Citrus [completed]

Chapter 16

The week leading up to the movie premiere; I was drowning in work. Between school, work, and creating literal outfits, I was running everywhere. I had turned in my theme for Open Season, which I had kept a little too ambiguous with "Things that go Bump in the Night," Mrs. Moonley, my professor, however, ate the concept up and squealed when she read it. She was far more excited than I was, but I wouldn't fight the small blessing.

I had worked for a few days, but when Lucy caught me with my sketchbook during my break; she had sent me home. "Don't come back until you can focus on my bar," She had said as she shooed me out the door, which was very nice of her. Lucy tries to hide it, but I think she has a soft spot for me.

After that, it left me to finish up Vanessa's dress. I was able to get Vanessa's measurements the night she had made us dinner. With everything ready to assemble, I rented out a mannequin from the university, much to Blair's displeasure. She hated the mannequin, even claiming it was watching her.

I spent an entire afternoon stitching certain fabrics in specific places. Stepping back from the work on the now clothed mannequin and surveying my process. It wasn't easy; I assumed the monstrous pink material had more stretch to it than what it did, so I reworked the design to work with the stretchy bits, but that was just the process of fashion.

Blair came out at one point and watched me work, whistling when she saw the dress halfway. She turns to grab her laptop claiming, "Vanessa is going to look better than all of us combined." Which I took as an enormous compliment.

I had her dress completely stitched up rather quickly, finishing in under thirteen hours. All that was left was waiting for the day to approach. Which led to where I was now, with bleary eyes and an eager Blair banging on my door already in a tizzy about what we have to do beforehand.

Eden texts me and I notice he has added me to a group chat titled, "Iverson's famed," which included Blair, Glory, Vanessa, and a number I didn't recognize. I'm surprised to learn that it was Leo's number from Blair. and I'm tempted to ask how she already had his number, but I refrained. I found out that Leo would join us tonight as a last-minute invite, much to Eden's delight.

After this, I was quickly ushered out of the door by an antsy Blair, who dragged me to a nail salon to get our nails done. Blair was talking a mile a minute, excited for tonight. I kept a close eye on her, not putting it past Blair to huff nail polish just for the experience. I was so preoccupied with Blair and our errands; it left me unprepared when we went to the JavaNut and ran into Vanessa.

Even though we hadn't seen each other in days, my heart races at the sight of her with a large cup of tea and a cookbook under her arm. Vanessa looks just as spooked by the encounter as I felt.

As if it was a physical thing, I felt the article hanging between the two of us. Every time I looked at her, I felt her body pressing against mine in the train. I heard the way she wailed when she lost in Just Dance. I even felt pins and needles stab me when I remember she sees me as just a friend. The way Vanessa's eyes darted to mine before quickly looking away was all the confirmation I needed that she felt awkward around me.

"Getting ready?" Blair blissfully asks Vanessa, unaware of the tension of my body or the shifty way Vanessa's eyes flew anywhere but my direction.

"Yeah, I but I needed coffee first," She says as she lifts the cup. As if we weren't all in the same coffee shop.

"You should get ready with us," Blair squeals. She loves getting ready with a group of people and feeling the excitement in the air. Only today, I had a feeling that it wouldn't be exciting in the air. I'm not against the suggestion. It seems as if I was a masochist who loved when her heart ripped to pieces.