Ruby red satin shines in the dressing room light as I pose to the left and then to the right. It clashes a little with the pale pink that I painted my nails earlier but they can be erased; they're messy anyways.

When I arrived at Zack's house a few hours ago, I brought my favorite- and only- nail polish with me. After messing up my own nails multiple times, forcing Zack to let me paint his, and chasing Tommy around with a nail polish brush, his mom came from work early so I painted her nails too.

And now here I am, dress shopping for winter formal with my boyfriend and his mom. It's surreal.

It's nice.

"Hurry up and let me see," Zack calls impatiently from outside of the dressing room and I hear Carrie scold him in response. Since we got to the dress shop, the associate women have gone gaga over Zack. They've pulled about 300 of their "best dresses" for me to try on but none even compare to this one.

"I want it to be a surprise. Go look at jewelry or something," I call back. He sighs heavily but I hear the footsteps as he leaves obediently. Once I'm sure he's gone, I open the curtains and Carrie lets out a gasp.

"Oh, Amelia," she gushes. "That looks beautiful on you!" A smile overtakes my whole face. After her reaction, I know this is the dress.

"Thank you. For everything. Being here," I say.

"Of course! I have boys so I don't get to do this kind of thing a lot, you know." She looks around swiftly before adding, "Zack's never brought a girl home before. I can tell he really likes you." Softly, she takes my hand in hers. "Treat him well, okay?"

Her eyes are wide and earnest, and I finally myself nodding. "I will," I promise. My hand wraps back around hers and her eyes crease into a smile.

She insists on buying me the dress, which makes me feel the guilt of the world, but also has me wondering if this is what it would be like to shop with my mom.

A/N: Sorry that this is so short. There will be a longer update on Friday. I know that I said that I would just update on Fridays but I'm so stressed rn bc of school and I just need something to keep me sane so I'm updating early and then will update again on Friday. Thank you for your reads, comments, and votes as always. They seriously bring me so much happiness :)