Chapter 014

Arielle Nelson

I walked into class on Monday and I could hear all the girls talking about how close prom was and how they hadn't found their dress yet. It came as a shock to me when Jake had asked me to prom. He was right prom was definitely not my scene and I was most likely going to skip it all together. But maybe it can be worthwhile. Before prom, there was going to be a senior field trip. It was a three-day trip to Orlando Florida visiting the amusement park located there that was in three weeks. And then prom was in a month in a half and shortly after graduation. The year was coming to an end quite quickly.

Before we know it we will be walking across the stage and getting our diplomas and moving on with our lives. There were going to be the same speeches you hear every year in every friendship no matter the distance they will always keep in contact and remain close friends for things to then slowly drift them away. I had gotten early admissions to Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania but got deferred from Yale, and Princeton. I had yet to decide where I wanted to go and I know time will creep on me and I have to decide soon.

I saw Heather sitting in her usual seat towards the middle of the classroom in the last seat and my empty seat was right next to hers with her bag holding the seat for me.  As she saw me approaching she smiled wide and removed her bag allowing me to sit down. "Hey, Arielle! How have you been? I feel like it's been a while since we last talked," she said as Mr. Wilson walked into the classroom holding a stack of graded papers and his coffee. "I've been good just keeping busy watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians, doing some work, and helping my mom with some things around the house. How's everything with you?" I asked her. "Well, I'm struggling a bit with calculus so I've been going to the tutoring lessons my mom put me in. I need to do well on the final so I can pass the class. My mom has been putting extra pressure on me and told me if I don't pass this test on Monday no trips for me and no prom. Have you decided about going to prom?" She asked.

Even she knew that I was most likely not going and it would come as a shock for her especially the next few words I was going to say to her. "We should go dress shopping with our moms, like a cute mom and daughter double date" I suggested. She smiled widely and nodded her head rapidly. "I would love that and I think our moms will too."

☻ ☹

Heather and I spoke to our moms to see what days us four can head to the mall and look at prom dresses. They decided Saturday would work best for their schedules. The week went on quite quickly the usual doing homework, watching Netflix, and having dinner dates with Jake and my mom. My mom grew a big liking for Jake. She never fails to mention how happy I seem to be when he's around and sometimes even when he's not around. I appear happier overall.

I'm doing okay

The progress is slow but

I'm getting there

I will reach the finish line

I will get there

Jake has made a positive impact on my life in the short amount of time since I started talking to him. And I hope it continues being that way whether he stays in my life or decides to leave me.

☻ ☹

When Saturday came around I woke up early and cleaned up my room before showering and getting ready. I got dressed in some jean shorts, a white off-the-shoulder t-shirt, and some sandals that were easy to slip off. I left my hair down and just put some concealer underneath my eyes and quickly set it with some loose powder and used a cream blush on my cheeks to give them some color. I walked out of my room and met with my mom in the kitchen where she was making herself some coffee and some toast. I declined her offer for toast and coffee and just stuck with my oatmeal with fruit. We quickly finished our breakfast before we headed out to the mall.

The car ride was about an hour and 30 minutes out as we headed to one of the more fancier malls that had more options for prom dresses. Our moms didn't want to go to any nearby malls because girls would certainly have the same dresses. My mom and I talked a little about colleges, my relationship with Jake, basically what career I wanted to pursue. I told my mom I still had no idea what university I wanted to attend. I also told her I had no idea what career I wanted to pursue. I want to do a lot of things: interior design, psychology, software development, and engineering.

After meeting up with Heather and her mom Elisa we browsed a good three stores before stopping at a Judy's boutique. The owner was called Judy and she made all the dresses herself when she first opened her shop. As her business expanded she hired a team and they all worked together to fulfill the customers' orders. As we walked in the store was filled with dresses of all sorts of colors, lengths, and styles for different events. My mom knew Judy because she had bought dresses from her for a few events she had attended. So it came as no shock when Judy saw my mom she rushed over and gave her a huge hug before giving me a hug and greeting Heather and Elisa. We told her we were looking for prom dresses. She guided us to the back section where she had rows and rows of prom dresses.

"Do you girls know what style you're looking for?" Heather and I both shook our heads no and she spoke up "We have no idea," she said. "How about a favorite color?" Judy asked. "Pink," I said while Heather replied "Blue," as she continued looking around the store not knowing where to begin. "Would you girls like to like to do an almost matching set in your favorite colors? I have created dresses that pair well with each other as some friends like to match I can show a few options" she suggested and Heather said, "That will be nice we should check them out." Our moms left us with Judy as they browsed her other dress collections, more specifically the wedding dresses. As far as I know, none of our moms are getting married. Did David propose to Heather? Or did he ask her parents for permission? My thoughts were circling.

