AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you done?” Patty asks her mom playfully. “Because we need to get dressed if we aren’t going to be late.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Flynn says, waving her off with a smile. “I better go check on your dad anyway. He always needs help with that bow tie.” She winks.
Flynn leaves the room, and Patty looks at me with her hands at her hips. “You got to choose a dress.”
“I feel like Cinderella.” I shrug.
“Friend, you’re nobody’s maid,” she replies. Truth. But I’m the poor girl who has been scraping by all her life. Now I’ve got some fancy hairdo with my hair half up and some kind of braid wrapped around the back with curls falling down my back, and makeup that looks like utter perfection with just the right amount of shadow, my cheeks have a light blush, and my lips are a light tint of peach.
“Thanks, Patty,” I say and lean in to hug her.
I walk out to the hall and hear Kevin and Crew laughing on the main level. They are playing some sort of game of tag.
“So which will it be?” She holds up a blush-pink lace dress with some beading threaded through the fabric. It looks long, narrow, and sleeveless. “This would look so good with your hair color, or you can go for this one.” She lifts a brushed gold dress with intricate beading. It has a deep dip in the neckline, long sheer sleeves, and a slit up the front.
“They are both so gorgeous,” I reply, holding my palms to my cheeks. For prom, I got a dress from the secondhand shop a town over from us because it was all I could afford. “I’ve never worn anything so beautiful before.”
“Choose one,” Patty urges. “My hands are getting tired.”
“Sorry.” I wince. “They’re both so pretty.”
“Okay, then I’m choosing,” Patty says, and she passes me the gold dress.
“What if I ruin it somehow?” I ask her.
“I’ve worn it twice already, and I don’t think you’re going to ruin it,” she assures me.
She takes the blush-pink lace dress for herself. We figured it made sense to sleep here in Tribeca tonight because it’s closer to the gala.
Patty closes her bedroom door, and we both get changed. Her room is practically the size of our apartment, with a huge walk-in closet and its own bathroom.
With the dress on, I look down at my feet. I brought a pair of black strappy heels that are way too old because I didn’t want to spend the money on flats like Patty suggested. I don’t think it matches the dress so well. Patty walks over to me and asks me to help her with the zipper at the back of her dress.
“I feel so out of place,” I confess, looking at her back.
She turns around her lips forming an upside-down arch. “You aren’t. You belong here.” She gives my hand a squeeze.
“Thanks for saying that, but I’m just a simple girl who works in a diner.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “You’re the best person I know. You’re kind and incredibly smart. You’re an amazing mom and friend. You care about everyone around you, and you take the time to show it. I don’t know too many people like you.”
“You’re going to make me cry and ruin this amazing makeup job,” I warn as my eyes fill with tears.
“Fight it, Skylar,” Patty urges, and then she bites her lip and looks at me with a sense of guilt passing over her features. “Don’t be upset with me, okay?”
“How could I possibly get mad at you about anything?” I snicker.
“I kind of bought you shoes to match the dress. I thought a brushed gold slipper would be perfect for you, and it needs the right shoe.” She reaches down and opens a cream box with fancy slippers inside.
My eyes widen. The light in the room makes them sparkle.
“Don’t, Sky. I wanted tonight to be perfect for you, and I don’t want you fighting me on it.”
I reach over and hug my friend.
“Thank you so much,” I say, and those tears threaten to flood my eyes again.
“Of course,” she says, squeezing me. “We better get going. Mom and Dad need to be on time.”
