We entered the shop and were immediately greeted by the smell of scented candles. I almost went back out the door to see the sign board to check if we really were in a clothes store, but it was obvious with the racks and shelves of clothes hanging before us. Jace and I looked at each other. This place had a feel of a restaurant or something instead of a clothes shop.

I sensed a man approaching and turned toward the sound of a 'Hello,' Jace was already looking at him as well, with a polite smile on his face. He was a boy our near age, probably a bit older. I turned on my "first impressions" face as well. His perfume grew stronger as he walked closer. Looking at his nonchalant attitude, he actually didn't seem that bad. 'Welcome here,' his voice was emotionless and I wondered if he could even see us with those sunglasses. Why is he even wearing them indoors? 'If you guys want any help, just call me. Or you can just help yourselves. As you see, we have big collection,' he gestured towards the clothes with both his hands and walked back where he came from.

Jace and I looked at each other; he shrugged at me and I mimicked him before dragging him towards what seemed like the most diverse collection of clothing I have seen in my life in a single place. I even noticed a section of Halloween costumes. At least, that's what I thought they were. I mean, who knows, this is a small town on top of a small hill with a small population. Who knows how the people here are like and what they do when they're bored... I smiled thinking about having a costume party on weekends with all my close friends. Jace should totally dress up like a pirate! Oh gosh, imagine him with a fake beard and saying "Arr, mate!"

Jace flicked my cheek 'What're you grinning about, you weirdo?' I continued looking at him, slight shock from the contact. I liked it when he said that. The way he said it. Weirdo. Like a nickname. Gosh, I really am a weirdo. I guess my grin was contagious cause then Jace was smiling down at me, shaking his head. I turned away, blushing. Can he not be so cute? 'Stop being so cute and pick me a shirt, please.' I gaped at him but he was already turned towards the rack. Did he just pull an Edward Cullen on me right now? He totally said what was in my mind! Right. We're here for clothes. Right now, Jace is actually in clothes that are wet with a sticky liquid and I can imagine how uncomfortable that is. I quickly rummaged through the racks of T-shirts. Not to mention, I found some cool crap, including a shirt that said "Blink if you want me" in bold. I considered... then moved on.

Five minutes later, we were still searching for an alright T-shirt, which would be acceptable for Jace to wear, which didn't have silly pick-up lines or lame slogans on it... Yeah, well we found none. I considered calling that sunglasses dude, but he seemed weirder than the slogans on the shirts so I decided to continue searching for poor Jace. How uncomfortable it must be. I looked at him again and the dark stain of Pepsi was still very much visible on both, his jacket and shirt. I shuddered. Whatever, I'm calling that dude.

'Excuse me! Glasses dude! Where are yo-' I heard something fall to the floor and turned to see Jace's wallet down there. I looked up to see he wasn't wearing his jacket anymore. He must have dropped it when he was taking it off. 'It's alright; I'll get it, Allyn-' I ignored him, as usual, and neared it to pick it up but just ended up kicking it away from me. I gasped, blushed, almost tripped, and still bent 90 degrees, walked towards the wallet again. I could hear Jace snickering behind me. Ugh, I'm not gonna be in this good mood for long. I've managed to spill Pepsi all over Jace and now we can't find a good shirt for him and here I am embarrassing myself even more. Nice going, Jessie. To think this is also the day I realized my crush on this human boy. Sigh.

When I neared the wallet again, I noticed a black card lying beside it. I picked it up as well and checked it out closely. It was a credit card, I realized after my study of 5 seconds. Bravo, me. But hey, I haven't exactly seen a black credit card before. I mean, this one looked so classy. I sensed the smell of the scent of the sunglasses dude again and turned to him. He gasped. He was staring at the black card in my hand. See? I'm not the only one weirded out by this! Satisfied, I glanced at Jace to see an uncomfortable expression on his face. That's when I realized that I was totally ignoring his privacy. Well, his wallet's privacy. But that's basically his privacy as well. Why am I even allowed to think? It should just be illegal for me.

