The Bet That Broke Me ~ Book•1 ✔️ (this book is currently being rewritten)

The Bet That Broke Me: Chapter Twenty Two

The idea of going to prom with Aiden seemed fun as a dream. Reality shoved the real deal of what it would be like the days I spent preparing myself for the night. Kelsey had her dress already and Hailey bought hers just the other day. There was nothing for me yet. Every time I worked up the courage to put a dress on I couldn't bring myself to keep it on long enough to see if I really liked it.

My anxiety of Kelsey or Hailey seeing the dress on me made me peel it off before they could pull open the dressing room door to see how it fit. To me this was hopeless and messy and it only made me hate myself more. Every time I tried to talk to Aiden about not going I felt like a bad girlfriend. This wasn't fair to him. He didn't sign up to deal with all of my emotional baggage.

Honestly I had been questioning if I even deserved to be with him. No matter how much I tried to convince myself that he deserved someone better. Someone that could give him what he wanted, like Amber. She was everything I couldn't be. Everything I would never be. That is who he should be taking to prom instead of me. But no matter how much I try, there was no bringing myself to leave him.

I just needed to figure out a way to talk to him about all of this without making myself sound like an insecure loser. Truthfully, I've noticed that he doesn't mind when I let him know how I feel sometimes. Although he cared or at least let on that he did; it was selfish of me to burden him with my problems.

Aiden laid with bare back pressed against asphalt, both of us feeling the suns touch. Spring had arrived a week or two ago but it already had the days feeling like summer here in Florida. I sat unwillingly in a pair of Cassie's shorts and even though they were the longest I could find, they barely stretched four inches from my butt. Sweat glistened between the warmth of my thighs and just about everywhere else on my body. Pools of sweat had already formed under my armpits as I had chosen to remain in my long sleeved shirt.

Aiden won the argument about me changing from my jeans to shorts but I refused to change my shirt. I had relapsed again last night and there was no way Aiden was going to find out. He worked under his car with a scowl on his face, mad with me for being so stubborn. As he raised different tools every so often I caught the flexing of his muscles which I knew he enjoyed. His scowl turned into the faintest smug smile as he noticed me checking him out.

"You know; I was thinking- I haven't found a prom dress yet and see I. Well, I was wondering if this whole thing was that important anyways." Aiden rolled out from under his car and sat up so that I was in his view. Slight splotches of dirt specked his skin here and there and his hair was tousled slightly, all making him look incredibly attractive.

"I'm just saying that um, I can't find a dress and there seems to be no luck in finding one. Kelsey and Hailey already bought theirs and I'm sure every other girl has theirs too. I just don't want to hold you up anymore or disappoint you because that's the last thing I want to do, Aiden."

The sun seemed to beam hotter as I confessed a false truth to Aiden.

"Alison, it's okay." He pushed himself off the ground to reach for the damp rag that lay upon his hood. "It's fine if we don't go to the stupid dance. If you can't find a dress, it's fine Ali." I was relieved to hear his comforting response but still guilty for depriving the both of us.

This whole thing scared me and caused tremendous anxiety but the part of me- the girl who still had her parents and the hope for a normal life, she wanted to experience this. I remembered being a child when I used to beg my mom to dress me up in her old prom dress even though it was humongous on my small body. She never let me. She said it would be so special when I had my first prom, that I could wear her dress, or if I chose to buy a new one. We were supposed to go shopping for that dress together.

Aiden's eyes dropped to my mothers necklace as I gently held it in my fingers, "It's just, this whole thing reminds me of my mom. We were supposed to go shopping for a dress together and now that it's time to do that- she's not here and I can't do it alone."

He dropped the dirty rag to pull me into his embrace. "You're not, baby. You are not alone and you will never be alone as long as I'm here." But truthfully- tell me, how long were you going to be here?

"I think I might try something else. I had it in mind before but didn't pay much mind to it." I placed a quick kiss on his lips after he swiped my last tear away with his thumb.

"I'll call you later, okay?"

He placed another kiss before nodding, "Okay."

I drove home to a quiet house with Lily and David at the beach and Hailey at cheer. Which left me to myself as I dug through boxes of my parents old belongings to find the thing I had been trying to forget. After almost fifteen minutes of no luck I had began to give up when I pulled the soft material from the bottom of a box labeled "Mom"

The memory of me sneaking into her closet when she was at work fell upon me like a dream. I remembered stuffing myself into the heap of which was her prom dress that I so badly wanted to try on. It didn't fit then because I was only seven. Silly it was but I had cried for several minutes because I couldn't wear it as beautiful as she did. I even slipped on a pair of her heels to see if it would help but I only ended up more disappointed when they didn't fit either.

Only now did it fall perfectly from my chest to my toes, fitting my body in a comfortable way. Looking in the mirror caused me to become upset. I looked like her. This dress was different than the others I had tried. This one felt right. I still felt self conscious because it was a dress, but it was my mother's dress and because of that sole reason- I felt, beautiful.
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