Bethany's POV
The next afternoon, I decided to go look at some cars since I had nothing better to do.
"Mom!" I called as I entered her office. She was a freelance editor, and I had always found her work so interesting. She took the things people wanted to say, but made them sound more smooth and profound. Hearing about how much she loved her job was what made me decide to go into editing as well, along with my love of literature.
Honestly, I'd love to be an artist. Having my own studio, painting as I wished, and selling my work to galleries would make my life a dream come true. But, let's be realistic. I would make no money, and there's no way I'd even be able to survive just by doing that. So, editing was my next best option.
"Yes?" my mother answered as she turned around in the computer chair.
"Can I use your car for the day? I want to go look at cars."
I'd saved money for years to get my own car. Most of my birthday money went straight into the bank, and I had a few jobs the past few years where I somehow managed to collect enough money for a decent, used car.
"I'd rather you not. I have to go meet a client this afternoon."
"Alright." I huffed and left the room.
Now what was I supposed to do? I sat down on the couch and turned on my phone. When it finally turned on, it lit up and notified me that I had a text message from Niall.
"Hey, sorry about last night."
"No it's fine. What's up?" I sent back.
"Bored as hell haha. You?"
"Same here. I was supposed to go look at cars, but my mom has stuff to do, so I can't use her car :/."
"I can take you if you want. I've got nothing else to do today :)"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's no big deal."
"Thanks so much!"
"Pick you up in an hour?"
"Okay :)"
I was so glad to have a friend like Niall. It was so nice of him to be willing to take me to look at cars. I told my mom my plans, and she agreed.
While I waited, I browsed through the car lot's website. I couldn't really choose a car based off of it's picture online, but I picked out a few that I thought would be nice. The time passed rather quickly and before I knew it, I heard Niall's horn beeping outside.
"Hey!" I greeted him as I stepped into the car. He was wearing jeans and a plain white shirt. His blonde hair was sticking out of the sides of his hat.
"Where are we headed?" he asked.
I gave him directions to the lot I wanted to check first and he drove. When we arrived, we were greeted by a short, nasally-voiced salesman. His suit was faded, and his dark "hair" was clearly hair plugs. He showed me a few of the options in my price range, but all of them seemed like they wouldn't last very long. After an hour, we thanked him and went to another lot not so far away.
At the next lot, the salesman was a bit more professional, but none of the cars were nice at all. I know that on a small budget, I shouldn't be picky, but literally every one would definitely cost me more money in the long run.
We checked one more lot further out of town and one of the cars was decent, but I didn't want to jump on the decision. I decided I would look some more over the week to narrow down the options.
By the time we had finished, it was already evening, so we decided to stop somewhere to get something to eat.
Niall chose a little Mexican place that I'd never been too. I trusted his word that the tacos were "the best ever."
After getting our food, Niall stepped outside to return a call to Zayn who he informed me was the guy that I met at the party, and I munched on a taco at the table. He was right, they were delicious.
I looked out of the large window to see Niall talking on the phone and rubbing the back of his neck. When he returned a few minutes later, his face was slightly red. His head was down and he wore a frustrated expression.
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
He nodded. "I guess Harry's just being a douche to Zayn."
"Oh." I answered, not knowing what else to say. "You guys hang out a lot." I said, suddenly noticing that.
"Uh, yeah. I stay at his place often." he said whilst looking away awkwardly. I nodded and looked down at my plate, not wanting to push the subject.
We ate our dinner and made small talk about the current things going on in our lives. I told him how I felt about the graduation party, and he kindly listened to me vent. "I just feel like she's going completely overboard. I don't know that many people, I don't think she should even waste the money."
"Well, she's doing it because she loves you and is proud of you." he told me.
"I know, but I don't need a big party to see that."
He shrugged and gave me a small smile. "Parents are parents."
After we finished talking, Niall took me home and I thanked him for spending the day with me. By the time I got home, it was night time, but still too early to go to bed. So, my mom and I sat down to discuss the details of the party. She had written out the guest list and I added a few people to it. Then, we talked about decorations, music, set-up, and whatever else.
**********
The following day, I went to the mall to find a dress for my graduation party. I hated shopping for clothes, it made me so ridiculously self-conscious. If one shirt didn't look right, I would automatically focus on every bit of fat on my body.
'You've gained weight.' my subconscious would sneer.
Fat ass.
You're so disgusting.
Look at that muffin top.
Your thighs are enormous.
You need to stop eating.
As I walked through the store, I pushed away all memories of having those thoughts. I picked out 5 dresses, and went to try them on. The first one was bright yellow, and upon looking in the mirror I immediately realized it wasn't my colour at all. Then, I tried on a decent looking pink one, but it was much too frilly for me. There was a blue one that didn't flatter my petite body shape, and a purple one that was too large. However, the last dress was perfect. It was a simple, white sun dress. It actually looked nice on me, and fit perfectly. I was hardly curvy at all, but it accented the few bits of curves I did have. I exited the fitting room, happy to haven in a while found the perfect dress.
After my trip to the mall, I went home for dinner. When I walked in, my mother already had the meal set out on the table.
"Did you get an outfit?" she asked.
"Yes, I picked out a white sun dress. It's so pretty." I told her.
My father was home early, and already seated at the table. "I talked to my friend from work today, Lee. Do you remember him? He's been at some of our parties." he asked me.
I shook my head. I never really talked to my parents' friends. Whenever we used to have parties, there would be many people I didn't know, but I never made a point to meet them.
"Well anyway, he's selling his car. It works great and is only going for 2500 dollars." He showed me a picture of the small, gray car. It was clean and very nice, much nicer than the one at the lot. "I went to look at it with him after work, and it drives great."
I trusted my father and his friend. My dad would never let me get a car if it was unsafe. Plus, I liked the car's style and it was in my price range.
"Can we go pick it up tomorrow?" I asked eagerly, and he nodded in reply. I was so happy to not have to go looking for cars again. It was such a pain. This one was perfect for me. I know I was jumping on it rather quickly, but I was dying to finally have my own car.
I ate dinner with my family and listened to my mother talk about her annoyingly pushy client. When we finished, I went into my room and pulled out one of my old art books. It was a sketching technique book that my mother had bought me for Christmas years ago.
I opened up the the first page of the book about sketching animals. There was an outline of a bird with its wings spread, soaring through the sky. I took out a pencil and retrieved my rarely used sketch pad from the drawer of my desk.
I let my hand do the work on it's own and tried to sketch the bird without letting my brain interfere. As I did, I remembered the bird tattoos on Harry's chest. Well, I assumed it they were birds from what I could see through his thin shirts. Why did he always have to find a way into my thoughts?
Then, my mind flooded with memories of our conversation together by the river.
"They can go anywhere, but they follow each other..."
~~A/N~~
This is an awkward ending. But, I worked really hard to be able to update tonight! Plus this chapter is pretty lengthy compared to some of mine. I hope you enjoy it. There will be some drama soon ;)
So, tennis season just began recently, as did marching band and therefore I'm incredibly busy. I'm trying to update frequently though!
Excuse the typos .-. I'm just so tired at the moment.
Thank you so much for reading. Over 400 reads currently, and that makes me so happy.
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-Noelle