Swell (Complete)

Chapter Twenty (Part One)

"Lonely girl you lost the only thing you loved
Nothing that you have is ever good enough."

....

There was a new car at the Taylors when the girls arrived the next afternoon.
"Tom must have found one pretty fast." Marti exclaimed.
Adora nodded and smiled as she took in the older style, black Jeep. "It's cute."
"Cute? God, don't say that around Tom." Marti laughed and pushed open the front door, waving over her bag to Anne Dodgers as she drove away.
"Alright. Lips are sealed." Adora smirked and held onto her backpack as it hung over one shoulder.
"Good, I want a chance to drive this one!" Marti grinned over her shoulder and gestured for Adora to follow her down the hallway.
Adora could remember helping Tom with psychology in the study. The house felt so familiar, yet completely foreign.
"This is my room." Marti opened a door and held her arm out for Adora to enter.
The room was simple, white and plain, but pretty. Behind the bed head was a large, crochet and feather dream catcher. It had several hoops underneath the largest and Adora let her backpack rest on the floor as she moved closer to study the white rings. "This is gorgeous. Mum would go nuts for it." She said gently.
"Thanks. It's one of my favourite things." Marti put her bag down near Adora's and moved to stand behind her.
Adora looked at the bedside table closest to her and bit her bottom lip when she saw a picture of Marti, Will and the girl she recognised as Liss.
She swallowed a lump and picked up the frame.
They all looked so happy.
Marti cleared her throat and took the frame from her hands. "I should probably change this picture." She muttered.
"Why? You all look so happy." Adora frowned at the idea of taking the happy snap out.
"Yea, we were, but she left us." Marti's hurt was registering on her face like Adora had never seen before. Crinkles in her forehead and uncertainty across her brows.
Adora didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say.
After a few moments, Marti put the frame back on the bedside table, picture facing down. "We should get someone to take a picture of us to replace it with." Marti smiled broadly and the pain seemed to be erased at the recognition of the new friendship.
"Sounds like a plan." Adora nodded encouragingly.
"You've had the tour before right?" Marti asked.
"Yea. Basically." Adora nodded. "A refresher might be an idea."
"Alright, let's go."
Adora followed Marti out of the bedroom. Marti led her through the hallway, pointing at the doors and labelling the rooms behind them.
Debbie's laugh floated from Tom's room when they reached it. Marti made a disgusted sound. "Urg. Of course."
Adora sympathised, remembering how Debbie had initially given Marti friendship, but took her attention away as soon as she found out befriending Marti wasn't going to help her date Tom.
They ended in the kitchen where Mrs Taylor was putting dishes away.
"Mum, have you met Adora yet?"
"I don't believe we have met yet, despite it being so many weeks now." Mrs Taylor turned and greeted Adora with a broad smile.
Adora remembered how much Mr Taylor looked like the twins, and now she was seeing how much Mrs Taylor and Marti looked alike.
"We kind of met briefly at my cousin's party." Adora said..
"We did too! You're right." Mrs Taylor exclaimed. "I'm sorry."
"It was barely a meeting to remember." Adora assured her with a returning smile.
"Well, welcome back to the house. I know you've been here before helping Tom catch up. Let me know if you want anything in here." Mrs Taylor gestured to the kitchen grandly.
"Thanks."
"Mum, can we go through the dress wardrobe?" Marti had made her way to the fridge and pulled a bottle of water out. She held it up as a silent offer to Adora, and at a small nod got another bottle out.
"Sure you can, honey. Dad's at the bakery today for another couple of hours, so the bedroom should be fine for you two to put things on as well."
"Thanks!" Marti leaned across from the fridge and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek before she gestured for Adora to follow her.
"I'm confused." Adora frowned as she walked down the hallway.
"Well, Mum and I are basically the same size, so we keep any dresses between us in the main room, they always have a bigger wardrobe." Marti smile over her shoulder as she twisted the bottle of water in her hand open and handed it to Adora.
"Ohh, right, thanks." Adora took a few sips from the cold bottle and followed Marti into the master bedroom.
