13: OFFICIAL KIND OF LOVE

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"I told Henry that our first official date would be a fancy dinner date," I say, staring at Charlotte, Fiona, Molly, and Vera, who are all sitting on my bed

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"I told Henry that our first official date would be a fancy dinner date," I say, staring at Charlotte, Fiona, Molly, and Vera, who are all sitting on my bed. Fiona has Vera on her lap, and she's nearly asleep. Vera and Fiona look like a mismatched pair, with Fiona in her darkest clothes yet and Vera in her Cocomelon onesie, but Vera loves her just the same. "The problem is that I don't own very fancy clothes."

I can feel the panic set in, but I don't want to show them that I am worried about this. Henry and I have been dating for a week, and I promised him that I would take him out to a nice place soon. Now that we're here, I realize that I actually don't want to go on this date with him. I'm not saying that I don't want to go out with him. All I'm saying is that I don't want to go out because I literally have no clothes to wear. It doesn't help that it terrifies me to take another step in our relationship.

"You're being overdramatic," Fiona says. Of course, she'd be the one to say that to me. Anger flashes through me, but deep down, I know she's right. "You have plenty of nice, goody-two-shoes clothes to wear on your fancy little date."

If it weren't for Vera sleeping on Fiona, I'd have her on the ground. I can feel my anger rising, so I take a deep breath, turning away from the girls. It's stressful enough that I don't have clothes to wear on my date. I don't need my sister ruining my entire mood because she's a brat.

Running a hand through my hair, I try to stop the anger from rising so fast. I'm still embarrassed about blowing up on Jasper when Ray's ex stopped by, and I don't want that to happen again in front of Charlotte and Vera. Instead, I clench my hands together, my fingernails digging into my skin. Feeling the pain distracts my head and heart from my bad feelings. 

"You know," Molly says, and I can hear a slight edge to her voice, "when you make fun of her like that, it's hard for her to like you, Fiona."

"Does it look like I care?"

I whirl around, my hair whipping behind me. Catching a sight of me in my mirror across the room, I don't even recognize the girl in reflection. She has a fiery glare in her eyes and an ugly look on her face. When did I become this angry girl? Maybe I've always been her, deep down. Maybe I'm always going to be that girl, the one who gets so angry so easily.

Deflating, I drop to the ground. Exhaustion rolls through my body, and the hardwood is, well, hard to sit on. My eyes flutter shut, and I scrub a hand across my face. "I just want my date to go well," I say into my hands. Time is slipping by, and my emotions are too out of control. It's bad that Charlotte's here to witness my decay. "That's why I asked you guys to be here, to help me pick out my clothes. I don't need your backtalk."

My bed creaks as someone slips off of it. I can hear the tip-tap of their shoes on the floor, which means it's Charlotte moving. She hasn't spoken much this entire evening, which isn't surprising because my sisters and niece are huge personalities by themselves. There's a tap on the top of my head, and I lift it up to see Charlotte giving me an encouraging grin, the only happy thing I've seen all evening.

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