Into the Light

35 Anna's POV

 "Ooooo, I think that's the one for tonight," Tara said, as I walked out of the dressing room, wearing the most current outfit that they had chosen. "Really?" I asked, pulling at the end of the dress. "Absolutely," Kat breathed, staring at me with wide eyes. "Here, look." She turned me towards the floor length mirror that was beside me. It was a white skater dress, that hugged my curves a little too much, in my opinion. "Here, try this," Tara said, as she wrapped her arms around my waist, and buckled a thin silver sequined belt. It somehow made the white brighter. The bodice of the dress was in a triangle, and the soft fabric circled my neck. There weren't any sleeves and the skirt fell maybe mid-thigh. There were thin lines of sparkly silver circling the fabric around my neck, and the bottom of the skirt. It was a gorgeous dress, and it wasn't nearly as short as the skirt that I had worn of Kat's. "Shoes," Tara said, and then disappeared from sight. "How did she do that?" I whispered, looking through the crowd for her. Katrina laughed. "She's magic. No, she's just so short that you can hardly ever find her in a crowd." "Here," Tara said, shoving a box at me. "Where did you come from?" I gasped. "Try them on! I had to wrestle them from this older lady. I don't know why she wants heels. She'd probably break a hip. Hurry up, so I can take more pics." "More pics?" I asked, dumbfounded. When had she taken any pics? I sat down in the chair that was outside the dressing room, and slid my feet into the shoes that she had given me. They were strappy sandals, with only a 2 inch heel. I wouldn't kill myself trying to dance! I silently thanked Tara and laced up the sides. The straps were alternating between white and silver, with silver going across my toes. "Pedicure is next. When was the last time you had one?" "A pedicure?" I asked, taking the shoes off. "Um, I'm not sure. It's been awhile." Obviously, in my first life, but I couldn't tell her that. "Okay, change, and we're going for mani pedi's. Pass us the dress when you get it off." "Yes ma'am," I responded, and ducked back inside the dressing room. After I stripped the dress off, I held it over the door for them to grab. "Great, we're going to go check this stuff out. Meet us at the front of the store." "Wait," I exclaimed. "What are you even buying?" I didn't hear an answer, so I knew that they had already left. "Damn, I didn't even really pick anything," I muttered. I would be happy with any of the things that I had tried on, but I hadn't actually picked which outfits I wanted. I sighed, pulled my sweats back on, and slipped the sneakers onto my feet. It would be nice to have my own clothes for a change, though and I had technically helped pick out most of the outfits. It didn't matter which ones they chose. They obviously knew today's style better than I did. I hurried out the door and up to the front of the store. Kat and Tara stood there with huge bags on each arm. "Wow, did you guys get something too?" I asked. They laughed and shook their heads. "Nope. This is all for you," Kat replied. "Oh no, I didn't need this much!" I exclaimed. Tara rolled her eyes. "Yes, you really did. And don't worry about the price. We used Colby's credit card." My stomach clenched and I started to chew my bottom lip. I had seen the price of that dress and some of the other items. They definitely weren't cheap. They weren't even expensive. They were outrageous! Colby was going to hate me. "Don't worry. Seriously. I've spent more on two outfits than you just did on seven. It's really not that bad," Kat said, when she noticed how worried I was. I took a deep breath and nodded. "If you say so," I murmured. "Are we ready to go?" Tara shook her head. "Absolutely not! Mani pedis, remember?! Come on!" Instead of getting it done at the mall, which is what I would have done, they found one a few miles away. "Why can't we just get it done here?" I asked, when we got into the car. "Because this one has great Yelp reviews. They're better," Kat replied. "Yeah, and we cannot have crap nails," Tara chimed in, then popped her gum. I was going to ask what a Yelp was, but I didn't want to seem more disconnected than I already was. They knew what they were talking about. I could see that from their current nails, so I just went with it. When Kat pulled up to the place, I had to admit that it looked really nice. Classy, even. The outside was done in black and purple, and had the word "Nails" scrawled across the front glass in neat script. There were none of the neon lights that I was used to seeing in a nail place. It was simple. I liked it. When we entered, the familiar smell of polish and acetone hit me in the face. A memory swam to the surface of my mind, of me, Holley, and my little sister. We had been on a girls day. We did the whole thing from going to the spa, to getting our nails done, to spending the last few hours on the beach. It had been a great day. When we finished with all the soaking and pampering, they sat me down at the nail desk. I picked out a pretty silver color, and asked for the little white roses from the art that they showed me. I got the same design on my toes. Kat and Tara picked out more vibrant colors, and much longer fingernails. There was no way that I would be able to do anything with nails that long. Holy Cow. It took a while before they were finished with us. It was almost dark by the time we walked back out to the car. A weird chiming sound came from Kat's purse, and I watched her dig out her phone and press her finger to it. "Hey baby," she said. "Hey," Sam's voice came through. "Where are you guys? We need to be getting ready soon. Wanna be at the club by 11, at least." She rolled her eyes. "Sam, that leaves us about 4 hours. That's plenty of time." His contagious laughter bubbled through the speaker.