Swell (Complete)

Chapter Twenty (Part Two)

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

...

"Anyway, you obviously won't have to wear one of our dresses." Marti smiled as she sat opposite Adora on her bed. "But now we know what styles you're comfortable with and when we go shopping it will save time. Also, light blue is definitely a colour you should wear more often."
"Marti, I don't even know if Mum can afford to let me buy a new dress. It was never something we considered when Dodge told us about the dance."
"I'm sure she won't mind. I mean, how often are you going to get to go to a formal?!" Marti pushed Adora's knee gently.
"I guess. I'll ask her tomorrow when I get home."
"Great!" Marti bounced on the mattress and Adora felt the spring in her crossed legs. "We can get Mum to take us next weekend! I know some great shops in the city!"
She laughed and shook her head at Marti's excitement. "So, it's a lot warmer in your house, and I think I might need to borrow pajamas. Mine are way too hot for the temperature of your room." Adora confessed, feeling hot enough in her long sleeved top, let alone a pair of flannelette pajamas under blankets later.
"Oh that's fine. I've got heaps." Marti bounced her way off the bed and across the room to her dresser.
Adora watched with amusement as Marti pulled a drawer open and ruffled through the contents for a few moments.
"This one. It's only a tee-shirt type nightie, but it should do." Marti held a black nightie briefly before she tossed it at Adora.
Adora caught the unfolding fabric and looked at the design printed on the front.

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A thin crescent moon with stars hanging from its curve shimmered at her in silver paint. "Cute." She smiled.
"Its one of my favourites. Will it be alright?"
"Fine." Adora nodded, putting the nighty aside for now.
She tilted her head as she thought she heard a buzz and reached over into her backpack to find her mobile as the tone sung out.
Marti closed the drawer and sat back on the bed, trying to see the name of the caller.
Adora's heart froze for a few moments when she saw Gus' name on her screen under his smiling photo. "Hello?" She answered, looking at Marti with a worried expression. Her friend's face seemed to move from an annoyed expression to one of confusion.
"Hey you." Gus sounded fine, and Adora closed her eyes in relief.
It wasn't about Brett, she didn't need to panic or worry. "Gus, I thought you were calling about Brett." She breathed out the relief.
"What? Why?"
"I just... Don't worry. What's up?"
Marti moved off the bed and started to play with her hair in front of the mirror.
"Nothing, I just got home from the hospital and was wondering what you were up to." Gus tried to make it sound smooth and casual.
"I'm actually sleeping over at Marti's, so I can't really talk." Adora told him.
"Oh." His disappointment was painfully obvious in his single syllable. "Well, I guess I'll let you girls do your thing. I'll text you tomorrow. Have fun."
Before Adora could respond, he hung up. Marti looked at her in the mirror with a frown as Adora put her phone down onto the bed.
"You alright?" Marti asked, turning to face Adora.
"Yea, just... A weird feeling." Adora frowned down at her phone on the bed and tried to shake the feeling out of her shoulders. "I thought he was calling to tell me something had happened to Brett."
"Oh. Well, let's get some popcorn and really start our night!" Marti tried to change the mood and Adora couldn't help but nod and give into Marti's excitement.
"Lets." Adora followed Marti out into the kitchen where Mrs Taylor was standing before a three-tiered cake with an icing pipe. "Wow, Mrs Taylor, that's amazing."

"Thank you, hun." Mrs Taylor looked up to her with a smiled. "How is your night going, girls?"
"So far so good! We're about to really girl out and then I think I'll get you to take some photos, I need to replace some old ones." Marti moved through the kitchen fluently and Adora felt her cheeks flush at Marti's idea of girling out.
After the numerous dresses, Marti had excitedly explained her plan to do Adora's hair and make up for best friend photos. It felt strange to hear the word replace, but at the same time, Adora understood what Marti was saying.
After she and Debbie had grown apart, she had taken down all the photos they had taken and put them away in a box in the back of her cupboard.

"Sounds like fun. Let me know when you're ready to model." Mrs Taylor moved the cake around so she could decorate the other side of it and Adora started to hear popcorn firing in the microwave. "Did you decide on any dresses for the dance inspiration?"
The conversation was as casual to the Taylor woman as discussing a murder mystery would be between Anne and Adora.
"Well, we decided on a colour for Adora. I'm trying to decide if I want to go with someone or just go solo." Marti rattled as she watched the popcorn bag expand in the microwave.
"What are your plans for the night Adora?" Mrs Taylor asked.
"Um, well, I didn't really have any. I guess I was just going to get ready at home and get Mum to drop me off. Rae, Kurt and Brett were going to be there, so we were probably just going to hang out together. I'm not sure if Brett will be able to go now though." Adora frowned. "It's not really a big deal to us."
"No limos or anything?" Marti gasped.
"Well, we don't really have anywhere to get one or go to with one. I'm the only one who lives out of town, so there's not much point." Adora pointed out.
"That's true." Mrs Taylor nodded. "Maybe you can convince Tom to decorate his Jeep and take you with him and Debbie, Marti."
"Urg. Pass." Marti screwed her face up at the mention of Debbie's name and pulled the bag out of the microwave. "Not a Debbie fan."
"Oh? Why not? She did help Tom out when he was drunk..." Mrs Taylor put the icing pipe down.
Marti looked at Adora with a small smile. "She's a user, she only spoke to me the first week to try and get to Tom, and she is a bully. Isn't she, Adora?"
"Erm, well..." Adora thought back to the police station, and Debbie's reaction in the hallway earlier.
"She used to be Adora's friend." Marti added. "But stopped when Adora needed friends the most."
Adora frowned at Marti as she told the story in broken pieces. "I stopped talking to everyone at that stage." Adora interrupted.
Mrs Taylor turned to Adora with a concerned face. "What stage?"
"When my Dad died. I just didn't know how to cope, so I didn't. I pushed everyone away. It wasn't just Debbie's fault our friendship died, Marti." Adora looked at Marti as her friend put some popcorn into her mouth. "I..." Adora suddenly felt as though the other women were waiting for some long, explaining story. "I broke down, badly." She looked down at her sleeved arms and pulled at her fingers. "That was long ago now though. We just went our own ways, and stayed there."

"She still tried to use me to get to Tom. Sheisn't a nice person now, even if she was back then." Marti muttered. "Come on,let's go back to the room. I want to play with your hair." Marti smiled andforced a subject change, leading the way back into her bedroom with the popcornbag.

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Hey Readers!

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Who is your favourite and who do you relate to and want more of!?