Apples to apples

3 ✧ apple smoothie

✦attached is how i imagine Dahlia ✦

✦ one week later ✦
"No, I'm not coming shopping with you. I have Ru and he's been a little sick and-"

"Oh shut up, Rae! My mom will gladly watch Ruben for you. She LOVES Ruben!" my best friend, Serena, yells through the phone. She drives me insane sometimes.

"I don't know, Rena. I hate to leave him..." It's the truth. I hate being away from Ruben ever since mom left.

She sighs. "Dahlia Rae get your ass over here now!!" and with that she hangs up. Knowing I hate when she uses my full name.

I groan and decide to go check on Ru before I start getting ready. He's sound asleep in front of his toy box and Stella is laying right beside him, looking up at me. Precious babies.

I grab whatever clothes I see first and change into them. It's only 90° today so I shouldn't have a heatstroke in ripped jeans. Right? They're like airy and will cool me down? I don't know.

Since I have on a plain black shirt, I go for my black birkenstocks. I look like a mess and my curly hair is everywhere because of the humidity but I roll with it. I grab my sunglasses and jog outside to crank the car so it'll be cool before I go wake up Ruben.

"Hey Ru, let's go see Nanna okay?" I rub his back as he slowly wakes up. He mumbles something, pats Stella on her side, and grabs my hand. He leads me to the door and motions for me to pick him up.

He's so sweet. I grab him, lock the door, and mentally prepare myself for the carseat trouble I always have.

This time, only 15 minutes later, we're on the way to Serena's.

Serena is a lot to handle sometimes. She's crazy and fun, but obnoxious and loud. I love her to death but sometimes she smothers me.

Before I can even park the car, Serena comes running out and clapping. She hasn't seen me in a week.

"Rae!" she squeals. She refuses to call me Dahlia. It's always Rae.

"My mom's inside, ready for him. She said it's been to long and she wants him to stay a couple nights." Serena smiles at me while I'm getting Ruben out of his carseat.

I don't want him staying a couple days without me, but Nanna does help me support him a lot so I can't really say no. She's like a grandma to him.

"Alright," I sigh, walking towards the house. "Is Bennie up?" Bennie is their giant pitbull. He stands above my knee, head high. He's so beautiful and so, so sweet but he jumps when he's excited and always ends up knocking Ruben down.

"Yeah, he's actually at the vet right now. He's just getting a checkup since he's 4 now. He needs his yearly shots and they're checking for hip dysplasia and such." Serena says, a light smile on her face. Bennie is almost as important to her as Stella is to me.

I nod and we go in. The cold air feels amazing against my warm skin. "Hey Nanna!" I smile, sitting Ru on his feet and watching him run to Nanna. Her name is Anita but I hardly ever call her that. She's been Nanna half my life.

"Hey sweetie. You girls have fun. Stay safe out there. Ruben will be fine." She smiles and waves us out the door, holding Ruben tight. I kiss his cheek and tell him bye.

The drive to the mall was long. Not literally, only about 20 minutes but Serena blabbed the whole time about something I couldn't even understand. She was talking so fast I couldn't get a word in, so occasionally I nod or say "mhm".

"What are we even here for?" I ask, closing my door and locking the car. I forgot to ask why she wanted me to take her to the mall.

"There's this party I'm going to and I need a new dress. You should come, Rae!" Serena hip bumps me as we're walking to the doors. I hate parties. I mean, I love parties but the ones she goes to are crowded and there's too much going on.

"Uhhh," I mentally slap myself. "If I find something cute, I might."

She giggles happily and runs to the dress section. Before I even get there, she's throwing dresses at me to try on. I laugh and grab them all. I do love trying on dresses.

After about 30 minutes of searching every rack, we go to the dressing rooms. The first one I try on is black and stops right above the knee. It hugs me good but its uncomfortable. Rena and I come out at the same time to show our dresses and do spins for each other.

"Yours is a no," She says. "Mine is a maybe?" I look her up and down and nod. It's a navy blue color while looks great with her hair but it's an odd length for her long legs.

Three or four more tries later, I finally found the one. If's maroon and fits just right. It's gorgeous. I come out of my dressing room and stand outside Rena's while she's dressing.

"What's taking you so long?" I ask.

"It's complicated," she whines. "Give me a minute."

When she comes out, she looks great but it's definitely a complicated little dress. It's strappy and just strange.

"I like the white one best," I admit, doing a spin in my maroon one. "Whaddya think?"

She squeals. "It's amazing. Let's get shoes!!" I groan and agree, changing back into my clothes and keeping my dress with me.

A good 45 minutes later, she finally has her shoes picked out. I had mine within a few minutes but she is so picky. We sit down in the food court and she asks if I want anything.

I'm not super hungry but I could eat. Everything in the court is so expensive though. One slice of pizza? $8. A bottled drink? $4. Chicken strips? $12. A burger and fries? $15. It's insane. I could get 13 hamburgers and a small fry for that amount at McDonalds.

"I could go for a smoothie." I say, craving a strawberry/banana/apple smoothie.

"McDonald's or here?" She asks, then immediately laughs and walks to the counter to order. She's crazy, I swear. She orders some chocolate smoothie -ew- and orders mine for me.

"You'll go pay when it's done." She commands me, handing me her credit card. Bossy.

"Serena!" calls the cashier. I stand and go up there, not even looking just putting the card in the chip reader. He hands me her chocolate one and says mine will be ready in a second, and that someone would bring it to me. When did that become a thing?

I take it to Serena, still wondering why they're bringing it to me. "Where's yours?"

"Right here," a voice calls. Right before bumping into the table and causing the smoothie to fall. And pour directly into my lap. Wow.

"Shit- I'm so sorry!" he groans, running to grab a towel. Yes, not napkins, but a towel. This is so embarrassing. Serena watches in horror as I try to clean it up.

"Really I am so sorry, it's all my fault." The voice is familiar and I wave him off, but glance up in time to see his face.

"Apple boy?!"

✧ ✦  ✧

hi lovelies, Dahlia is portrayed by Audreyana Michelle (as pictured)