The Quest for Fireworks

Cover Girl

"Another one?" Riley yells through the phone.
I didn't sleep over Corinne's last night but I was there past midnight. We did a lot of things I'd never done before and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel like a brand new woman today.
"It wasn't the same thing," I say, running a brush through my hair. "For one, I was sober. And she actually took care of me...multiple times."
Riley scoffs. "Lucky, guys don't even try to get you there once."
"You should be gay."
"Baby, you know I wish I could."
I chuckle as I throw on an old Paramore concert tee and hear my front door open. Riley struts into the bathroom seconds later. She has a key to my place and lets herself in often.
"Anyway, so you and Corinne are in love now?" She asks, leaning over and grabbing my YSL perfume. She sprays her neck and wrist before putting it back.
Riley looks like typical Riley; short black pleather skirt, flowy floral top. Her straight, blonde hair is shorter than I've ever seen it but it suits her. She has on her normal amount of makeup which is not a lot but she's naturally beautiful.
I roll my eyes at her and grab the perfume before her hand even leaves it. "Absolutely not," I say, spraying some on myself too. "It's not fireworks, it's just sex."
Riley knows about my quest for fireworks, I realized it when I talked to her about getting back out there after my breakup. She was asking me what I was looking for and I couldn't figure out a word for it. I told her how at the beginning of my last relationship, when it was good, it always felt like electricity when we were together and at the time I thought that was a good feeling. But electricity reminds me of lightning and how unstable it is and destructive it can be and ultimately, that's what I felt all along.
I want something more than that, something better. It just so happened that we were watching an episode of The Bachelorette and they were on a one on one date and fireworks lit up the sky at the end.
Riley looked at me with her eyebrows up and said, "Like fireworks?" And so the quest began.
"Damn," Riley says now, "still no fireworks."
I just shake my head and walk out to the living room to put my shoes on and grab my wallet and keys. "Ready?" I ask, turning around to see Riley in the kitchen with the pantry open.
She pulls out a pack of fruit snacks and slips them into her purse. "I am now."

After parking the car in a garage, we made our way to our favorite little boutique on 8th street. We've been here so often that the staff knows us by name and frequently put things aside for us that they think we'll like. In this place, we really feel like royalty.
Riley has on a strapless, blush pink cocktail dress that hangs just above her knees. This is the eighth dress she's tried on in the hour that we've been here.
"Too formal," I say, sitting in my favorite oversized chair by the dressing room. I chose the second outfit I tried on which is really no surprise. I hate trying things on so I only go for things that I know will look good on me.
I bought a pair of high waisted, black dress pants with an above the ankle hem, a red silk top and a matching blazer with quarter length sleeves.
"You're wearing a suit and this is too formal?" Riley asks, gesturing to the new outfit that I still have on.
I take a sip from the glass of champagne that I've been nursing. I'm a lightweight and the last thing I want to be doing is walking the streets of Philly toasted. "It's not a suit, weirdo."
She eyes me skeptically before stepping off the raised platform and walking back to the dressing room. "It's a suit."
Riley disappears behind the curtain and I decide to change back into the jeans and T-shirt I came here in. Lola, one of the employees, comes to take my new clothes and box them up appropriately for me.
By the time I finish the champagne, Riley steps out of the dressing room and struts up to the platform in front of the mirrors. This is the one. A skin tight, black dress that barely touches the middle of her thigh. The top is covered in iridescent gems that get smaller and smaller as they go down until they disappear around her waist.
"I don't know why I didn't just put this one on first," she says, admiring her reflection.
"Because trying on 75 outfits is your favorite part of going shopping," I say, dryly.
Riley smiles. "You're right. Lola, I'll take this one."
Lola nods and tells her the price and I'm so glad I wasn't taking a drink because I would've choked on it.
"It's for a special occasion, Ave," Riley says when she sees my shocked face.
"It's just my birthday, 26th at that. We can go all out for my 30th or your 30th since it comes first."
"Every birthday is special," she says, stepping down and disappearing behind the curtain again.
My heart swells at her words as I remember my birthday last year. I was alone, eating Chinese food. My mom called me but living in Florida, I couldn't actually see her. My partner had moved out two weeks earlier and I was struggling to keep myself afloat, emotionally and financially. I spent months after that rebuilding myself from the ground up. I moved to a new apartment, started focusing on my career and here I am now, a year later. The best version of myself yet.
I stand with Riley at the counter as she pays for her too expensive dress. I'm thinking about food when I feel my phone start to vibrate.
I pull it out and my heart stops when I see the name.
"Why is she calling me?"
Riley peers over my shoulder to see the caller ID. "Want me to answer it?" She asks, eyebrows raised.
I wave a hand at her and take two steps away. "Hello?"
"Where are you right now?" Dakota asks, clearly outside somewhere and possibly tipsy. I open my mouth to answer but she cuts me off. "Nevermind, I checked your location. Come over to South Street."
She did what? The two parts of my brain start battling. The irrational side is trying to convince me that it's cute and not at all stalkerish like the rational side thinks.
"For what?" Is all that finally comes out of my mouth.
"Uh dinner? Drinks? I'm with Jordan."
Jordan, her best friend. I've never met him but we follow each other on Instagram somehow so I know who he is.
"Then be with Jordan?" I say, making my confusion evident in my voice. "Why do you need me?"
I hear her dramatically sigh. "I just thought since you were close you'd want to hang out."
"I'm with Riley," I say, a few notches softer. Riley and Dakota aren't each other's cup of tea and they both know it.
"I figured as much, you guys are attached at the hip. She can come too, I guess," she says with a curt laugh.
I pull the phone away from my ear and turn to Riley. "She wants us to walk over to South Street."
"For what?" She asks, not bothering to hide her disdain.
"Dinner or drinks, I guess. She's with Jordan."
"Jordan?"
"Her best friend, he's cute." As I say the words, I let my memory show me flashes of him from what I've seen online. He is cute, really cute, from what I remember and I'm suddenly nervous for more than one reason.
Riley looks at me skeptically. "I don't think it's a good idea but it's your birthday weekend so if you want to go, I'll go."
I put the phone back to my ear and take a deep breath, still unsure of what I'm going to say until I open my mouth and hear myself say, "Fine, where should we meet you?"