ASHLEY:I guess. Let me think.
MILES:Okay.
ASHLEY:We made out at church camp once.
MILES:Ha.
ASHLEY:Seriously. Before I started seeing Logan. He and Brenna were on one of their breaks. He used way too much tongue for church camp.
MILES:I didn’t know he went to your church.
ASHLEY:Only for a year, I think. When his parents split up, he and his mom moved across town. He started going to Hillcreek Christian. I’m sure he made out with some girls there, too, though. He and Brenna broke up a lot. And Aiden always found someone to kiss.
MILES:That’s definitely not the story I was expecting.
ASHLEY:I’m making him sound awful. LOL. He wasn’t gross or anything. Just flirty. He was also super sweet. He was the guy anyone could call if they needed a ride home from a party. Even if he wasn’t there, he’d come pick you up just so you didn’t drive drunk. I never had to call him, but a few of my friends did.
MILES:So he never drank?
ASHLEY:Not that I know of. He told me once he lost a cousin in a drunk driving accident, which was why he always volunteered to drive people home.
MILES:Makes sense.
ASHLEY:Actually, the last time I hung out with Aiden was at a party. Right before Christmas. I never drank either because I was too scared of getting in trouble. So we were just sitting on the couch, and he let me blubber to him for an hour about all of my relationship drama with Logan at the time. I’m sure he was annoyed and bored, but he didn’t act like it. He told me he was sure Logan and I would work things out. That he knew, somehow, we’d end up together. He was right, I guess.
MILES:Seems like he was a good guy.
ASHLEY:He was. Aside from the too-much-tongue at church camp.
MILES:We all have flaws.
ASHLEY:The weird thing to think about is the end of that memory. After we talked about Logan,came over to us. He was drunk, and Aiden drove him home. Ironic, huh? Aiden cared about keeping him safe but …
MILES:Yeah.
“Oh, Lee baby, you look beautiful.”
There were tears in Mom’s eyes when she looked at me, standing in the center of the living room in my prom attire. But for once, these weren’t tears of sadness or pain. She was happy, and that lifted at least a fraction of the anxiety from my chest.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said.
The dress was actually quite nice, if simple. It was jet black with thin straps that supported a heart-shaped neckline, giving the illusion that I actually had curves. The skirt flared out a bit at my hips so that it swirled around my ankles as I walked. It wasn’t dramatic or glamorous, but I was okay with that.
“Here,” Mom said. “I found some things for your hair.”
My hair was too short to do much with besides comb. But Mom walked over to me with a handful of small clips, each with little crystals attached. They were cheap, but once she shoved a couple into my hair, on either side of my face, they did add an element of polish.
“Oh,” she said, “and I picked up the lipstick you asked for.” She reached into a shopping bag by the couch and pulled out a small tube and passed it to me.
I smiled down at the familiar plastic casing. Carefully I pulled off the cap and rolled up the lipstick. It was a pretty shade of berry red that I knew would apply like a sheer wash of color across my lips. I handed the tube back to Mom and gestured for her to apply it, knowing I’d make a mess of it if I tried myself.
This had been Sarah’s favorite drugstore lipstick. On a whim, I’d asked Mom to pick it up from the store, and I was glad I did. It was silly. Sarah had been gone for more than three years, and I didn’t believe in ghosts or spirits or an afterlife at all. But wearing that lipstick still felt like carrying a little piece of her with me that night.
“Done,” Mom said, capping the lipstick and dropping it into the little black handbag she’d lent me for the evening. “Oh, my little girl is all grown up and going to prom. Where did the time go? It feels like yesterday that the nurse was handing you to me in the hospital. You were so tiny. And beautiful.”
“Mom.”
I was relieved to hear a light tapping on the front door, saving me from more of her sentimental gushing.
