Unexpected
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The next morning Tess and I woke up at the crack of dawn to get ready. We quickly showered and got dressed, combing our hair as we ate breakfast. We woke my mother up as soon as we finished and threw clothes onto her bed. The moment she was dressed we pulled her downstairs and got breakfast ready for her. We were about ready to head out the door before my mom stopped us.
“Chloe, slow down! I woke up two minutes ago, you can’t just rush me out the door. Do you even know where you want to go?”
“No, I don’t, but I just figured we’d go wherever the road takes us.” I replied, seeing the flaw in our swiftness to get out the door.
“Well you have to have a plan. I’m not going to drive you all over hell’s creation if you don’t even know where you want to shop. Besides, you pull me out of bed and dress me but you didn’t let me go to the bathroom.”
“Yeah, I guess we could have slowed down a little. I’m dizzy with all of this movement anyway.” Tess sat down on the leather couch opposite the picture window in my living room.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom and brush my teeth, you girls figure out where you want to go. We’ll leave in 10 minutes.” She got up, put her cereal bowl in the sink and headed down the hallway to the bathroom.
I sat down next to Tess and tried to think of the best stores in town. After a couple bad ideas I look at Tess. “Where do you think we should go?”
She shrugged and looked over at me. “There’s that new place over on 23rd we could try. I went to my cousin’s house last month and they built a new store down the road, maybe we could look around there.”
“We could always go over to the mall by my dad’s house, I heard they’ve picked up a lot.”
I heard the bathroom door open and my mom strolled out, hair fixed, teeth brushed, mascara on. “Are you ready to go?” She walked over to the hall closet and grabbed her purse and jacket.
“Yeah, I think we’ll try the new stores downtown and the mall out by Dad’s. Unless there’s anywhere else you can think of, we’ll have to take it from there.” I stood up and grabbed mine and Tess’ jackets and we headed out the door.
Jumping in the front seat, I told my mom where to go first and asked Tess what she’d be looking for or if she was going in blind.
“I’m not sure, really anything that looks good I’m willing to try. I’m not sure I want to do a skirt but, hey, if the shoe fits. Something pastel, maybe, to go with my brown hair. If I get a skirt, I’d really like on that’s shorter in front than back. Either way, I want a pair of flats.” She looked at her nails and made a gross face. “Maybe we could stop by the salon tomorrow and get our nails done. What are you looking for?”
I turned around facing the front of the car and sighed. “I don’t know. So many things could go wrong. I can’t do something super light or else it’ll look bad with my blonde hair. No matter what, I know I want some strappy sandals.” I pulled the visor down and looked at myself in the mirror on the back. “Do you think I should straighten my hair? Or maybe I could curl it? It never seems to know what it wants to do. Maybe I should chop it all off.”
I heard my mom chuckle from the driver’s seat. My hair had always been non-cooperative. I’ve had thick, blonde hair since I was a little girl. It’s always been stuck between straight and curly, never really even all around. I remember when I was younger my mother would brush my hair and it would take half an hour to get all the knots out because there was so much.
During middle school I got so tired of it that I kept it in a ponytail all the time. I would leave it up until it was time to go to sleep and when I woke up in the morning, the first thing I would do was put it back up. That did much more harm than good. After a while I started straightening it every day and that seemed to work fine. I got bored of straightening it all the time so I let it do its own thing and it’s coming back to bite me in the butt.
What if the boys a repelled by my hair? What if they like everything about me except my hair and they don’t want to talk to me more than they have to?
“I’ll do something with it,” Tess said, lightening my spirits a little. I flipped the visor up after playing with my bangs a little. “I could do a pretty side braid or something.”
“Thanks.”
We pulled up to the new store on 23rd and hopped out of the car. Upon entering the store, we were speechless. I wandered over to the racks full of shirts, skirts, pants, and everything else you could imagine.
“Tess, come here! I think I might have found something that would look perfect on you.” I pulled a light teal skirt off the rack. It was just the thing for Tess: short in front, long in back, light and flow-y to go with her spirit.
I heard her squeal a little from behind me and snatch the skirt out of my hand. “I love it, Chloe, this is amazing. We have all day, let’s find some more stuff.” She spun around on her heel and took off down the long aisle. I followed her, taking in all of the wonderful items that filled the racks. I saw a few shirts that I thought might look good on me so I grabbed them to try on, and a couple skirts and pants, too.
Tess and I headed back to the dressing rooms after about 45 minutes of browsing the store and picked out a couple of outfits.
