The Invisible Silver Lining [CURRENTLY BEING EDITED]

Chapter 26

Sharon insisted on dressing me up for tonight. She declared herself my unofficial beautician. She prodded, pulled, straightened, curled, burned, and yanked my hair. All for a good cause. And to make it even weirder, I am blindfolded. So I'm completely clueless as to what I look like tonight. The only thing that Sharon would tell me is, "I'm making you look your best."

Xander is picking me up for our first date in about an hour. I'm extremely nervous. I haven't gone on a date in a very very long time. My last one was almost a year ago. Sharon thinks I'm going to spoil the night with the list that I drew up. But I have to review these "rules", as Sharon calls them, with Xander. I really want to take this relationship slow. I trust Xander wholeheartedly, but the nagging part of my brain insists on me taking precautions. Sharon thinks its just plain ridiculous and I convince her otherwise. I hear Sharon sigh and set something down. "You done?" I ask. She sighs again. "Yup. That's as good as its gonna get."

"So can I take this blindfold off then?"

"First, I want you out of that robe and into your outfit."

"How'm I supposed to change if I can't see?" Sharon laughs. "Don't worry! That's what I'm here for doofus!" I smile. "Oh right," I say with complete sarcasm, "how could I possibly have forgotten." She lightly hits me on the shoulder. "You keep up with the sarcasm and I just might forget to give you your outfit." I open my mouth in mock-horror. "You wouldn't." I can hear the smile in Sharon's voice as she replies, "Don't push me."

Sharon pulls me out of the bathroom and, I'm guessing, back into our room. She helps me get dressed, zipping up the back of something before she slips something over my head. Finally, after she's placed earrings into my ear-holes, she takes off my blindfold. My jaw drops.

I look into the full-body mirror I have hanging on our door to realize that I'm wearing a dress. And a rather fancy one at that. The dress is the color of a soft canary yellow that brings out my blonde highlights. In the front it has no sleeves but instead holds itself in place by a silver strap that hangs around my neck. It has a small silver sash that sits around my waist, very simple. Its a long dress, flowing down to my ankles. The back is open except for sparkly silver straps that zig-zag across my skin.

The earrings are large silver hoops that peek through the curls of my hair. My bob is curled under so it frames my face. Sharon has also pinned my bangs back with a silver lily clip. My make-up is flawless, that is most definitely one of the departments that Sharon is perfect at, and makes me seem like a goddess or something. And I love it. But somehow, I can't help but wonder if this is going over the top.

"A dress? Really?" Sharon rolls her eyes. "Yes. A dress. If I thought you should wear jeans and a sweatshirt that's what I would have made you wear." I look over the dress again. "You don't think its too fancy?" Sharon laughs. "Its your first date girl! Nothing is too fancy, specially when your date is who he is." I roll my eyes, but say nothing. Sharon hands me a pair of silver pumps which I slip on, with more than a little trouble. Oh boy. No way can I walk in these things. "Um.. you have anything with a smaller heel?" The heels are so long that I swear I've grown two inches.

She shakes her head before putting on a devilish smile. "Nope. Nothing that goes with the dress anyways." I groan. But before I can browse for a different pair of shoes, the door-bell rings. Sharon says, "And that would be your date." She leaves our room to go answer the door. I take a breath. And take another one. I look down at my hands to see they're shaking violently. You need to calm down missie, don't want to appear out of sorts or anything like that...

I take one more deep breath and head into the living room. Xander is sitting on one of our white couches, opposite of Sharon. As I enter the room he stands up rapidly. He takes my breath away. His dirty blonde hair is spiked up as per usual. He's dressed in a dark navy blue suit, with a light blue striped shirt under his suit jacket. He also has a little ocean-blue cloth sticking up out of his jacket pocket. He smiles as I come closer and I feel my knees get weak.