Chapter 3: Pre - Date Purgatory and Italian Treasure
"How about this dress? No it's too dressy for pizza. What about this tee shirt? Wait no a tee shirt's too casual. Unless we pair it with really cute jewelry." Audrey mumbles to herself as she sifts through the different clothing options in my closet.
She decided to stop by and help me pick out an outfit after discovering I still didn't have one in mind after my one-sided brainstorming with Keega the other day. However as soon as she came into my room she has completely taken hold of the reigns.
"I have practically no jewelry."
"Accessories are so imortant to an outfit. How do you live with yourself?" Audrey exclaims turning towards me with widened eyes.
"Just fine, thank you for asking."
it's not like I don't like jewelry, believe me I do, but I'll either misplace it or my brothers find it and it ends up broken or lost. So instead of having money wasted on jewelry that barely lasts a month I choose not to get any. The very few pieces of jewelry I have are two charm bracelets I've been gifted that my family likes to add to every year, a necklace with my birthstone, and an expensive matching pearl set my great grandmother gave me that I only wear on special occasions. Other than that, jewelry is a no go for me. Those items only manaed to get salvaged because my mom keeps them in her jewelry case that my brothers never dare to mess with. Especially since combined the jewelry costs just about as much as a college fund.
"Okay then you can wear an outfit with a cardigan, or your hair down." She ruffles through my closet once more looking for the assortment of neutral colored cardigans I have, plus one pink one I made the mistake of buying, and I could practically see the gears turning in her hair.
"I think it would be best not to bother my hair, this is actually one of my better curly hair days and I'd like to keep it that way by not making it mad." She wouldn't understand because of her perfect straight, waist-length auburn that never seems to get tangled. Meanwhile I can't run a brush through my hair unless it's wet or I'll look like a poodle after walking through a shop full of blow dryers.
Turning around she fixes m with a hard stare. "Your hair is not that bad Sienna."
"Says the straight-haired girl that doesn't have to deal with it on a day-to-day basis." I respond, rolling onto my stomach and burying my face into my ams.
"Oh close your mouth and go try this on." She says tossing the clothes at my head.
• • • •
In all of the commotion of me getting perfectly prepared for my outing, we ended up finishing half an hour early.
"This is worse than running late for a date." I say plopping myself down on the couch and propping my feet, clad in white low-top converse, onto the coffee table. After "careful contemplation" Audrey decided that I should wear a regular pair of light wash jeans, rolled at the ankles, and a white chiffon tank top. Since it is pretty cold outside, but not too cold thanks to Texas weather, I threw on my favorite light gray cardigan that also happens to cover up the quarter sized stain on the side hem of my shirt that I was never quite able to get rid of.
We diecided to leave my hair alone since I was having a nice hair day. Audrey did however take the liberty of placing a jaw clip and a couple of hair ties into my black cross-body bag in case things got a little too out of hand with my hair. She chides me about always being prepared for a hair crisis but I've just learned to go with whatever flow my hair creates.
"I know it's like you're in pre-date purgatory." Audrey says as she walks over from the kitchen and sits next to me, munching on an apple. Switching the TV on we settle on watching one of those shows that views video clips of people getting hurt, and laughing loudly as a man attempts to dive in to an ice pond and instead smashes the back of his head on the ice, ouch!
Twenty minutes, 12 video clips, and a very obnoxious show host later my front doorbell rings. Audrey was on her way to throw out her apple core and dropped it, surprised by the sudden sound. Quickly, she leans down to grab it but as she stands again her eyes roll back and she nearly looses her footing. One of her hands shoot to her chest, hovering over her heart as she puts her free hand on the counter to steady herself and eases into a squat position.
"Audrey!" I rush to her on the other side of the coach as the doorbell rings once more, followed by two timid knocks. It's all background noise as my friend sits on her haunches, with a hand grasped above her heart, taking in deep breathes.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I just stood up a little too fast and got a head rush is all." She pants.
"You don't get this way from a little head rush. What's wrong? Do you need water? Does your chest hurt? Should I call your mom or dad?" I rush out as my eyes searc her body for any visible problems.
"No, it's alright. I need for you to go answer that door before the poor guy leaves thinking you stood him up for your date." She says sending me a reassuring smile.
"It's not a date Audrey."
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say."
"Are you sure you'll still be able to watch Sam and Stefan when they get back from their friend's house?"
"Yes now go!" She motions to the door attempting to give me a large smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes, it wavers for a second and that's all the conformation I need to know that something is wrong.
"Okay. Call me if anything happens at all." I say sternly waving my pointer finger at her as I stand and start backing towards the door.
"I'm fine mom! Now go!" She shouts as she points towards the front door.
"Okay, I'm going." I laugh grabbing my key from the small table by the door and sliding them into my pocket. I open the door to see Mateo's retreating figure causing a wave of guilt to pass through my body.
"Mateo wait!" I shout slamming the door behind me, rushing over to him. He turns around and I see relief on his face before he quickly covers it and gives me a lazy smile.
"I'm so sorry I that I didn't answer the door, my fr - uh something came up for a second." I correct myself, not really wanting to explain what happened. Especially considering I don't know what happened.
He raises an eyebrow in curiosity. "Its cool, is everything alright?"
I send him a reassuring smile, shifting on my feet in slight discomfort. "Um - yeah just a minor mishap, nothing to worry about."
"Well then, let's get a move on." He extends his elbow to me and I wrap my hand around it as he begins to lead s to his car. I take a quick scope of his outfit and am filled with relief at seeing he dressed casually as well; donning a fitted white sweater and a pair of medium wash jeans. My eyes meet his again and I see the corner of his mouth twitch, holding back a smirk, and I quickly look away.