I quickly shoved the card into his wallet and handed it to him, smiling sheepishly to hide my embarrassment. 'Dude!' We both turned to face Sunglasses dude and saw him pointing at us. I ignored his rudeness and wondered if he thought we were some celebrities or something. I mean, I've heard that I resemble Nina Dobrev and all, but that's just Sam and Katie said. And Lily. Also Troy, now that I think of it. Besides, doesn't she have brown eyes? Well, I've got green. But I'm wearing brown contacts now. Hey... coooooooool! What if even I get stuck in a love triangle with two hot vampires? I glanced at Jace. Found Vampire One. Hmm, so is he Damon or Stephe- am I seriously imagining Jace as one of the Salvatore brothers right now?

You see? This is why I should not be allowed to think.

But Jace would be hot as a vampire. I mean, he's totally got the looks. And the fashion sense of a total bad boy, with his black leather jackets and all. And that black messy hair. That hairstyle basically says "I don't care, I'm still hot" or something. I wonder if they have a shirt with that slogan here...

Oh my gosh, I totally zoned out. Jace and Sunglasses dude was now gesturing towards a door, almost hidden behind the racks. I felt Jace looking at me and turned to him. He nodded towards the door 'Shall we?'

'Huh?'

'Do you want to see the room?'

'What?' Oh gosh, why are dirty thoughts filling my head? Fifty Shades of Grey trailer, get the heck outta here!

'He said there are better clothes there.'

Clothes? Clothes! He's talking about clothes! I immediately nodded my head like a bobble head that has just been hit. Idiot, I am. Seeing my reaction, Jace nodded at Sunglasses dude and he led us towards the darn door. I almost embarrassed myself again right now. How many times today have I blushed due to humiliation? Excuse the exaggeration but it is very uncomfortable. Sunglasses dude open the door and we followed him in, after I checked if there was a scent of any person in there. Clean. He turned on the lights and I gasped.

It looked like a dressing room of some movie scene or some bridal store, with that small circular stage and a long mirror right in front of it, except there were no wedding dresses. But there were dresses: prom dresses.

Sunglasses Dude made us sit on the couch in front of the stage and mirror and stood in front of us. 'So,' he began and Jace and I looked at each other with extremely confused expressions. 'I've been working in this shop since the start of this year, and as you can see,' we saw. Each other's faces. Yep, Jace was still as confused as me. 'We still have most of our stock. I mean, I hate most of these clothes too but this is unbelievable. Anyway, this room,' This dude didn't give a damn when we entered but now he's treating us like some chief guests. What's with this? Is this some kind of plan? I noticed Jace looking around as if searching for something, and then as if he knew that there's nothing around, he just turned back and relaxed paying attention to Sunglasses Dude. Seeing this, I almost wanted to relax along with him but my wolf knew better than to just not search for any danger. After a quick scan of the entire shop in my seat, I, too, relaxed.

He had told us something about how this room was meant for the tourists and the rich people who had formal events in the grand hotel, and students of Gateout that had their proms coming up. That's why this room was so comfy, with the bridal style stage and mirror with the couch, along with the clothes racks all around the room, with hanging dresses and tuxedos. I remembered wanted to be able to try out formal dresses on the little stage like in the movies, once, after the girls and I had seen 27 Dresses. But right now, we have priorities: a wet Jace who... Oh goodness, stop thinking Jessie! I mentally screamed. Sam is rubbing out on me, ugh, that guy and his dirty jokes!

Jace's wet clothes! Wet clothes, wet clothes, wet clothes, not wet Jace! Oh goodness, I should stop thinking now.

