Ash’s POV
A week or so later, Harper, Lianne and I were already going out shopping for our prom dresses. Harper made sure that we went before most people would go, leaving us with most options available. There were always a couple of sizes that sold out in no time, so Harper was already having a small panic attack when we walked into the dress store she had gone to since she was a young girl, looking at all the dresses she wanted for her senior prom. This really was a big deal to her. She had been preparing for it with her mom since she was six years old. Now, twelve years later, it was finally becoming reality.

She was still going with Quentin. It really was the gossip of the week in school. Some people accused her of only going with him so he’d do her math homework, but I knew Harper was capable of passing all her classes with flying colors without any help. Apparently they had been dating since Christmas. Her parents had had another fight on Christmas Eve, so she rushed out of the house with her brother, going to a nearby shop that was open all days of the year. Quentin was there getting something his mom ran out of. He found Harper and asked her if everything was ok, breaking all social rules out there. They eventually all went back to his house and things developed from there.

While he was pretty nerdy and wore some questionable clothing, Harper couldn’t shut up about what he looked like when he took off his glasses and shirt. Apparently he was some model-quality guy, hiding behind his books and baggy clothing. He was the first guy she had actually started a long-term relationship with.

“Ok, so I need a purple dress. Quentin and I decided to go purple. But I need to get my dress first so he can get a matching tie. It’s a lot easier to get a tie in any color you want rather than finding the perfect dress to fit a specific color,” Harper ran towards the first rack she could find, already looking around frantically.

I stood there awkwardly, running my hand up my other arm hanging loosely at my side. “You’re supposed to go matching?”

Harper looked at me like I had just said the most obscure thing in the world. Before she could flip out on me, Lianne decided to chip in herself. “Yeah, Jack and I are also going to match. I have no clue what he’s planning, but we’re going light blue or aqua. It was his idea. I’m afraid he’s going to do something he’s going to regret, but it’s going to be hilarious.”

“Oh…” I twirled my thumbs, feeling completely out of place now. “Alex and I didn’t choose any color…”

“What the hell is that boy doing with his life?” Harper screeched, already three dresses draped on her arm, each a slightly different shade of purple. “Text him ASAP. And he better reply! I will come over and kick his butt otherwise!”

So, she was definitely terrifying when stressed. I went completely crazy when schoolwork was important. Harper, however, was all about the fashion and the shopping trips. This was as important as graduating for her. The only problem was that she thought it was just as important for other people, even though they didn’t think all too much of it. Because I definitely wasn’t as hyped up as she was. I never even thought I would get this whole prom experience.

I took out my phone from my back pocket without complaining. There was no way I was going to risk Harper getting mad at me. I followed Lianne around as I clumsily tried to text while also trying to make sure I didn’t walk into any of the clothing racks taking up most of the store.

Ash: Harper is having a mental breakdown. Apparently it’s a crime that we haven’t chosen which color to wear to prom. She’s scaring me.
Alex: Oh no :( I’ll protect you from the scary monster!
Ash: The only way you can protect me is by helping me with this whole color thing.
Alex: Hmm… White.
Ash: White? Are you sure? With my skin tone? I’m pale AF
Alex: Trust me, you look gorgeous in white
Ash: Fine, but if it doesn’t work out, I’ll tell you
Alex: Mkay. I’m sure you’ll look stunning. Go have fun. I love you!
Ash: Love you too

“So, what did he say?” Harper suddenly popped up beside me, now having seven dresses with her. Eventually she was probably going to hate them all and try them on all again before choosing the first one.

“White.” I smiled widely now that I had an answer. I was actually pretty proud of myself that I was able to figure it out so quickly. However, when she frowned, my smile quickly faltered.

She was giving me crazy eyes. “White? Umm. Ok. But what type of white? He can’t just say white! Which undertone? Cream, blue, purple, pink, ochre? Ash! Get your shit together!”

