Perfection Doesn't Exist

It was New Year’s Eve and the snow was falling quite heavily. I was standing in the kitchen with a cup of hot tea, staring out the window at nine in the morning when my phone started ringing from the kitchen table. I sighed and set down my tea, picked up my phone and answered it. “Hello?”

“Jess, its Zack. Nik isn’t answering her phone, so I’m assuming she’s sleeping. I just wanted to tell you Alex and Rian are throwing a semi formal New Year’s Eve party tomorrow and you guys are obviously invited.”

I laughed at the idea of Alex throwing any kind of “semi formal” party. “Who’s really throwing this party, Zack?”

Zack chuckled. “Kara.”

I smirked. “That sounds about right. Tell her to call me if she needs anything, and me and Nikki will definitely be there. Why a formal party though?”

“I don’t know; Kara loves to dress up and to her, New Year’s is the perfect time.”

I nodded. “Sounds good; I’ll see you guys later tonight then. What time?”

Zack chuckled. “Eight, I guess? I don’t know, really. But eight sounds about right.”

I rolled my eyes. “Such a boy,” I mumbled into the phone and then said to Zack, “Alright, see you later.” Then we hung up.

“Nikki? We’re going shopping!”

***

Nikki and I went shopping for the perfect outfits and also to try and concoct the perfect plan. Plan for what you’re probably wondering. Good question. “Plan for what?” I asked Nikki as we wondered around the mall.

She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe to try and get Alex into your pants finally.”

I almost choked on the water I had in my mouth from when I had taken a sip form the bottle in my hands only seconds before. I stopped, smacked her on the arm and screeched, “WHAT?!”

Nikki laughed, but it wasn’t a bubbly, cute laugh. It was more like an evil, demonic laugh. That bitch. “I was only kidding, Jesse. I had to get you back for hiding the fact that you and Alex are only ‘pretend’ dating or whatever the hell you’d like to call it.” She smirked at my astonished expression. “What? Zack found out and told me, and I had to get you back for hiding it. Why did you hide it, anyways?”

Once we resumed walking again and my heart started beating at a normal rate, I sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know; no reason, really. I just… didn’t want you to get mad at me or something.”

Nikki laughed. “Why would I get mad?”

I shrugged again. “I don’t know; ok, I get it. It was stupid of me. Can we find a perfect dress now?”

Nikki laughed. “Not yet; first we have to figure out a plan. Let’s go,” she said, dragging me towards the food court. We both got coffee and took a seat at a table.

“A plan for what?”

Nikki sighed, as if my slowness was ignorance and it was bothering her. “Because, this whole thing started to make Matt jealous, right?”

I gave her a confused look. “Not really jealous…” I trailed off, trying to think why me and Alex started this whole thing in the first place.

Nikki sighed again, more dramatically, and said, “Yes it was. Alex wanted Matt to get laid, and you guys seemed good together so here we are.”

Before I had time to get pissed off at that thought, Nikki continued on. “Now, if we want to make Matt extremely jealous and get him to feel bad for being a jerk, what do we do?”
I shrugged and took a sip of coffee.

Nikki rolled her eyes. “We make you look unbelievably hot for this New Year’s Eve party!” she exclaimed, as if her idea was brilliant.

“Okay, what if I look hot and Matt isn’t fazed? Was any of this worth it in the end?”

Nikki shrugged and took a sip of coffee. “Yeah, because someone is bound to notice you at the party. If it’s not Matt, fine, but someone will notice.”

I didn’t protest. I don’t know why I didn’t protest, but I didn’t. I think it was because the idea of Matt noticing me and thinking I looked good and getting jealous over Alex and I made me happy. That scared me because never, ever have I thought of Matt as more than just a friend. What changed?

We finished up our coffees and went shopping. Nikki found an adorable little black dress in Delia’s. It was strapless and chiffon and had an empire waist. It looked gorgeous on her. She found some jewelry and some cute pumps and then we were on our way to finding my perfect dress.

It took us four stores and two hours, but I did find it. We were in Forever 21 when I had pretty much given up all hopes of finding the perfect dress when Nikki came barreling over to me with a royal blue, strapless, silky tube dress. I smiled. “It will make your gray eyes look really blue, doll. Go try it on!” she commanded, and I did as told. The second I tried on the dress, I fell in love. It fit me in all the right places. It wasn’t so long that I looked like I was trying to be a grandma, but it wasn’t so short that I looked like a hooker. And Nikki was right—the color worked perfectly. The blue picked up the small amounts of blue tones in my gray eyes and made them pop. I smiled and stepped out of the dressing room where Nikki was waiting.
“I love you, and I love this dress.”

Nikki screeched when she saw me. “You look fabulous! Wait ‘till Matt sees you now,” she gushed.

I laughed because I wasn’t going to try and argue that I wasn’t trying to make Matt jealous, and then she held up a pair of shoes; they were black peep-toe pumps with a three inch heel. I smiled even wider. My tall five-eight frame didn’t really need the extra height next to Matt, but I loved to wear heels. I ran back into the dressing room and changed into my clothes. I paid for the dress and shoes without another thought, not wanting to wait for fear that something would happen.

Nikki and I decided to look around the store after I paid for the dress for some jewelry or accessories. While she poked around, I looked around for myself. Shortly after I started looking, I found a cute black, metal ring. The metal was coiled to look like a petal and it was adorable. I found a cute necklace that had assorted sized and shaped black jewels and gems on a black satin ribbon. I hurried to pay and went to find Nikki, who was outside the store on her phone.

“Well Zack, what are you wearing?”

I could hear Zack chuckling on the other line. Nikki sighed, but it was a happy sigh. “Good, we’ll sort of match. Alright, I’ll see you later. Yep, bye.” Then she hung up. She turned to enter the store and saw me. “Oh, good, you done?” I nodded.

“Yep, I found the perfect stuff.”

Nikki nodded and then we left. We had to stop at the liquor store first so I could pick up some champagne for tonight—just in case they didn’t have any—and then we went home to get ready.

I got a shower and washed my hair with my favorite smelling shampoo—peaches and cream—and then got out, letting the steam linger for awhile before I turned on my fan. I brushed my teeth and put in my contacts and then put on some makeup, trying to perfect the smoky-eyed look. If I did say so myself, I’d say I did quite well. I blow dried my hair and straightened my bangs and then curled the rest of my hair in big barrel curls. Then I got dressed.

Putting the dress on, I felt even more beautiful than before. I smiled at my reflection in my floor length mirror. I put on the jewelry, lightly sprayed some PINK perfume on my neck and then grabbed my black pea-coat from my closet. I slipped on my shoes and walked out into the living room where Nikki was waiting for me. Her blonde hair was straight so you could more visibly see the black streaks underneath. She looked gorgeous, as expected. She grinned when she saw me. “You look hot,” she stressed, very proud.

I smiled. “Thanks,” I told her. “You do too, sweetie.”

After putting on our coats, scarves, and hats because the snow had picked up, we walked out to the car and I drove to Alex and Rian’s place.