the way i loved you | j. hughes ⁸⁶

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"this one's cute," camila says.

i look at myself in the mirror. my hands try to smooth the dress to my figure. i look at camila through the mirror and shake my head no.

"well, you gotta pick one."

"one last store and then we call it a day with or without the dress," i grumble. the tiredness of shopping for hours catching up to me.

camila exits the changing room, leaving me to change out of my dress as she and jack wait outside. jack surprisingly hasn't been a shithead to camila which is nice and camila's natural outgoing personality makes it easy for her to get along with anybody.

"anything?" jack groans, looking up from the screen of his phone.

"you know i didn't invite you here, right? you came by your own conscious," i reply to him since he's acting like i dragged him here.

"well we've been here for four hours, i'm tired," jack complains.

"oh please you play hockey for a living you're telling me you get tired from walking around and standing."

i see camila letting out a quiet laugh from the corner of my eye. it makes a small smile etched onto my face.

"let's just go to the next one," he rolls his eyes.

camila and i link our arms together and take the lead to the next store as jack trails behind us. the store we enter is soft light, making some of the dresses sparkle in the light.

camila immediately runs off to a dress. "oo, look at this one," she holds up a long pink dress with a slit down the side.

"umm, maybe too bright for this event."

"okay, let's keep looking. you take that side, i take this one, divide and conquer?" she plans.

"yeah, divide and conquer," i nod.

i head to my side of the store and jack follows me. "you can sit down if you want," i tell him as i go through the dresses on a rack.

"no thanks, i'll just help you divide and conquer," he says and starts to look through the dresses closest to him.

"suit yourself," i shrug and walk off to a different rack.

after a good fifteen minutes of searching, i have dug up a plum-coloured off-the-shoulder maxi dress and a long sequenced emerald green dress.

"what about this one?" jack holds up a neon yellow dress.

i look at the dress and then at him and back at the dress. a look of disgust on my face; it makes jack snicker. "no," i say looking at him like he's crazy.

camila speed walks her way towards us. she's holding a navy blue dress made out of velvet material. "this is the only good one i could find," she says out of breath.

"thank you." i take the dress out of her hands. "we're almost done here too and then i can go and try them on."

"hey, how about this," jack asks appearing from behind a rack of clothes.

it was probably the best dress yet. formal but not too formal. nice but not like i was trying too hard. it actually might've been perfect but i can't tell jack that. his ego's already the size of the moon. "uh yeah, not bad i guess."

"let's go try them on now," camila says with an excited voice.

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"camila, can you help me with this last one?" i peek my head through the curtain. her and jack have been waiting for me on the nice leather chairs.

"yeah, of course," she hops up.

"i'm gonna wait outside," jack grumbles, turning his phone off and getting up.

camila enters the changing room, "can you please zip the back." as she does i can't help but stare at the mirror and admire the dress.

"you look stunning in this," she says softly. her hand rests on the side of my arms and she turns me around to her. she looks me up and down again, "i think this is the one."

i let out a small giggle at her compliment. i turn back around to give it one final look, "yeah i think so too."

"can't believe jack picked it out."

i roll my eyes. "don't even remind me, he's gonna have a field day with this. let's just get out of here."

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"is this all for today?" the nice old lady at the front asks me.

"yes, this all," i say with a small smile on my face.

"this is a good option," she tells me as she wraps the dress up in nice packaging. "my favourite, a hidden gem."

"huh, really? should be one of your best sellers."

she laughs and hands me the bag. "well, the most beautiful things in life are hidden right in front of us."

i smile at her philosophy. "how much would that be?" i ask as i take my wallet out of my handbag.

"oh, no need for that sweetheart." my brows furrow. "the handsome gentleman you came in with already paid for you."

i look outside and see jack. he's not paying attention to us. he's on a phone call with someone and he's got a grin on his face.

i turn my attention back to the old lady, "thank you so much," i give her one last smile.

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3 months... my bad guys

– ani <3