(Dress she wears to the gala. Whole lotta back going on, how do you think Jackson will like that considering her flashback in the last chapter?)
"Can I help you today?" A woman asked interrupting the few seconds of silence.
"Uh," I looked over at Derek. "honestly I forgot why we even came.."
"We came for a dress that'll leave boys think damn, what a sex-"
"Sequined dress-" I interrupted him. "We just wanted to look at a few um, sequined dresses."
The sales worker nodded a bit unsure. "Um, yes of course. I'll bring you a few options. Just go and head over to that dressing room there."
Derek and I walked over to the dressing room and he sat down on the couch outside. "You should've just let me say sex bomb so she knew what we're going for." He mumble angrily. "I'm going to go find a dress I like." He said standing up.
"Fine whatever, hurry."
"You are so mean to me. Girls want to jump my bones and then we have you who treats me like her annoying little brother." He turned around. "You do realize you're half my size. You need me to protect you."
I stuck my tongue out at him. "Go away!"
He left the dressing room area laughing. The sales woman walked in and gave him a quick glance. "Sorry for the wait, here are some sequined dresses like you asked for."
"Thanks!" I smiled.
"Do you mind if I asked you an unrelated question?"
"No, go ahead."
"Is that your boyfriend?" She asked. My eyes widened. "Sorry to be so frank, he uh just doesn't seem the ideal type of boy to be with a girl like you."
"And you know what kind of a girl I am?" I asked. "Am I really that simple to read? Everyone just seems to know who I am and who I should be with these days!"
The woman looked taken aback. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."
I rubbed my temple. "No, I'm sorry. I've just had a rough couple days."
She nodded discreetly and left me standing guiltily in the dressing room with a handful of heavy and scratchy dresses. I sighed and hung them up on the rack and shut the door. One by one I slipped into each one and quickly found out exactly how awful they made me look. I would've looked better in a trash bag!
"Bridgette!" Derek whispered popping his head in through the curtain. I gasped in horror and turned around.
"What if I was naked?"
Derek stopped and thought about if for a moment. "Honestly, I think I would have for a hard on and it would probably end up with you pushed against the wall with my-"
I covered my ears. "You are so immature! We're in a store Derek!"
"Whatever." He looked up and down at me. "Wow, you look like an 80's bride."
"Thanks, that's what I was going for." I giggled looking down at the awfully frilly white gown I was currently wearing. "What did you find?" I asked looking at a silky gold gown.
His eyes lit up as he held the dress up. "This here is what I call the f*ck you Jackson, I'm wearing a gold dress and looking hot it anyways dress." He shrugged. "I say keep your hair down, it's long but not long enough to keep your back from showing."
I bit my lip. "I don't know Derek, it's really nice. And I like it but I don't think Jackson is going to like it. He doesn't like when I show too much skin.."
"All that matters is whether or not you like it. Who cares what anyone else thinks? It's your body so whatever you think looks good on it you shouldn't feel obliged not to wear because of Jackson."
I nodded. "Youn know what? You're right. Besides, he's not my date tonight, you are." I smiled grabbing dress. "Out you go now!" I playfully pushed Derek out. I started to out on the dress when I decided to ask the pressing question on my mind. "Why did Jackson ask you to fill in?" I asked. "I didn't know he was sick." I mumbled. "In fact he probably would've called me."
"Well he didn't necessarily tell me exactly I was his fill in for the party. I heard him coughing in his room and I sort of assumed.." Derek trailed off sheepishly.
"What?" I exclaimed dramatically shoving the curtains open.
Derek turned around and scanned my body. "Oh yeah, you look f*cking hot."
"Thanks." I smiled blushing. "Wait—no! You lied to me!" I yelled angrily. "You said he asked you to be my date because he was sick. Not because you assumed he was!"
"Well he sounded sick so I did what any good older brother would do and decided to take his girlfriend to a party so she wouldn't be alone."
"Derek I don't think that's what good brothers do."
