Thunderstorms ✅

18. Dresses

"There is no way I'm wearing a yellow prom dress" I laugh as Riley shoves the bright fabric into my face. We were at the mall shopping for our prom dresses with Smackle and things were going...okay. Riley kept on suggesting bright, cheery colors for my dress while my eye kept on catching on a long, dark blue dress across the store.

"You'd look so pretty though" she insists making me laugh as I shove the fabric back towards her.

"Riles trust me, yellow is more your color" I reply as I brush past her, heading over to the dress I had been eyeing all afternoon. I grab it off the rack after finding my size and I quickly slip into a dressing room. I strip down and take the dress off the hanger before sliding it up my body. I zip it up and turn to look at myself in the mirror taken back when I do. The dress is dark blue and sweeps across the floor as I move, it has a cutout on the left side surrounded my sparkles. The dress is stunning.

I step out of the dressing room and Smackle and Riley's jaws hit the ground when they see me.

"You were right. Yellow is so not your color" Riley says smiling brightly. "That dress looks like it was made for you Peaches."

"Thanks Riles" I reply as a smile pulls at my lips. "Smackle what do you think?" I ask hopefully as I bite my lip.

"I think it's perfect Maya. You just need some amazing shoes" she adds as she takes my hand and leads me to the shoe department. We scour the racks for about ten minutes before stumbling upon the perfect pair of sparkly, strappy silver heels. I slip them onto my feet, growing about two inches as I do and I can't help but feel happy. For the first time in a long time I forget about everything else and I just allow myself to be a teenage girl preparing for her prom, the last night before everything changed.

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"Where were you guys?" Josh asks from his spot on the couch as we walk into the loft with our dresses in tow. Since I knew I would be getting ready here for the big dance in a couple weeks I figured it'd just be easier to keep my dress here.

"Prom dress shopping" Riley sing songs as we go off to her room. As we're hanging up the dresses I hear Riley's phone ring and she gives me an apologetic smile as she looks down at the caller ID. I roll my eyes playfully as I chuckle.

"Talk to Huckleberry" I insist. "Come and find me when you're done" I add making her smile as she presses the answer button and starts talking rapidly to Lucas about prom. I close the door behind me and I skip down the steps still finding Josh sitting on the couch.

"You didn't escape into your room. I'm shocked" I tease as I plop down onto the couch next to him.

"Whatever" he replies smiling over at me. "How did shopping go?" he asks as I shrug.

"I got a dress" I inform him watching a smile pull at his lips.

"I bet you look gorgeous in it Maya" he says sweetly making a blush creep onto my cheeks. "Um we should maybe you know talk about what happened a few weeks ago" he adds as he turns off the TV, turning his full attention to me.

"Josh I'm done talking about loving you, about kissing you, about wanting you. It's exhausting. I've put it all on the table. I just can't do the baby thing at eighteen years old" I inform him.

"I know" he sighs as he takes my hand in his. "I just want this so bad Maya" he adds as his sparkling blue eyes lock on mine. "I feel like I'm suffocating with Callie. She's driving me insane. She even wants to move the wedding up before the baby's born."

"What?" I ask in shock.

"I don't know. Something about a more stable environment for the baby" he replies as he shakes his head in annoyance. Suddenly my theory of the baby not being his flashes across my mind once again.

"Josh can I ask the world's most inappropriate question?" I ask as I squeeze his hand that was still being held in mine.

"Um I guess" he laughs nervously.

"When the hell did you have sex with her?" I ask as his eyes widen at the question, I think for a second he's not going to reply but he takes a deep breath and starts talking.

"The week we got back from holiday break. There was a party on campus, thus there was a lot of alcohol on campus. We were hanging out like usual and I guess we both got so trashed that it kinda happened." Suddenly my heart stops giving me all but her confession that the baby wasn't Josh's. If he was telling the truth then she would've only been a couple weeks pregnant, hell I didn't even know if a pregnancy test could pick up on a pregnancy that early. "Maya why does that matter?" he asks curiously.

"I'm back. Josh step away from Maya" Riley says seriously.

"Hold on" Josh says quickly as he ignores his niece. "Maya why does that matter?" he asks again.

"It doesn't" I reply shaking my head. "I'll talk to you later" I add as I jump off the couch. I knew I was right about Callie but I also know that I couldn't tell him like this, hell I shouldn't tell him at all, Callie should but as I leave him behind I have a feeling she never will.