| The next day she sat in front of the Central Mall, waiting for Bailey�s blue Grand Am to pull up next to her. She was reading a Danielle Steel book, by far one of her favorite authors. Regan wanted nothing more than to be able to write like Danielle Steel, and she almost always had a new copy of her latest work in her hands.
As she was getting into the book, a rap on the window startled her. It was Bailey�s cute face smiling at her. Regan smiled at her, put down her book, and got out of the car. She gave Bailey a hug and slung her purse onto her right shoulder. �Sup, home girl?� Bailey greeted dramatically. �Not much, B,� Regan replied. �Looking forward to trying on dresses!� �Oh, me too! That�s why I wore some of my comfortable clothes that slip on and off really well,� Bailey said. Regan gave her a funny look. Bailey immediately picked up on it. �Okay, that didn�t sound right. You know what I mean.� �Did you wear a strapless bra?� Regan inquired. �Of course� and sandals,� she said, point at her painted toes. �Cute color,� Regan complimented. �Oh isn�t it though? It�s called �Passionate Pink,�� she explained. �Oh yeah? I wanted to try that color!� Regan told her. They looked around at the prom dresses in the first shop and found nothing they were satisfied with. Regan wanted to show off her flashy side with something strapless and red, but Bailey wanted to go for an entirely different look. She was going for the pink princess look, and that included the tiara, the glitter, and everything. Everything in the first shop they had encountered was green, gold, and navy blue. Nothing that dark would suffice. They hit a couple more stores, finding a few things to try on, but neither liked anything they found. Regan had given up finding a strapless red dress and resorted to looking for a red dress period. There were tons of pink dresses, but nothing that Bailey was with. They both got into their cars and headed to a different mall. They found tons of things there. Bailey was in complete awe. She picked up one that was absolutely perfect for her. It was just the right shade of pink and laced in silver. She tried it on and it looked even better on her than it did hanging on the rack. She couldn�t control her excitement. Bailey�s smile was a mile wide and she was babbling incoherently about how great Trevor would look all dressed up. Regan drifted off and thought about Chase. She wanted to knock Chase out, and only the most perfect dress would do that. They wandered into a different store after not finding anything. By the time they hit the last store, Regan had given up all hope and figured she�d have to settle for a cute red one she saw a few minutes before. As soon as she stepped into the store, she saw it. It was absolutely perfect. It was a two-piece and the color was so bright you had to pay attention to it. �Regan,� Bailey sighed, obviously thinking the same thing. �Wow,� was all Regan could say. She walked over to it and ran her fingers down the skirt. She searched through the rack, found her size, and excitedly went to try it on. Regan walked out and modeled it for Bailey. All she could do was stare at it wide-eyed. �It�s like that dress was made for you,� she whispered. Regan took it off and couldn�t wait a second longer to ring it up. It was just a bit out of her price range. It was the one thing she needed hanging in her closet to remind her that as confusing as her life was, things could always get better. After a few more minutes, they decided to call it quits. �You are going to literally knock Chase right out,� Bailey told her happily. �Seriously, when he sees you, he�s going to pass out from shock!� Regan smiled and stared at the bag her dress was in. �You really think so?� Bailey smiled sweetly at her, pushing Regan�s long brown hair away from her face. �I really know so.� All Regan could think about the entire way home was that dress. It had smacked her in the side of the face as if to announce itself to her. She wanted Chase to be impressed. A thought floated into Regan�s head that made her frown. Was that really what she wanted? It didn�t take much to impress Chase. Regan could fix her hair in a different way one day and Chase would compliment her. Truly stunning Chase was not a problem. Then why was she so interested in being a bombshell for this prom? She thought a couple of times over the course of her junior year that prom was overrated, even though she was on prom committee. Why was it such a big deal to her to look devastating? For real, Regan! What does it matter? Chase would think you looked great if you wore a white shirt and a plaid skirt to prom. No one you know outside of the junior and senior class is going to be there for you to really impress. What could it be? For some reason, Regan couldn�t shake the feeling that she was confused again. She had a good idea of how she felt for Chase now. He was someone special in her life, and always would be, but nothing more. It was simple. She loved him as a friend and liked him enough to date him casually. It would never go past that. She was sure that it was solved at her end. There was still some empty void there. Even though she had the love of all her friends and the undying admiration of Chase Walker, it could never fill the gap that was there. When the sky got dark and the winds turned cold, Regan felt the loneliness. Sitting at her window, staring up at the moon some nights, wondering when she would fall in love with someone like she had with Evan. As quickly, as lovingly, and as deeply. She would stare up at that moon and ask herself when she would get the chance to fill up the hole in her heart. Her day would come. She just didn�t know how far away it was. |
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