Photos [Luke Hemmings]

Chapter 12 - Slow Dances & Mistletoe

Chapter 12—Slow Dances & Mistletoe

{ a u t u m n }

          Shopping was something I enjoyed.

          Dress shopping with Erica, however, was absolute hell.

          We were at the mall, and we had gone from store to store to find a nice red or green dress for the boys’ Christmas dance. Erica had already bought a pretty dark green dress with silver embroidery; it fit her body perfectly and was full sleeves with an open back, and it reached around her mid-thigh area. It looked great on her, and now all we had to do was find a dress for me.

          Walking into what felt like our hundredth store today, I let out a sigh as I followed Erica to the dress section. Following her actions, I also started looking through whatever red or green dresses I could find, not liking any of them because they would be too casual, too fancy, or too tacky.

          Sifting through hanger after hanger, rack after rack, my eyes finally landed on a potential looking dress. Tilting my head to the right, I took the dress off the rack and held it up by the hanger, examining it. “What do you think of this one?” I called out for Erica—wherever she was—as my eyes stayed glued on to the dress.

          I suddenly felt her presence next to me before she spoke. “It’s so pretty!” Erica exclaimed. “Try it on.”

          Nodding, I walked in the direction of the fitting rooms, Erica trailing behind me, before one of the workers directed me to one of the vacant cubicles. Shutting the door behind me, I hung the dress on one of the hooks before kicking off my Vans and taking off my clothes.

          The cold, air conditioned air hit my bare body as I quickly took the dress off the hanger and unzipped the back before sliding it on. Moving my hair over my right shoulder, I zipped up the dress as much as I could—which was relatively all the way—before turning and looking at myself in the mirror, and I couldn’t help but smile at what I saw.

          It was a simple, bright red dress that reminded me of Michael’s hair. It was strapless, and the waist had a thick silver band around it which was made out of what looked like broken pieces of silver glass, but really it was probably some other material I could care less about. It reached around my thighs, and fit perfectly, and I freaking loved it.

          “Are you done?” I heard Erica call out from outside. “Let me see.”

          Opening up the door, it revealed Erica standing there with her phone in her hands. Finally looking up, my friend’s brown eyes widened as a grin split across her face. “What do you think?”

          “You look hot as fuck,” she commented, making me laugh loudly at her non-filter mouth. “Seriously—I’d be surprised if you and Luke don’t fuck by the end of the dance.”

          My eyes widened, reaching forward and slapping Erica’s arm, causing her to yelp. “Luke and I aren’t going to fuck!” I exclaimed indignantly, earning a hostile glare from a middle aged woman—which I returned without hesitance, before she left the fitting room. “We’re, like, barely friends.”

          Erica snorted disbelievingly, a smirk on her lips. “Barely friends that have made out,” she retorted.

          “Shut up,” I whined, stomping my feet as I smoothed the dress down. “Anyway—should I get this?”

          She nodded immediately. “Hell yes,” she replied. “How much is it?”

          Grabbing the tag that was on the bottom of the dress, I looked at the price, and let out a sigh of relief to see that it was forty-five dollars, which was something I could actually afford, since I had a bunch of cash saved up.