Kiss Me (On Christmas Day)

chapter 6

chapter 6

~Blue~

       I scour through the limited amount of clothes I have, trying to find something, anything, that I can wear to Albert's engagement party. I know I don't have anything fancy, but that doesn't stop me from trying to find something. 

       "Blue," Amy's voice comes from outside the tent. "I can hear you making a mess in there. I don't want to clean up after you again."

       I stop digging through my clothes and instead, open the tent zipper to look at my sister. "What are you talking about? I'm always cleaning up after you."

       Amy climbs into the tent, sitting down on her sleeping bag. She looks at the mess of clothes on my side of the tent. "You looking for something?"

       I sigh heavily, giving up on finding anything decent. "I agreed to going to Spiro's stupid cousin's engagement party, and I don't have anything fancy to wear. I can't just show up in my casual clothes, especially when they're so... worn." In fact, I'm a bit surprised Spiro's family never mentioned how worn out my clothes look.

       "Why don't you just ask your boyfriend to borrow something?" Amy asks.

       "You always say boyfriend way too casually. You know he isn't actually my boyfriend, right?" Amy just shrugs in reply. "Besides, I'd rather not ask him to borrow some good clothes. What kind of person doesn't have even a shirt they can wear to an engagement party? It will probably end up leading into a discussion about my money situation and I'd rather not tell him about it."

       Amy furrows her eyebrows. "Why? It's not like he's going to judge you for it."

       "He might."

       "Blue, from what you told me, he literally asked you to be his fake boyfriend minutes after meeting you while you ate spaghetti in a closet. I think you're way passed the judgement stage."

       I know she's right. I know it. But still, after years of living on my own on my streets, I've become accustomed to not asking people for anything. It will feel too weird to ask Spiro for something, even if it's as simple as borrowing something to wear. It's not like I'm asking him for thousands of dollars.

       Though his clothes could well enough cost thousands of dollars.

       Amy can see me reluctance to ask Spiro for something to wear, so she asks, "Why don't you just buy something? Didn't you get paid recently?"

       "I did, but I don't want to spend most of my money on some clothes I'll probably never wear again."

       "Thrift stores, Blue. Thrift stores exist. I'm sure you'll be able to find something there."

       I weigh my options. It's either ask Spiro to borrow something or use my money to buy something at the thrift store. I know what the better option will be for me in the long run, but I still can't bring myself to ask Spiro.

       "I guess we're going thrifting," I say, but then I sigh heavily after realizing something if I go with that option. "But then we're going to have to spend some change at the laundromat to get it clean and..." I groan as I lie down on my sleeping bag. "I can't wait for this to be over."

       Amy snorts. "Okay."

       Despite just lying down, I sit up again to look at Amy. "What does that mean?"

       "Nothing, nothing. It's just... I don't think you're going to be exactly excited when this whole thing is over."

       "I don't know. Not having to be around Spiro's cousin sounds like a dream."