×× Skylar ××
Romeo was in a really good mood as the girls walked through the mall. She'd been all smiles all day and, if Skylar wasn't nervous about this upcoming event she was invited to, she would've tortured the truth out of her best friend.
"Sky, the mall is not where you shop for vintage dresses. Let's go to this boutique down town." Romeo spun Skylar around and it was easy to do since their arms were linked.
Skylar turned them around again and continued walking in the direction they'd initially been walking.
"We can at least find shoes here." She said.
"Fine. But we could get shoes at the vintage store too."
"I am not going to show up in old looking shoes, Romeo. I still want to look good and kinda modern."
"Fine. Let's get you some heels."
They walked into a shoe store and went to have a look at the heels.
"What's got you smiling like this?" Skylar decided to ask.
"I don't wanna take the excitement out of your day. I'll tell you tomorrow."
"You don't wanna..." Skylar sighed. "Romeo, you're my best friend. Your happiness is mine. C'mon."
"Try this." Romeo ignored Skylar and handed her a nude heel to try on.
"Not my skin shade." Skylar pointed out. "Now tell me what got you smiling like this."
"You want to try a black one?"
"Romeo!"
"Fine!" Romeo threw her hands up and took a deep breath. "Za asked me out on a date."
Skylar started smiling then she squealed and Romeo joined her.
They got looks from some other shoppers but that didn't bother them.
Skylar wrapped her arms around Romeo to hug her and they jumped up and down in excitement for a good few seconds before pulling away and clearing their throats and acting gangster like they hadn't just shared a moment.
"Congratulations." Skylar giggled.
"Thank you." Romeo blushed. "And don't tell Za I'm this excited about the date. When he asked me out, I just said, 'mkay', flipped my hair and swayed my hips as I walked off."
"He knows you're lowkey excited."
"Well, I know he's highkey excited. I saw him fist pump when I got into my car."
The girls laughed.
"Where's he taking you?" Skylar asked. She went back to looking for a pair of shoes to buy.
"He won't say. He thinks he's slick but he doesn't know I'm slicker. I have pepper spray." Romeo pouted her lips and hit the nae nae.
Skylar giggled.
"He should ask Justin all about this pepper-spray-for-dates thing." She said.
"Yeah. But I could probably take Za with my bare hands anyway." Romeo said.
"Don't be mean."
Romeo shrugged. She then picked up a pair of simple black heels that had a single thin strap to wrap around one's ankles and a single thin one that went near one's toes and on that strap was a line of white diamonds.
"These look cute." She held them up for Skylar to see.
"The heel's too thin." Skylar pouted.
"You're so damn picky." Romeo groaned.
"Well, I'll be helping you pick out an outfit for your date with Xavier so we'll see who's picky."
"You know, you're the only person who calls him Xavier."
"It's so he knows his balls are mine if he crosses you." Skylar pulled her fingers into gun signs and started dancing, moving them in motion.
Romeo laughed.
"And people think I'm dramatic."
Skylar eventually found a pair of white heels that looked vintage enough for her. The heel was the right size too.
After paying for the beauties, the girls headed off to this vintage store Romeo had been going on about and they began their search for the right dress.
"Are you excited about this party?" Romeo asked as they looked through a rack of dresses.
"I'm more nervous than excited. I don't think I wanna meet Justin's dad. He sounds like a monster."
"You can pack your pepper spray for him."
"You want me to burn out the eyes of a multimillionaire? I love my life, thank you very much. He'd sue my ass and I have nothing to give up in a lawsuit."
Romeo snorted.
"That would be funny though."
"Orange isn't my colour, Romeo. It would be a sad thing if it happened."
"Justin would bail you out."
"Maybe. Unless his dad sent him off to prison too for even bringing me with him to the party."
"That man needs a hobby." Romeo rolled her eyes.
"He wanted Justin to take some other girl with as his date." Skylar smiled sadly. "Someone he approves of, clearly. She's probably from a well-off family--"
"Well, this is more reason to find you a killer dress." Romeo clasped her hands together and looked through another rack.
"We're shopping in a store like this. How are we gonna find me a dress that tops that of a rich girl?" Skylar went to help Romeo look through that other rack.
"The problem with lots of rich people, my darling, is that they don't know how to dress. They think just because a dress is Chanel, it's all that. No. See, broke people like us are cool cause we know what we want and we go for the best looks because we can't afford the real thing. This dress," Romeo held a black A-line dress up to her chest, "is going to be the dress of the evening."
Skylar looked at the dress.
It was plain black and slightly shiny-- really soft, no doubt-- with a sweetheart neckline and some ugly red roses that were down at the bottom of the dress.
