"Can I open my eyes now? I'm getting anxious," I begged as Ryder held his hand over my eyes, guiding me like a blind person.

"Oh my god, how many times have you asked that already? Fifteen?"

"Uh...only twice," I replied while stumbling over what felt like a chair.

"Huh. Seems like fifteen," Ryder said as he caught me from completely falling over the wooden object.

After a few more steps, Ryder finally said "ok, are you ready for your surprise?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" I cheered.

His hand fell from my eyes, and what I saw in front me made me gasp in astonishment.

"Ryder...you did this for me?"

Inside the guest bedroom of his house (aka my new room) were bright red roses without stems placed in an order that spelled out the word 'prom?'. The light bulbs in the room were replaced with purple ones, changing the light of the room to a dark, seductive purple. I didn't even want to step into the room because it looked like a painting that was still wet so if you touched it, it would get ruined. I didn't want to ruin what he did for me.

"Of course I did this for you. I want to take you to prom."

"When is prom?"

"Next week. Didn't you see the signs all over school?" Ryder asked me.

Next week? I don't have a dress yet!!!

"No I guess I didn't," I replied in shame.

"Don't worry," he kissed my cheek. "We will get you a dress before then," he reassured me, as if he read my mind.

"It's beautiful, Ryder. Thank you."

"Wait. You didn't see the best part yet." Ryder whistled then shouted, "come out boy!"

From behind the bed, appeared a golden retriever holding a red heart-shaped box of chocolates. He walked up and sat behind the roses spelling 'prom', his tail wagging happily.

"Holy...AHHHHHH!!!" I squealed in excitement, shock and happiness. "Finn! I can't believe you...Ryder I'm gonna cry! This is amazing," I hugged him as tightly as I could.

Ryder patted my back. "Autumn, I can't breathe."

I didn't let go.

He chuckled, "ok I'll just pass out it's fine. Damn you're strong."

If you don't remember, Finn is the golden retriever I automatically fell in love with at the pet shelter that I wanted to rescue, but I had no place for him in my abusive household.

When I was done suffocating Ryder with my hug, I ran up to Finn and hugged him.

"I've missed you!" I said while petting his back. He dropped the boxes of chocolates and attacked my face with kisses.

"Hey, hey, hey," Ryder walked over to us, pulling Finn away from my face. "That face is mine to kiss."

"You're jealous over a dog?" Ah, this boy.

"Uh, duh! Did you see how much he was kissing you?"

"Ryder," I rolled my eyes then kissed him, "you're crazy."

We laughed then he said "you still haven't answered my question."

"What questi- ohhh," I remembered as I looked down at the roses. "Of course I'll go with you. A million times yes."

"But I also have a question for you," I told him.

"Ask away, princess."

"How did you remember I really liked Finn? That was such a long time ago. It was even when you 'acted' like you hated me?"

Ryder looked up in awe, as if replaying a flashback in his head. "I remember when we went to the pet shelter for the first time and you saw Finn. I remember how much you loved him from the very first second you saw him. You two have a connection. I mean damn, even I felt the connection between you two."

Then he looked back at me, his eyes sparkling. "The reason I remembered is because I paid attention to everything you did. You intrigued me and still do. Of course I paid attention, I always have."

Ryder raked his fingers through Finn's thick, golden fur. "The look in your eyes that day, I knew you wanted him. So because I'm the perfect boyfriend," Ryder flipped his hair like a diva, "I rescued him. For you."

I still can't believe he remembers that day. I remember seeing him watch me as I stared at Finn. I remember seeing an emotion flicker in Ryder's eyes as he watched me that day.

I looked into Ryder's eyes. When he smiled I felt my heart squeeze and beat rapidly.

Have you ever felt a squeeze in your heart? It's not the type of squeeze you get after you run a race and you feel like you're about to faint, or that squeeze you feel when someone close to you says the most hurtful thing. It was the squeeze of feeling overwhelmed by something so great, so amazing, that it finds a way into your heart. It was a squeeze of realization that this boy cared so deeply about me.

I know what you're thinking: this is just some typical promposal, how could you feel like that about something like this? It's not THAT great.

But it is. It really is that great because no matter what it is, even the smallest of gestures, Ryder has a way of warming my heart every damn time. But this time it felt like an entire field of flowers bloomed in my chest. Maybe because I never realized how much he paid attention to the smallest things – the things everyone who didn't watch would forget or not see clear enough.

Ryder leaned in to kiss me, but not realizing he was, I squealed like a fan girl and wrapped my arms around the fluffy animal. "I can't believe I have a dog! Holy shit, this is the best present in the whole world- no, best present in the whole universe!!"

Unwrapping my arms from Finn, I wrapped my arms tightly around Ryder's neck and sat on his lap. "I love you, I love you, I love you!!!"

He pecked a quick kiss on my cheek. "I love you t- oof!"

Whimpering because he no longer had the attention, Finn decided to jump on top of Ryder and I, pushing us to the floor. Once ontop of us, Finn began to lick our faces with his slobbery, wet tongue. Giggles of joy escaped my mouth while girly shrieks escaped Ryder's.

For some reason, Ryder thought rolling away from us would help him escape from Finn. As he rolled away, he crushed the neatly placed roses, making his masterpiece turn into a disaster-piece. He didn't even notice until he stood up, looked down, and saw the crushed roses and petals scattered around.

Once Finn realized Ryder's sneaky escape, he got off of me — which allowed me to finally breathe, thank god — and charged toward Ryder.

