Another letter. There's another letter from J.
I walked a little faster to my locker and immediately took the letter out. It only read,
M,
To the masquerade ball, with me?
~J
I had to read it three time to make sure I had the words right. Is J actually inviting me to the masquerade ball? For some reason, I can feel excitement bubbling up inside me. Until a week ago, I didn't have any plans to go to the masquerade ball next weekend. But now, I suddenly want to.
"Hey, girlfriend!" Abby jumped beside me. "What's up?"
I waved J's letter in her face.
"Another letter?" She asked and I nodded. "Dang! I knew you'd receive one today. We should really have opted for the hidden camera. Well, what does it say?"
"J is inviting me to the masquerade ball with him." I replied calmly although deep inside I have a storm going on.
Both Abby's eyes and mouth formed an huge O I almost laughed. "Are you serious?"
I nodded and showed her the letter.
"Oh my gosh! I think he's planning to finally reveal himself to you at the ball. What do you think?"
"I..." hope so? hope not? "...don't know." I frowned.
"Girl, we have to shop for a dress this weekend! And we have to book a salon. I am gonna make you the most beautiful girl in that ball. But next to me of course."
"But I..." Abby placed a finger to my mouth before I could continue.
"Nah-uh! You. Are. Going. To. The. Ball. And. Meet. J." She then clapped her hands in excitement. "This is gonna be so awesome."
Despite not wanting to go, I found myself agreeing with Abby. Somehow, my curiosity as to who J is won over.
~~~~~
"Why exactly am I driving you again?" Josh complained for the third time as we drove to the mall Saturday afternoon.
"Because you're my brother." Abby replied as she scanned a fashion magazine. "And because we need a guy to carry our bags as we shop and fit."
Josh rolled his eyes. "Is that on your made-up brother manual? Because I didn't find brother synonymous to manservant in the thesaurus."
"Oh, shut up, Josh!" Abby said. "You should rather be happy you get to accompany two beautiful girls."
Josh chuckled. "That may be the case with Megan. But not for you, sis."
I laughed as Abby gasped. "How dare you!" She threw him the magazine she was reading which just made Josh laugh harder.
"Hey! Brothers aren't supposed to inflate the egos of their sisters."
"You're such a jerk." Abby muttered as she reclaimed her magazine.
I saw Josh look at me from the rear-view mirror and I smiled. "I expected my sister to go shopping today. But I didn't expect you'd go dress shopping too." He said.
I shrugged. "I decided it would be fun to go."
"And it just got even more interesting." I heard him mutter.
At the mall, Josh was leisurely tailing me and his sister. Or rather, we were both tailing Abby since she's been dragging me to different stores every minute. I knew she loved shopping above anything else and is always on her highest energy level each time, but I guess I raised it a few notches higher (if that's even possible in her case) when I agreed to her choosing my dress for me.
"Abby, let me just remind you, okay? I just want a dress that's really simply. You know, not to frilly, nor too revealing, or too obvious. If you get what I mean." I told her as she is racking through the dresses at one of the shops.
"I know. Don't worry. I'll find the perfect dress for yah!" She winked at me. And even though she told me not to worry, I am still worried about what kind of dress she'll be giving me.
After about two hours of looking for dresses, Abby had found the perfect dress for her but none for me. Hers was a long fitted black tube dress with a slit at one side from her thigh. It was backless, and the bodice glittered with tiny, sparkling beads. I had to admit, she looked really beautiful in it. Although Josh was reluctant in letting his sister buy the dress saying it revealed too much. Abby just laughed and muttered brothers.
"Come on, Megan. Choose a dress already. We've already visited fifteen stores and I already showed you a hundred dresses. We don't have forever to choose, you know." Abby complained as we sat to take a break at one of the benches.
I rolled my eyes at her. "Okay, that's totally exaggerating. You did not show me a hundred dresses."
"Which is totally not the point. Urggh!" Abby slapped her face in exasperation. "You're the hardest girl to find a dress for. You'll probably even never get to marry because you'll just fight with your wedding designer! I've got a buy a drink. You two stay here."
I laughed at my best friend and sighed. "Sorry about this, Josh. I know you're tired already. Because I know I am."
Josh chuckled. "Nah, it's cool."
