Beautiful You Read Online Free PDF Page A

Clearly, she wasn’t too uptight to poke fun at herself. The fact that Esperanza could toss a gaily embroidered sombrero onto the living room floor and then stomp a lively hat dance around the brim proved that she’d evolved far into the post–politically correct future of personal identity.
    Kwan Qxi, so quiet, so implacable, Kwan Qxi was the counterpoint to the hot-tempered señorita. The Asian moved soundlessly about the crowded apartment, dusting the baseboards … trimming her bonsai … folding the trailing end of the toilet paper roll into origami surprises for the next user, ingeneral always transforming chaos into order. Her placid face and manner acted as a balm on Penny. Her dense curtain of dark hair was a wonder compared with the frizzy, doo-wop ponytail that Penny wore most days.
    In the final hours before the dinner at Chez Romaine, Penny begged both girls to contribute their best skills to perfecting her appearance. From Esperanza, she wanted eyelids painted to glow like Havana sunsets. From Kwan Qxi, she wanted hair that hung like great harvest sheaves of heavy silk. Her roommates pitched in tirelessly, coddling her like flower girls attending to an anxious bride. Together, they primped and dressed her.
    Resplendent in the gown, Penny was a vision. To complete her look, Kwan Qxi had unearthed an elegant pendant. It was bright green jade carved into the shape of a dragon, with two pearls for its eyes. A true family heirloom. Esperanza dug out her own favorite earrings, each shaped like a tiny, rhinestone-encrusted piñata. Whether or not her roomies accepted her story about dinner with the world’s richest man, both girls were teary-eyed at the sight of Penny’s stylish transformation.
    Someone buzzed from the street door. The taxicab they’d ordered had arrived and was waiting.
    At the last moment, Penny held her breath and went to retrieve a small, gray plastic box she’d long ago hidden in the bathroom. The box held her diaphragm.
An ounce of prevention
. She hadn’t needed it since the winter formal, her senior year as an undergraduate. Still searching the bathroom cabinets, she wondered whether such a long period of disuse might’ve damaged the birth control device. Would the latex have dried out and become brittle, like condoms were known to do? Might it have cracked? Or worse, would it have grown furry with mold? She snatched the gray box from the jumble in a drawer and held her breath as she opened it. The box was empty.
    Tapping her foot in mock outrage, Penny confronted thetwo girls in the kitchen. She held the empty box like an accusation. Printed on its label was her name, Penelope Harrigan, and the name and address of her family practitioner in Omaha. Placing the box on the counter, next to the rusted, cheese-encrusted toaster oven, she announced, “I’m going to shut off the lights and count to ten, okay?” The faces of both girls were unreadable. Neither blushed nor sheepishly evaded her gaze. “No questions asked,” she said. A swipe of the wall switch plunged the room into pitch darkness. She began counting.
    A faint, wet sound was followed by a gasp. A giggle.
    Penny counted, “… eight, nine, ten.” The lights blazed, revealing the open box, filled with a familiar pink shape. The diaphragm glistened, fresh and dewy, beaded with someone’s healthy vaginal moisture. Clinging to it was a single tightly curled pubic hair. Penny made a mental note to rinse the thing off if she’d need to use it later in the evening.
    It never failed. The taxi was late getting to Chez Romaine. Traffic had been backed up in the tunnel, and it was impossible to get a cell phone signal. That was just as well. The cabbie kept glancing in the rearview mirror, saying he was sorry. Saying she looked terrific.
    Penny knew he was only being nice. For as much money as she’d spent that afternoon, Penny told herself, she’d darn well better look good. To the saleslady’s chagrin the dress had fit