Oh, Dakota

22- Hurricane

“Let’s just get this over with,” I grumbled irritatedly.

Marnie grinned at me before adjusting her short pink skirt. “That’s the spirit.”

I rolled my eyes at her and then looked back into the mirror. I was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a tightly fitted long sleeved sweater. I looked incredibly dressed down standing beside Marnie who was wearing a short pink skirt and a white blouse that was almost see-through with a cute sparkly bandeau underneath of that with tall white heels.

It was Saturday night, a week after Derek had visited with his family, and it was time for Caleb’s party, which I had- for some insane reason- agreed to go to. Well, I mean, it was because I wanted to stop fighting with Todd about stupid stuff that I thought this party was at fault for, but that didn’t work because we had been down each other’s throats all week for stupid stuff and I didn’t know why. Less than two weeks ago, we were perfect, but ever since that incident with his parents we’re just fighting constantly. I still really like Todd though, like a lot, so I would never break up with him or do anything that I’d think would make him break up with me because that’d be so terrible, to break up with him. I just wish we weren’t fighting all the time, I guess.

“Come on, let’s just go. The guys are waiting for us downstairs,” I sighed loudly, looping my arm through hers as we both started walking down towards the stairs. Marnie was incredibly taller than me though, considering the fact that she was in heels and I was wearing sneakers, and Marnie was already a few inches taller than me without heels on so I just felt like an oompa loompa next to her.

“That’s what you’re going to wear?” Todd wondered with raised eyebrows once we got down stairs to where Owen, John, Braeden, and Todd were waiting for us so that we could all go to the party together. Nikki went with Levi, because they’re not fighting anymore as she told me, and I think they wanted to hook up before the party which is why they didn’t come with us.

I nodded, looking down at my outfit. “Yep, why?”

He shrugged. “No reason.”

“You’re wearing jeans,” I probed, noticing that all of the guys were in jeans, like they usually are, and t-shirts. “Why is it surprising that I am?”

“You usually look hot when we go to parties,” He explained as if that wouldn’t offend me or anything.

Everybody around us let out loud, irritated groans. “Guys,” Owen interjected. “Can you just not fight for like, three seconds please?”

“Seriously, we’re tired of it and we want to get to the party, so get along and let’s go,” John added, leading the group towards the front door.

“I’m just saying, you could have dressed up for this one party that I finally talked you into attending,” Todd ignored both Owen and John’s interjections. “Like Marnie did, and she looks nice.”

Everybody stopped walking towards the door, including me, because I didn’t want to fight just as much as everybody else didn’t want to hear it so I was trying to take John’s advice and just get along with Todd, but then he went and said that.

“Did you seriously just compare your girlfriend to another girl?” Braeden wondered, which was what everybody in that room was thinking as we all looked at Todd in surprise.

Well, I continued to look at Todd with a blank expression while everybody else just kind of gawked at him, and then they turned to look at me to gauge my reaction to the incredibly low insult. I tried not to react that much, but I was pretty sure that my blank expression didn’t look as blank as I wanted it too. And Todd knew me for years and he knew me well, so I was pretty sure that he could see the hurt in my face after he just commented that Marnie looked nicer than I did. I mean, I knew that she did because she tried a lot harder and everything, but he was my boyfriend so he was just supposed to think that I look beautiful in everything, right?