'Um,' I said out loud trying to distract myself. 'We actually just came here to buy a plain shirt, and we don't want any expensive dresses, in fact we don't even have a lot of money, so-' 'What do you mean "not a lot of money"?' Sunglasses Dude rudely interrupted me 'I saw the loaded credit card! Only the richest people have that-' 'Allyn, why don't we try out a few clothes?' Jace interrupted him 'It's not like we get chances like this a lot. Anyway, when's the next time we'll be coming to Gateout?' I thought about it and saw Sunglasses Dude smirk as if he'd just accomplished something 'Probably never,' he said, getting up and walked up to one of the racks which had a plain white t-shirt, one we had been searching for all this time. So that's what he was looking around the room for before...

He took the shirt and went inside the dressing room which was actually a rectangle hole in the wall with a curtain. I refrained myself from trying to find his silhouette behind the thick enough cloth and instead stood up and walked along the racks that had contained pretty prom dresses. I touched them, feeling the uncomfortable material they were made of. They still looked so pretty... I wished I could wear one. I had never worn a prom dress before. My mom died before we had a chance to go shopping for any school parties and my dad passed away before he could meet my date and threaten him with a shotgun. I smiled at the thought of my parents meeting Jace. I'm sure they would love him. The way I feel I am starting to...

My thoughts were interrupted with Jace's voice 'Why don't you try that one?' Jace was standing next to me and I looked at him. He was talking about the one in my hand 'Prom dresses aren't my thing,' I was putting on airs and I wondered if he knew. He probably did, the way he rolled his eyes and continued looking at the dresses in the rack. I took the time to look at the shirt he was wearing. It was a bit tight at the top, but fell loose at the bottom, around the torso. He wasn't wearing his jacket and the muscles in his arms were attractive and open to be seen by anyone and everyone. I turned back to the dresses, frowning. If his muscles are shown like this, no doubt more girls would annoy us. Him. Jessie, stop caring about Jace's life, already.

'Here,' Jace said, pulling me out of my thoughts again and handed me a green dress that would reach my knees. Managed to get my favorite color on the first try.

'What's that?' I asked, stupidly. 'It's a dress,' Jace replied, a smile playing on his face and I resisted my own urge to smile. I just blinked at him and he sighed 'Go and try it, silly.' Me? Try on a prom dress? Jace rolled his eyes again -and let me tell you, he looks freaking hot when he does that- and gently took my hand and wrapped my fingers around the dress' hanger. Before I could recover from the after effects of his touch or open my mouth, Jace leaned in close to my ear, my breathing obviously stopped, and he said 'It's only the two of us now and we don't have any time limit to reach back to the hotel. We can try a little fun, right?' I almost felt him smile and he caught my shoulders with both his hands and steered me towards the curtain room. 'And I've already sent that sunglasses dude out,' I didn't know what to feel about the fact that Jace also called him Sunglasses Dude but changing in there with only Jace in the room was making me feel rather strange and I felt my pulse increase. It was doing that a lot today 'I can't change in there, there's barely any privacy!' Good job, Jessie. You finally came back to your senses.

'I won't look,' Jace said from behind me.

'And how do I know that?' I asked and he shrugged. I raised an eyebrow and he smirked 'You don't.'

I gasped and hit him 'I'm not changing in there!' 'Then do you want to change out here?' I hit him hard again and he rubbed his arm 'What? You're the one who said you don't wanna change in there!' 'Jace, don't you know anything about girls?' He appeared shocked.

'Wh-what? You mean, you're a girl?' he started laughing at my expression and I went to hit him for the third time. 'You little-!' He caught my hand before I could touch his arm and suddenly his face was serious. I gulped. I felt his cool breath on my face as he spoke 'You can trust me.'

And then he smiled again and turned his back to me, going towards the rack and looking for more clothes. I turned around, and walked inside the hole in the wall, and shut the curtains behind me. I thought of Jace as I stripped down. He can go from joking around like a kid to being the perfect gentleman. There were strange feelings and emotions taking place in my body the last few hours and I don't know if they were good or bad. I took the V-back dress and held it in front of my body, only in bra and panties. I looked into the mirror, and imagined myself with my brown hair and green eyes instead of the colored black hair and brown contacts. I almost felt beautiful.

