Make It Home For Christmas [COMPLETE]

Chapter Eight

The dress Lacey had in mind for Frankie to wear to the ski lodge gala was the prettiest, puffiest dress Frankie had ever seen.

Frankie had only been to once dance before in her entire life. It had been her sophomore year homecoming and she had worn one of her sister's dresses. That dress had been plain and black, nothing frilly, nothing special.

The dress Lacey had waiting for Frankie when she arrived at her house Saturday afternoon to get ready was the exact opposite of what Frankie had worn to homecoming. Lacey's dress was dark green and velvet with a skirt that poofed out at the waist before ending right at Frankie's knees. It was shorter than Frankie was used to but Lacey had a pair of black tights for her to wear underneath.

The sharing adventure stopped at the shoes. Frankie's feet were bigger than Lacey's and so she had to resort to wearing her nice church shoes with the dress. Walking into the ballroom of the Hummel Ski Lodge, Frankie immediately regretted her decision to not squeeze into a pair of Lacey's heels as she took in the attire around her.

The room was filled with silk, lace, velvet gowns, and tuxedos. Everywhere Frankie looked, guests were dressed to the nines, jewelry on full display, elaborate hairdos to match. Frankie's nicest shoes were a pair of black converse. She was the only person not wearing fancy dress shoes in the entire room. She immediately felt out of place.

Frankie only entered the ballroom further because Lacey had grabbed her arm and was pulling her along. The further in she went, the more out of place she felt. The more she took in the ballroom decorations, the more the scene around her felt like a fairy tale.

From an objective standpoint, after pulling herself out of the depths of her spiraling sense of self-worth, Frankie could see why the lodge gala was such a big deal, why the tickets were so hard to acquire and how they had the resources to hire Johnny Stephens as musical guest for the evening.

The ballroom was a separate room attached to the main body of the building by a glass hallway. It was rounded on all sides and the majority of its wall space were windows that looked out onto the snowy landscape and quaint little Hummel sitting at the base of the mountain.

As for the decorations, Frankie felt as though the spirit of Christmas herself had been hired as decorator. There were multiple Christmas trees, hundreds of lights and multiple crystal chandeliers garnished with holly hanging from the ceiling.

While Lacey dragged her to their table, Frankie's eyes searched the room for Johnny, trying to spot him in the older crowd. Frankie had a feeling that she might be the youngest person at the party.

Lacey let go of Frankie's hand when they reached one of the tables closest to the dance floor. Frankie could read her name, along with Lacey's, Corey's, Dan's, and Hannah's on clean white place cards. Lacey didn't notice Frankie's state of extreme shock and awe as she herself was remarking on everything around them while Corey followed her pointing finger and excited glances.

When Frankie's eye grew used to the magnificence around her, her panic forced her to look to the crowd, searching for disdainful glances, judgmental stares at her attire, anything to affirm her discomfort. She found Dan and Hannah a few tables away chatting with a group of people. Lacey's words from their trip to the antique store came back to her, a brief distraction from her state of overwhelm. Watching her boss interact with those around him, Frankie found she was watching a different side to Dan that she had never seen before.

From where she was standing, Dan was the center of a small group of men and women. He was taller than everyone else but seemed to lean forward slightly to lessen the difference and to appear as if he were listening intently. From the number of nods and half-smiles, Frankie could tell he really was.