When they woke up the next day, they were surprised that Aunt Rosa had taken the day off. She explained, "Today is Wednesday, and the party is on Saturday. I need to pick up my dress and see what kind of alterations it needs. And I'm sure that Isabella wants to get a dress for the event. Especially to impress her new novio."
Isabella blushed, but was excited with the idea. She hadn't packed any formal clothes for the vacation, and needed a formal dress. Phineas also needed to do some shopping. Even though he packed a semi-formal outfit, it consisted of a pink button-down dress shirt and dark jeans. He wanted to buy a pair of dress pants to better suit the occasion. After all, his Oxford-style shirt went well with both jeans and dress pants.
Soon, they all took a shopping trip in downtown El Paso, except for Manuel, who had gone on a movie date with Rosalinda. Opposite to what they had experienced in Juarez, the stores and streets in El Paso were more polished and less crowded. It was a more beautiful, less hectic atmosphere.
They parked in a parking garage, and started their walk through the streets. Phineas was thankful that the streets made more sense in El Paso. There weren't any confusing alleys or side-streets. At any rate, the first thing on the list were Phineas' pants. He walked into a store, chose some black dress pants, paid and left.
The women weren't that simple. Aunt Rosa walked them into the store from which she had ordered her dress. They spent about an half an hour talking about measurements, adjustments, hemming, and even gossiped about the latest Spanish soap opera. What was agreed, after much chatter, was that Rosa only needed a simple hemming of the bottom, since the dress was a tad too long. The rest fit perfectly. She arranged for the dress to be ready by Friday, when she would pick it up on her day off from work.
Then, Rosa guided Isabella to a store that sold semi-formal, homecoming-type dresses. There were dresses of all cuts, colors, and sizes. Isabella immediately went into girl-land, essentially kicking Phineas out of the store. She didn't want him to see what she was going to wear to what would be their first date. Rosa jested, "It isn't that serious Isabella, it's not like it's a wedding dress. It's only the first date."
At any rate, Phineas killed time outside looking at the neighboring shops. There was a store across the street that sold cowboy clothes. The named intrigued him; Starr Western Wear. He walked in, and looked at the merchandise. The pants didn't interest him, since they were a little too cowboy for his taste. On the other hand, their dress shirts were nice. He killed time flipping through the stock, not really wanting to buy anything. After a while, he walked back to the store where the girls were.
By this time, Isabella had already chosen a dress. Phineas was curious, and asked for details on how the dress looked. She just replied that it was pretty, and offered no further explanation.
He begged, "Oh come on, Izzy. How does the dress look like?"
She smiled, "You will find out on Saturday. It's a surprise."
"I'll give you a kiss if you tell me."
She replied sarcastically, "Wow, you're such a good briber."
"Well, what do you want me to do? Stand on my head?" Phineas looked at her, his eyes begging for an answer.
She sighed, "Fine, it's pink. That's all you're going to know. Like I said, I want to surprise you on our first date."
He grinned, "Fair enough. But I'm sure that you're going to look stunning." He gave her a peck on the lips.
Isabella smiled and reached for his hand. They held hands on the entire walk back to the parking garage, and Phineas would occasionally tug on it to pull her into a kiss.
When Friday rolled around, Rosa and Isabella traveled back to the downtown to pick up their dresses, already hemmed and ready. They returned soon, satisfied with their purchases. Phineas found it hilarious that Isabella insisted in keeping her dress a secret. She sent him into the guest room while she stored her dress in the master bedroom closet. She warned, "Don't you dare peek, Phin."
The night before the party, the couple talked about the upcoming party. They were excited because it was a party unlike the both of them had seen before (Vivian didn't have the money to throw Isabella a quinceñera). Mostly though, they were excited because the party would be their first official date. Rosa had told them that the party hall was on the side of Mt. Franklin, with a garden that overlooked the city. This only added fuel to the expectation.
Eventually, they let the topic rest, and changed into their sleepwear. After the goodnight hug and kiss, they fell asleep, anxious for the next day to arrive.
I feel kind of pathetic only uploading one chapter for the day. But the next two chapters cover the actual party. I thought it would be best if those waited until tomorrow for publishing. After that, theres only the last two days of the vacation and the end.
As for the epilogue, I was thinking about having it as an extra chapter on this story. It would just recap everything that was left hanging, set in the future. I was working on it one night, but when I tried to work on it some more yesterday, it turned out the file was corrupted, and I had to write it all over again :(. At any rate, I'm pretty certain that the story will be done by the middle of the month, if my classes don't get harder.