(Un)Fortunate

Chapter 21

"Ooh, look at this one Ellie!" Jen says.

We are out shopping since it is only like five o'clock and we aren't going to go to my house yet. Jen somehow convinced me to go prom dress shopping. Even though prom isn't for a couple of months. She practically dragged me into Shale Formal Wear.  

"Yeah, okay," I say, staring at my phone.

"Stop!" Jen says, snapping right in my face.

"Uhg, fine," I say, turning it off and sliding my phone into my Vera Bradley.

"Come here and try this on," Jen says, pushing me into the dressing room.

"Why?"

"Because it is your color and everything! Now go!" Jen says, squealing a little.

I go into the dark dressing room and take off my shirt and shorts. It is cold in the shop so I hurry to put the dress on.

I look in the mirror at myself. It is a pretty royal blue and has silver beading along the waistline. It is a high low, which means it is high in the front and drapes down in the back.

"Come out! Let me see it!" Jen says.

"Okay, but don't freak out," I say chuckling.

I walk out to the main area and stand on the platform in front of the mirror.

Jen jumps up and down and I laugh at her reaction.

"Tell me this isn't the perfect dress!" She says.

"Okay, I admit, this is pretty cute," I say, smiling.

"Only pretty cute? Its gorgeous! I would wear it myself, but my skin tone is more a peach or rose color," Jen says, placing a delicate finger on her chin. Jen's skin tone is a cocoa color. This is due to her Indian heritage. It isn't a direct line; her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother all have the same creamy cocoa skin.

She pushes a lock of brown hair out of her face and tilts her head.

"I am going to go take it off," I announce, stepping down.

"No, wait," Jen says, taking out her iPhone. She takes a picture of me in the dress.

"What was that for?"

"So you can remember what it looked like on you," She says, shrugging.

"Oh, send that to me," I say, picking up the dresses' train and heading into the dressing room.

"KK," She says, as I walk in.

It really is cute, I am not doubting that. I just want to look around some more. It is the first one I have tried on by the way.

Once I get dressed, I head out to the place where Jen is waiting. She is scrolling through Instagram and once she sees me she hops up.

"Wanna go eat something?" She says, in her chipper voice.

"Okay, where?" I say, getting out my keys.

"There is a new sushi place down the road, wanna check it out?"

"Okay, I have never had sushi," I say, unlocking the doors.

"Really? Never?" Jen says, her jaw dropping.

"Nope," I say, putting the key in the ignition.

"Loser," She says, jokingly.

"Wow, nice attitude for the girl who is riding in my car!"

Her attention slowly fades because soon she is talking about her crush, Carter.

"You know what he did for me today, Ell?!" Jen says.

"What?" I say, pretending to be excited for her sake.

"He asked me if I needed help on my math! Although, between just us, I didn't finish it on purpose!" She says, smiling.

"Wow Jen, that's super cool," I say, laughing as we pull up to a red light.

My phone dings with a text from Brandon. Being my safe driver self, I hand it to Jen and ask her to read it.

"It says 'Going on a second date with Casey tonight, which shirt is sexier?'" She giggles.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Casey and Brandon totally hit it off on their first date. She liked it so much she agreed to a second date.

"Pick one, I'm driving," I say, accelerating as the light turns green.

"Aw, but they are both hot," She whines. Eventually she starts doing eenie meenie miney mo.

I laugh as she finishes.

"It is the blue one!" She says, putting my phone back in the cup holder.

"Good to know," I chuckle, turning right where Jen tells me to.

"This is it, right here!" Jen says, pointing to an all white building with the words 'Sushi Palace' on the side. I pull into a parking space and lock my silver Dodge Charger. The familiar ding goes off, telling me it is locked and I follow Jen inside the very modern restaurant.

Inside, there are cool sculptures of dragons on the wall. They are made of metal and painted with bright colors.

As I marvel at the colors of the inside, Jen gets us a table.

"Ellie, come on."

"Okay, coming. It is so pretty in here!"

"Yeah, we recently remodeled. We even got an indoor fountain with a coy pond!" The hostess tells us as she seats us at our table.

"Well, it looks really fabulous!" I say, scooting into the booth.

"Thank you, now what can I get you girls to drink?" She says, taking out a little notepad.

"I will have a lemonade, and you Ell?" Jen says.

"Uh, can I have an iced tea with lemon and sugar?" I ask.

"Sure, your drinks will be right here."

"Thanks," We both say, and look at our menus.

"Mmm, this chicken fajita looks good!" Jen says, pointing to it on my menu.

"Yes it does!" I say, my mouth watering.

The waitress comes over with our drinks and we both order the chicken fajita. She takes our menus and tells us our food will be out shortly.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I see a text from Brandon. He says his date just started and he want to know if it is okay to kiss her or not.

"He is asking permission to kiss Casey?" Jen asks, sipping her lemonade.

"Apparently so," I chuckle, texting him back with an okay.

My phone gets another text, and I assume it is from Brandon. Our food comes just as I am about to look at it, and the fajita's capture my attention.

"Are you going to answer the text?" Jen asks.

"After we eat, I don't need to see it right now," I say, taking a bite. It is so good. Once Caleb wakes up, I will have to take him here with Brandon too.

I clean my plate and Jen does too. I remember the text and take out my phone to look at it.

"Oh my gosh," I say.

"What is it?" Jen asks, seeing the worried look on my face.

"Caleb. He-" I say, pausing.

"What is it? Spit it out woman," Jen says, shaking me.

"He woke up."