Dream and Nightmare

Chapter 31 - First Date

Picking out a dress was the hardest part. Kendelyn had insisted on it, and Anah was secretly excited about wearing one though she protested loudly against Kendelyn.

The problem they encountered was Anah's lack of dresses. She owned one skirt that was two sizes too big, and an Easter dress that had a white collar at her neck and pink and yellow flowers glued to it.

Kendelyn had a plethora of dresses, but most of them were skin tight and so revealing that Anah wouldn't even try them on. "Maybe Jack will like you in something sexy." Kendelyn had teased, trying sucessfully to get Anah's face completely tomato red.

They were at Kendelyn and Kellen's small apartment that they always rented in the summer, preparing for Anah's 'real date' with Jack. They'd spent more than enough time together in the past month and a half, but apparently, their time together in the woods, or listening to rock record together weren't considered 'real dates'.

Anah tossed aside a bright red, sequined dress that Kendelyn had just handed her. "If all dates are this much stress, I'm fine with just going on a walk," Anah said.

At first she had been pleased about the idea of doing something so incredibly normal as dating, but after having her hair brutally attacked and curled by Kendelyn and a layer of makeup painted on her skin, Anah was far less excited. In fact, she was downright anxious about going out in public with the boy. What if he saw her next to other girls and realized how skinny and young she looked?

"Oh no, babe." Kendelyn flashed her a wide grin. "You're gonna have so much fun. He has the cutest plan." She closed her emptied out closet, and looked at the mess of dresses before her. "You know what?" She grabbed a couple dresses from the pile. "I'll be right back."

Anah sat back down on the pullout couch, touching her meticulously curled locks. She smiled at the thought of Jack running his hand through the curls, and some amount of excitement built back up in her chest.

From the other room, Anah could hear the hum of a sewing machine as Kendelyn pieced together a dress for her. While she waited, Anah daydreamed about what Jack could possibly have planned for their date. It was probably some sort of fancy dinner since they were getting all dressed up for it.

Kendelyn's return interrupted her daydreams. The dress she had scrapped together had a skirt just above Anah's knees, surprisingly modest for one of Kendelyn's outfits. The skirt was black and twirled when Anah did making her hope they would be dancing. The top of the dress wasn't as modest as Anah would've liked as it just had spaghetti straps and fell low on her flat chest, but Kendelyn gave her a black scarf to drape around her shoulders.

Anah twirled again in the mirror and gave Kendelyn a hug. "Thank you."

"You're a knockout, babe," She reassured her. "And you're lucky. Some of us were ugly ducklings at your age."

Looking at Kendelyn, Anah severely doubted she'd ever been ugly in her life, but a knock at the door stopped her from arguing. Kendelyn winked at her. "Have fun, but not too much fun," she said before disappearing into the kitchen.

"Anah?" Jack knocked again. "Are you decent?"

"I'm a knockout, apparently," she said, opening the door.

"Yes you are." Jack didn't move to step inside. He stood in the doorway, slowly taking her appearance in until Anah's cheeks were burning. Her instinct was to shy away from him; instead, she stood on her toes, and brushed her lips across his. Jack made a low noise and pulled her face closer, pressing his lips harder against hers. He tangled his fingers in the curls of her hair, not letting her pull away until he had to come up for air.