Love's Not A Competition

Brittney somehow managed to rope me into dress shopping with her the next weekend. I knew I shouldn’t have told her that Zeke had asked me to prom. I was surprised when Katie came along as well. I assumed that someone must have asked her to prom but I didn’t know who. She didn’t seem to care that I was going with Zeke which made me feel better. I had thought she would start strangling me when Brittney mentioned it. But Katie had just smiled, seemingly unfazed by it.

We looked in tones of shops but they never seem satisfied with what they saw. I tried on a few but nothing seemed to look right. I was trying on my seventh dress for the day when someone knocked on the door to the changing room. I opened it and stared at Katie who was standing in a floor length, strapless, midnight blue dress. Fake diamonds were sewed onto the top, making a V shape across her chest. It looked amazing on her and I smiled.

“It looks perfect,” I told her truthfully.

It hugged her in all the right places and swished around when she twirled. She smiled before going to change back into her normal clothes, making her choice. I tried on another one of my dresses that I had picked out, not liking the green one I was wearing. I pulled on the purple on, my favorite color. I walked out and looked at the mirror. I grinned at my reflection. The dress was gorgeous, skin tight down to my hips before pleating the rest of the way to the floor. There was a silver sash just under my chest and I fingered the straps. I loved it. I didn’t normally like wearing long dresses since I was short but this one looked good on me.

“Wow,” Brittney said as she walked out of her cubicle.

I turned and smiled at her. The dress she was wearing looked like something out of a fairy tale. It was a pink, floor length, strapless dress. The top part was tight down to her hips. The skirt was silk with mesh covering it, making the dress puff out. The mesh was sparkly and she looked stunning. I told her so and she thanked me.

“Do you think I should get it?” she asked nervously.
“Yes,” Katie said as she came out of her own cubicle, dressed normally with the blue dress over her arm.

Brittney and I decided on our dresses and we brought them. We dropped them in Eric’s car before going to look for shoes. He had leant it to me since both Katie and Brittney’s cars only had two seats. He had made me swear that only I was going to be driving it and hadn’t given me the keys until I had. He knew that Brittney was a terrible driver and he didn’t trust Katie either since she hated them. I doubted she would crash his car since Brittney and I were in it as well but he hadn’t seen my logic.

Finding shoes was easy for me but Katie took forever. Even Brittney had found something before Katie and she normally took ages as well. My shoes were simple black high heels with a bow on the heels. I had thought they were super cute even if people wouldn’t be able to see them under my dress. I looked for jewelry while Brittney helped Katie look for shoes. I wondered what Zeke was going to wear to the prom. Would he get a purple tie so we could match? I wondered if I could talk him into it.

I decided to just stick with the locket I wore and some plain black bangles. Brittney asked me to book us hair appointments at the salon that was just outside the mall and I went there while Katie still looked for shoes. I couldn’t believe how picky she could be but she told me that the shoes were what tied the whole outfit together. I didn’t know if I believed her or not but I didn’t question her ideas. I made the appointment for the morning of prom and the lady smiled kindly at me.

“Did a nice boy ask you?” she asked kindly.
“Yes,” I smiled.
“I know that look. You like him a lot, don’t you?”
“How can everyone see that?” I asked. But him, I finished in my mind.
“It’s the look on your face. You smile secretly and your eyes light up. You’re definitely in love. I hope you have a lovely prom with him and I hope he treats you well.”
“Thanks,” I said before walking off.

She reminded me of my grandma which then reminded me that I still needed to call her. I had promised that I would tell her about Zeke. I didn’t really want to but I knew she would be expecting me to. I hurried back to the shoe store and Katie had finally picked something out. I waited for them to pick out their jewelry which didn’t take as long. We brought a drink from the juice bar before I drove us back to the dorms. We carried out dresses up the stairs carefully and I held my drink in one hand. I still had most of mine left since I hadn’t drunken any while I had been driving. I opened the door and Zeke looked up from his spot on the bed. I wondered what he had done all day while I hung my dress up in the closet.

“Can I see it?” Zeke asked.
“Of course not,” I laughed. “I’ll tell you that it’s a deep purple so you can get a tie that color so we can match. If that’s alright,” I added quickly.
“I’ll do that,” he said, standing up.

He snatched my drink out of my hand and I let him take a drink before he handed it back to me. I kept my eyes locked on his as I took a drink, feeling slightly nervous since he had just sucked on the same straw.

“When are you going to buy your tux?” I asked as I sat down at the desk.
“Probably next weekend,” he sighed. “Aidan told me that he was getting his custom made once he finds out what color Brittney’s dress is.”
“What about Eric?”
“I think he’s going to go with Amy, the girl he asked.”
“So he finally asked her?”

“Yeah, he did it when you were at home.”
“Why did you ask me?” I asked him quietly, finally finding the nerve to ask.
“Because I want to go with you,” he said almost as quietly.
“Is that really the reason?”
“Yes, it is. I asked you because when I thought about prom, you were the girl who popped into my mind. You’re the only one I want to go with.”

I smiled and looked away as a blush crept across my cheeks. I knew that I would forever remember that comment, no matter what happens. We changed the subject after that and talked until it was dinner time. Just before we went downstairs he grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him. He rested his forehead against mine and just stared at me before smiling. He squeezed my hand and we walked down to dinner together, both of us sneaking glances at the other. I loved the butterflies that were banging around my stomach and the small smile that wouldn’t leave my lips.