Control Freak ✔️

37 sand castles

"Did city living make you forget how to dress?"

The comment elicited a defensive eyebrow and a half-shrug from Ivy, who was otherwise minding her own plate. She glanced at Cassidy, who hadn't taken her eyes off of her as she scanned every inch of Ivy and took mental measurements of her shape.

"What's wrong with how I dress?" Ivy groaned, fully aware that she was in an oversized t-shirt with no makeup. She heard her younger sister giggle.

"What?"

By then, even Cassidy had broken character to let a tiny smile escape.

After dinner, all was quiet in the house, though the sound of the chirping cicadas was even louder at night. Their chorus was interrupted by the unlatching sound of the rusty, wooden front door and the ginger footsteps of a girl in sneakers. Ivy sat on the porch and leaned up against the railing as she watched the stars, contemplating how such a cloudless night could leave her in such a low mood. As her eyes wandered down the dirt driveway and past the gate, she imagined them going even further beyond, to anywhere he might be.

She ventured into the forest. Its dense canopy shielded its floor from the stars. She relished the time spent lingering in the solace brought by the crisp crunch of the grass underfoot and the calls of the nocturnal animals. For a long time she walked, wading through the crisp air.

She knew of a clearing where she and her father used to hunt and pick berries, and she was compelled to go there and see what it looked like now. There came a rustling in the bushes, she thought perhaps belonging to a rabbit or a fawn. She knew she was close. The edge of the forest was brightened by a soft white glow, as if the stars were even closer now than before. Finally, the bushes yielded to a break in the forest. She heard another rustling, larger than the first. She grit her teeth and balled her fists as she slowly crept out into the clearing.

"Cassidy?" Ivy called out as the presence took shape at the center of all the lights, dangling from two wires overhead that were tied to thin wooden poles.

Cassidy returned a soft smile, cradling in her arms a folded emerald-green fabric.

"I was afraid you didn't have anything decent to wear, sugar," she teased. "I think it's your size."

"My size for what?"

"For your prom," came another voice, followed by a rustling from the bushes. This time, it was a boy in a suit, holding a bouquet of roses in one hand, and a dusty old radio in the other.

"I figured since we already missed our chance to go to a real prom together so—" Caleb paused mid-sentence, stopping to stare in her big, glistening eyes looking up at him. "What's the matter?"

"Caleb!" she cried, tossing her arms around him. He held her by the waist and pulled her close to him, but just as he brought his face close to hers, he was stopped by the sound of Cassidy clearing her throat.

"Oh, sorry," the two teenagers said in unison.

"Don't be sorry. I want you two to enjoy yourselves... after I leave." Cassidy beckoned Ivy over as she handed her the dress, and then formed a barrier between her and Caleb as she took her clothes off and put it on.

"Okay, young man. You can look now," declared Cassidy as she stepped out of their way.

Ivy was standing there under the moonlight and the makeshift stars in a shimmering open-back emerald dress and bulky gym shoes she couldn't help squirming inside of.

"Wuh-wuh-well?" she stammered, with her nose pointed downward and her cheeks bright red. "Say something! How do I look?"

When she glanced up and saw him there with his mouth open, she balled her fist up again and prepared to swing it.