The shop was downtown, occupying an old row house. Ash’s pert little nose wrinkled as her heels touched the gravel we parked on. “I know it looks less than savory from the outside, but it’s really not bad. They have cool dresses.”
Lesa studied the old brick building, doubtful. “Are you sure?”
Sashaying past her, Ash cast a mischievous grin over her shoulder. “When it comes to clothing, I’ll never steer you wrong.” Then she frowned and reached out, flicking green-painted nails along Lesa’s shirt. “We need to go shopping one day.”
Lesa’s mouth dropped open as Ash spun and headed toward the back door that bore an OPEN sign written in elegant calligraphy.
“I’m going to hit her,” Lesa said under her breath. “You just watch. I’m gonna break that pretty nose of hers.”
“I’d try to resist that urge if I were you.”
She smirked. “I could take her.”
Ah, no, she couldn’t.
Finding dresses didn’t take very long. Ash went with one that barely covered her ass, and I found a really great red dress I just knew Daemon would go gaga for. Afterward, we headed to Smoke Hole Diner.
Going out to eat with Lesa felt good, and Dee being there was like the proverbial icing on the cake. Ash? I wasn’t so sure about that part.
I ordered a hamburger while Ash and Dee ordered practically everything on the menu. Lesa went with a grilled cheese sandwich and something I found entirely gross. “I don’t know why you drink cold coffee. You can just get regular coffee and let it grow cold.”
“So not the same,” Dee answered as the waitress put our sodas down. “Tell them, Ash.”
The blonde Luxen peered up from ridiculously long eyelashes. “Chilled coffee is more sophisticated.”
I made a face. “I’ll be uncivilized with my warm coffee.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Ash arched a brow and then turned her attention back to her cellphone.
Sticking my tongue at her, I smothered a giggle when Lesa elbowed me. “I still think I should’ve gotten the transparent wings for my dress.”
Dee smiled. “They were cute.”
I nodded, thinking Daemon would’ve loved them.
Lesa tugged her curls out of her face. “You guys are lucky you found dresses on this short notice.”
Since her and Chad had made plans to go like ordinary people months ago, she had gotten her dress from some shop in Virginia. She had gone mostly along for the ride.
As conversation picked up and Dee started talking about her dress, I sat back against the booth. Sadness trickled through me, followed by bittersweet memories. I thought I’d known Carissa, but I really hadn’t. Had she known a Luxen? Or had she been picked up by Daedalus and used? Months had passed and there had been no answers; the only reminder was the piece of opal I had discovered under my bed.
Some days I’d felt nothing but anger, but today, I let it slip off my shoulders with a deep breath. What had become of Carissa couldn’t tarnish her memory forever.
Ash smiled. “I’m thinking my dress will be a hit.”
Lesa sighed. “I don’t know why you don’t just go naked. That little black dress you found is little and nothing else.”
“Don’t tempt her,” Dee said, grinning as our food was delivered to the table.
“Naked?” Ash scuffed. “These goods aren’t showed off for free.”
“Surprising,” Lesa muttered under her breath.
It was my turn to elbow her.
“So, are you going to the prom with anyone?” Lesa asked, ignoring me as she waved her grilled cheese sandwich at Dee. “Or are you going solo?”
Dee shrugged one shoulder. “I wasn’t going to go, you know, because of… Adam, but it’s my last year, so… I wanted to go.” There was a pause as she pushed her chicken tender around her basket. “I’m going with Andrew.”
I almost choked on my bun. Lesa gaped. We stared at her.
Her brows rose. “What?”
“You’re not…like, going out with Andrew, are you?” Lesa’s cheeks flamed—Lesa’s. “I mean, if you are, cool and what not.”
Dee laughed. “No—God, no. That would be way too weird for the both of us. We’re friends.”
“Andrew’s a douche,” Lesa said what I was thinking.
Ash snorted. “Andrew has taste. Of course you would think he’s a douche.”
“Andrew has changed a lot. He was there for me and vice versa.” And Dee was right. Andrew had simmered down a bit. Everyone had changed. “We’re just going as friends.”
Thank God, because even though I didn’t want to judge, Dee hooking up with Adam’s brother would be way too weird. And then Ash dropped the bomb of all bombs as I munched on a thick french fry. “I have a date,” she said.
I think I might’ve developed a hearing problem. “With who?”
One delicate eyebrow arched. “No one you would know.”
“Is he…” I caught myself. “Is he from around here?”
Dee bit down on her lip. “He’s a freshman at Frostburg. She met him at the mall in Cumberland a few weeks back.”
But that didn’t answer the question burning to be asked. Was he human? Dee must’ve read what I was dying to know in my eyes, because she nodded and grinned.
I almost dropped my soda.
Holy country roads take me home, because this was an alternate reality if Ash was going to prom with a human—a subpar, ordinary old human.