“Do you think this looks good on me, Chloe?” Tess stepped out of her dressing room and spun around. She was wearing the skirt that I had found and a loose fitting white blouse. I had to do a double-take to make sure I was seeing correctly.
“That looks amazing! I can’t believe how well that fits you. It’s almost as if the outfit was made for you.” I stared at her for a moment before I said anything to make my compliments seem false.
“Mrs. Douglas? What do you think?” Tess spun around to show my mother and I heard her gasp a little. “Oh my goodness…”
Tess laughed a little and ducked back into her dressing room. I emerged from my dressing room sporting a pair of dark jeans that – in my opinion – hugged me perfectly and a light blue button down blouse. It was plain enough for my taste and I figured I could dress it up with jewelry and shoes if I wanted to. I looked at my mother with raised eyebrows and she smiled her dimpled smile that always tells when she’s genuinely in love with something. “Do you like it?”
She nodded and continued to smile. “Is it just me, or do those jeans fit you perfectly?” I smiled in agreement and knocked on Tess’ dressing room door. She popped out and gave me a once over. She smiled. “That is definitely the outfit for you to wear when we meet them. All it needs is the perfect pair of shoes and some nice jewelry and you’ll be the only thing they can look at all night.”
Tess’ comment made my smile stay until well after I had changed back into my own clothes. We headed over to the other side of the store and looked at the large selection of shows. Tess went for a pair of soft gray ballet flats and I opted for a cute pair of strappy silver sandals. We headed over to the check out and decided that we wouldn’t do anymore shopping for fear of second guessing our first outfit decisions.
We climbed back in the car and headed home, thinking about how perfect we would look when we met the boys and brainstorming ideas for our hair and makeup. As we pulled up in the driveway, Tess and I raced up the front steps and headed straight for my bedroom.
We would be leaving for the concert the day after tomorrow so we needed to decide how we would do everything. We talked late into the afternoon and picked out the jewelry that best went with each of our outfits. Tess got permission from her mom to stay another night and we ordered pizza from the place down the street and made the night a movie night. After watching Ace Ventura, Paranormal Activity, and Easy A, Tess and I said goodnight to my mom and headed up to bed.
We quickly fell asleep, thinking up perfect scenarios to the perfect day that was so rapidly approaching.
The next morning Tess and I woke up at the crack of dawn to get ready. We quickly showered and got dressed, combing our hair as we ate breakfast. We woke my mother up as soon as we finished and threw clothes onto her bed. The moment she was dressed we pulled her downstairs and got breakfast ready for her. We were about ready to head out the door before my mom stopped us.
“Chloe, slow down! I woke up two minutes ago, you can’t just rush me out the door. Do you even know where you want to go?”
“No, I don’t, but I just figured we’d go wherever the road takes us.” I replied, seeing the flaw in our swiftness to get out the door.
“Well you have to have a plan. I’m not going to drive you all over hell’s creation if you don’t even know where you want to shop. Besides, you pull me out of bed and dress me but you didn’t let me go to the bathroom.”
“Yeah, I guess we could have slowed down a little. I’m dizzy with all of this movement anyway.” Tess sat down on the leather couch opposite the picture window in my living room.
“I’m going to go to the bathroom and brush my teeth, you girls figure out where you want to go. We’ll leave in 10 minutes.” She got up, put her cereal bowl in the sink and headed down the hallway to the bathroom.
I sat down next to Tess and tried to think of the best stores in town. After a couple bad ideas I look at Tess. “Where do you think we should go?”
She shrugged and looked over at me. “There’s that new place over on 23rd we could try. I went to my cousin’s house last month and they built a new store down the road, maybe we could look around there.”
“We could always go over to the mall by my dad’s house, I heard they’ve picked up a lot.”
I heard the bathroom door open and my mom strolled out, hair fixed, teeth brushed, mascara on. “Are you ready to go?” She walked over to the hall closet and grabbed her purse and jacket.
“Yeah, I think we’ll try the new stores downtown and the mall out by Dad’s. Unless there’s anywhere else you can think of, we’ll have to take it from there.” I stood up and grabbed mine and Tess’ jackets and we headed out the door.
Jumping in the front seat, I told my mom where to go first and asked Tess what she’d be looking for or if she was going in blind.
“I’m not sure, really anything that looks good I’m willing to try. I’m not sure I want to do a skirt but, hey, if the shoe fits. Something pastel, maybe, to go with my brown hair. If I get a skirt, I’d really like on that’s shorter in front than back. Either way, I want a pair of flats.” She looked at her nails and made a gross face. “Maybe we could stop by the salon tomorrow and get our nails done. What are you looking for?”
