silvia

viii.

dear bella rue,

jesse insisted that he go shopping with me to get my prom dress, despite my insisting that he shouldn’t accompany me. we went to what seemed a million stores, then took a break to get smoothies, and then we went to a million other stores. finally, we found a dress that we could both agree on; not too flashy or gaudy, but something about it still said, ‘hey, look at me, please’. i can’t really put it into words. but bella rue, the way jesse looked at me when i stepped out of the dressing room wearing that dress...wow. it kind of reminded me of that song from cinderella; you know, the one that goes, “so this is love, hm-hm-mm-hm...”

jesse: that’s the dress.

me: this is the dress?

jesse: woman, if you don’t purchase that dress within fifteen minutes, i will never speak to you again.

me: no need to be so pushy about it.

    [i close the dressing room door for two reasons; a), so i could change, and b), so jesse couldn’t see me blush madly.]

jesse: seriously, though. i’m tempted to buy it for myself.

me: that’s kind of weird, jesse.

jesse: it’s not gay! it’s fabulous!

me: i never said that it wasn’t happy, jesse.

    [i leave the dressing room, and jesse and i get in line to buy the dress.]

jesse: you have such a strange sense of humor, silvia.

    [i sigh.]

jesse: but i kind of like it.

    [i smile.]

janessa is really thrilled that i’m going to prom, even if it’s not with a date. she said that “participating” is a good thing for people to do, and that it’s also a good way to make friends. now, i don’t know about any of this ‘making friends’ bullshit, but i do know that the only friend i want is jesse.

sincerely yours,

silvia.