Sugar

14

The end of April was quickly creeping up on us so the air was finally warm enough to go without a winter jacket, something I was celebrating proudly with a long sleeve forest green shirt and a pair of skinny jeans.

Take that, winter!

The four of us walked through two stores, leaving completely empty-handed before Ben finally decided to pipe up and ask what exactly we were looking for. Rico gazed at him with a deadpan look as if to ask you're kidding, right?

I chuckled, glancing from Rico to Ben as we all entered Forever 21, Aria absentmindedly following behind us on her phone, probably talking to Brandon. She seemed to be getting a whole lot closer with him lately and it was both unnerving and worrisome.

While I want nothing more than for my friend to be happy, no matter who she chooses to be with, I also care about who she's subjecting herself to on a regular basis and Brandon just really doesn't tickle my fancy for some reason.

"Flo has a very important meeting tonight pertaining to her status as a sugar baby. I can't just send her in really anything from her pitiful wardrobe, we need to find something that says give me money, bitch more than her sweats," Rico informed Ben as I rolled my eyes, sifting through the rack of sweaters that was situated near the front of the Forever 21.

"You're obnoxious," I mumbled under my breath, straying slightly from the group as I found a rack of dresses that I thought Rico might think screams give me money, bitch.

I pulled out a dusty rose dress that had straps going over the chest area, holding it against my body as I turned to Rico for his opinion.

"Not it, sis," Rico scrunched his face up in disgust and I quickly realized that our style was quite...different.

"So let me get this right," Ben sighed, running a hand through his dark waywardly hair as he followed behind us. "You went on the date with the creepy internet guy and now you are going on yet another date with said creepy internet guy? Does no one listen to me?"

I rolled my eyes at him, shoving the dress back into the rack and following Rico's lead through the large store.

"He's not some creepy dude," Aria finally butted into the conversation, sighing loudly. "Brandon knows him, he's not some creepy serial killer disguised as a rich man. Besides, even if he was a serial killer, why would he risk it since he's so publicly known?" She scoffed, finally pocketing her pink phone and placing her attention on Ben.

Here we go, I thought.

"So publicly known?" He repeated, turning his head to glance over his shoulder at Aria. "Who is this guy, Bruno Mars?" He joked, rolling his eyes playfully.

"Vincent De Bellis," Aria offered the information quickly, causing me to glare at her with wide eyes. Why in the world is this girl so ready to hand over information?

"De Bellis," Ben repeated as Rico handed me a maroon dress and continued his hunt. "That sounds familiar. Like De Bellis that owns Ruby hotel?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder once again to Aria.

"Yes, like Ruby hotel," she spoke absentmindedly as a pink sweater caught her attention.

"This one is kinda thotty but nothing says hey, daddy better than a mini dress," Rico drew my attention back to him where he was handing me a bright red mini dress with thin straps.

My eyes widened as I stared at the article of clothing I categorized as more of a t-shirt than anything else. I nodded faintly, taking the garment and waiting for him to turn back around before quickly shoving it back into the rack he'd grabbed it from.

Aria and Ben continued to converse back and forth but my interest slowly died out in whatever topic they were now talking about. They'd somehow gone from Vincent to duck pool floaties. How? I have no idea.

Rico continued to walk through the store, still handing me random dresses he thought were cute before ushering me into the closest dressing room where I found myself dreading having to try on each and every one of these dresses.

A headache was slowly beginning to pound behind my left eye from the harsh lights and loud chatter. I rubbed my temple, turning around to look at the large pile of clothing I'd accumulated.

I began trying the clothes on, making sure to show them every outfit before slipping them back off and going onto the next. None of them piqued any of our interest and we were over half done with everything Rico had picked out.

Finally as we neared the end, I slipped on a muted pink dress that ended at my knees with a plunging neckline and a slit up the thigh. I looked at myself in the mirror and for a moment I was shocked at how much I liked it.

I'm not usually the one to go for clothing in pink color schemes but this was hands down my favorite so far.

I pulled the door open to reveal my three best friends awaiting the reveal of the millionth dress I'd tried on that evening. Without any words, their jaws simultaneously dropped slightly as their gaze's flitted over the dress.

"Well, what do you guys think?" I asked nervously, tucking a blonde strand of hair behind my ear as I awaited their collective responses.

"Classy but still all fuck my brains out."

"So gorg!"

"You look breathtaking."

My heart ached at all of their comments except for Rico's quite crass comment, but in his own twisted way it was a nice thing for him to say...I guess.

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