I sat in some Parisian vintage clothing store, watching Ginger try clothes on.
She waltzed out in a black dress that went to her knees.
"What do you think?" She asked.
I looked up from my phone. "It's nice. You look good."
She admired herself in the mirror. "It's like so Chanel isn't it? Little black dress? Every girl needs a little black dress."
"I agree with you there. But you have ten already." I pointed out.
Ginger was a bit of a shopaholic. I think spending her parents money gave her the feeling that they cared.
"Yeah, but this ones from Paris! It's special. Plus this is the one that I can say "this is the dress I bought after I finally began a relationship with the love of my life." I can't say that about any of my other dresses!" She said vigorously.
"Ginger, why the sudden need for retail therapy?" I asked.
She sighed and sat down. "I figured you'd ask this. I called my mom, she's in Bermuda with Marvin, her boyfriend? I mean, I knew that she didn't want me to call her but I figured I'd try anyway. Well she was like completely drunk when she answered. She didn't know who it was it first, and I said its Ginger, and then she started yelling at me "Gertrude is your given name! Gertrude Lexington, you're such a disappointment! I wish I divorced your father before you were born so that I didn't have to deal with you!" And then I hung up. That's why I needed retail therapy."
"Oh Ginger. Your mom didn't mean it, she was just drinking. People do and say stupid stuff when they're drinking." I lied.
She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah well, I'm not sure what I was expecting."
She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. "I'm getting this one."
She went back into the dressing room, and threw the dress at me into her buy pile.
"Iris! I saw a gorgeous dress that would look great on you in the back. It's light blue, fifties style, with polka dots. Go get it. Oh and bring me back a couple more things to try on. Your pick."
I walked to the back of the store, and found the dress she was talking about. It was adorable. It had straps that tied on the neck and a white belt. I grabbed it off the rack and chose a few things for Ginger.
After trying it on and staring at myself in the mirror for a while, Ginger came out. She had on a maxi skirt with a turquoise button down.
"I'm so getting this. It's cute right? Oh my god Iris you look great! That's gorgeous on you. You have to get it. I can curl your hair, and you can wear red lipstick. It'll look so great! I even have some white Toms you can borrow."
I did look good. I hoped Colton would like it.
"I'm not your doll." I teased.
She laughed and went back into the dressing room to change. She came back out in her yoga pants and Boston sweatshirt.
"Okay. I'm ready to buy this stuff."
After she rang her stuff up, for a grand total of six hundred and seventy nine dollars, I paid for mine and we left.
We got into another cab with all of Ginger's shopping bags.
"Ginger, I think you should tell Rory what happened with your mom. You kinda snapped at him when he asked what was wrong. It probably hurt his feelings."
She sighed and looked out the cab window. "I did, didn't I? Well I'll talk to him when we get back and explain things. This whole relationship thing is going to be work."
Well yes Ginger, relationships do take work. Maybe that's why all of your other ones fell apart, because you didn't realize that until now.
We got out of the cab and went inside the hotel. Everyone was sitting in the lobby, hanging out, to Desk Dudes annoyance.
"Rory. Can we talk? Oh and Bradley and Colton, would you bring these up to my room? Bee and Iris, one of you go with to make sure they don't snoop." Ginger said.
Rory nodded and they went outside to take a walk. Bradley and Colton grabbed Ginger's shopping bags, and I trailed them up the stairs. They were talking in hushed tones.
I let them into the room, and they dumped the bags on Ginger's bed. Bradley stopped to examine a piece of sheet music Bee had left on the dresser.
"Whose is this?" Bradley asked.
"It's Bees'" I answered.
"She's into music?" He said.
I nodded. How could he not know? He must be very oblivious.
"She's been in every school musical, and she's in choir." I said.
He smiled. "That's really cool."
He was being weird. I shook it off and we walked back downstairs.
Rory and Ginger were back, and holding hands, which I took to mean that their talk had gone well. They were chatting with Bee about some music store that they had found that she had to go to. Bradley inserted himself in the conversation, and Colton sat next to me.
"Are you excited for our date?" He asked.
