10 HOURS AWAY | A Novel

chapter 49 - change of heart

10 Hours Away

Christmas Eve had been wonderful, so I could only imagine how great New Year's Eve would be. The last two days, all of us had been busy buying decorations, food, liquor, and sending invites to the people we wanted to have at our apartments.

Instead of celebrating the ending of this year in one apartment, we agreed on using our hallway and all of our living rooms at one time. By doing this, we could invite as many people as we would like. The tenants who lived below us heard of our party and they were ecstatic, so we invited them too. They would also bring a couple of friends over.

Some of the names, which had been written down on the paper for the invites, were unfamiliar to me. That's because Mia, Isaac, and Carter wanted to have people over who they had met through the program. As my eyes fell on the long list of names, I couldn't help but get even more excited because I was about to meet so many new people. It had been quite some time since I had been indulged in a conversation with a stranger.

Besides the people they invited, I wanted Dylan and Logan to be here as well. They had proven themselves to be lovely company and my friends liked them, too. So when they texted me saying they were going to show up, I grinned widely. Our New Year's Eve plans were coming together nicely!

Throwing a party served as a great excuse to go shopping, so Mia and I left the boys alone and went on a mission. While they had been given the task to decorate the place and set-up a beer-pong area, we had plenty of time to score an amazing outfit.

Mia recommended a few clothing stores since she had been there last week. We tried multiple dresses in the fitting rooms, but we had a hard time finding the perfect piece.

Hours passed by before we finally stumbled upon a small shop we hadn't been to yet. The woman who owned the place greeted us blissfully before we told her all about our struggles. Then she promised us we'd find the dresses we were looking for.

She helped us wonderfully while we were engaged in the process of putting a new dress on. Whenever we stepped out of the fitting room, she was brutally honest; if she didn't think we looked overwhelmingly stunning in the dress, she would get us a new one. And I admired that about her. She didn't try to sell us a bunch of clothes, she genuinely wanted us to find a beautiful piece of clothing.

Mia was the first to find a dress. Both Katy – the shop owner – and I were completely ecstatic about how my best friend looked. Every guy would drool when they would lay their eyes on her.

Sadly, I hadn't found my dress yet. That, however, didn't stop me from trying something new. Katy handed me a cocktail dress which fitted me marvelously. I had never been the type of girl to look at my own body and be amazed by my figure, until that one afternoon. Not for a moment in my life had I looked this good. I finally understood why some women felt overly confident when they wore the right clothes.

"You look hot, Liz." Mia said.

"I do, don't I?" I replied, laughing softly as I barely recognized myself in the mirror.

"This is your dress, darling." Katy mentioned.

After looking at the two of them, a broad smile covered my face. "Yes, you're right. This is the one I want." I confirmed, and Mia cheered loudly. Katy seemed jovial – probably because she had succeeded after being with us for at least an hour and a half.

We paid for our dresses, thanked Katy for her wondrous help, and left the shop. We strolled through the buzzing streets of New York City before we went back home; feeling completely satisfied.

The moment we reached our floor, we saw Isaac and Carter high-fiving each other.

"I assume you guys are finished?" I said. They both smiled at us.