The Quarterback, Outcast and Me ✔

Chapter Seventeen - Playing Dress-Up - Part One

It was Thursday afternoon, and Carrie, who was on a hunt for the perfect Halloween costume, was dragging me in and out of shops. After the fourth store my feet were starting to complain about abuse. I was trailing behind Carrie as she strolled purposely into a store called 'Tricks and Treats'.

I'd gotten about two feet into the store when I stopped, realizing just what kind of store this was; lingerie.

"I think we're in the wrong place Care." Carrie turned around and smirked at me.

"Oh no, we never agreed on no slutty costumes missy."

I raked my brain for any possible reasons for why she could be wrong, but I couldn't. Curse me for not making a costume contract with her.

 "Ooh this is so pretty, and sexy," Carrie said, holding up a pale blue corset with white laces around the edges.

"Yeah, however I don't think that the school will allow porn wannabees into the dance," I retorted, scrunching up my nose at the sight of the petite costume. My eyes raked over the hangers filled with different colored bras and matching skimpy panties, corsets and other kinds of lingerie I didn't even know the name of. 

It had been nearly two hours and I was still empty handed. I didn't know what I wanted to wear, but also I wasn't sure if I even wanted to go. Caleb's face popped into my head and I kept imagining him in a costume that was compatible with mine. Had I really turned into such a sad excuse for a human being? Had it all come down to 'if Caleb's not going then I'm not going' crap? 

"Can we go soon? I don't think we're going to find anything today," I said. Carrie turned with a gloomy pout on her face. She put back the couple of skimpy outfits on their hangers and returned to me, empty-handed.

"Fine, I suppose you're right," she said, and I knew she was making her voice as sad as possible, to get to me. It didn't, it simply made my eyes go for a round in their sockets.

As we exited the mall, Carrie's mood suddenly seemed to lighten and it didn't take long for me to find out why.

"Chloe! We should ask Jace if he wants to take us into Charlotte this weekend, to look for more costumes." Her beaming smile was in stark contrast to my sullen grimace. She sighed and grabbed my arm.

"Oh come on, no harm ever came from asking. Worst case is that he says no."

"Wrong. Worst case would be he said yes and then assume I actually want to spend time with him." Carrie glared at me.

"You're living with the hottest guy in school and you act like you hate it more than you hate Brussels sprouts. You're treating him like a Brussels sprout!" I had to give it to her; she almost looked genuinely hurt.

And she was wrong about me living with the hottest guy in school - Jace was only second hottest compared to Caleb. How anyone couldn't see past his hostility was beyond me. No one ever bothered to actually try hard at something when other things were much easier to get access to. Not that I meant Jace was hot, I mean come on, ew. I sighed internally; who was I kidding, Jace was hot and everyone knew that.

"Just ask him, alright?" Carrie was giving me her best puppy-dog expression, pouty lips and all. It was impossible not to give in to her begging. It was an evil circle; one I knew I couldn't get out of. 

"Ugh, fine, I'll ask him when I get home," I groaned as we stepped outside on the street. The sunlight had me scrunching up my eyes. "Why can't we just go by ourselves?" I asked as we turned the corner and headed for my car, Minnie. Technically she wasn't mine, yet, but I hoped it would be passed down to me after the wedding.