Oh. So we're officially calling it a date now. Oh my god does this mean he likes me?
"Yeah I'm so excited! I actually just bought a dress to wear when I was out with Ginger."
"Oh gosh! I need to go get a new outfit too!" He said jokingly.
"Colton! Our first date is a big deal. I want to look pretty."
He moved a piece of hair out of my face.
"I think you always look beautiful." He leaned in, and I closed my eyes.
Then his phone rang, ruining the moment. I sighed. We were always getting interrupted.
He glanced down at it. "I have to take this."
"Is it your parents?" I asked.
"Uh, yeah, someone like that." He mumbled. He put the phone to his ear and walked out of the lobby.
"The lobby is closing in two minutes. You must exit." Desk Dude said.
"I thought it closes at midnight?" Bradley said.
"On Mondays we close at, uh," he glanced at the clock, "eight thirty."
Bradley scoffed. "I don't think I believe that, but whatever. We'll go."
We got into an elevator and Bradley left at the third floor. Rory stayed to walk Ginger to her room.
Bee and I walked into our room to give them some privacy.
"They're cute aren't they?" Bee asked.
I shrugged. It had gotten pretty hard to root for them, to be honest, and I didn't really think it would last. But yes, I supposed that they were cute.
"Yeah. They're cute."
Bee walked towards her sheet music.
"Who touched this?" She asked.
I had no idea how she could tell.
"Bradley. He seemed very interested in the fact that you liked music." I said meaningfully.
"Oh. That's weird." She said, either not catching my meaning or choosing to ignore it.
I was betting on the fact that she was just choosing to ignore it, as she was very perceptive.
Then Ginger walked in. "Hey guys." She said breathlessly.
"Your lipsticks smeared." I said.
She laughed. "Good."
She pushed all the shopping bags off her bed and fell onto it.
"Paris is so romantic." She sighed.
I rolled my eyes at her.
"Oh right! I wanted to talk to you about Colton." She said.
I sat down on the bed next to her. "What did you want to say?"
She sat up. "Okay so maybe it's not about Colton. I was just thinking about you and Todd. You guys had, like, such a connection. Everybody thinks he still has feelings for you. I think you should give him a second chance."
None of this made sense. Well the connection part did, and so did the whole he still has feelings for me part, but the rest of it didn't make sense. Ginger hated Todd. Why was she trying to convince me to get back with him?
I stared at her blankly. "What? You hate Todd. Why are you so pro Todd all the sudden?" I demanded.
She avoided my gaze and crossed her legs, which is what she did when she was hiding something.
"Ginger. Tell me. Now."
She sighed. "Well it's just I noticed you and Colton were getting close, and you guys are going on a date soon, and I mentioned that to Rory. Well, he told me that Colton's always on the phone with some girl. Like at least once a day so far. And he asked Bradley about it, and Bradley said he had no idea who it was, but Rory wasn't sure whether or not he was lying."
My stomach dropped, along with my heart.
"What's the girls name?" I asked, in a whisper.
Ginger looked at me with pity in her eyes. "Rory didn't remember. She said it was some gemstone name."
Jade. It had to be. He had lied to me. I can't believe I fell for it.
"Jade?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Maybe."
I swallowed and looked down at the ground, trying not to cry.
"I just wanted to tell you, so that you knew. And if you still want to get with him, at least you have some idea of what you're getting to right?" Ginger said.
I ignored her.
"Well, I'm going to take a shower. Let me know if you want to talk, okay?"
I said nothing.
"I'm sure it's nothing. He probably has a sister or something. He seems like he really cares about you." Bee reassured.
"I'm just going to go to bed."
I changed into my pajamas and buried myself under my covers. It took a long time to fall asleep.
The next morning, I felt terrible. My head ached, and I was so nauseous. My mom decided that it was food poisoning, and made me stay at the hotel.
I slept the entire day.
I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go out with Colton tomorrow anymore.
AN: I don't own the quote at the top. Anyways, what did you think? Do you think Colton is cheating? Are Rory and Ginger cute? Why is Bradley so interested in the fact that Bee likes music? Comment and vote please! Next update will be May tenth. Thanks for reading!