let's light up the sky ☆

Chapter 13

"This song I wrote for you my future loveeeeer–"

I hummed along to the music blasting from my speakers on my dresser. Cody was on his way to pick me up for my date. Singing was the only way to smoosh down the jitters. I was on the verge of catching cold feet and running out on the one chance I had with him.

Cody insisted on keeping our plans a secret for the big reveal later. He only told me to be ready at noon and bring my best, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

Thank God Emily read my panicked message before it was too late.

"Getting ready for your big day?" she asked, not even giving me a chance to say hey.

"Am I getting married or something?"

Emily rolled her eyes, even through the crunchy pixelation of the screen."Never say never."

"Well until then... thoughts?" I turned the camera around to show her my outfit in front of the mirror. I threw on a sky blue romper and my regular white sneaks. I hadn't picked out my eyeshadow shade yet but I knew that I was gonna let my hair go into its natural curls. I hadn't let my curls down since Dad had the nerve to tell me I looked like him at that age when I was chilling in a plaid hoodie. I was bringing along a hair tie in case Cody's chosen place involved a lot of time outside.

"Simple. I like it. Did you have anything else in mind?"

"I mean, I was thinking about this dress at one point" – I held up a white floral sundress that would have come down right above my knees – "but I haven't worn this romper in a while."

"Okay," Emily responded and sipped her iced coffee. "But let's hope you don't have an emergency wearing that thing."

"Shh, don't curse me like that. I'm already about as anxious as a damn chihuahua, I don't need to have the bladder of one."

"If he cares about saving his senior season, he better treat my bestie right."

"Y'know, it's funny. Uncle Chris almost said the same damn thing the other day."

"Yes! Do you blame us for being in your corner?"

I blew a raspberry. "Pretty crowded corner, if you ask me."

Everybody seemed to have an idea that they'd slash Cody's tires or something if this date goes wrong. They know I've had little school boyfriends and chaperoned dates, but no one has ever picked me up old-school style for a mystery date.

"Enough of that. What's your make-up plan?"

I held up my bigger palette and highlighted the different shades of blue I had to pick from. "I might do this light blue shade and, like, a little bit of an under eye shadow? But I don't want it to completely wash out my face, y'know?"

Emily hummed. "How about, you do just a tiny bit right under your lashes and then touch up the corners with a darker shade? Then you can try doing as much as you want above it."

I put down my phone and took her advice. In the meantime, she updated me on a story about her step-brother's annoying ass. "His mom doesn't even make him do anything! He's 15 and still gets babied like he's helpless. But I'm the one that has to do all the cleaning because I'm the 'elder' of the two. Shit, I didn't ask my dad to marry her."

"You know what I'd do about that?"

"I know, I know, be shamelessly petty."

"Of course! Pettiness is the only way to live sometimes." I held up my phone again, covering the camera with my hand. "Ready?"