The Pursuit of Felicity

{ Chapter 4 }

"Does this look good?" Mel interrogates as she shows us yet another outfit. I lost count after four when she started mismatching the different articles of clothing. I also stopped caring if we're being honest.

"Yeah," Gen mutters from her place beside me on the couch. Her focus is locked on the colorful game displayed on her phone screen.

"You didn't even look!" Mel flails her arms around dramatically.

"I still go with the white shirt and blue jeans," I vote on the second outfit once more.

"Yeah, me too." Gen clearly doesn't care and Mel realizes this and lets out a disappointed sigh.

"You guys are no help!" She storms away without another word. I look to Gen, who appears completely unfazed by our friends frustration. She and I are both ready to leave and have been for the last half hour. Given, we started getting ready early because we knew Mel would have a crisis when it was time to pick an outfit.

"Why does she have to behave like this? You're also going to see your future boyfriend and you didn't conduct yourself in such a manner." This is what Gen decides to say once she breaks her gaze from her phone. Her small grin tells me that she's only teasing me but I need to stomp out this joke before it can grow.

"He's never going to be my boyfriend." Hopefully my long eye roll convinces her.

"Sure." Her small brown eyes skim over my outfit pointedly and she 'hmphs' me as if she knows I put some extra effort in. "You look nice."

"Thanks," I say through slightly gritted teeth. I may or may not have gone a little overboard in getting ready. I normally leave my hair down and put it in a ponytail when I get hot but today I tied it back in two long braids. I also opted for a yellow romper instead of my usual tight jeans and t-shirt combo. I shaved my legs for this outfit so he better acknowledge it, at least.

It takes twenty minutes for Mel to come out dressed in the second outfit she tried on. She pulled her hair up into a neat bun with a few strands out framing her face and applied light makeup to enhance her already feminine features. She looks to us as and gives her phone a short wave.

"The rides on the way." She collapses onto the recliner as if completely drained from the fashion show she just did. I want to comment that maybe she wouldn't be so exhausted if she didn't stress so much.

"You look good." She lets a nervous smile form on her face at my compliment.

"Thanks, you too." She nibbles at her nails. Her phone goes off a second later and she gasps quietly. "He texted me!"

"Saying?" I can't help but lean forward a bit. What if it's bad news? What if the party got shut down?

"He wants to know if we're still coming," she reads as her fingers hurriedly type a response. "I told him we're on the way."

"You texted back really fast." Gen's teasing comment elicits a panicked response from Mel. 

"Thanks a lot, Gen." I give her an annoyed side eye as Mel goes off on a mini rant about whether or not she texted back too fast. She doesn't stop talking until we're in the car on the way to the party. She falls silent for the entire ride and I can tell she's lost in her own mind. I am, too.

I don't know why I'm coming to this party. Obviously, I was invited and want to go. But what am I going to get out of it? It's not like Cameron's going to magically change his mind and agree to sleep with me, not that I'd take him up on that offer. Unless, of course, he agreed to keep things no strings attached. Then again, would I even be able to? I scoff aloud at that thought- of course I would.