Tomorrow

Chapter Three

I roll over in bed and groan as Mom walks in and throws open the curtains and raises the blinds.

"Moooommm," I pop my head out from underneath the covers to see what time it was. It read 12:37. "Moooom why can't you let me sleep?! I'm so tired."

Mom raises an eyebrow and points towards the window. "Quinn, it's already afternoon. Normal people don't sleep that long. "

"Well Mom, I don't look normal, do I?" I roll over and cover my head under a pillow.

"Quinn. As I was saying, it's too late to be sleeping now. I was thinking we could go out and start shopping for your college dorm room. You should get a new dress too, there might be parties that you graduates go to these days. How does that sound?"

"It's been a long week, Mom." I lift myself up and run a hand through my hair. "I...I guess we could. I could use a break to relax from work."

Mom gives me a triumphant smile. "That's my Quinn. I'll get ready and wait for you outside." She exits excitedly.

I climb out of bed and eye a hoodie and pair of jeans in the corner of my room when Mom calls out, "Please wear something decent Quinn. We're going shopping, not to class."

I grumble in annoyance and head towards the closet. A few minutes later, I leave my room wearing a long grey tank top with white skinny jeans and my trusty grey Chucks. I part my hair in the middle and try to comb down my mane of waves, with pleasing satisfaction. I should at least earn brownie points when it comes to dressing myself.

I grab a chocolate granola bar and an orange and head outside. Mom is sitting on the steps and lies in deep thought. Sometimes I wondered how she had gone through all of these years without Dad. She had been living as a single parent while raising me and still managed to look like she was in her early thirties. I wasn't lucky enough to get those genes. "Hey Mom. You ok?"

Mom looks up at me and smiles warmly, "I am now. I thought for a minute that we would never get to leaving with you always being so slow." She shakes her head at me and playfully taps her watch to remind me of her strict time schedule.

I smirk after her as we head towards the car.

**********

Ten minutes later, we are pulling into the parking lot of one of the biggest malls my city had to offer. It was like any teenage girl's dream. Clothes, clothes, makeup, food, coffee, fragrance stores, and did I mention clothes? We both hop out of the car and grin towards each other before heading into the obscenely crowded mall.

I look at the stores and take in the sights of the people walking around me. Mom grabs my arm and drags me to JcPenney's. She points enthusiastically to the changing section and walks away while grabbing the nearest dress she can find.

I chuckle at Mom's determination and head toward the changing room. I turn around to see Mom bombard me with a ton of dresses. She hands them to me and pushes me into the changing stall.

I try on the dresses and decided on the one I like. It was a coral green floor length dress, it was sleeveless and displayed a flowing wave to the side. I open the door to show Mom. She smiles and starts to say something, but I can no longer hear her. Something else has caught my attention.

It was him. The rude and mysterious customer I served on my first day at the coffeehouse. I knot my eyebrows together and lean forward to see what he was doing. He appeared to be waiting for someone- looking quite comfortable reading while reading a 2007 edition of People's Magazine (Sarcasm).

"I doubt he's waiting for his girlfriend. His personality is definitely not the kind that would express sincere 'concern'." I think to myself as I continue to stare and be completely oblivious to the comments Mom was giving to my dress. Someone calls his name ( I couldn't make it out clearly), a girl perhaps, and he rises to leave.

As he is putting the magazine away, my bad luck decides to kick in and he looks directly towards me. We lock eyes and he looks at my dress and back up at me. My eyes quickly shoot away from his gaze and I rush back into the changing room. I look at my reflection in the mirror. My face is bright red and my eyes are still wide open in surprise.

"Please, please, pleaseee tell me he didn't recognize me." I say out loud as I start to take the dress off. Mom knocks on the door."Quinn, are you alright? You look like you saw a ghost. Open the door so I can see you."

"I'm fine, Mom. I-I thought it was someone that I had seen before. I'll be out in a minute."

"Quinn, with that look on your face, I don't think you're glad about seeing that 'someone' you know."

I unlock the door and step out wearing my regular clothing while holding the dresses.
"Everything is okay, Mom. Don't worry about it. Now, why don't we find you something nice and talk about life over ice cream?"

Mom momentarily frowns, but briefly replaces her expression with a smile and links her hand into mine. "Sounds like a plan I wouldn't want to miss."