Page 12 of Finding My Forever

“Good. I've got to hurry. I'm way late for work.”

“Oh some of us are going out to get dinner, you can’t come?”

“No,” I checked my phone, “I don’t have time.”

“Here, take this at least so you can eat on your way.” She grinned and handed me a protein bar before giving me a quick hug. Before I could tell her no thanks, she was off to take care of another emergency I’m sure she just created.

I dropped the bar into the side pocket of my duffle along with the other three she’d given me recently. No matter how many times I reminded her I couldn’t eat them, she never seemed to remember.

I pushed all thoughts of homecoming out of my head when I got to the shop. Music was playing in the back room. I set down my bag and pulled on my apron before taking a peek around the corner. Skylar was dancing around the room and singing along.

“Hey!” I shouted.

She jumped then turned to face me with a hand over her heart. “You scared me!”

I smiled and shrugged. “You were asking for it.” As I passed the speaker, I turned the volume down a bit.

“What’s going on?”

Sky just smiled and went back to what she was working on. “Your mom told me about Beth’s pregnancy, and we got a wedding booked today!”

Oh. That made sense. Skylar loved weddings. The flowers were usually prettier than the red roses we were surrounded with every day, and the arrangements were more challenging. It was a fun break from the routine, but I definitely didn’t get as excited as she did.

“In October?” I cringed thinking of the type of bride it could be. We’ve had a few Halloween-themed weddings over the years and they weren’t our favorites.

“No, the date is in November. Her colors are maroon, gold, and white.” She sounded nearly whimsical.

I nodded. That would be pretty.

“I got nominated for Homecoming court.”

Sky smirked. “Of course, you did.”

I stole one of her orders and started gathering my supplies.

“So what’s your campaign slogan going to be?”

I laughed. “Vote for Katie?” A bud hit me in the face. “Hey!”

“Why don’t you even try?”

I grabbed another white rose and stuck it in the middle of the red roses creating a heart. “Because. It matters to her. She loves everything about high school. She’s the center of our school spirit. She is the homecoming queen. She’s planned all of it, so she deserves it.”

Sky didn’t say anything else. She didn’t understand my friendship with Katie. Sometimes, I didn’t either but that didn’t change the fact that she deserved this recognition.

She won.

Everyone knew she would, but it was nice to see her with the crown, next to Kevin, smiling like all the stress and work she put in was worth it.

Our routine had been flawless and the dance was pretty fun. I was grateful Evan had agreed to be my date. He was one of the few guys that actually danced, and I saw Gwen glaring at me from a table on multiple occasions. Poor girl. She needed to make the most of things. Instead, she and Harley were pouting because their dates were far too cool to dance with them. Most of the girls were dancing with their friends instead of their dates. Kevin, Evan, and a few of the other football players were around us dancing, celebrating their win at the game.

Katie looked so blissfully happy that I couldn’t help but smile with her. She deserved tonight. I tried to live in the moment and savor one of the last big events we had together. The school year was going to fly by and I didn’t want to have regrets later.

Now that homecoming was almost over, I could check off that milestone and look forward to what was next.

My trip to New York was coming. That was reason enough for me to celebrate.

Chapter 5