The Word

Chapter 3

I run onto my front porch frantically and slam the door shut behind me. I race up the stairs and sling my bookbag onto the floor. I quickly take the small piles on my floor and form a large hump. I roll my sleeves up and with a sigh I survey my options. Clearly he's trying to be sexy about this so my clothes have to match. I rifle through my drawers and the mountain of clothes beside me to try to find a good option. Blue ruffled dress shirt doesn't scream sex appeal. I toss it into the pile of throw-aways and huff. This is horrible. All of my clothes are either too casual or too professional. I don't go places much so the most I own is jeans, dress shirts, shorts and pantsuits. I'm not putting on any of that for a date with my boyfriend. I'm left with no choice at this point. I grab my phone and call my personal savior.

"Hey, what's up?", Dahlyia answers the phone on the first ring and sounds as cheerful as ever.

"I need help. I'm going on a date with Zion tonight but I don't have anything to wear," I huff and flop onto my bed.

"Oh honey. Don't worry, I'm coming right now!", she says seriously and hangs up immediately. I look at my phone for a second and laugh picturing Dahlyia seriously rushing for a "fashion emergency". I clean up the piles of clothes and junk on my floor in the meantime to try and make it look presentable before Dahlyia makes it just as messy all over again. I snort as I put the last shirt in my dresser and give my room a once over. It looks so much nicer when it's clean. The floors are covered in plush carpeting and the base boards are grey. It matches the scheme of my room because the pillows are pink and the covers are also grey. The walls are plain white but I plan on getting them painted and changing the overall scheme of the room. As I think about the way I want to redecorate, I hear Dahlyia coming up the stairs.

"I'm here,"she sings as she bounds into my room and plops on her bed. She looks around the room and looks surprised for a moment. "It's clean in here,"she states, clearly taken aback.

"I'm not that bad Dal,"I roll my eyes and move on,"We need to get me an outfit". 

"Well duh, but where are you going? I need to get a little background info before I can truly give you the perfect outfit," she says. 

"Uhhhh......I don't know, but he said that I should wear something I "wouldn't mind ruining". He was being mysterious so I think its gonna be romantic at first and then...," I trail off purposefully to let her on to what I think will happen. 

"OHHHHHHHHHH. Ohhhhhhhh,"she smiles mischievously and goes quiet for a moment, "I've got just the thing!". She jumps off the bed and disappears for a few minutes before appearing in the doorway again holding something red and sleek. She walks in dramatically and does a big reveal as she lays it across my bed. The garment is a slim burgundy jumpsuit with sheer material. It has long sleeves and the right pants leg has a slit up to mid thigh level. It's beautiful.

"I love it. Where did you find it?"I ask her as I run my fingers along the soft fabric. It feels like a cloud.

"I made it," she says quietly and peeks at me from under her long lashes. I stare at her for a second before I register what she's said. 

"DAL THAT'S AMAZING!", I shout and grab her shoulders. I watch her relax and realize she was nervous to tell me.

"You should enter the contest they're having. I can't remember the name of the company but its supposed to be great for exposure with new creators," I say and study her for a moment. She looks at me with a mixture of doubt and annoyance. "You don't want to,"I say as more of a statement than a question. I huff and roll my eyes at her clear self-doubt. "You could totally win it Dal, you have  to sign up,"I tell her earnestly. She looks at me skeptically and scoffs. I start to say something else but she still doesn't seem convinced and I don't want to annoy her so I drop the subject and move on.