I swear Ryder looked exactly like a scared cat when Finn toppled him. And just like that, Ryder was back on the floor being smothered by Finn's loving kisses.

I shook my head and smiled. Looks like I gotta train him before he meets the neighbors or else he will be doing this to them...yikes!!

***

"What dress are you going to buy?" Taylor asked me as she picked out a ruffled dark purple dress from a hanger. Prom is in a week so we decided to go dress shopping just a couple hours after Ryder asked me to prom.

"I don't know," I replied as I walked out of the dressing room. The dress I was wearing was a long, sparkly black dress that fit the curves on my body then flowed outwards at the knees.

Grace and Taylor stared at me wide-eyed.

"Holy shit, Autumn. You have to buy that dress. It's the perfect one!" Taylor said as she gawked at me. Not going to lie, I felt really beautiful wearing that dress and at her comment.

"Wheres Lila and Ruby? I thought they were coming?" I asked, twirling in my dress.

"They are hanging out...alone," Grace wiggled her eyebrows.

I've been M.I.A with Ryder for so long, I didn't even know Lila and Ruby started dating. I always knew they had a thing for each other, but I never knew they would start dating. Huh, good for them.

"Ohhh, I wonder what they're up to," Taylor said with a sly smirk.

"Probably Netflix and chill; but forget the Netflix and chill part and replace it with hooking up. Or ya know they are probably whale watching."

Taylor and I looked at her with a straight face.

"Bitch who the hell goes whale watching at this hour? Plus, we're no where near an ocean. So where could they whale watch...the pool?" Taylor commented at Grace's lame idea of a date.

I nodded, "yeah, what Tay said. But honestly...whale watching? That's the best you could think of?"

Grace shrugged while grabbing a short, dark red dress from a hanger. "I've always wanted to go whale watching. Sounds fun."

Taylor scoffed. "Pfft. You must be fun on dates."

"Shut up, Taylor. At least I have a boyfriend," Grace winked and Taylor rolled her eyes.

Taylor opened her mouth to bicker back at Grace, but the sound of a bell as the door opened to the shop made all three of us turn.

Standing in the doorway stood Heather Valentine and a two of her minions.

Her outfit screamed rich, boujee and classy, and I would've believed she was high-class if I never saw the home life behind that evilish face.

At school whenever we walked past eachother in the halls and made eye contact, she would give me these death glares that were made to frighten me. But when her eyes met mine, a sparkle of friendliness bedazzled and glowed in the forest green of her eyes.

There's no way that's Heather. If it really was her, then she would have the biggest resting bitch face look planted on her face.

Her glossy pink lips curled into a smile.

Yup, definetly not her. She doesn't smile.

"Autumn, Grace, Taylor, hey guys! I haven't seen you in a while. The last time I saw you was what...last day of school before winter break? Wow, time flies. How are you guys?"

Me and my two friends blinked in shock. This is definetly not the Heather I know and loath.

Wait...am I dreaming?

I looked down at my hands and counted ten fingers. Then I looked around the store to see a poster with words on it that I could clearly read. I heard once that you can't read in your dreams.

No extra fingers and I can read, so I must be awake.

"Uh we're good...thanks. How are you, Heather?" Grace replied with manners, even though I noticed the fierce attitude threatening to announce itself.

"I'm great, thanks for asking." Heather smiled wide, the dimples on her cheeks becoming visible. The smile she had looked like she was trying so hard to smile – like it was really forced.

Then I realized. This is all an illusion to hide the bitch she really is. She's trying to trick us into...wait why would she be tricking us?

"Whatcha thinking about?" Heather asked me when she noticed I was looking into the distance as if in a trance.

"Huh? Oh-'' I gasped at how close she came to me. Ever heard of personal space, buddy?

"So what brings you here?" I asked while taking a foot of a step back.

"Well duh, silly," she nudged my arm in a 'friendly' way. "I'm here because-''

I dusted off the shoulder she touched, pretending her fingers left dirt. I did this to see her reaction, to call her out on her fake act. "Don't touch me...please." I almost forgot to say please at the end. I have to be polite of course.

But Heather didn't even glare or frown at my action and comment. Usually she does but she didn't this time. Instead, she nodded apologetically and slyly smiled. "I'm so sorry. I should not have done that-''

When Heather finally took notice of my dress, her words got stuck in the back of her throat. "Y-Your dress is breath-taking, Autumn. I'm in love with it. Are there any others? Maybe in different colors?"

"No, sorry. This is the only one in the store," one of the workers said as she passed by us.

Heather pouted her bottom lip. "Aww. What a shame. We could've been matching."

I lifted my eyebrow. What the hell did she just say to me? We could be matching? I'm sorry, who asked her to approach my friends and I? In fact, who even asked her to come inside this shop? I want names.

Her act was getting faker and faker by the second.

After a awkward silence, Heather finally spoke. "Well guys it was nice seeing you."

"You too, Heather..." Taylor, Grace and I said in sync. We were all still confused as to Heather's odd behavior.

After they left us alone, I took off my dress and told the cashier that I would pick up it up the day of prom. It was more convenient to leave it at the store because I didn't want Ryder seeing my dress yet.

But the whole time we stayed at the dress shop, Heather and her minions stood in the back of the store snickering and whispering, waiting until we left.

Why would she stay and watch us after she said goodbye? She didn't even try on dresses after she left us alone, she just watched us.

Hm, weird.