Loving A Deformity

Chapter Six

Friday came. Kate took Cera and Kiley out shopping and felt excited because she never got to do this before with her daughter. Cera was a more conservative and reserved type in the sense she didn't go out much and didn't like showing skin (meaning her legs in a skin tight, cleavage exposing dress that showed her hourglass figure). Sure, you may ask, "why not just get a dress that stopped at the ankles?" The problem was, she is shorter than average and has a hard time holding the extra long dress above her feet so she doesn't trip. Hemming or cutting a couple inches has never worked out, therefore, she basically gave up wearing pretty dresses. But this time, she decided she was going to try again.

Cera was first in the dress store and excitedly looked around for dresses in her size. Kiley looked around but her mind was other places. They looked around and even tried on a few dresses but no luck.
"Kiley!" Cera got her attention and showed her two dresses. One, Kate held up and the other, Cera held against her own body. Kate showed a long flowing purple dress that had one strap and a corset like back. Cera had a green strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline. The skirt of it was knee length in the front but longer in the back. They were perfect. "What do you think?" She giggled. Kiley walked up and took the purple dress.
"Let's try them on." Kiley smiled and they went to the dressing room. Kiley got hers fully on just as Cera walked up.
"Could you zip me up?" She groaned.
"Sure." Kiley said monotoned. There was a second of quiet as she zipped the dress and decided to tie the ribbon on the back.
"Alec is going to think you're besutiful. It'll be hard for him to control himself around you. Maybe it's good were going in at separate times." Cera joked, feeling Kiley was down.
"Yeah." Kiley dismissed. After she was done, Cera looked at her.
"Are you okay? You've been acting weird."
"I'm fine." Kiley went to walk away but Cera stepped in front of her.
"Kiley, I'm your best friend. I know you better than anyone. Something's wrong. What is it?" She demanded.
"It's stupid."
"I'm not moving till you tell me." Cera said. Kiley thought about it and sighed.
"I'm worried."
"About what?"
"About Alec... and you..."
"What about Alec and I?" Cera pressed. Kiley looked away, ashamed.
"I told you it was stupid." Kiley whispered.
"Kiley!"
"I'm afraid you two like each other! I'm afraid you'll get together and leave me." She admitted.
"Kiley... that's not going to happen. We're friends now but it's not going beyond that. We settled our differences largely for your sake. We both love you very much and would never hurt you. You understand? We aren't interested in each other beyond our friendship- I can promise you that." Cera said. Kiley nodded. "Are we okay, now?" She nodded again. "Okay. Let's go show off our dresses to my mom." She smiled and walked with Kiley out to show Kate how they looked.

***

On Wednesday, Cera and Alec studied alone together in a quiet house. Her parents were out at a movie. They also said they were getting groceries. Cera couldn't stop thinking about Kiley. Why did she fear that so much? Cera has never expressed romantic interest in anyone since they became friends. Besides, Alec wouldn't cheat on her. He was a jerk but Cera couldn't recall a time where he lied or cheated during the whole time they've known each other.
"Something bothering you?" Alec snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Uh... not me, really. It's Kiley. I'm worried about her."
"What happened?"
"Well... you noticed her acting weird, right?"
"Yeah. She acts a bit cold to me, randomly. Other times, like at lunch or last week when we were studying, she kept wanting me close. I can't seem to figure out what's wrong and you know she won't tell me."
"She told me." Cera sighed.
"Well, what is it?"
"She's..." Cera cringed, not wanting to see his reaction. She had zero interest in him but it still hurt when someone blows you off. "She's worried we like each other... too much." Cera explained.
"Oh, I see." Alec paused. "You told her we're friends, right? I wouldn't cheat and I would never try to hurt her."
"Yeah, I told her all that." She nodded, suprised by his response. She expected him to be more disgusted by the suggestion, considering the situation, but he didn't seem like it. "I told her we both love her and that she was one of the main reasons we decided to settle our differences. Besides, I'm happy for the both of you and I love that we're all getting along. I wouldn't try to mess that up."
"Agreed." Alec said.
"I guess we should be extra sensitive towards her though until she's fully comfortable with our friendship."
"How long do you think that'll take?"
"A couple months, I'm guessing. Maybe you could just be more affectionate towards her and I can just avoid talking about you? Maybe we can even change our study day so she can come over more frequently? What do you think?"
"Sounds like a plan. Speaking of, I'm getting Kiley a corsage. What's her dress color?" Cera told him the shade. "Oh, and the guys wanted to get you one so mind telling me yours?" He grinned. Cera told him and they went back to work.