It was plain and simple; a dark wooden bedhead was the only part of the bed frame that was visible. The cover on the bed was a cream satin with brown swirls embroidered over it. There were professional photos of the family from various years and Adora smiled as she moved to have a closer look.
"So, there's dresses I wore to my year 10 formal, and some from special occasions, Mum also just loves dresses on sale. There's a heap of different styles and you definitely can't borrow a plain dress for your first formal." Marti moved about the room as if it was her own, she opened a door and revealed the walk-in-robe and started to look at the hanging garments once the light warmed up.
"I think a cool colour, like blue, purple or green." Marti mused as she looked over to Adora.
Adora gave her a clueless smile. "I don't understand why I can't borrow a plain dress..."
"It's just a thing, trust me." Marti put her bottle down on a dark brown dresser near the wardrobe and started to pull dresses out. "I mean, we're taller, so if you like one we can hem it, but it's more so you know what to look for when we go shopping."
"Right." Adora nodded slowly and put her bottle down on the opposite side of the dresser to Marti's so they didn't get confused and glanced at some of the colours and fabrics piling in Marti's arms.
"I think this is all of them." Marti dropped the pile onto the bed and started to straighten the dresses out so Adora could see them.
Some of the dresses were straight and elegant, others short and fluffy. There were two long and had full skirts that made Adora think of ball gowns and wedding dresses.
"Um, Marti, how formal do you think we get here?" Adora picked up her bottle of water after Marti had spent a few minutes setting the dresses out.
"I don't care. I love dressing up and playing princess, and it so much more fun with a friend." Marti smiled broadly as Adora took a few more sips. "I think this one first. You want plain and simple, this is probably as simply as we get." She picked up a long, straight, dark purple dress from the bed.
It was a flowy fabric that Adora recognised as Chiffon. She put her water back down and took the dress from Marti. There was one shoulder of gathered fabric and the rest of the dress fell into what looked like a curtain of soft, purple.
"Alright." Adora took the coat hanger from Marti and looked around the room. "I'll change in here." She moved herself into the walk-in-robe and closed the door behind her.
She took the dress off the hanger, the single strap and the clear rubber holding the other side of the bodice up.
A few moments later she stood in her underwear trying to find the part of the dress she could go in.
She held the top of the bodice and pulled the skirt up enough to slip it over her head. One arm in the arm-hole, and another slid into another hole. She frowned as the dress sat awkwardly across her body.
She looked at the second hole her other arm was in and her lips parted as she realised the dress was a cut out.
"How are you going?" Marti asked from the other side of the door.
"Marti, there's a hole in the dress." Adora exclaimed.
Her friend laughed. "Yea, its meant to sit on the waist line and your hip."
"I can't. I can't wear this." She pulled the dress up and found the proper place for her arms and shoulders.
"Why not?"
Adora felt the oval cut out against her side and put her hands over her skin. "I just can't. I feel awful."
"Alright. Try this." Marti opened the door slightly and held a dark blue dress up.
Adora took the dress and tried to keep out of Marti's line of sight. It was odd enough trying to feel comfortable at the beach in summer when all the holiday visitors were walking around in triangle or strapless bikinis.
Adora almost always wore a single and shorts when she was at the beach with intention to swim.
Clothes were her security blanket.
"You're not even going to let me see?"
"No. I hate it, Marti. I don't have the confidence." Adora pushed the door closed and felt relief washing over her as she looked at the dark blue dress in her hands. Marti had taken it off the hanger and Adora could immediately see it was strapless.
Another style Adora wasn't too comfortable with, but the design on the dress was amazing. Blue satin or silk, gathered towards the place that was now bare through a cut out on her waist. Diamonte crystals were placed around the waist leaving the blue bodice in a clean triangle, the tip pointing down.
She bit her lip and started to swap the dresses.