He held his hands up in surrender. "Look I'm just trying to make sure you don't get hurt."
"I know they but you don't understand, what happened yesterday—it's never happened before. He made a mistake that's all. The least I can do is give him one more chance after all he's done for me."
Derek licked his lips. "I'm not going to continue bothering you about it because I know that's not the way I can help the situation but I just want you to know that if he ever hurts you again that I am just a phone call away. And tonight I will be right there with you through it all."
I nodded. "Thanks, that means more to me than you think." I smiled weakly. "I've never had someone care about me that much."
Derek smiled. "Ah, you know me. All f*ckable and sensible and sh*t. Everything a girl wants down to a ten inch-"
"You are so dirty." I giggled. "Can I get a hug?"
"Would you ask God for hug without saying please?"
"No but you're not God now are you?"
"I'm a sex God so same thing."
"No, Derek. They're definitely not the same thing." I rolled my eyes. Honestly I had been rolling my eyes so much lately I was afraid that they might just fall out of my head or something. I shut the curtains only to have Derek open them and pull me into his chest.
"Fine. Just this once you get a hug. Only because you're my secret date tonight."
I smiled at his reflection in the mirror. "You're a great person you know?"
"Duh."
****
I silently waited alongside my father for Jackson and Matthew in a private room at the venue. Jackson it turns out had called me multiple times but I had forgotten my phone at home so never got the chance to call him back. He didn't seem too mad about it. It ended up being that he would be coming and was actually pretty excited as I was. I wanted to prove to Derek that Jackson wouldn't hurt me again.
"Bridgette are you okay?" My father asked setting down his phone.
"Yeah of course." I smiled breaking out of my thoughts.
My father nodded. "Okay because I need you to put on your best game face today. You need to act like your mother." My father and I both stared at each other for a few seconds and both burst out laughing. "I'd kill to see you hang out with those women, god awful!"
I giggled. "I actually had a bit of a run in with them today when I went shopping with a friend of mine."
"Really? Who?" My father asked curiously.
"Uh, Darina. She's new to Viroid and I was showing her around." I lied, well aware that my father wasn't too keen about Derek either. "She uh, is a bit different that everyone at school so I wanted to introduce her around and they weren't that welcoming. And so I may have told them not to come tonight." I mumbled beginning to explain the entire incident.
My father chuckled. "Honestly, I'm actually glad you did that, your mother might not be but I am. Those women are toxic, a lot of the people in this town are and I'm glad you haven't been sucked into it as your mother has.." My father trailed off. "she was a lot like your Bridgette. Innocent and sweet and it was my fault for bringing her into a world where its all about the type of dress you wear and how wealthy you are." He sighed. "But onto bigger and brighter things, I would really like to compliment you on that dress. It looks great sweetie."
I smiled and twirled around. "Really? Dere-Darina picked it for me."
"Its nice, different. I like it, it seems to suit you."
"Yeah but I don't know how mom or everyone else might like it-"
My father cut me off. "Everyone is going to be dressed in stiff turtleneck dresses that they can't move in--they'd be damned not to be jealous and not talk about you. You've just got to learn to how do you say it, ignore that haters I believe."
"How can I ignore my boyfriend?" I whispered under my breath.
My father looked at me. "Find a new one."
"What no!"
"I'm joking honey." He replied winking.
Suddenly we heard a knock on the door and both Jackson and his father entered. I smiled and gave a quick hug to Matthew who left his hand lingering on my lower back a tad bit longer than I felt comfortable with. Awkwardly I met his eyes as he softly nudged me over to Jackson.
"You look g-great." Jackson smiled. "Its certainly different."
"Yeah I know. I just felt like changing it up a bit." Jackson stared at me expressionless for a few seconds.
"Should we get going? Guests are beginning to arrive." My father said interrupting.
"Yes of course, Mr. Fray." Jackson grinned. He looked back and lended me his hand. "Shall we?"