Always There || Greta Van Fleet

Chapter 94: Thought of Us

"Are you gonna show me any of them?" Jake laughed from outside the dressing room. I felt my face get hot as I spun around in the mirror, hating yet another one we had picked out. It would be added to the reject pile.
"Um.. m-maybe." I muttered, turning around again.
"I'm sure you look great, let me see."

All I wanted was to feel beautiful, and these dresses were doing anything but.

"Jaime, I'm sure they look great, I just want to-" He stopped as I timidly stepped out, peeking over at him, his lips curling into a gentle smile.
"Wow.." He sighed. "Look at you." My cheeks burned as I turned back to the mirror, spinning around again.
"I don't know, I don't really-"
"You're stunning." My heart jumped as I peeked back at him, a smile escaping my lips.

"You like it?" I asked. He nodded, looking me up and down.
"I mean.. I think I would love you in anything." He said, taking my hand, spinning me around again.
"That doesn't really help." I giggled to myself, holding on tight as he pulled me back in, wrapping his arms around my stomach, leaning his chin on my shoulder.

It was so much easier to love what I saw in the mirror when he admired it the way I wished I could.

"I think we should get it." He said simply, leaning in, kissing my cheek. "You look amazing. You're just gonna have to accept it." I playfully rolled my eyes, smirking back up at him.
"Fine." I sighed, reaching down for the price tag.
"Hey, no, no, no.." He said, quickly moving my hand away.
"Jake.."
"Just let me get it."
"You don't have to-"
"As your date, I want to." He insisted, flashing me a toothy grin. I bit down on my lip, unable to say no to him when he looked at me like that.

"Fine." I muttered again, going back into the dressing room.
"I think we should just ask for you to wear it out, we shouldn't waste-"
"No, Jake." I laughed, thankful to have someone like him to make me feel so beautiful.

As we pulled back up to the house, I felt my stomach drop when I saw Josh making his way out of the garage, looking over at us as Jake parked the car.
"I can't wait to see your mom's reaction. She's gonna love it." He said, reaching into the backseat and pulling out our shopping bag. We had found him a simple tie to match, insisting he didn't want anything that was "too much" so he didn't take away from my dress.

"Maybe we could just.." I started, peeking over as Josh obviously lingered, trying to conveniently meet us when we got out of the car. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to him about the wedding and how our plans had.. changed a little.

"Just what?" He asked, his face dropping. I hesitated for a moment, holding my stare on him.
"N-nothing. It's okay." I sighed, giving him a gentle smile before getting out of the car. I kept my eyes forward, hearing Jake follow closely as we made our way inside.

Jake's P.O.V

As we walked into the store, she took my hand, eagerly pulling me towards the dress section. I couldn't help but smile, seeing her so excited, all the while I was so excited just to see her so dressed up.

She didn't hesitate to go down the racks, picking up each one that made her eyes light up, handing it over to me to carry.

I loved getting to be this for her.
All I've ever wanted was to be this for her.
I would do whatever she wanted.
Be there, however she wanted.

"I can't wait to see you in these." I said softly, following her closely as she made her way through the racks, quickly flipping through. "Are you.. looking for anything specific?" She shook her head, peeking back at me.
"No, I just.. I just wanna look nice."
"You always look nice." I added, coming around to her side of the rack. She kept flipping through, keeping her eyes forward.
"But, I.. I want to look.. nice.. for you." She said quietly. I felt my face get hot.