That One Quaterback || Darnell Hayes AU

Eight

Olivia is having her cotillion tonight, and she invited Coop and I to come as guests of Spencer since last minute changes happened. I guess Asher, her boyfriend, has been ditching her so Spencer is going to be her escort and her twin Jordan is going to be Kia's, Spencer's ex, escort. Honestly, I'm excited because this is such a big thing for the black community, especially among the females and Olivia has been working her butt off for it. I may not be close to her, but we have talked in passing, and she's mad chill.

Spencer is letting Coop and I bring a date, so Coop is obviously bringing Patience and I'm bringing Darnell. The only thing is, I haven't even gotten a dress yet, so Olivia offered a ride to take Patience and I shopping to get some dresses. I was grabbing my purse when I heard a honking, so I walked out of my room and knocked on Coop's to get Patience so we can leave with Olivia.
"Hey girls, what's up?" Olivia said as we opened the door.
"Just living, you excited for tonight?" I asked.
"Yes but I'm also nervous," Olivia answered.
"Girl your gonna do great," Patience said, "Plus this is to show what you as a black female have learned to better the community, so this is great, and your podcast, it's been popping,"
"Oh my god yes, I love it Olivia, l listen to every episode," I stated.
"Thank you guys, I'm just trying to spread awareness," Olivia said.

We arrived in Beverly to a boutique. Patience and I looked at each other wondering how the hell we are going to pay these dresses. Honestly I thought we were going to go to the mall or a local shop, not a boutique. When we walked in, I felt so under dressed for a place like this. Olivia and Patience started picking out dresses but I couldn't find one that I felt like was me.
"What's wrong?" Olivia asked.
"I don't know, none of these just seem like me," I answered.
"You got to have a broader spectrum of what you could like, plus you have a nice body figure," Olivia stated, "Here, I'll help pick out a few for you,"
"Thank you," I said.

Olivia tried to stick with a pale pink tone for me. All the dresses had some type of lace on the top as well. She picked a total of four and handed them to me so I can take them into the dressing room and try them on. She just wanted to see them all to give an honest opinion.

The first one was way too much of an actual ball gown for me to like, I told Olivia no. The second one was nice and flowy on the bottom with a lace top and thin straps, so a maybe. The third one, by far was my favorite. It had a slit down the side of my left leg and the lace top but no straps. The last dress was a simple plain dress with a lace belt to connect the top and bottom, it had a V-neck and thick straps on it.
"So, what one are you choosing?" Olivia shouted as I was changing back into my clothes.
"Give me one minute," I stated. I got my clothes back on and grabbed all but the first dress. I walked out so see Olivia sitting there with her hands folded together.
"So? What do you like the best?" Olivia asked.
"Honestly the one with the slit," I answered.
"Perfect, cause that's the dress your wearing, now your lucky that they sell ties here so you can have Darnell match with you," Olivia said.
"Are you serious? This isn't prom," I stated.
"Yes, I know, however this cotillion is very sophisticated and since you guys are going as a dates, you are matching per my request," Olivia specifically stated, "Plus, if Spencer and I have to match, so does everyone else,"
"You have a point there," I laughed, "Patience did you get a dress?"
"Yes ma'am, and no one is seeing it till tonight, big surprise for Coop," Patience answered.

After we got our dresses, which were a lot cheaper that I thought, Olivia drove us home so we could get ready. My makeup, easy but my hair, I had no idea what to do. I called Coop into my room to see what I should do because I want it to look great, I mean this is a pretty big dance or whatever and I do want to look good tonight.
"J, I don't know, my mind is blank, why can't we just keep it natural?" Coop asked.
I turned around to look at her, "You did your hair all nice and slicked back, now I need something other than natural," I sassed.
"Girl, this dance isn't even for you, why do you care?" Coop questioned.
"Because it's sophisticated and so I want to feel that way," I said.
"Okay, well since it's black culture, we are keeping your natural hair, however, we can do those small braids in the front to pull your hair back?" Coop asked, I nodded yes, "Okay, and I will put some gem clips in too, do you still have them?"
"Yeah, they are in my hair drawer," I stated.