“Not from where we were standing.” She laughs. “The way he caught you when you tripped…it was like a moment out of a movie.”
“I’m glad my tripping in heels made you swoon.” Maybe we should lay off watching rom-coms for a while. “This is whole new territory for me. Back then we were best friends. I went to him for everything. Then he dropped the feelings bomb on me and I didn’t react the way I should have. Now…I don’t know that we’ll ever get that back.”
“Do you want to be just friends with him?” She glances up at me while hot gluing the fairy lights to my tulle skirt. “Or, do you want more?”
“Obviously I want more.” Her asking that question is asinine. It’s the whole reason we devised this whole plan to begin with. To get him to have some alone time with me. For us to get to know each other again.
“Then you’ll have to take risks.” She continues putting my skirt together, and doesn’t look at me. “Don’t be that scared girl you were in high school. You took the easy route back then to keep from getting hurt. Now it’s time to put it all on the line.”
She hit the nail on the head. I was scared back then. I loved him so much. He was the one I went to for everything. If I’m being honest with myself, I wanted him as more than a best friend in high school, but the timing never felt right. And when he finally told me he had feelings for me one drunken night, I chose the safe route. He wanted to leave our town and go into the big scary world. I stayed closed and lived out the life I had mapped out for myself.
“How am I supposed to do that?” My life is so predictable, I don’t know if I remember how to live outside the lines.
“First off,” she lifts the tulle, “you should have chosen a costume that’s not so sweet and innocent.”
“You know I can’t go out in anything considered scandalous. If photos ever get out, I could lose my job.” Being an angel with lights and a shorter tulle skirt seems like a pretty safe bet.
“You realize most of the costumes are going to be scary, right? You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”
“What are you and Hannah dressing up as?” They’ve been very tight-lipped about their costumes, and it’s honestly weird.
“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Ugh, they are supposed to be my best friends. But I also know they are the horror buffs in our trio. I’m the one who has to watch happy cartoons after I watch a scary movie with them.
“I guess.” Rolling my eyes, I pull out the bag of white feathers Kelly told me to get. “Are we going to need these?” It feels like a lot, but Kelly’s been making her own costumes since we were kids. I trust her judgment.
“Definitely.” She winces as a piece of the hot glue catches her on the finger. “It’ll hide the wire around the skirt and the light will peek through.”
You’d think being an elementary teacher, I’d be the super creative one in the group, but I’m not. I have to scour the internet for any ideas on projects to do with my students. Kelly usually gives me ideas as well.
“Okay. Do you want me to find you some gardening gloves so you don’t burn yourself with the glue gun again?”
“Nope, I’ve got this.” She works the wire through the skirt and glues another piece down. “Do you know what shoes you’re wearing, or how you’re doing your hair and makeup?”
“Um, sort of.” She’s not going to like my answer, I can already feel it. “I have a pair of white high tops to wear, and haven’t completely decided on the hair or makeup. I just know I’m adding sparkles.”
Kelly’s hands come to a halt, and she sets the glue gun down on the plate sitting on my nightstand. “The sparkles are fine for both hair and makeup. It’ll add to the sweet and innocent look. But the high tops…not happening. I know the heels last night were a chore, but they made your legs look amazing in that dress. It’ll do the same for this costume. I literally just told you to stop being so safe in your choices.”
“But I’ll trip over my own feet again if I wear heels. Besides, I don’t have any white ones.” I really don’t want to wear those torture devices again. Even when we all went to prom in high school, I wore a dress long enough to cover the flip flops I wore.
“I’ve got you covered.” She grins and goes back to gluing on the lights. “And you’re not going to fall because you’ll have Patrick by your side. He’ll be there to save you from your clumsiness just like he did last night.”
“I’m not sure if you’re a mad genius, or watch too many movies.” Honestly, it could be a bit of both.
“Definitely genius,” she laughs, “can you separate the feathers into piles of short & long? I’ll need to vary them when I add them.”
“Sure.” One thing about Kelly, she’s very detail oriented. But I think that works in my favor. Now I just have to get through a couple of days of teaching before I have my chance with Patrick.
My phone rings, and both of us look at the screen. Patrick’s name flashes across and I hope like hell he’s not backing out.
7
Patrick
My options are limited.Why did I agree to go to this thing with Jaylen? Three stores, and I can’t find anything that’s not completely cheesy. It’d be great if I could find a costume, I’m remotely interested in wearing since I’ll probably take it home with me for whatever events Out of the Ashes may do in the future. But, no such luck. I’ll have to resort to finding something in my dad’s closet and the fit won’t be great.
“Dude, why are you so stressed about this?” Hudson shakes his head at me from the passenger seat. “It’s a party, and not that serious.”
Except it is. It feels like Jaylen and I are starting over, and I don’t want to ruin that. I think she wants more than friendship, but I’m going to let her lead the way. If she doesn’t, then I’ll be happy to be in her life as a friend. There are so many times I’ve wanted to pick up the phone and call her to tell her what’s going on in my life, and to hear what she’s been up to. But I couldn’t because I ruined it after one drunken night before graduation.
