The Tattooed Devil Wears Chucks

Chapter 15: The Dress

Gabby.

Just because I was allowed go to prom did not mean my grounding was lifted. My house was still a prison. I wasn't allowed to go further than my front porch and that is where I didn't want to be. I knew from there, I would see Jax and he would see me.

My floor is littered with clothes and hangers that I have torn out of my closet. I thought I would just wear the dress that I had recently worn to the last homecoming dance but it didn't look right when I tried it on. It had a glittery top with a sweetheart neckline and had a bit of a mesh 'poof' on the bottom. It was bright blue and I had silver heels to match. I looked like a typical high school girl in it. I realize that I was a high school girl but I didn't feel like one anymore. Something about me had changed since the last time I had worn it.

I stand in the mirror and stare at the dress with tears coming down my face. This is not me. This was the me from before the night at the lake. Before I had climbed into the backseat of a car owned by a boy I couldn't even stand and blacked out. Before I lost my dad's trust and was taken away in his cop car, throwing up cherry flavored liquor.

"Pretty!" Sydney stands in my doorway smiling at the dress.

I sit on the edge of my bed, the poof flares out as I do. "Do you want it Syd? You can wear it to your first homecoming next year..."

"Gabby why are you crying?" She frowns at me. "You look beautiful..."

"I don't think I want to go. This isn't the right dress." I wipe my face on my arm.

"Not the right dress or not the right guy?" she asks and sits next to me on the bed.

Insightful little shit she was.

"Both" I laugh as more tears come down. "I like Jackson but it would never work. Dad would murder him and he doesn't even like me like that."

I stand and attempt to unzip the back of the dress, I need it off of me. Sydney sees my struggle and stands to unzip it for me.

"I thought you liked Kane, Gabs..."

"I did... do... A lot happened Syd. It's not the same between us as it was before. I didn't even know he liked me too."

I let the blue mesh fall to the ground around my feet to step out of it and hand it to Syd. I know I'm never going to wear it again. It will be beautiful on her next year, it will compliment her blond hair and pale skin just as it did mine. She cradles it in her arms and looks back up to me. "Let's ask mom if we can go to town and find you a different dress. You should go to your prom. I'll do your hair and makeup tonight."

Sydney and I rarely spoke civil to each other. Her and I were definitely not friends but we were family. Her high school years with our overbearing dad were fast approaching. The girl turned fourteen last week and it was as if she had matured an additional five years. I stare at her and don't see a little girl anymore. She mastered those makeup YouTube videos that made her look like a clown a few months ago. She looked more adult than I felt right now.

I smile at my baby sister and wipe the tears away from my cheeks again. "Okay."

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"Nothing poofy!" I yell out the dressing room.

"I know Gabby! I'm trying!" she says angrily.

A half hour car ride into town with this girl put us right back to normal with our sisterly bickering. She's still a brat.

The sound of hangers hitting each other as my sister sorts through a bunch of dresses continues.

I'm standing here in my underwear as she takes her time searching. She wants this to be more perfect than I do. I'm quickly losing patience and begin snapping my rubber bands.