I turned around facing the front of the car and sighed. “I don’t know. So many things could go wrong. I can’t do something super light or else it’ll look bad with my blonde hair. No matter what, I know I want some strappy sandals.” I pulled the visor down and looked at myself in the mirror on the back. “Do you think I should straighten my hair? Or maybe I could curl it? It never seems to know what it wants to do. Maybe I should chop it all off.”
I heard my mom chuckle from the driver’s seat. My hair had always been non-cooperative. I’ve had thick, blonde hair since I was a little girl. It’s always been stuck between straight and curly, never really even all around. I remember when I was younger my mother would brush my hair and it would take half an hour to get all the knots out because there was so much.
During middle school I got so tired of it that I kept it in a ponytail all the time. I would leave it up until it was time to go to sleep and when I woke up in the morning, the first thing I would do was put it back up. That did much more harm than good. After a while I started straightening it every day and that seemed to work fine. I got bored of straightening it all the time so I let it do its own thing and it’s coming back to bite me in the butt.
What if the boys a repelled by my hair? What if they like everything about me except my hair and they don’t want to talk to me more than they have to?
“I’ll do something with it,” Tess said, lightening my spirits a little. I flipped the visor up after playing with my bangs a little. “I could do a pretty side braid or something.”
“Thanks.”
We pulled up to the new store on 23rd and hopped out of the car. Upon entering the store, we were speechless. I wandered over to the racks full of shirts, skirts, pants, and everything else you could imagine.
“Tess, come here! I think I might have found something that would look perfect on you.” I pulled a light teal skirt off the rack. It was just the thing for Tess: short in front, long in back, light and flow-y to go with her spirit.
I heard her squeal a little from behind me and snatch the skirt out of my hand. “I love it, Chloe, this is amazing. We have all day, let’s find some more stuff.” She spun around on her heel and took off down the long aisle. I followed her, taking in all of the wonderful items that filled the racks. I saw a few shirts that I thought might look good on me so I grabbed them to try on, and a couple skirts and pants, too.
Tess and I headed back to the dressing rooms after about 45 minutes of browsing the store and picked out a couple of outfits.
“Do you think this looks good on me, Chloe?” Tess stepped out of her dressing room and spun around. She was wearing the skirt that I had found and a loose fitting white blouse. I had to do a double-take to make sure I was seeing correctly.
“That looks amazing! I can’t believe how well that fits you. It’s almost as if the outfit was made for you.” I stared at her for a moment before I said anything to make my compliments seem false.
“Mrs. Douglas? What do you think?” Tess spun around to show my mother and I heard her gasp a little. “Oh my goodness…”
Tess laughed a little and ducked back into her dressing room. I emerged from my dressing room sporting a pair of dark jeans that – in my opinion – hugged me perfectly and a light blue button down blouse. It was plain enough for my taste and I figured I could dress it up with jewelry and shoes if I wanted to. I looked at my mother with raised eyebrows and she smiled her dimpled smile that always tells when she’s genuinely in love with something. “Do you like it?”
She nodded and continued to smile. “Is it just me, or do those jeans fit you perfectly?” I smiled in agreement and knocked on Tess’ dressing room door. She popped out and gave me a once over. She smiled. “That is definitely the outfit for you to wear when we meet them. All it needs is the perfect pair of shoes and some nice jewelry and you’ll be the only thing they can look at all night.”
Tess’ comment made my smile stay until well after I had changed back into my own clothes. We headed over to the other side of the store and looked at the large selection of shows. Tess went for a pair of soft gray ballet flats and I opted for a cute pair of strappy silver sandals. We headed over to the check out and decided that we wouldn’t do anymore shopping for fear of second guessing our first outfit decisions.
We climbed back in the car and headed home, thinking about how perfect we would look when we met the boys and brainstorming ideas for our hair and makeup. As we pulled up in the driveway, Tess and I raced up the front steps and headed straight for my bedroom.
We would be leaving for the concert the day after tomorrow so we needed to decide how we would do everything. We talked late into the afternoon and picked out the jewelry that best went with each of our outfits. Tess got permission from her mom to stay another night and we ordered pizza from the place down the street and made the night a movie night. After watching Ace Ventura, Paranormal Activity, and Easy A, Tess and I said goodnight to my mom and headed up to bed.
We quickly fell asleep, thinking up perfect scenarios to the perfect day that was so rapidly approaching.
6/16/13