I glared back at her. She was freaking out too much, and I didn’t exactly like her bringing it all out on me. “It doesn’t matter. I’m pretty sure he won’t have to match anything to the white of my dress. If he does show up in a white suit, however, I’m going to be laughing my ass off. He just told me he’d like me to wear white because he thinks it looks good on me.”

Somehow her stressed features turned into a smirk. She pulled me along, flicking through all the dresses in front of her. Giving Lianne and us both a limit of five dresses to try on, she was really specific with what she chose. When I pointed out she already had more for herself, she seemed excited, suddenly raising the amount of dresses we had to try on to eight. Yes, eight whole dresses. That included taking off all our clothes, putting on a dress, seeing if we all liked it, and then getting ourselves out of it. For eight whole dresses! Was she trying to kill me or something?

Lianne and I were just completely lost. Harper seemed like she knew what she was doing, taking everything into her own hands. All Lianne and I really got to do was hold the dresses she threw at us. I didn’t even get to approve anything. Some of the things I was holding, I knew I wouldn’t feel comfortable in. The necklines plunged down way too far, or there were slits that went up to my thigh. I didn’t exactly want to show off too much.

“Ok, so, normally I’d make us try it all on at the same time, but I want to see everything you both put on, and we all have to help each other with choosing. So, Ash, you go first.” Harper directed, sitting down on one of the red lounge chairs that was placed in the changing room area.

“Why me?” I gasped, really not wanting to be the first one. I wanted to see what my friends were going to wear before I chose.

“Because you’re not fed up yet and don’t know what you want at all. Lianne and I already have ideas of the perfect dresses we have in mind.” She put the purple dresses on her lap as Lianne sat on the chair next to her.

I shook my head. “That’s why you guys should go first, so I can see what dress types I like and which ones I don’t.”

“Just go!” She pointed towards a changing room with a velvet curtain.

I sighed, but obliged, she wouldn’t let me get out of this no matter what I tried. There were enough hooks for me to hang up all the dresses so I wouldn’t crumple them. The only perk of going first meant that I’d get it over and done with. I couldn’t stand trying on dresses, let alone eight straight after each other!

I undressed, taking off my boots before my jeans and top were off as well. The light reflecting on all the white fabric was blinding, but I could clearly see why Harper wanted to know which undertone it should have. All these whites contrasting against each other did not exactly work. Some were more icy, while others had a hint of romance, and others just seemed a tad too yellow.

“Ok, first dress!” I called out and opened the curtain to show off what I was wearing. It was a strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline, the bust area covered in silver sequins. My legs were on full display, the front of the dress being shorter than the back. Harper and Lianne looked like they were indecisive, as if they were too afraid to give their opinions.

“I don’t like it,” I told them, making them sigh in relief. It wasn’t that it didn’t fit my body, nor was the dress ugly, but it just didn’t really suit. The whole thing was just a bit too basic. It was one of those dresses I could go back to if I needed and couldn’t find a better one.

I went back to try on a couple more dresses. Many of them were the same style, however the front was also floor length. For some reason those dresses just didn’t do it for me. The fabric was just a bit too simple and the decorations that were supposed to make it different from the rest just seemed too much for me. It was either too simple or too glittery.

Then there were also the ones that looked just a bit too much like a wedding dress. While they were very pretty, I didn’t want to go that far. Not only was this not the occasion for such a beautiful dress, but I wanted to keep that for the day I got married. Maybe Alex would also get to see that one. At least I already managed to get some inspiration for my wedding dress in the future.

The third type of dress there was, was the one with a slit on the side. Seems cute at first glance, but as soon as I put them on I absolutely detested it, especially the ones that went up too high. A bit of leg was ok, but as soon as I put the dress that had a tiny skirt that just went over my butt, which had another flowy skirt over it that had a slit all the way up to my wait, I couldn’t help but feel vulnerable. I didn’t want that either. It just made me feel too exposed. While Alex had made me feel so much more confident since we were together, I still wasn’t fully confident, and there was no way I would have worn anything like that even before the whole thing happened.

