friendship, especially not to girls confessing to him. And they did that very often. He had always been cold and nonchalant, his eyes looking through people like they weren’t really in front of him.

But still, every time Neela saw him, her heartbeat felt so heavy that she was barely able to breathe. The cold eyes, which never looked at her, were enchanting.

Three months later now, it was the first time he looked at her. But his gaze didn’t change.

For the first time he looked directly at her with the same, cold eyes and Neela kept looking down, praying in her head for him to say something as fast as possible, because otherwise she’d get the feeling the coldness would kill her from within. She played with her fingers, which were glistening in a slight layer of sweat, slowly breathing in and out while embarrassment crawled up her body.

“Hey.” His voice shot through her body and she almost fell backwards in surprise. “Who do you think you are, Neela?”

“What?”

She looked up just to see his eyes fixating her like sharp swords, ready to stab. His facial expression didn’t show any emotion, although there was an almost invisible grin on his lips.

“Speaking so frankly. You know you’re not the only one who wants to go out with me?”

“I do, yes.”

“And you don’t even know the type of girls I like.”

Now, his grin was clearly visible and Neela noticed how much this situation amused him.

It didn’t irritate her. She knew Seven. He never agreed on going out with any of the girls who had asked him out before, so she didn’t bring her hopes up high. Still, she really wanted to go out with him and get to know him, get to know what was behind those cold eyes which were always looking around, but never looked at anyone.

“I don’t like good girls. I prefer tall girls with curves, with hips and breasts.” Seven lifted his fingers and formed lines in the air which resembled a woman’s body. A well-formed body. “Mature girls, not childish ones. I like mini skirts and belly tops on women that show skin. Dark hair? No. Blonde and long it should be. Their face should always be covered with make-up. I like dark eyes, red lips, and girls walking on high heels like they own the street they’re walking on. Sexy and mature women, those are my type. Sexbombs.” He reached for something in his bag and pulled out a magazine, obviously one targeted at men with half-naked girls on the cover. He looked through a few pages and shortly after showed her one of them. “See?”

On the page was a woman printed. She wore a bra-like top which ended a few inches above her belly button. Her short denim skirt covered just the most important lower part of her body, and Neela swore if she’d bend down, everything could be seen both at the front and the back.

The model’s feet were in high heels with ten inches heels, the laces entwining around her calves. Her hair’s volume was emphasized by curls, and the light blonde color gave her an angelic aura - totally ironic in comparison to her outfit. And lastly, her make-up consisted of smokey eyes and red, glossy lips while her facial expression screamed something along the lines of: Take. Me. Now.

And Seven liked something like that? Neela frowned.

“She’s really hot. This style, this body, this outfit… everything is so perfect.” He gave her the magazine and winked, making her heart jump for a second. “How are you supposed to get a boyfriend if you don’t know what boys like nowadays?

Neela took the magazine into her hands and stared at it.

She couldn’t believe that the words Seven spoke were the truth. Dana, Sophia and Yasmin, her friends, all had boyfriends, but none of them looked like the women in the magazine at all. They were average girls trying to get dressed in modern, yet cute and casual style, using as less make-up as possible. And he tried to tell her boys liked sexbombs?

“I don’t know,” Neela answered unsure, puckering her lips in disbelief.

“Well then.”

Seven grabbed his bag and made a move to turn around before Neela raised her voice again,

“I don’t know if that would suit me.”

He stopped his movements and spun around, his eyes reflecting something she couldn’t define... eagerness? Something like that, but for once he looked at her with something more than just indifference and bitterness.

He really noticed her now, even if it was for a few seconds.

“I’m sure it would. Just try it. And maybe we can go out then.”

“Neela, what are you saying? This is just crazy!” Sophia said, focusing on the paper.

Her friends were looking at the woman in the magazine with distrust, even dropping their lunches in order to take a look at the girls Neela’s crush liked.

“What’s with that guy? He’s crazy!” Dana shrieked and shook her head. “Seven wants to play around with you, Neela. Don’t listen to him!”

But the addressed girl didn’t detach her eyes from the picture on the table.

She had always lived discreetly without standing out, passing by strangers without having them noticing her, even when she stood right beside someone. No wonder a guy like Seven was never aware of her presence.

