June 8, 2012 4:30PM Five hours before the crash
“Are you ready for tonight baby? :)” Daniel texted. His texts always made me smile. I was absolutely head over heels for Daniel; there was no doubt about that.
“Can’t wait! Out with Alana right now looking for something to wear. She’s not much help. Can’t wait to see you <3” I replied. Alana was great company but she wasn’t the best at picking out outfits. Alana and I were cousins but practically sisters.
“What about this?!” I heard Alana yell from across the store. I eventually found her and she was holding up a little black dress, looked more like a shirt to me. I know Alana was trying to help, but picking out the sluttiest dresses and skirts wasn’t really helping.
“There is no way I am wearing that… sorry babe.” She put it back on the rack and I walked back to where I was before. My phone buzzed again.
“You’d look amazing even if you came out in sweat pants and a hoodie. You don’t have to try hard to impress me. Love you xoxo” I smiled. He knew exactly what to say every single time. He was perfect.
“I love you too :)” I answered.
“OH BONNIE I KNOW YOU WILL LOVE THIS!” I heard. I found Alana holding up a dark blue dress with one shoulder. It wasn’t short, but it wasn’t exactly long either. I winked at Alana. “I’ll go try it on.”
I was swimming in this dress, it was way too big. I called Alana’s name from the dressing room and she knocked on the door. I opened it for her and her eyes got wide.
“Go find a smaller size.” She immediately ran off back to the racks of dresses and returned a few minutes later with the right size. As soon as I was all sorted out, I knew I had to have this dress. It wasn’t tight on my legs and I loved when dresses had flow. I looked at the price tag and knew this dress was way out of my budget.
“What rack did you get this from?” I asked Alana.
“Ummm….” She said, looking around the store. “That one.” The clearance rack, thank goodness. I took off the dress and changed back in to my normal clothes. I took the dress to the cashier and happily paid, and practically skipped out of the store. I was so excited for our date tonight. I didn’t know where he was taking me but I knew it would be perfect. I mean, it was Daniel.
“What about shoes?” Alana asked.
“Wait, what time is it?”
“It’s almost five.”
“We’ll stop into the shoe store and then we have to get home so you can help me get ready.”
We ran to the shoe store that was at the other side of the mall. There were so many things I had to do before this date. I had to make this quick. As soon as I walked in I saw this gorgeous pair or silver platform shoes. I was never a fan of heels and I knew that sneakers don’t exactly work well with dresses. I had to have these shoes. They were perfect. I grabbed them and dragged Alana to the cash register before she could get carried away. She was famous for doing that. As soon and everything was done and paid for I ran to the bus stop just outside of the mall.
“Why doesn’t your mom just buy you a car?” she asked. “I hate taking the bus. There are weird people on the bus.”
“I know Alana, but I’m what they call poor. My mom can barely afford her own car, imagine her buying me my own car... what time is the bus supposed to come anyways?” I asked.
“How am I supposed to know?”
“Let’s get a taxi instead…” I said, grabbing her wrist and running off. My house wasn’t too far from the mall, but way too far to walk.
After the ten minute ride back to my house with an awkward taxi driver, I paid our fare and ran into the house to take a quick shower. While I was in the bathroom, Alana had spread out my dress on my bed and put my shoes next to my dress. Upon closer examination, I noticed she had left a note.
“My mom came earlier than I expected. Have fun on your date tonight ;)”
She was such a sweetheart. I took my hair out of the towel and checked the time. It was already almost 6 o’clock and Daniel was supposed to be here in 2 hours… I still had a lot to do. My mom still wasn’t home from work so that gave me the freedom to play my music as loud as I wanted as I was getting ready.
Tonight would be perfect, I just knew it.
