ITS NICE TO HAVE A FRIEND; seth cohen

six

material girl, madonna

"so, lucy, are you going to come out?" summer asks.

"what?" i reply, eyeing the chocolate milkshake the waiter just brought to another table.

"the deb cotillion ball. are you coming out?"

i snap back into reality. "oh, uh... i wasn't planning to."

"you should! sum and i are doing it. it'll be fun!" marissa smiles.

"i don't know. i'll need to find an escort and as of right now, my only options are the cable guy and my distant cousin's butler," i say.

"you don't need a boyfriend or anything. you can go with one of your friends," summer suggests.

"that leaves me with either ryan or seth, and i don't think either of them will want to do it."

"seth would die to be your escort, summer," marissa laughs. "maybe you can go with him and then lucy can go with ryan." i can't help but dig my fingernails into my palm gently when she mentions seth's unwavering crush.

"not gonna happen, coop. i'm only doing this because you convinced me." summer replies.

"oh, come on. you're doing this so you can talk to hot rich older men." marissa scoffs playfully.

"not all of us can have a luke ward. a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do," the brunette smiles.

"guys, i don't know..." i hesitate. "maybe i should wait and see if anyone asks to be my escort?"

"that's not gonna happen. men are stupid," summer laughs.

"i agree. i think you should ask ryan," marissa says.

"or ask cohen," summer adds with a giggle. i love her, but i wish she wouldn't talk about him like that.

"maybe..." ideally, i'd love to go with seth. the question is if he'd want to go with me. i ponder this as the waitress comes with our food. the smell of french fries fills the air.

as we eat our meal, i ask, "will you guys go dress shopping with me?"

"of course, lucy!" summer smiles. "i'm so excited you're doing it with us."

ੈ✩‧₊˚

the three of us walk along melrose avenue, looking in every window. apparently, this thing is a big enough deal to drive over an hour to go shopping. the street is insanely crowded, flashes of different colors zooming past each other.

"they have vivienne westwood here?!" i exclaim.

"yes!" summer replies, nodding.

"we need to take you here more often!" marissa smiles.

the three of us walk through the door and summer immediately rushes toward a gorgeous white dress.

"that's so you, sum," the blonde says.

"you think?" summer replies.

i make my way over to the two girls, looking around the store. all of these dresses are breathtaking, but i'm not sure if i'm gonna find my dress here. honestly, i'm not sure i want to. it's a perfect excuse to not do this.

but then, i look at summer, holding the fabric against her body, beaming, and im suddenly looking forward to this.

"i'm gonna go try this on," summer says as she walks toward the dressing room. in the mean time, i look through the racks and come across many dresses. none of which, however, are the dress. god, i feel like i'm shopping for a wedding.

"are you going to go to the tea party next week?" marissa asks. "it's a good opportunity to meet other debutantes."

"there's a tea party?" my eyes widen. maybe this is going to be fun.

"lucy, there's so much more. you're going to have to learn a dance," she laughs. "summer and i will help you. and we'll help you get an escort too." i forgot about that. my two options, seth and ryan, do not look very promising. 

as marissa and i wait for summer to show us her dress, i mentally write a pros and cons list for my potential escorts. the pros for seth include the fact that i want him to be my escort. but i assume he wants to be summer's escort. so i guess that is also a con. however, i'm not too sure that that is going to happen, though, considering summer couldn't care less about him half the time.

a pro for ryan is that he is more likely to say yes, considering that he isn't waiting on anyone else, so i guess he's the one i should choose.

"coop! lucy! come look at this!" summer exclaim as she steps out of the fitting room. a white satin gown hugs her body perfectly. she spins, asking, "what do you guys think?"

marissa and i look at each other, before exclaiming different variations of "that's the one!"

"really?" summer smiles, looking at her reflection in the mirror. i nod, excitedly. "okay now i'm not taking this off until you guys find dresses."

ੈ✩‧₊˚

marissa and summer wait for me as i slowly open the door of my fitting room. i hold my breath, slightly nervous for them to see me. this is the first time in a while where i've had female friends to share things like this with. i want to be able to feel pretty with them.

"lucy. oh my god," summer gushes.

"you look amazing," marissa smiles. we step in front of the mirror happily.

the three of us stand there, looking at ourselves.

"we are going to rock this thing," the brunette says.

i tuck a piece of hair behind my ear as i stare at myself. i can't help but smile at my reflection.