You'll Be Seeing Me In Your Dreams

Chapter nine

Jude

I ghost through the rest of the day, my mind buzzing with one word.

Babe.

He hadn't said it on purpose, I don't think, but that didn't change the fact that butterflies surged in my belly and my heart stuttered a few beats before picking back up.

"Jude, you okay?" Garrett asks at lunch, halfway through stabbing a piece of lettuce.

"I'm good." I tell him, bringing my own fork to my mouth "Just, like, distracted."

"No shit." Van says. He has his head in his hands, staring down at his notebook.

"Whatcha doing?" I ask, eager to turn the subject away from myself.

"I'm trying to brainstorm what to do about Lil and I's anniversary. It's the same day as the Christmas dance."

I already knew that, as he has repeated the date often enough that both Garrett and I have it ingrained in our minds.

"Go stargazing." I say through a mouthful of food, unable to help myself. My stomach flutters as I recall last night, kissing Cardan in the moonlight.

His mouth twists to one side and he drums a ballpoint pen on the edge of the table.

"I don't know. Maybe she'd like to go to the dance?"

"Would she really?"

"No, she wouldn't."

She isn't here today, probably also busy planning an anniversary surprise, under the pretence of being on her period and unable to come out. I know she's lying because we've been synced since 9th grade and I'm not due for a couple weeks.

Van adds stargazing to the list after a few beats of silence.

"What about something classic? Dinner and a movie." Garrett suggests, leaning back in his chair.

"We did that the other month."

"And? What, you can't repeat dates?"

"This is a special date." Van says, sounding almost whiny.

"I wouldn't know."

I roll my eyes. "That's because you don't talk to girls, Gar. You're like some sort of ghost."

"I do pride myself on my haunting skills."

"As you should."

_

After school, I go dress shopping with Taryn, with Oriana playing chaperone and credit card. Taryn is both excited and dubious about me actually caring what I wear to dances.

"I do care what I wear to dances, Taryn. I just don't always buy new stuff." I inform her.

I pull a velvet green dress of the rack, study it for a second and then put it back.

"You wore the same dress to the Valentine's day dance and the Easter dance." Taryn says

"So?" I ask. "Pink works for both occasions."

She rolls her eyes but drops the subject. A minute later, she lets out a low whistle. "Jude, I think these are the ones."

"I swear to all that's holy, if you try and make me wear green and you wear red and be matching opposites again-" I cut off my complaint as I take in the dresses.

They are truly exquisite, one the same white as fresh fallen snow, embellished with silver stitching in the shape of snowflakes across the hem; the other the colour of blood on snow, with intricate gold patterns . The latter is considerably longer than the former, and has a bell sleeves and a slit up the side of the hem. The first dress falls to, on Taryn, mid thigh, with a sweetheart neckline and spaghetti straps.

"They'll look lovely on you two." Oriana says from over our shoulders. "Go try them on."

Not needing anymore instruction, we did so. I took the red one and made my way to the rather lavish dressing rooms. Shucking off my clothes, I slid the smooth silky material over my body. It fit like a glove.

Even with my hair in a messy ponytail, tangled from the brutal wind outside and basic make-up on, the dress is stunning on me, complimenting the hue of my skin and my hair. With the right shoes – maybe the knee-length boots I infrequently wore; thanks to the slit up to the top of my thigh- I could look absolutely glorious.

I hoped Cardan would think so.

A feather light knock sounds on the door.

"Jude?" Oriana asks. "Are you finished? Come out and show us."

"Just give me a second!" I let down my hair and quickly run my fingers through it so it's some semblance of neat.

I step out of the dressing room.

"Woah." Taryn says.

"Woah yourself." Her dress shows off her legs, brushing her mid-thigh with every move she makes. It's fitted so tightly to her that I could probably count each of her ribs. She has done the opposite of me, putting her hair up in a hasty bun, when it was down before.

Oriana gives us both smiles and for a moment I think she doesn't hate us "You two look lovely. We better get home soon."

I go back in the changing room, loathed to change out of the stunning dress, but doing so anyway.

Oriana pays for both the dresses, along with a pair of glittery silver heels for Taryn and a gold, ruby-studded hair clip for me. She only looks mildly disproving at the price, which I count as a win.

As we walk back to the car where Madoc and Oak are waiting, Taryn drops behind Oriana to talk to me in a low whisper.

"I know why you're going to the dance." she says in a hushed tone.

"And why's that?" I arch my eyebrow.

"Because you're going with Cardan."

"I actually don't know what to say to that." Mainly because I'm too shocked to say anything else. Am I that bad at hiding my infatuation with him?

"So it is true!"

"I never said that!" I hiss.

"Yes, but you didn't deny it."

"Well, why are you going?" I say defensively.

"Because I want to."

"You don't have a date? You seemepretty excited about it. You're not usually that excited."

"I guess you'll just have to see when we get there."

"I guess I will."

My phone pings. Taking it out, I notice who texted me. Cardan.

"Ooh!" Taryn says, leaning her head close to mine so she can see my phone screen. "What did he say?"

Grudgingly, I unlock my phone and open the messages app.

When are u getting home? I wanna come throw rocks at ur window

"That's like the only non-blunt text either of you have ever sent." Taryn says, turning her eyes toward mine. "Also, why is he throwing rocks at your window?"

"In retaliation, I suppose. I threw rocks at his window the other day."

Her eyes widen. "You did what?"

"I said, I threw rocks at his window."

She swats me on the arm playfully "That's kind of romanti-"

"No. No it's not." I interrupt "It is absolutely not romantic. You finish that sentence and I'll punch you so hard your nose concaves into your skull."

She grins as we approach the car, opening the door.

"Sure, it's definitely not romantic."

I scowl.