Love Me | Series Book #1

THIRTY THREE

"Which color should I go with?" Aly wiggled her fingers in front of my face. "Sea foam or nude?"

"Nude," Rachel said leaning over me.

"I was thinking sea foam. It matches your dress," I commented.

"Okay, how about this. Sea foam for the fingers, nude for the toes?" Aly looked at both of us. I shrugged.

"Sure."

"Yeah, let's go with that." Rachel nodded.

I leaned farther back in the leather seat, submerging my toes into the warm bucket of water.

"So whose house are we meeting at for pictures tonight?" Rachel asked. I already knew who's house we wouldn't be at. And that was Mason's.

"Drew's hosting the pregame," Aly reminded her. "We have to be there by six."

"Which should give us exactly four hours to get ready," Rachel said, setting the timer on her phone.

Trying to relax I rested my eyes closed. I should've been as ecstatic as Aly and Rachel for the night, but I just had a feeling that it wouldn't be what imagined. Not with such strong animosity still lying between me and Chase's friendship.

In the past for homecoming dances or winter formal, we'd meet up at his house to take pictures on his front porch. It was was a sad realization, knowing that this wouldn't be the case for prom. Everything had become too difficult. With his parents splitting up and Leah now in the picture. I just wished things could return to how  they used to be, but that reality didn't exist for us anymore.

I missed him.

The stubborn icy wedge that was fixed between us had melted, leaving me shivering cold standing  by myself on the other side.

I wasn't angry anymore. I was just exhausted.

By the time our nails had gone under two coats of paint and the drier, it was nearly three o clock.

We packed back into Aly's Volkswagen and drove back to my house where our dresses waited for us on closet hangers.

Shortly after getting back, the air was singed with the smell of curlers, flat irons, and hair removal creams. As I straightened the front strands of Aly's hair, the bedroom door edged open, and my mother peeked in from the other side.

"How's it coming along girls?" she asked, stepping into the room without invitation. Rachel's response was withheld by the charcoal mask that was cemented on her face. She struggled out a "fine."

"Good. Well when you girls are ready, let me know. In the meantime I'll be getting the camera set up downstairs." she brushed her hands alongside her jeans and shook her head, "As soon as I can figure out what your father did with the tripod," she muttered.

"Check the garage," I told her. "It's probably behind the stack of boxes filled with all the photo albums."

She waved her finger in the air as it clicked and left the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Okay your turn," Aly said standing from the desk chair. She patted the seat and spun it around to face me. "What do you want? Waves? Curls?"

"Soft waves," I said, sitting down. She reached over me to adjust the temperature on the curling iron.

"Coming right up."