Matches | √

Chapter Twelve

provoke | stimulate or give rise to

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2/19/17

"DO YOU LIKE this top?" my mother's voice rings out from behind me inside the crowded store.

I turn around and shrug at the shirt hanging between her fingers. "It's cute," I admit. Really cute actually. The black top is trimmed with lace and is elegant and simple at the same time. "But I don't need anything new," I tell her in attempts to brush her off as kindly as possible.

My eyes flit around the store. A store I've only come in a few times with Francesca and maybe once with my mother. It's a small boutique at the more expensive end of the town's shopping mall. Plus it's something that we can't and don't need to casually spend money on.

"I've had some good bonuses lately," she tells me with a wave of her hand. "That means we can splurge," she insists with a smile.

"Yeah, but we don't have to," I tell her. I'm not one for showy clothes. I've always been simplistic in what I wear. Never one for bright colors or patterns or embellishments. Never one to stand out in more ways than one.

"But I want to," my mother tells me as her smile begins to fade. "You're leaving for school soon and this is our time together Mae," she says, hitting me with words that instantly pull at my heart. She just wants to spend some time with me before I leave this fall. It seems so far away as the New Year has just arrived, and yet I know it will be here before I realize.

I nod with a small sigh. "I know," I relent.

My mother wraps an arm around my shoulder pulling me in. The familiar smell of her perfume fills my senses and places my nervous heart at ease. "Well let's at least go and look at prom dresses," she suggests with a wide smile.

An embarrassed flush coats my cheeks. "I don't even know if I'm going to go," I tell her honestly, quietly.

"It's your senior prom Maeleigh," she chides. "You're going," she tells me with a pointed look. My mother is all about life experiences, and is thankful for my best friend for pushing me outside my comfort zone in life. If it weren't for Francesca I would be a complete loner just going through the motions of high school.

"But no one is going to ask me," I state awkwardly. My mother is fully aware of the lack of any male attention in my life. But for as small as I feel in life, saying these words to my mother makes me feel almost pathetic.

"So," she shrugs easily. "Then you go stag," she reasons, pulling me along with her to exit the fancy boutique. I roll my eyes at her outdated lingo, but nonetheless follow along.

My teeth pull at my bottom lip in deep thought. "I guess," I draw out though the idea doesn't sound fun. Senior prom is something everyone looks forward to around here. Francesca has been going since freshman year, but this year is the one she's been looking forward to the most. Where as I've been secretly dreading the event that once again proves how irrelevant I am to my senior class. To everyone.

Together my mother and I maneuver our way to the other side of the mall where the prom dresses are. Well, the prom dresses we can afford to be more specific.

As we make our way over my mother excuses herself to the bathroom. I wait outside the store, which is already overflowing with giggling girls and their mothers. My body sags against the wall near the store as unwanted anxiety courses through my veins. I don't want to be here. I don't want to try on dresses today. I don't want to go to a dance all by myself.

"Hey." A deep voice calls out from beside me. One I instantly recognize, one that causes a chill to run down my spine and warms my blood all at the same time. A voice that calls after my heart in a way that it shouldn't, a way that makes me want him more. The same voice who this past week has been messing with not only my head but my body as well. Kissing me in stairwells and touching me in empty classrooms.