Prom Queen

Flawless (9)

Gabby frowned, "Fine, but just saying, you would have smashing in that."

I shrugged, "I want to look drop dead gorgeous," smiling slyly I added, "Like you."

Gabby rolled her eyes, "You're such a tease." She raised an eyebrow at me, "I heard your running for Prom Queen."

"So are you," I pointed out.

"I'm happy for the nomination but I'm not out to win it." Gabby held up a gorgeous grey dress, "How about this?"

"I'll try it," I said grinning.

I took the dress from her, it'll fall above my knee if I wore it. Having taken five dresses, we both headed to the changing room. Gabby sat on the couch just outside the changing room. The store was large, branded but most of the dresses were reasonably priced, for a branded store. Everything about the store, screamed spacious, even the changing room felt large. I put on the grey dress, curious on how it'll look.

"So prom queen?"

"Why not?" I responded admiring myself in the grey dress, still in the changing room "It'll be fun to win it." I told her. My body in the grey dress looked slimmer, I wasn't a size zero, but in the dress, I looked like one. My gangly long limbs looked like a models but the colour unfortunately made my skin look pale.

"Adeline really wants the crown," Gabby pointed out, "She'll be hurt if she doesn't win."

Which is exactly the point. I thought, Instead I said aloud, "Adeline's just and fair, I doubt she'll get upset by fair play."

Which is, in truth, what I was doing, not like her. She stole him from under my nose. Heck she couldn't even wait for a few days before making out with Duke. I tried on the blue dress, it was pricy but I couldn't resist it. I looked decent in it, unfortunately it made me look bloated. I took it off as Gabby said, "Still you're her friend." I tried not to get irked by Gabby. We fought often for a reason.

 To be honest, both of us were a lot closer to Adeline than each other. I was fond of her, but sometimes actually most of the time, she didn't know when to shut up.

Taking the best route to avoid arguing with Gabby, I responded with a question that'll make her happy, "How's Lewis?"

Her voice turned brighter, less nagging, "Oh he's spectacular. You know after the party you threw on Friday he asks me to the prom with a cactus." She sighed, "Do you know a cactus means eternal love?" Which is probably something she learnt from Adeline. I doubt Gabby would be suddenly interested in flowers

She goes on about Lewis. None of the dresses looked Prom Queen worthy on me, so I took them all off and handed them to the girl on duty. "C'mon, let's go to a different shop."

Several shops later with a bored Gabby, I found my gown, it was long, not frilly at all. Smooth and silky. It was a dark red with a plunging neckline and backless. I loved it. I didn't exit the dressing room to show Gabby. I could imagine myself in the dress perfectly. I bought it without a second thought. Gabby asked me as I paid for my dress, "So now you've got the dress but have you got Ethan?"

"I don't know," I responded honestly.

I didn't. Ethan was far from predictable. I wasn't even sure if he was available. Maybe I was too late. I'd been collecting rocks, I'd forgotten the real diamond of my life, Ethan. What I felt for him transcended what I felt for Duke.

It could be due to my strained friendship with Ethan. During the time I dated Duke that covered my eyes from the relationship we had. Now, I didn't have that girlish feeling of having the hottest boy in school crazy for me, it became abundantly obvious to me that perhaps, Duke was a phase, but Ethan? He was more than that.