She scrunched up her face.
"Are we looking at the same dress, Romeo?" She looked at the roses.
"Yes. Skylar, we're fashion students. We can fix this and turn it into a nice dress."
"Yes, but I don't do design. I do the history and journalism side of it."
"But you probably have tons of Vogue issues lying around somewhere at your house and have imagined owning some of the garments. And I happen to know a thing or two about sewing so..."
"So?"
"If you had the money, what type of dress would you have gone for?"
"One that doesn't have those roses on it."
"Leave the roses out of this. We can take em off later. Tell me what type of dress you see yourself in at that party."
"Well... it would probably have some lace or mesh details underneath. Like, popping out of the bottom." Skylar began. "And maybe some mesh or lace elsewhere."
Romeo sighed.
"Man, working with you is gonna kill me." She said. "But the mesh thing is a good start. We should visit a fabric store after we leave here."
"But we don't even know--"
"Skylar, we're taking this dress."
"Why can't we just find a good dress and save money?"
"Because you have a stuck up rich bitch as your competition. Are you gonna let her upstage you?"
"N-No."
"Exactly. We don't want Justin looking twice at her flat ass so..."
Skylar was all out of words.
They paid for the dress then went to find a fabric store as Romeo had wanted.
At least now she had a reason to wear that necklace Romeo had lent to her, Skylar thought as they looked around the fabric store.
The day was actually going well and Skylar was truly happy to have a friend like Romeo. Once her dress was sorted, she'd have her hair to think about and for that, she knew she'd have to find a good salon because there was no way she'd be able to pin her hair up perfectly.
"You are going to own that party." Romeo said once they left the store. "I'll make sure of it."
"Thank you, Romeo." Skylar smiled warmly.
"No problem, girl. We just can't let these flat assed rich things think they own us." Romeo smiled.
"I owe you big time for this."
"Yeah, you do. You better help me look like a flame when I go on my date with Za."
Skylar giggled.
"Oh I'll be showing up at your house early to give you a facial and everything." She promised.
"Foot massage?"
"Don't push it."
The girls headed off to Romeo's to end the day and relax after a full day of shopping. Well, Skylar would relax while Romeo gave new life to that dress they got.
They chilled in Romeo's room and listened to some Rihanna, Skylar lying on her stomach on Romeo's bed and Romeo sitting next to her with her legs crossed. She had some scissors in her hands and was taking those ugly roses off the dress while Skyla caught up with her social media life.
"How's your mom liking Justin now? She still has her concerns about him?" Romeo asked.
Skylar hadn't told Romeo about her talk with Angela about Justin and how she ended up hanging out with Justin all evening. He'd eventually dropped her off at her house, wanting her to fix things with her mother. But Skylar was stubborn when she wanted to be and, until Angela apologised for being so harsh and judgemental, Skylar didn't plan on saying anything to her about this party she was going to.
"She and I have our disagreements still." Skylar said simply.
"Has she seen how cute y'all look together?"
"Does she care? I don't care what she or anyone thinks, Romeo. I'm happy being with Justin. Nothing's changing that."
Romeo was quiet for a moment.
"Do you love him?" She asked.
Skylar thought about it.
"I don't know yet." She said honestly. "He's a beautiful person. We just started out so..."
"I think he loves you." Romeo smiled. "I think he'd do anything for you."
"He's crazy sometimes." Skylar smiled at the memory of Justin offering to buy her a dress.
"Crazy in love." Romeo teased and poked Skylar's side.
Skylar swatted Romeo's hand away and bit her lip.
She didn't want to get ahead of herself. She really liked Justin, there was no doubt about it. He was easy to talk to, he knew how to cheer her up, made her laugh, went out of his way for her, and, even though he was broken and Skylar had gotten glimpses of his shattered soul, he was beautiful to her, inside and out. But she didn't know if she loved him yet. She didn't know what being in love would feel like or when she'd know she felt that way towards Justin. What she did know was that she'd have his back no matter what.
"I might need to take some of your measurements a little later." Romeo cut Skylar's thoughts.
"Okay." Skylar said.
Romeo knew that Skylar was lost in her thoughts and it had to do with Justin. She nudged Skylar gently to get her attention.
"Don't over think it, Sky. A boat ride is smoother when you just let it sail. Don't fight the wind or the waves." She said, a sincere smile on her face.
Romeo may have been a nutcase, generally, but she had a good set of advice from having been in lots of relationships before. Skylar's innocence was cute to her but she knew a lot about being all innocent and shy. You keep to that too much and you might lose the one you like because he won't be able to read you and he might get tired of trying to.