She lacked any and all traces of embarrassment as she opened the door all the way and stepped into my room. She set a large white box on my bed before placing her hands on her hips and looking around as I had done only minutes before. “I couldn’t bring myself to do anything with your room when you left.”
“What’s that?” I nodded toward the box.
Ignoring me, she said, “It will always be your room. A shrine to the little girl that grew up and made her dreams a reality.”
“Stop talking about me like I died. It’s creepy. Now, the box?”
“I tried to keep the door shut so it would still smell like you did. At least when you left for college, you had learned how to shower properly and wore perfume, so it didn’t stink like the gym sock it did when you were ten.”
I pushed her arm playfully. “You’re terrible, Mom.”
“It’s why you love me.”
“I’d still love you if you were normal.”
“I’ll never be normal, you know that.” She paused and looked down. “As for the box, it showed up on the doorstep for you.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have x-ray vision. Open it.”
I turned toward it and tucked my left leg under me before pulling the top off.
It was like something out of a movie. The girl opened the big white box and pulled back the tissue paper to find her dream princess dress before going to the school dance or some party.
That was precisely what I experienced as I looked at the dress neatly folded to preserve its integrity.
I grabbed the little white card tucked along the edge and read it aloud.
If you don’t show up in this dress, it will mean two things:
1. You didn’t show and
2. I’m pissed at you.
See you soon,
Liam
My mom laughed. “That boy always had a funny sense of humor. I swore you two were going to grow old together, and I would have little fashion designer grand-babies.”
I joined her in her amusement. “Too bad you’ll be stuck with someone else. Liam and I aren’t like that.”
An image of Damien flashed through my mind, and I choked on my laughter.
What kind of fuckery was that? Why would he pop into my mind right at that moment?
Lately, Damien had become a constant reminder that there were good guys out there who wouldn’t see me as an afterthought. He appeared interested in me, and not because I was deemed attractive by society’s standards, but he actually wanted to understand my thoughts and emotions. To see me, the one underneath the pretty face.
It wasn’t uncommon for a stranger to hit on me because they considered me ‘hot’. But it was rare for someone to find me appealing because of what I was saying.
As Cristina Yang once said on Grey’s Anatomy, “Screw beautiful. I’m brilliant. If you want to appease me, compliment my brain.”
“Well,” my mom said, pulling me from my musings. “At least now you won’t have to worry about what to wear. I, on the other hand, have no clue what is acceptable to wear to a fashion show.” She leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms. “I still can’t believe Liam moved away and started his own business. Who’d have thought he’d be the famous one out of all ya’ll?”
“We did. He talked about designing throughout high school. He knew what he wanted and worked for it. He was also the one who would constantly nitpick at our outfits and kept us up in style.” I stood. “Come on, I’ll help you pick something.”
Once again, Liam knew exactly what would look good on me. Between this dress and the one from the Gala, I needed to take him shopping with me.
