↶Chapter 3
~CHAPTER FOUR~
Saturday. It is my second favorite day of the week. Sunday is my favorite because it is a day for rest. Saturday, though, comes close second. I graduated from university last year, so for me it is another free day off from responsibility. It is a day to let loose and feel free.
Olivia turns up at my house, super early just how she likes to be. She typically starts her days at six in the morning because she hates to waste the day. I am the complete opposite and any plausible chance to sleep is gracefully accepted. I am not lazy, maybe I am just a little spoiled. Olivia turned up at my house this morning, after blowing up my phone because I was still asleep.
Twenty-four missed calls, I am being honest.
She turned up with a bare face and her hair all tied up in curl rollers. Despite having to call me so many times to wake me up from my slumber, when I finally opened the front door for her, she stared at me with big bright eyes and a massive grin on her face.
"Partttttyyy tonight!" She yells out in excitement.
I roll my eyes at her and consider closing the door and heading back to bed. Oh yes, I really love my sleep.
Instead, I took a cold shower, and we sat in my bedroom playing a jazzy hip-hop playlist through my speakers.
"Well, should we get ready now or after shopping?" She asks in that sing song voice of hers.
"Now?" I reply unsurely.
"No, Verona! If I do my makeup now, I will have to reapply it because it won't be fresh, and I will look like a caked up caramel muffin." She whines childishly.
I wonder why she even asks me sometimes.
"You're so lucky. You obviously have a normal skin type. Mine is so oily and I get pimples so easily," she continues moaning, checking out her pores in the mirror of my vanity dresser.
"Let's hurry up and go to The Hill otherwise we'll never have time to find something to wear for both parties," I speak.
I know how Olivia likes to spend hours in shopping malls. I try to avoid going with her because I know she only ends up spending more money than she should. She nods her head with excitement, and we make our way down my winding staircase.
"Let’s take my car today?" I suggest.
"Good idea, I can buy a new lipstick with the money I save on petrol," she replies.
"Olivia, you know you'll still have to buy the petrol eventually, right?" I laugh.
"It makes perfect sense to me," she says, bobbing her head and smiles sweetly.
We get in my car, and I play some music. I roll the windows down just a little as it is not raining today; the forecast said it would be a bright overcast tomorrow too, which is great. Seattle might achieved another B.O. I'll proud of us. It is practically always raining here in Seattle, and I think that's why we all have freezing depositions. We get large bouts of sunshine, and you would think that would be enough to warm us up around the edges, but it really does not. So, it is just how we Seattleites are.
I drive Olivia and I to Capitol Hill and we reach Broadway market. Olivia spent the whole twenty-minute drive singing along to my music, which usually annoys me but today it is uplifting.
Tonight, we will party like no other.
Chris has already texted the address for tonight to us all in the group chat, his girlfriend, who he tells us is called Larissa, lives in an apartment in Seattle's Chinatown district. Atticus sent me a direct message informing me he is the D.D for the night (Designated Driver) and he will pick Olivia and I up around seven. It looks like tonight is going to be a good night.
Olivia rushes around the mall like a kid in a candy store. It is a little busy today and I keep worrying I will lose her. She still has her curl rollers in, so it is not hard to spot her out from the bright pink pieces in her hair. She reaches her favorite store and waits to look back at me before entering.
"Hurry up slowpoke!" She calls out to me, clapping her hands together.
Once I reach her, she grabs me by my hand and pulls me in. The store is a little quieter compared to the halls and I begin to relax a little. The store is super edgy, made completely out of concrete, the clothes are displayed on racks. It has an escalator to get to a second floor for shoes and accessories. I hope she will find everything she needs in this one store, because her hair and makeup takes hours. I know we have got about another five stores lined up ahead of us; Olivia has a lot of favorites.
She looks at the clothes on the racks and asks me for opinion for almost everything she picks up. I forgot that I was supposed to be looking for my own outfits too so after a gentle nag from Olivia, I start looking through also.
Within five minutes, I have already found my outfit for the night. I choose a tight, velvet black dress with sleeves that start from below the shoulders. It is a little short, but I think I will wear some thick grey thigh high socks with it. I told Olivia I would be wearing them with some sneakers, and she is not having it.
"How can you wear a dress with sneaks?" She groans in a grossed out tone.
"It's just my style," I explain.
"Oh, Verona. Wear something heeled just for me!" She complains, looking up to the right so that her eyelashes press against her rounded brows.
She is like a mother sometimes who is trying to train the next beauty pageant star. In a way, I was hoping she would give me that gentle push though. I have been wanting to go out of my comfort zone recently, but I am lacking in confidence to execute it by myself. We head to the escalators and make our way up to look at the shoes and accessories. Olivia has taken my dress to put in her basket, which is already quite filled. I should have got my own. By the time I have picked out a pair of leather look black heeled boots, Olivia has already picked out two pairs for herself as well as a new set of earrings and a rouge lipstick which I am sure she already bought the last time we were here. I really hope this is the only store we will be looking in.
Except, there is no hope. Once we have paid for our things and exited the store, Olivia's already on a mission to head to the next.
"Olivia you've already bought quite a lot," I try to reason with her.
"And you've only bought an outfit for tonight! Come on, Verona, you will love this store!" She protests.
I roll my eyes at her, and she takes my hand again to guide me to the next store. It is a completely different vibe to the last, less grunge, more sleek and feminine.
"I wanted to get my birthday dress from here," she says.
She looks around intently and delicately strokes the expensive looking fabrics of all the dresses she likes the look of.
"Can I pick a dress for you?" She asks me, staring at me with big puppy dog eyes.
I waver in my thought for a moment as I decide whether I should let her or not. Our styles are completely different, but I do like the way she dresses.
"Okay then," I agree.
She moves along the rack of dresses and pulls out a dress on its hanger to show me.
"It's a little expensive," she says sweetly. "Buy it… please? You can wear it again,” she bats her eyelashes dramatically.
I look at the dress up and down; it has a plunge neckline and pulls in at the waist, its embellished, mostly metallic gold with silver black, green, and pink features. It is beautiful.
"Okay, it is kind of gorgeous." I agree.
I understand why Olivia likes to shop when I look at this dress. She delicately hands it over to me, like its fine China that needs to be handled with care. I look at the label that hangs off it, it's on sale, down from two hundred dollars to one hundred fifty. Okay, that is some slight damage, but she is right, I can wear it again.
Oh God, I hope she does not turn me into a retail addict.
"Well, what are you wearing for your birthday?" I ask her, trying not to think too much about how much I am about to spend.
She giggles and rushes to the checkout desk and turns back to stick her tongue out at me.
"I've already got it! I looked online before we came and decided it would be perfect for you!" She tells me.
The cheek of her! But she is right, this dress is dreamy.
I pay for the dress, and we leave the mall and get into my car. Olivia sings all the way home again and she looks ecstatic with all the things she got. Somehow, we spent the same price this time and I am proud of her. Still, that shopping trip took two hours!
Sacreligious.
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Glossary
B.O - Seattle slang for three days without rain.
