Dark One- The Khiara Banning Series Book 1

Thirteen

When one o’clock rolls around my phone buzzes with a text from Cara asking if I want to go accessory shopping for semi-formal with her and even though I want to say no I agree because I basically ditched her last night and feel bad about it.

“So you’re down?” She asks.

I roll my eyes and turn to Cael, who smiles and rolls his eyes too prompting me to chuckle. “Yeah, I’ll come with. Maybe I’ll find a dress. But first, how are we going to get to the mall? If you’ve forgotten, the Rabbit isn’t working anymore. Mr. Brown towed it to my place.”

Cara grumbles, reminding me of Pug. “Yeah, I know, I’ll drive. Don’t worry; my car should get us to the mall and back without too much protest.”

“You’ll have to pick me up from Cael’s. I’ll give you directions; it’s not too far from your place.” 

“Yes ma’am!” She agrees to pick me up from Cael’s place in twenty minutes, giving her enough time to pick an outfit for the day.

“I guess this will be goodbye until tomorrow,” says Cael after I hang up.

 My heart thumps in my chest a little faster and a lazy smile rises to my lips. “Yes, well,” I say, as I lean in and kiss him on the cheek, “unless I want to lose my job, I’ll see you at work at the usual time.”

 ~*~

Dutifully, Cara picked me up exactly twenty minutes after we spoke. We drove to the mall and that is where I find myself right now, standing in front of a full length mirror in the same green and pink dress I tried on what feels like forever ago. It still looks as beautiful as ever on me, and now that I’ve been working and received my first pay check, I’ve finally got the money to buy it. We’ve been at the mall for at least three hours and so far Cara has found absolutely nothing in way of accessories.

She practically shrieks when I come out of the fitting room with the dress slung over my right arm. “I’m so excited for you!” she says. She offers me some lip-gloss which I refuse as always, before she coats her own lips in the stuff, “I don’t want to give you my cold,” I explain.

She waves my explanation away and smiles at me. “You are going to look so beautiful, honeybun. Hopefully I find some nice accessories soon because we’ve been in his mall way too long. I’d settle for a crappy fake diamond necklace as long as it looked good. Honestly, you’d think there’d be something in this place for me.”

“Semi-formal is a month away and we have lots of time to go shopping, you know.” I say, swatting her arm playfully.

Cara smiles at me and shakes her head like she pities me but says nothing as we walk towards the cash. “What, is a month not enough time?” I ask.

When we reach the cash, a girl of about six years old begins to cry from her seat on a bench just outside the store. Her mother is standing about six feet behind me, looking at a royal purple gown, ignoring her daughter’s tantrum. My head starts pounding with a sudden headache and I find myself sighing.

Cara sighs as the cashier rings up my purchase. “There can never be enough time, right up until the day of the dance I will search for the perfect accessories. Maybe I should go into Portland. There’s more variety. Hell, I might even find a better dress! Imagine?” My turn to shake my head. She pointedly ignores it. “Well you never know. I’ll let you know how it turns out if I end up going.”

 “You do that,” I say as we head out of the store. “In any case, I’m done for the day. My head is pounding and I need to get home to take a shower.” Cara frowns at me, reaches out and touches my forehead and her frown deepens. “Babe,” she says, “You’re a little warm.”