'Are you done yet?' I heard Jace and smiled to myself. 'Almost, choco,' I laughed when I heard him say 'What? Did you just call me choco?' I slipped my feet into the dress 'Don't think I didn't see the way you were looking at those boxes of Count Chocola!' He laughed and told me to take my time as long as I didn't call him that again. I did.

As the fabric of the dress slid up my legs, I thought of how girls felt when they were upstairs getting ready for prom nights, all dressed up, and made up, looking more beautiful than they ever felt, while downstairs, their dates, the boys of their dreams, would be waiting, sitting or standing in awkward silence with the girls' fathers. Waiting like how Jace was waiting for me right now. I took a sharp breath as I felt my stomach twist with an emotion that I had never felt before. The girl would then control her heartbeat and open her room's door. She'd try to listen to check if her boy and her father were talking about her. She'd walk towards them, and hearing her steps, the family would join her by the door. I imagined the look on the faces of the two most important men in her life as they lay their eyes on her beautiful self. She'd smile as tears would lace the eyes of her proud parents and her boy would smile at her like she's the most beautiful girl in the world.

I opened my eyes to see myself in the mirror. I looked gorgeous. My straight hair was suiting the short green dress which had lace sleeves with leaves and flowers on it. It hugged my waist in the right places and complimented my body very nicely. In fact, I felt perfect. I felt tears puddling up in my eyes and sniffed. I wished mom and dad could see me now. I imagined them standing at the bottom of the stairs as I walked down with this dress, my hair curly and brown and my eyes green. I imagined the smiles on their faces as mom would take photos of me. We would all just be so happy.

I took in a deep breath. Oh, the dreams of an orphan girl.

I stopped my tears from escaping and waited for myself to calm down before I stepped out of the curtain. My heart beat fast as my eyes fell on Jace sitting on the couch. He turned his head towards me and as soon as his eyes saw me, his mouth fell open. He stood up, his eyes never leaving me and slowly a smile took over his face. His eyes took me in and when they finally travelled up to my face, Jace's smile deepened. Suddenly, I felt happy, sad, excited and so many other emotions. I don't know what happened or why I did what I did. Maybe it was the way Jace was looking at me, maybe it was because of what I had been imagining in the dressing room, or maybe it was the overwhelming feeling of affection for him but as soon as Jace and I made eye contact and smiled at each other and he started walking towards me, I broke down.

Yes, I started crying, right there, in that room as Jace quickly walked towards me and panicked. I was trying not to sob hard but there were so many tears rolling down my face, and I couldn't even see or hear what Jace was talking about. 'Jessi-Allyn, what's wrong? Allyn! Allyn, is the dress too tight? Or do you not like it? Allyn, do want me to go get you something? Do you want me to go?' Jace worrying so much made me cry even more 'Look, I'm sorry I teased you, alright? I won't do it again, I promise! In fact, I won't tease any girl ever again! Or, I won't even talk to any girl!' I would have laughed if I wasn't currently in a vortex of emotions at the way Jace was panicking and asking me to stop crying 'Allyn, stop crying! I don't know, I don't know, I don't know-' he suddenly put his arms around me and pulled me in a tight hug. Immediately, I put my arms around his neck and we stood that way for I don't know how long. Soon, my sobs stopped and we just stood there. I was not crying anymore but Jace showed no signs of leaving me. I sniffed and realized that I could feel his heartbeat. I almost gasped. It was beating fast. Just how much did Jace panic for me?

I realized that our chests were actually touching and blushed. His head was resting on my shoulder and his hand was on my back, drawing circles. I blushed deeper realizing that his hand was actually brushing my bra when he did that. He probably thought that it was part of my dress, but if he knew... 'Jace,' I said his name quietly and he hummed. Oh gosh, Jace. A smile had begun to play on my lips now and I decided to be blunt 'You're touching my bra.'