His Saving Grace

Chapter Twenty Nine

We stayed longer than we had planned, and after two long, exhausting weeks of trying to convince Arianna to come home, we headed back to Tempe without her--and just in time for prom. Prom was the following night, and I was so drained that I ended up sleeping on the living room floor of the boy's house beside Garrett the moment we reached the house. I was woken up by Alahna, and with her I was surrounded by the boys and Trey and Bianca, who peeked at me with curious eyes.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Alahna asked. "With Garrett?"

They all smirked. I sat up, irritated. The minds of these people. They moved away to make room for me.

"Aww, Katie can no longer take a joke?" Kennedy teased. I realized that Garrett was gone and was probably taking a shower.

"Was I supposed to laugh?" I said sarcastically, sniffing at my shirt and wincing. I smelled terrible. I rummaged for a new set of clothes in my duffel bag and left them downstairs.

As I stood underneath the shower, staring thoughtfully at a bar of soap, I realized that I wasn't prepared for prom, and it was tonight. I didn't have a dress, or shoes, or whatever it is you should worry about when you went to prom. I wasn't sure if Garrett was ready, either, but knowing him? You wouldn't really know what to expect.

I ran down the stairs, my wet hair sending droplets everywhere, and found the rest of them seated around the TV. I dragged Alahna out of her place and gave Trey an apologetic look.

"Prom's tonight, right?" I whispered.

"Yeah, why?" Alahna whispered back.

"I don't have anything to wear," I said.

She looked at me, as if trying to process what I said. "Oh, right. We'll take you shopping, then. I'll bring everyone except for Garrett," she said, winking at me.

Oh no.

~~

The mall. We were walking aimlessly through the mall, following Alahna through many escalators and floors. When we'd ask her what she was looking for, she just shushed us, and concentrated on the floor plan of the mall she printed out before we left. We had never been to said mall before, and I didn't know the name of the place, but Alahna insisted that the best dresses were in this mall--we just had to find out where that certain place was.

"Where's Garrett?" Kennedy asked.

"At home," I said.

"Why didn't you bring him along?" Kennedy asked.

"Well, duh, we want to surprise him," Bianca said, rolling her eyes.

"Why?"

"Because," Bianca said. "Katie's going to look stunning in her new dress, and a little suspense won't kill him, would it?"

I choked on the fruit shake I was drinking.

"Ohh, someone's flattered."

"I am not," I said defensively, wiping my mouth with my handkerchief.

"Did I say it was you?" Kennedy said, sticking his tongue out.

I kicked his leg. Bianca shot me a look, looping her arm around Kennedy. I raised an eyebrow, but she flipped me off.

"Are we there yet?" Pat whined after we got off another escalator.

"Yup," Alahna said, stopping abruptly, making everyone bump into her. 

The store was huge. And by huge I mean really huge. It took up the whole left side of the fourth floor of the mall, and racks and racks of dresses stood side by side, or hung on the wall,  or on faceless mannequins. On one side of the store there were shoes, purses, shawls and scarves, hats, jewelry, and things of that nature.