Calm down

It's just a store

You don't have to be getting married to look at wedding dresses

I closed my mind off to those thoughts as I knew it would become very dark within a few minutes. Judy walked us over to the fitting rooms where she said she would be bringing us dresses she thought we would like or dresses she thinks will suit us the best. I saw Judy reach into the cross-body bag she carried and pull out a measuring tape. I blew out a deep breath. I can feel the happiness I had within me slowly start slipping away. She measured Heather who stood right beside her at first and then took out a notepad and wrote down her measurements with some more notes. She then walked over to me giving me a warm smile before she started measuring me. As she measured me she hummed to the song that was playing throughout the store. She didn't tell me my measurements, she didn't look upset, she didn't look surprised, no hidden emotion just happiness as she wrote everything down.

I'm fine

I'm okay

It's just numbers

Those numbers don't define me

Not anymore

I'm okay

"Okay ladies get comfortable, I'll be back soon with some dress options. Feel free to grab any drinks we have set up at the drink bar or any snacks at the snacks bar. Please get comfortable this is all about you girls. I want you girls to enjoy this experience," Judy said as she was leaving the fitting rooms giving us another warm smile. We both nodded and smiled at her.

"I'm excited to see what dresses we end up choosing," I told Heather as I walked over to the drink stand and got water. "Same, thank goodness we have help because I wouldn't know where to start there are so many dresses here. I'm sorry if you don't want to do a matching style with me I totally should've asked you first. Do you want me to go tell Judy?" Heather asked looking worried now. "No it's okay I promise we are best friends, it would be cool to have matching dresses. I don't think other people will think about that," I told her honestly. My original plan did not even include going to prom and now look I'm going to prom. So matching dresses was the last thing I cared about.

Another 10 minutes passed and by now our moms made it to the fitting rooms they collected a drink and some snacks and got comfortable on the couches as they knew it might take a while. Judy walked in with a few of her employees carrying a bunch of dresses. They helped her place it on a rack before going back out on the floor helping more guests. Judy had walked Heather into one room and she walked me over to one right beside hers. And before we knew it we were trying on dresses like there was no tomorrow.

Judy had found dresses in our favorite colors but she had also brought in other dresses just in case we saw one we liked. We were narrowing down our options to the last three sets. And by now I was tired of trying on dresses. I walked over to a different rack that seemed to be the go-back pile and found a beautiful pink dress. It had a pointy corset-looking top with lace and rhinestones on it with pink feathers going across the left breast. The bottom of the dress was a silk material almost giving a mermaid tail. A few dresses down on the rack I spotted a blue one the same style dress but this one had a round corset top on the breast and had no feathers. "Ms. Judy, how about these?" I asked turning around and pulling them out of the rack "Can we try these on?"

"Oh dear I forgot about these, yes go on ahead dear. I think you both will love those." She said as she rushed over to the rack and started going through the dresses to see if she missed any more. "I don't know how I forgot about these gems," she murmured lowly.

Heather and I smiled at each other and rushed back into the fitting rooms. Our moms were slowly falling asleep on the couch. I'm kind of glad they were giving us time and space and not pressuring us to hurry up and find a dress. I wiggled out of the last dress I tried on and wiggled myself into the pink dress. I pulled the dress all the way not able to pull up the zipper on my own in the back. Before I stepped out of the room I looked at myself in the mirror. "I love this dress," I said quietly to myself.

I felt fine wearing the dress

I didn't feel self-conscious

I'm okay

"Hey Arielle, you okay in there?" I heard Heather ask "How do you like this one?" she asked again. I pulled back the curtain and stepped out holding the corset up so the dress didn't fall "I think this could be the one," I said smiling.

☻ ☹

We got home around four exhausted but it was a successful day. After our moms saw the dresses they fell in love as did we. There were slight alterations that were going to be made to the dresses and she will have it shipped back to our home with overnight shipping. Since we had more time to kill at the mall we decided to walk around and find jewelry pieces, a mini clutch, and some heels. Thankfully Judy had a few options at her store and told us what type of heel we should buy that will give us a good height and be comfortable. There was no need to spend too much money on heels since the heels would be covered the whole time by the dress. We should wear comfortable heels instead of killer heels. Elisa and my mom planned another get-together so they could start doing their research on who was going to do our hair, nails, and makeup. They were having fun with this whole prom fiasco going on.

My mom had gone to her room to shower and lay down for a bit before she was going to head out later tonight with her girlfriends. I decided to shower as well washing my hair and shaving my body. I put on an oversized t-shirt and walked to the kitchen and made myself a small bag of popcorn. I grabbed a diet Dr. Pepper and made my way over to my room.