I raised an amused eyebrow at him. "You're probably the only guy who has to go shopping with his sister and her best friend and think it's cool."
He winked at me. "When you have Abby for a sister, you don't have a choice but think it's cool."
I laughed just as the same time that Abby arrived with her drink. "Alright, come on, you two. Back to searching for the perfect dress for Megan. I am seriously not gonna leave this place until we find you a dress!" She pointed at me.
We searched for another half an hour until we found this new vintage shop. From the outside, I could see that the shop displayed everything vintage. From vintage hats, to vintage necklaces, to vintages watches, and some more.
"Can we go there?" I said pointing to the shop.
"You want to go to a vintage shop?" Abby asked.
I nodded. "We might find something there."
"Yeah, that place is kinda cool." Josh agreed shifting Abby's bags to his other shoulder.
"Do they even have clothes inside?" She frowned.
"I guess we'll see." I said as I headed to the shop.
Turns out that this vintage shop really is a vintage clothing shop. They have a whole lot of vintage accessories, purses, dresses, and shoes. And this is exactly where I found the dress.
"Abby." I said. "I think I found it."
"Found what?" She asked without looking at me. She was busy going through the rings.
"The dress I'll wear to the masquerade ball." I smiled without taking my eyes off at the dress.
I heard Abby gasp and walk towards me. "Really? Where is it?"
"That one." I smiled confidently at her as I pointed towards the dress.
Abby immediately smiled as she saw it and said, "Perfect. That is the perfect dress for you. Go fit it!"
She pushed me towards the fitting room as she took the dress from the rack. I carefully slipped on the dress as Abby waited outside.
"Hey, Meg!" I heard her call.
"Yeah?" I said as I smoothed the dress.
"They also sell masks here. And I think I found the perfect masks to go with our dresses." She said.
"That's great!" I smiled as I looked at myself in the mirror. This dress is just so beautiful.
"Are you done yet?"
"Yeah, coming out in a sec." I pushed the curtains to the side and stepped out to see Abby grinning at me. She was holding two black masks.
"Oh my gosh, Meg. That dress is really beautiful. And you look perfect in it."
"Thanks." My dress is black and light grey it's almost white. The satin bodice has black embroidery lace with silver sequins and beading throughout. It is a strapless dress with empire waist where the chiffon skirt gathers and flows freely down to my toes.
"Oh, I am so excited! J is gonna be so tongue-tied." She giggled hading me a black glittered sculpted butterfly mask with the top edged with silver trimmings.
I frowned as I put on the mask. "Will he even recognize me? I mean, it is a masquerade ball."
"Oh, I'm sure he will." She said showing me her black lace mask.
I smiled as I turned to the mirror once again.
"That dress really suits you, Meg." I heard Josh say behind us. "Make sure to save me a dance."
I laughed. "Thanks, Josh. But I'm pretty sure I don't kow how to dance."
"That's too bad because you'll have one with me."
I rolled my eyes at him and he laughed.
"Oh, will you two stop flirting?" Abby slapped his brother's arm. "Let's go pay already because I'm starving!" She placed one arm over my shoulder. "Don't worry, best friend. You will have the best masquerade ball of your life."
The week passed uneventfully. Well, except for a couple of roses on my locker. But other than the roses, there was no letter from J. I was kind of expecting him to maybe he would give me another letter saying where he'll meet me or what he'll wear so that I could recognize him or something. But na-dah! I'm sort of worried that J might ditch me or he changed his mind. But Abby, being the ever supportive best friend she is, kept on assuring me that everything is alright. And I almost called for rain-check on the masquerade ball. But well, Abby, who also happens to be my ever persuasive best friend threatened to strangle me in my sleep if I didn't go to the ball. So that's how I found myself standing in front of Abby's full length mirror in my dress, with my hair and make-up expertly done. Not to mention that all my nails are polished and painted.
"J is so gonna kiss my feet tonight when he sees you." Abby winked at my reflection.
I laughed and rolled my eyes at her. "Thanks, Abby."
"You're welcome. Now come on, let's rock that ball."
And with that, Abby and I put on our masks and headed out to the masquerade ball.
A/N:
That's Megan's dress and mask on the side! ;) ----->>>>>