SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Sixteen
“No way! Are you serious?” Lori asked as we sit on her bed Saturday morning. Post birthday tradition always had me at her house for pancakes the morning after my birthday. It started out as me needing to be watched because my parents would have to work the next day but then it slowly transitioned into our ’thing’.
Nodding I say ‘yeah’ even though I feel like crying. I really wanted Ash to ask me (I know, how twisted of me, I ‘have’ a boyfriend and should be thrilled to be with a guy like Blake), but I’m just so confused about my feelings.
She grabs my hand, “Oh my gosh, we should totally go dress shopping tomorrow!” Smiling I say, ‘heck yeah’ (even though I really want to say no), and we make plans for finding me the ‘perfect’ dress.
^^^
Waking up, I look outside and see the sun is shining and though it looks beautiful out I am betting it is super cold out. I really don’t want to leave the warm comfort of home today and am anxious to get a message from Lori. As one o’clock rolls around Sunday afternoon, I receive a text from Lori asking me if I am ready to go to the shopping center and look at dresses. With a deep sigh I send a text saying yes and then go sit on the front porch to wait for her to pull into my driveway. Once I hop in her car, she speeds backwards out of my driveway and then we are off to the store.
If I haven’t mentioned before, I absolutely hate shopping for anything! Clothes are at the top of my ‘hate’ list. I feel the best invention ever was the online shopping.
Somehow, Lori manages to find a parking space right near the entrance of the store and before I know it, we are wandering aimlessly in and out of shops, eventually ending up at ‘Dress Me!’ If ever you wanted to find the perfect dress, this is the store to go to. “Oooo, what do you think of this one?” I can hear Lori off to the left of me, somewhere, but I cannot see her.
I laugh out loud, “where are you?” and then begin to walk towards the sound of her voice. Suddenly a shimmering bright pink dress is being shook in front of my face. “Oh Lord, I truly hope you’re joking.”
Lori is laughing so hard she can barely speak but she manages to say yes. Shaking my head at her, I turn and walk towards a rack that has caught my attention. Hanging from the bar are an array of red dresses. However, one dress in particular has captivated me. It looks as if it is fire itself. There is honestly no other way to describe it. Shouting to Lori that I found a dress I want to try on, I head into the dressing room.
Once the dress is on, I look at the floor length mirror inside the dressing room and am stunned silent. I am the embodiment of fire. The sleeves are sheer but with gold that wraps around from my wrists up to my shoulders. The gold merges into the red glitter straps that wrap around my neck.
“Hey Lori, what do you think?” I have to shout over the music that is being played in the store and she makes her way to me. As she comes to stand in front of me, her eyes have gone as wide as saucers, her mouth has fallen open and she too is silent, staring at me. Even the shop employee who happened to come randomly by to check on us stops and stares at me.
I glance at the employee and notice her name tag has Lisa printed on it. As I look at her, she finally speaks. “Oh wow. That dress looks as though it was made specifically for you.”
Grinning back at her I ask; “really? Do you really think it looks good on me?” She continues to look at me as though I am dumb for thinking otherwise and then I hear Lori chime in.
“Uh, yeah girl! You absolutely better get that dress. I won’t leave this store until you do.”
“Damn! Okay, I will get the dress.” I laugh at Lori for being so opinionated on the dress. She normally does not say one way or the other when I pick out outfits. I went back inside the dressing room and put my street clothes back on. Pulling my cell out of my pocket, I look at the time and smile. Half an hour was all it took for me to find the perfect dress! Freaking awesome, I think to myself and walk up to the cash register to purchase my item.
Believe it or not, I am very happy with my purchase and feeling very excited for the upcoming New Year’s bash. On the car ride home Lori tells me how crazy it was that we have found a dress for me so quickly and I tell her that I cannot believe it either.
Lori drops me off and I run into the house shouting out, “mom, dad! Come see the dress I found!”
Monday unfortunately arrives again, and I find myself walking up to the front entrance of the high school. Blake is of course waiting for me and walks with me into the building. He takes my hand as we enter, and we walk up to my locker together. Apparently, everybody knows that I am going to the party with him, and I have been informed by Lori at lunch, that we are officially an ‘item’ as well though I thought that we already were an ’item’.
“Oh,” Lori adds in between bites of her pizza, “Ash asked me if I would like to go to the New Year’s Masquerade with him!” I can see the happiness in her eyes, and even though it feels like a knife is piercing my heart at hearing this news, I try my best to be enthusiastic about it, but I can hear it in my voice, the falseness of my words.
“I’m so happy for you Lori! We should all go together. I think we will have a blast if we do.” She grins widely at me and shakes her head up and down in agreement.
“Okay, then.” I say with a little more excitement in my voice. Maybe this could end up being fun after all…