A Teenage Love: A Coming of Age Story

Chapter 15 - Cultivation

Michelle. Dustin came over bearing the biggest, ugliest, bluest bridesmaid dress I'd ever seen. "What the heck is that?" I laughed.

"Your homecoming dress," he said holding it up to my body. My stank expression said everything that needed to be said.

"I know it looks bad now, but trust me, when I'm done with it, you won't even know it's same dress."

"I'm going to look like a walking blueberry."

"A hot one," he said fitting it to my body again. "Try it on."

I put the puffy dress on just for kicks. He stood behind me and held my sides to accentuate the waistline. Then he played with the umbrella-like hem. The bottom looked like a satin curtain with a giant sheet of blue fabric softener on top. He had that focused look on his face whenever he was into his art, like he was cracking some intricate code. "Fits perfectly," he said to himself. He jumped up and pushed his hair back coolly. "Alright, check this out." He showed me a sketch of an edgy party dress. It was obviously the same dress only a lot hotter. It was like a new school dress with an 80's twist. The hem was taken up drastically. The untamed sleeves were practically nonexistent, and the tool overlay was made into a fresh sheer neckline.

He was already sticking me with pins. When it came to creativity, Dustin was my guy. I put my trust in his hands because I honestly didn't have too many other options. It was either that or the plain black dress I wore to my Aunt Marva's third wedding before I hit puberty.

The first thing I noticed about Dustin was his style, so I knew he would come through with something fire. He always found ways to look unique and fashionable with what he had.

"So when do you lose the cast?" he said working on my puffy sleeves.

"A couple weeks after homecoming. Go figure."

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

After weeks of small talk at lunch, study nights after school and him even drawing on my cast once, he finally had the nerve to ask me how I acquired it. "I was dating this guy from Davenport over the summer, a big shot? His friends hated me. I thought it was pretty funny until they broke three of my fingers and gave me a concussion."

"Ryan's friends would never..."

I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but smile.

Mom rapped on the door lightly and peeked in. "Whoa, did you steal that dress from my senior prom?"

"Check out what it's going to look like when it's done," I said handing her his sketch pad.

"You're going to turn that into this?" she said uncertainly.

"Sure," she said holding a pin between his teeth.

She watched in fascination while he worked. "Aren't you glad you got such talented friends, Michelle?"

He stuck me with a pin. "Ow."

On her way out, she said, "Doors lock at nine."

"Okay."

I waited until she closed the door. "Thanks for doing this for me, Dustin."

"Not a problem," he said. "Besides, I have nothing better to do than mingle in other people's love lives."

"Don't you like somebody?"