He knew her name, but since the class they attended together was so small, everyone knew each other’s name, but nothing more. Even in such a small group of four, she didn’t stand out. That was how she had been raised, and it suited her.

However, when she wanted him to notice her, to see her as the person she was, she needed to change all this.

Inwardly Neela had always been envious of the girls who colored the streets with their extraordinary bright and sexy appearance. All so dashing and sparkling, getting everyone’s attention. Whenever she walked past a shopping window, taking a look at the clothes she would never buy, one thought was always in her mind: If only she could wear those clothes. But they wouldn’t suit her type at all. She just wasn’t confident enough to wear them.

Even before she told her friends about Seven’s requirement, she had made her decision. Long before Seven finished his speech, she had made her decision. For once, she would try - for Seven. She wanted people to turn their heads and look at her when they saw her passing by. If it meant being seen in his eyes as a real and lively person, she would try.

“He said he’d go out with me if I looked like that.”

Dana rolled her eyes. “Do you believe everything a random guy tells you? If he doesn’t like you now, he won’t like you in the future. And if he does like you, he’d like you from the beginning no matter what you look like.”

Sophia and Yasmin nodded in agreement, but Neela avoided their judgemental eyes and put the magazine away.

Even if Seven had been joking about his requirements, he hadn’t been joking about the type of woman he liked. The eagerness and desire in his eyes showed that he was really attracted to that kind of woman. Even if he didn’t like Neela herself now, he would take a look at her and perhaps want to get to know the person behind those expensive clothes and make-up if she would change.

It was the only chance to get his attention.

“You’re crazy. You’ll only throw money down the drain, you know that?” Dana asked and Neela smiled slightly.

“Maybe.”

After her last class she went straight to a bank, checking the money she had saved when she had still lived with her parents. Even now, she tried to save as much as possible for hard times, but this was an emergency. Not all needed to be used, though. It was just an experiment at first, because she wasn’t sure if he’d say yes.

His words had been ′Maybe we can go out then’. The maybe was irritating her. That tiny word could just ruin everything, but it still gave her hope. There was a possibility that he’d say yes.

“Are you sure you want this?” the hairdresser asked, eyeing her suspiciously. “Blonde is already out. The girls only crave for light brown and bangs nowadays.”

“Yes,” she replied confidently. “I really want this.”

The next day, Neela stood in front of the room Seven’s last class was taking place at.

She knew his schedule since she had asked for it that same morning, because no one should see her like this before him. That was why she was wearing the huge, black hooded sweatshirt which covered half of her body, her head also tucked underneath the hood.

Only the silver high heels she was standing on were visible, the laces entwining around her calves like snakes. Although she was still unfamiliar with walking on heels and trembled a bit with each step, she was very excited to wear them, because Seven was right: They really emphasized her body and made her legs look longer.

When the door opened, Neela took off the hoodie, presenting herself in a tight crop top which highlighted her cleavage and her milky white tummy that was almost fully exposed. She wore a skirt as short as the one in the picture, tight enough to press her hips together and short enough to reveal everything when she made a false movement.

Her money hadn’t been enough to get extensions, but the hairdresser had curled her dyed hair, making it voluminous, and told her to do so every day. For her make-up, Neela needed to browse through a lot of tutorials on the internet, and it took her two hours to apply it properly the day before. But this morning, she was quite successful within only an hour.

The foundation matched the color of her skin and was fixed with a special, strong powder she had bought, making her skin look beautiful and healthy. The eyeliner line was quite thick, but Seven had said he wanted dark eyes. She had also highlighted her lower lash lines with kohl and brought some dark eye shadow in the creases of her lids, making her eyes look smokey and dark, emphasized by the mascara. Not to forget the red, glossy lips which she was checking every minute, fearing that the colour would quickly wear off.

Seven saw her even before he had fully stepped out of the room.

He turned around, looking at the girl standing in the corner with clothes as hot as he always got to see in adult magazines and an expression as sexy as a porn star, who wanted to be taken right there and then.

He had almost forgotten about her, the girl named Neela who had asked him out the previous day. After he had walked away, he hadn’t even thought of her any more, her face vanishing as soon as he had turned away.

Her face was so average, so plain, he found. Nothing he would look at twice, nothing which would catch his attention on the streets.

But now, everything was different.

“So?” she asked with a shy voice that didn’t match her outward appearance. “Will you go out with me now?”