"Come on Phoenix, your name literally means to come out of the ashes and survive!" Shauna yells at me. You have to love what my mother named me. Phoenix, the bird that supposedly comes alive from ashes. Strong isn't it? I don't feel strong. I grunt and flip her off. "You know it's true, please just talk to me about it," she pleads.
"I don't want to talk about it." We're currently sitting at a Starbucks in our local mall. Shauna is slurping on some pink, fruity thing. I made sure that my request for a black coffee was loud and clear. I think I said something along the lines of, "I want it black like my soul".
Shauna insisted on dragging me to the mall, claiming we needed a "girls night out". I didn't think so but look where I am now.
She gives me a puppy dog face and I glare at her. She's always known that to be my weakness. "Just have some fun and forget about him!" I narrow my eyes and shoot her a death glare.
"You know what, I don't care if you look at me like I'm dead to you, I'm bringing it up," she snaps. "It's been six months and you used to be such a happy person before you met Reid." Reid. That is a name I haven't heard in awhile. That is a name I had hoped I'd never hear again.
I'm stood on the balcony of my new apartment, looking across to see the blinds open of the apartment in the building next door. I see a man walk into the living room and I find myself ducking behind the railings of my balcony. I still have a clear view of the now shirtless man that lives across the street. My stupid teenage instincts and hormones take over and I groan.
His body is perfectly tanned and toned and his hair is a dark shade of black, with different purples running through it. It glimmers in the sunlight and I can't help but gasp. It's beautiful, almost mesmerising. Then he turns and my eyes widen.
He has the most amazing pair of midnight blue eyes I've ever seen and I feel myself wanting to reach out and touch his perfectly chiseled cheekbones and jawline. He walks toward the sliding glass door that opens up to his balcony and I find myself sinking as low as I can until my knees are practically touching the ground.
He looks around and then down to where I'm sitting. A smile finds its way onto his lips and I feel myself forgetting how to breathe. "What's your name?" he asks. I stand up slowly and his smile deepens.
"Phoenix," I manage to stutter out.
"How old are you, Phoenix?"
"19." His eyes darken and he smirks, I feel my stomach swirling.
"I'm Reid, 23, nice to meet you, Phoenix." He rolls my name off his tongue like it's meant for him to say it. "I'll see you around, dinner tonight?" Reid says as more of an arrangement than a question.
"Sure?" I muster
"Meet me outside at 8."
Shauna shakes me and I feel myself coming out of my daze. "Come on, we're going to shop."
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We walk into a dress shop that Shauna said was called Bliss. She pulls me to the back and starts looking through dresses. She pulls three off of their racks and hands to me. "Go try them on," she orders pointing toward the dressing rooms.
I walk into the nearest empty one and pull the curtain closed. I take a moment to assess the dresses she has picked out for me. There is a strapless aquamarine dress that starts with a midnight blue color at the bodice and slowly fades into an almost turquoise color at the bottom of the floor length dress. The next one is a deep purple dress that comes down to about knee length but is longer in the back it has a silver bodice covered in gemstones. The last one is black, I have to take a step back because it catches me off guard. It has a floral print at the top that is see through in parts of the bodice, it has one full-length sleeve that follows the same pattern as the bodice. The rest of the dress is just a sheer black that drops down to the floor with about a three-inch train, and it has a slit going up the middle of the side. (I'll put photos at the beginning of the next chapter.)
I skip putting on the first two immediately and go straight to the black dress. I pull my arm through the sleeve then look into the mirror. It fits my body perfectly as if the dress were made for me. I walk out of the dressing room and Shauna gasps.
"We're buying that," she claims after a few stunned seconds. I just nod and go back into the dressing room to put my clothes back on.
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On our way back home- with the dress -I can't help but think of what it would have been like if I'd had that dress on my and Reid's first date a year ago. On our date, I wound up wearing a purple a-little-too-small-for-me dress.
"Kyle, do you think this looks good?" I yell to my new roommate, we'd been friends since I was 14 so we decided to move in together. I walk out into the hall where he instructed me to go and his lips immediately purse.
"I think it's a little too small. Who is this guy again?" He says giving me a disapproving glare. Always like him to be the big brother. two years isn't that big of an age difference, Kyle!
"I um..." I can't tell him the truth, he'll totally flip. "I met him at the market a few days ago and we exchanged numbers then."
"Hmm... Why didn't you tell me about him?" He questions, not yet believing my story.
"I haven't seen you since the move, and a lot has been going on," I say a little more confidently.
Trust flashes past his eyes. "Okay, just don't drink, and don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"That's not much," I retort with a snort. He chuckles giving me a soft smile.
Shauna and I pull up to a restaurant and I give her a questioning glare. "I thought we could go for something other than pizza for once." I give her a slow understanding nod. By the time I actually notice what restaurant we're at, she has already gotten out of the car and is waving for me to follow. I feel a tear slip out of my eye as we walk into Red Lobster, our place.
I stand on the curb outside of my new apartment building. My apartment building. It sounds right. I see the double doors to the building next door open and I see a piece of a tailored black suit. I then see the black and purple hair that follows. His hair is shaved quite short on either side and his hair reaches the nape of his neck in the straight line that it goes down in the middle. It's currently slicked back and I feel the need to hold onto something to stay upright.
He flashes a smirk at me and hails a taxi. I run up to stand beside him. A taxi pulls up and we crawl in. His hand rests on my thigh as we make our way through the city to the destination he whispered to the driver. About 20 minutes later we pull up to a Red Lobster.
He steps out of the taxi and runs to the other side opening the door for me. He grabs my hand and helps me out of the car, a kind gesture and I needed it, especially with these heels.
We walk in arm in arm and he asks for a table for two. The first thing I notice is that we're overdressed. Do we care? No.
He tucks my hair behind my ear and whispers softly, "You look ravishing in that dress."
I feel tingles thread through my arms at the old thought. We are seated and I look across the table at Shauna. "You hate me," I mumble.
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I get home and Kyle asks how my day was and I just shake him off. I go into my room and hang up my dress in the small amount of closet space I have, but don't use. I've never been one for dresses and skirts, this is the first one I've bought in a few years.
I go over to my bed and lie down on top of my sheets and comforter and get lost in thought staring at the ceiling.
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I NEED TO CALM DOWN WITH THESE BUT THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING!!! PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT!
-xLil
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Him
Novela Juvenil"What the hell?" I ask, baffled to see him in front of me. "Nice to see you too, love." ------ Him. He was perfect. I could sit and swing my legs on that balcony for hours on end. Talking, just talking. Laughing about the world and h...