I sighed and tried on the second to last dress. I liked the fact that it had a sweetheart neckline, but had a mesh-like fabric that went up to a collar around my neck. It gave me just a bit more coverage than all those other dresses that showed off my boobs. The only unfortunate thing was that it had a slit going up to my mid-thigh. It wasn’t like it was going to hurt to put it on, though.

“So, Ash…” Harper suddenly started with a small sing-song voice, “are you going to be losing your virginity to Alex on prom night?”

I blushed, embarrassed they would ask something like that, being in a public place only making it worse. Nonetheless, I decided to answer with a sigh. “Guys, I’m not a virgin anymore.”

“No! Forget the whole Luke-incident! We don’t count that. He did something that he wasn’t supposed to, I do not consider him being the one that took your virginity,” she replied stubbornly, just wanting to know if I would be ‘getting it on’ with Alex.

I opened the curtain and rolled my eyes, I couldn’t believe I was telling them this. “I wasn’t talking about Luke.”

Harper gasped as if I had stabbed her in the back, while Lianne just sat there staring at me with wide eyes. “How dare you not tell me! When did this happen? How did it happen? What happened? But most of all, was it good?”

“I’m not going to tell you all that!” I choked. There was a reason why I hadn’t told anybody. “It happened back when we were in Germany, so I didn’t naturally go straight up to you and tell you. I guess it never dawned on me that you might have wanted to know. But yeah, it happened, and he was very sweet about it.”

“But how was it?” She continued to urge. “Alex is pretty good, isn’t he?”

My entire mood changed, the corners of my mouth pulling down just a little. “Please don’t remind me that you guys used to sleep together.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” She gave me a genuine sympathetic look, immediately dropping the entire topic.

I played with the material of the dress, actually surprised with how little the slit showed. I wouldn’t have expected some thigh high to barely show anything.

“I just want to point out that that dress looks really good on you,” Lianne pointed out, changing the subject, “I think you should get it!”

I turned around to look at the mirror, having forgotten that I had put on a new dress that I hadn’t seen yet. To my astonishment, I actually really really liked the way it looked on me. It was something I would never have chosen myself. It accentuated my figure, going tighter around my middle, showing off my waistline. The mesh created a cool effect, still showing my skintone through the fabric. And the slit, it was sexy, yet so innocent at the same time. I ran my fingers down over the dress, a smile reappearing on my face.

“I like it too.” I grinned, turning back towards my friends to let them see it. This was my prom dress.

When Lianne went in to try her’s on, she only had to put on one and she was already content. From the many dresses Harper had picked out for her, the first one just happened to be great. I wished that had happened to me. Her dress was the light teal color she wanted, silver decals decorating the area around her bust. It really looked amazing on her. The only problem was that she now couldn’t have her candyfloss hair anymore, but she didn’t mind going back to the orangey-brown color she normally had.

Then there was still Harper to go. Just like I had suspected, she tried on every dress, putting them in three piles. There was a ‘no’ pile, a ‘maybe’ pile, and a ‘yes’ pile. She resisted putting any dresses in the yes pile when trying them on the first try. However, during the second try she sorted them back to ‘no’ and ‘yes’, and then all the dresses in the ‘yes’ pile had to be tried on again and again until she made a decision. Eventually she chose the one she liked the most at the very beginning. It was deep purple, glitters around her waist slowly spreading out of the rest of the dress as a gradient. Or in other words, the perfect dress for Harper.

Somehow we had managed to each find a dress in one day at one store. It was Harper who had pushed us to try different things, making me go a bit too far out of my comfort zone sometimes. But I couldn’t wait to show Alex my dress on prom night.

Notes

Proooooom!
Here's the dresses if anybody wants to see them http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=212122317
It feels so weird not having to write for this story anymore. I have way too much time for Hospital Beds now, and it's actually making me go a little crazy. My attention span is normally pretty good, but having to focus on the same thing for so long is really getting to my head.