I grabbed my phone and decided to call Jake to see what he was up to since I hadn't heard from him since our good morning text earlier today.  It became a habit of always talking to each other whether it's in person or over the phone. Lately, he's been busy helping his uncle Tyler with his restaurant as his uncle is down a chef he got injured trying to do some skateboarding trick. But Jake hasn't complained at all, not even once. He loves being in the kitchen and cooking food for others. It makes me happy to see people do things they are passionate about. And when that's their career the passion shines through even more and that makes me look up to him.

"Hey Arielle," Jake said picking up on the second ring. "Hi, Jake. How are you?" I asked him as I cuddled into my sheets and threw a couple of popcorn pieces into my mouth. "I'm doing well just got done with a shift, I'm pulling up to my house right now gonna shower soon. Do you want to head out and see a movie tonight?" He asked me. I can hear his keys jingling in the background like he was shuffling to open the door.

"Oh yes. I just saw the new trailer for Spider-Man  Across the Spider-averse came out. Would you like to see that one? But only if you saw the first one. Or we can watch The Super Mario Bros Movie?" I suggested getting excited at the idea of watching one of these two movies.

"I can sense the excitement radiating off from you through the phone. I'm down to watch Spider-Man. Let me hop in the shower and head over to your house. I have an idea get comfortable for me. I'll be there soon Arielle," he replied. I felt myself smiling at his words. I told him okay and we hung up the phone. I slowly got out of bed and fixed up my bed before heading to the bathroom to freshen up a bit. I took a quick shower brushed my teeth and quickly changed into a long-sleeved romper and grabbed a jacket since I tend to always get cold. I grabbed a pair of socks and had it set next to my shoes and bags for when Jake arrived. I had checked the times for the movie and the earliest movie started at 7:35 pm it was now 6:57 pm, so we can still make it.

About 45 minutes after we hung up Jake was at my door wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt. He greeted me with a tight hug giving me a better opportunity to smell his almost sweet-smelling cologne. He stepped right inside after letting me go and locked the door behind him. "So I checked the times, we can make it to the 7:35 pm movie if we leave now," I said grabbing my bag from the chair I placed it on. "There is no need for that," Jake said walking over to the kitchen and opening the fridge. I followed him like a lost puppy confused about the change of plans. "Where's your mom?" He asked still not making eye contact with me as he browsed the fridge.

"She should be down any moment she's going out tonight with her girls," I told him as his back was still turned away from me. "Hm pick one, one cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza?" He asked as he closed the refrigerator empty-handed-handed, yeah we had close to nothing in the house. My mom and I had to go grocery shopping.

"Pepperoni," I said and looked away from him walking over to the table and taking a seat. "Can you also see if they have garlic bread?" I found myself asking. This was the first time I ever asked for something I wanted. "Of course," Jake said smiling proudly. Jake ordered the pizza and we made our way over to the living room. My mom soon appeared from around the corner dressed in skinny grey jeans and a nice loose black cami top. She paired it with some black thick heels and her black going-out bag. Along with that, she brought a black jacket in case she got cold. 'Hi honey," she said smiling widely at Jake, "what are you kids up to tonight?" My mom asked. "We are going to order some pizza and watch a movie, you look lovely Mrs. Nelson," Jake said. "Honey please call me Chloe. Well, you two I'm off now I don't think I'll be out too late, just catching up with some of my girls. Behave and stay out of trouble, love you guys." My mom said as she walked to the door and left after we said our goodbyes.

I turned to Jake "What happened to us going to the movies?" I asked him feeling a little bit but we were not going anymore. "Well I decided to bring the movie theater to us," he said walking back into the living room after grabbing his tablet and some cord he had brought in and went behind the television and started playing with some of the wires and before I knew it the television mirrored what was on his iPad screen. He went onto some free movie website and I saw him load the new Superman movie.

Sweet

"Get your blankets and come back. The pizza should be here in a few minutes Pizza Heaven is normally very quick," he said. You don't have to tell me twice I ran back to my room got my big blanket and socks and met Jake back in the living room. I placed the blanket down on the sofa and went into the kitchen to grab some plastic plates and some red chili flakes for Jake. I looked in the pantry to see if we had any Oreo cookies and to my surprise we sure did. I took the pack and the other things back into the living room and set them up on the table. The bell rang and Jake rushed to the door to grab and pay for the pizza. "Thank you have a blessed day. Keep the change." Jake said to the young delivery boy who smiled back at him and said good night to him. Jake hurried back to the living room placing the bags on the table and then hurried back into the kitchen and came out with two cups of ice to go with the two-liter Dr. Pepper bottle he bought with the pizza.

I opened the box placed two slices of pizza on a plate for Jake and grabbed a small slice for me. Jake reached into the bag grabbed the soda and poured some out into our cups and I reached into the bag again to get out the garlic rolls. We leaned back onto the sofa and started the movie.

And just like that it's just us two alone with no care in the world

Authors Note

Hey y'all! Another update for you guys! I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned for upcoming chapters!

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