It's Complicated

28. The Valentine's Day Dance

28. The Valentine's Day Dance

"Are you seriously going to wear that?" Riya asked me, raising an eyebrow in doubt.

I frowned and put the dress back on the rack. "Not anymore," I said, pretending to be hurt.

"Good," she said, not getting my expression.

We browsed through the store some more, but ended up at the food court since we got bored of shopping.

"So you never told me what happened yesterday," she mentioned, dipping a fry into the ketchup. "So you tell Allen that you like him and then what happened after that?"

"Well yesterday we had a long talk and I told him that I would break up with Drew a couple days after the dance."

"That's going to be hard."

"I know. I really don't want to hurt him, but I just don't like him anymore and I don't want to give him the false impression anymore when I really don't feel anything but friendliness for him anymore. I have no idea what to say to him, though. He's been the perfect boyfriend." My shoulders slumped and I lost my appetite as I thought about Drew.

"So just tell him that," Riya said, making it sound like no big deal. "I mean, he's like the most passive guy I know. It's not like he's going to hate you forever or anything."

That brightened my mood a little. "Yeah, you're right! He's really understanding and practical. He wouldn't be mean to me." I paused. "But in a way that's kind of worse because he'll be hurting inside and not yell at me all."

"Could be worse," Riya said with a shrug.

"You don't sound like yourself at all," I noticed, scrutinizing her face. "What happened to you?"

"Oh, nothing," she said, smiling a little to herself. "Except for I can text now! Yeahhh!"

"Seriously?" I asked excitedly, giving her a high five when she nodded. "That's great! How did you convince your parents?"

"I showed them my report card," she said simply, making me laugh. "No, I mean like every report card I've ever gotten from eighth grade, and I begged, and they finally decided to let me get it."

"That's pretty awesome. Nice work! Now we can text at midnight instead of talking and getting caught," I said, grinning at her.

"Exactly!" Before she could say anything else, her phone buzzed and she picked it up, glancing at the screen. Excitement filled her eyes and she eagerly opened up the new text.

I leaned forward and read the text with her, smiling. "Jason is the sweetest thing alive, Ree. And he loves you like crazy."

She leaned back and grinned. "I know. And it's amazing."

I laughed and sat back down, finishing off our fries. "Okay, so we only have 24 hours until the dance and this is just unacceptable. We are finding dresses right now."

Riya nodded. "The next store we go to is our last. If we don't find any dresses, I'm done for tonight. I'll just wear a stupid, old dress. We've been shopping for 2 hours now and I don't like shopping that much."

"Okay, let's go!" I said with a renewed energy.

We walked into Forever 21 and went straight to the dress rack. My spirits started to sink as I browsed through the racks.

"I found one for you, Mar! This is going to look great on you!" Riya yelled from across the store. I blushed and looked over at her, embarrassed, since everyone was now staring at us.

"Stupid, overly loud idiot," I mumbled under my breath, rushing to my best friend.

I stopped in my tracks as I stared at the dress Riya held up for me to see. "Oh my gosh. It's perfect," I whispered, reverently taking the dress out of her hands.