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Chapter Eighteen

"This is so exciting!"

Kay had her phone at the ready as we walked into a teeny tiny little store that I would have probably never noticed. The outside was completely brick but the inside...

The inside was wall to wall dresses.

When Mom and I had talked about our dress hunting game plan, mom completely brushed over the idea of finding prom dresses at the mall.

"We're going to visit all the little hole in the wall stores. That way you'll find something unique," she had said.

"You know, I found my wedding dress when I went shopping with your mom," mom told Kayleigh.

"You did?"

Mom nodded and laughed. "Yeah, while I was catfighting with a psycho lady who thought it was her dress, your mom ran my dress up to the counter. She saved the day."

Kay and I shared a smile. That was kind of cool. I was glad Kay was here. Maybe she would bring me as much luck as Aunt LeighLeigh had brought mom. After all, mom and dad pretty much had a dream wedding. I loved looking at their wedding pictures. They both looked so young and gorgeous.

And I had looked so small and pudgy. But then again, I hadn't even been four months old.

"I don't know where to start," Kay said.

"Keep your eye out for any red dresses," I said.

"Red?" mom asked. "You're set on the color?"

"Yeah, it's got to be red."

We all started looking. Kay pulled out a half dozen dresses to try on in the first five minutes.

I was a little more selective. I would find a red dress, hold it out in front of me, study it, and then put it back.

I circled the store three times. Each time my eye kept coming back to the same dress.

The only problem was that it wasn't red.

It was a deep purple dress with a shimmery overlay that almost made it look like it had emeralds dancing along the skirt if held at just the right light. It had little diamond straps that criss crossed in the back and little swirls that almost reminded me of music dripping down the sides.

"That's beautiful," mom commented as I stopped and stared at it. "You should try it on."

"It's not red," I said.

"So? You might be happily surprised."

I didn't want to tell mom that the reason why I had to wear red, so I took the dress off the rack.

Kay and I got side-by-side dressing rooms and the fashion show started.

"Are you ready yet?" Kay called. "We can zip each other up!"

I wiggled into a red dress.

"Okay!"

"One---two---three!"

We opened our dressing room doors at the same time and stepped out.

Kay had on a hot pink dress with a low front. It floated to the floor. She turned around.

"Can you get my zipper?"

The back was pretty much nonexistant. There was maybe a half inch that I had to zip and that was just to cover her ass. I turned around and she zipped up my high back.

We stood side by side and looked in the mirror. The only thing the dress I was wearing had going for it was that it was red.

"Hmm, not bad," Kay said.

"There's no way in good conscious as a friend of your parents that I'm letting you get that dress Kayleigh Danielle," mom said.

It was never good when the middle name came out. Kay made a face. We looked at each other and went back into the dressing rooms.

Our second trip out wasn't much better than the first. Mom only had to cough before we both knew Kay's nude dress with the see through tummy panel was a 'no way in hell' choice.

As for my second red dress, it was just like the first. It didn't do anything for me.

"Try on the purple one," mom suggested.

"Yeah, I want to see that one too," Kay said. We both walked back into the dressing room.

I took the purple dress off the hanger. I held it out and swished it. I loved that little bit of green. I couldn't even begin to describe how the material made that effect. It was magic.

The dress fit like a glove. It had a side zipper that seemed to disappear amongst the swirls dancing down the side.

"Ready?" Kay called.

"Ready!"

We stepped out. Mom made a little gaspy sigh.

"Oh Brooke."

I turned towards the mirror. The minute I saw myself in the dress I was in love. I felt like a princess. I could almost picture my hair curled up and a little tiara on my head.

It would be like playing dress up.

Except for real.

I turned from side to side. I held the material in my hands.

"That's the one," mom said.

I started to nod, but then I remembered the red corsage and the way Garrett said I looked amazing in red.

"I wish it came in red," I said sadly.

"What's with you and red?" mom said.

"I just...want to wear red to prom," I said. Mom gave me a look.

"Well, don't put that one back just yet. We'll keep looking. And Kay, that's another 'no.'"

Kay huffed and slammed back into the dressing room. The corners of mom's mouth twitched.

Kay gave the word 'drama' a whole new name.

Two hours later, Kay and I both stepped out of the dressing room with our chosen dresses on.

Kay's dress was a strapless light pink dress with white and pink sequins on the top and a flowing silk bottom. It was actually modest and she looked amazing.

My dress had thin red straps and little black accents along the top of the bodice and along the bottom of the hem. On the right side was a black and white diamond heart accent.

"Those both look wonderful," mom said approvingly.

"This is my pick," Kay said.

"And this is mine," I said. I glanced at the purple dress still hanging in the room. Mom seemed to follow my gaze.

"Why don't you get both?"

They were both ridiculously expensive. I started to shake my head, but mom waved her hand.

"It's fine, honey. You'll probably need some more formal clothes now that you're a superstar. All those black tie events and everything."

I laughed. I truly had the best parents in the world.

"I'm going to go get a salesclerk to help us get wrapped up," mom said. A couple salesladies had been bugging us every ten minutes. I think mom just finally wanted to give the piranhas the comfort of knowing they had a sale.

"Psst."

I turned and looked at Kay.

"What?"

"Look how awesome this dress is."

She reached down along the bottom of the dress. A second later, there was a split in the dress going all the way up her leg. She jutted out a hip. My mouth dropped open.

"Like I said. This is the perfect dress. A little bit angel...and a whole hell of a lot devil."

I shook my head. She rezipped it just as mom came back.

"Go ahead and get changed girls. I think all this hard work deserves a nice dinner out."

Kay flashed me a grin. I laughed and headed into the dressing room. I slipped out of the red dress. I stood there for a moment and looked at both dresses.

I was grateful that I wasn't leaving the purple one at the store. Even if I only looked at it hanging in my closet, at least it was mine.

In my mind, the red one belonged to Garrett.