"Bobby! It's not a mosquito guard!" she slapped her own head and sighed. "How does the dress look?" she emphasized the word with big eyes. She knew Abby looked distressed but she pulled it off amazingly.
"We can get a dark pair of flats," she wasn't going to push her luck and try to get her in heels. "A mask should be easy enough to find in black," she shrugged, fussing with the shoulders.
"Mosquito guard, huh? I suppose I could wear it out fishing after the dance." AB giggled nervously. Even if Bobby's comment hadn't been particularly helpful it had eased some of the tension.
"I'm going to look like a gothic fantasy." She laughed a again, a little more ease working back into her muscles. She could breathe again.
"It looks... black?" He responded defensively to Sunny, though a little unsure. He thought 'nice' was talking about how the dress looked. Clearly she meant something more specific. It was definitely black. Even he could see that. He nodded in agreement as Sunny continued. "All masks come in black. And it's the new... black." That was the extent of his fashion knowledge, that something was always 'the new black'. In this case, it just happened to be black as well. "You'll look..." Apparently 'nice' wasn't descriptive enough. "Pretty?"
"I think pretty is what Sunny was going for," AB said when Bobby finally finished rambling. It was a horrible, good sign that he was flustered and nearly speechless. "If I have this effect on you maybe no one else will be able to talk to me the whole night." Won't that be nice?
Sunny laughed more freely as Abby relaxed more. "Oh fff Abby, you can not go fishing in this dress," she laughed. "It's too nice although..." shut up Sol Maria Anabella Garcia! It doesn't matter if Sam would appreciate her dress on their fishing trips, she doesn't want to hear it.
"You won't look like a gothic fantasy unless we let Bobby' girlfriend do your make up," Sunny teased. "And yes, you look pretty."
Bobby screwed up his nose and made a face akin to a child being told he was to be given nothing but broccoli to eat for the rest of forever. "Emilie is not my girlfriend!" He shrieked, a panic attack rising in his chest. Oh god. She's going to BE. THERE. She's going to BE THERE and I don't have a date to hide behind. "ABwillyoubemydateforthedance?"
This was an unexpected turn of events, but it solved a lot of Abernathy's problems. She could go with Bobby. They were just friends. It wouldn't complicate things. In fact it would keep things from getting complicated. "I'd love to," she answered before she had a chance to really think about it.
"Uh..." That was unexpected-- both his asking and her accepting. Shit. Sam was going to have a lot to say about this. Or worse, nothing at all. "Cool," he said awkwardly. He couldn't look either of the girls in the eye.
"Oh," Sunny said feigning her bright tone, she noticed the sudden shift in awkward, it was hard not to notice while being crammed into a tiny dressing room with three people. The wheels were turning in her head already and she was quietly beginning to freak out about the whole situation. They had really made a mess out of things.
She knew Sam and Abby had an unspoken thing. They had changed over the summer and she hadn't been the only one to notice it. But now Bobby was asking her to the dance? Didn't he know the trouble that would cause?! He asked her because I brought up Emilie! But only because Bobby brought up Stasi and said he was a scumbag! No one calls my... Her face contorted a little in confusion. What was Stasi anyways?
"Let's go look for shoes!" she made to go out the door but couldn't move until Bobby left the fitting room. "Bobby..." she said. "Shoes... out there, not in fitting room," she indicated the door.
"Oh, yeah." Red-faced, he stumbled backwards out of the changing room so AB could get back into her normal clothes-- well, normal-er clothes. And then there would be shoes. This day was never going to end.
Abernathy wanted to thank Bobby, but then Sunny started acting all awkward and that's when she realized they were all crammed into the little changing room. She was thankful Sunny was ushering them out so she could change and once her friends were back outside the door she changed out of the dress that had caused such a panic (and was now causing all kinds of other problems).
"Maybe we can find some colorful shoes?" she said while shimmying into her bell-bottom jeans. "I might have a pair of dress converse," she said, though she knew Sunny would shoot that down. She'd let her wear flats, but even the dressiest converse were out.
"Colorful works!" Sunny said from the other side of the door. "But no converse. It doesn't matter how dressy they are, you can not wear converse to homecoming," she said already feeling more comfortable but still insanely guilty about the whole mess.
"Bobby if you want to wear converse to the dance I'm totally okay with it. You have my permission. But I'm afraid Herr Garcia won't let me out of the dorm unless I'm wearing appropriate shoes."
She emerged from the changing room clothes again and feeling much less ruffled than she was going in. As far as she was concerned this was a great idea. "Converse are classics," AB argued.
"Bobby, you can not not not wear converse to the homecoming dance," Sunny said crossing her arms. If Anastas could wear nice shoes, which he usually did, so could Bobby. Her logic was flawless.
"They are but there is a time and place for converse. Cute dress on a weekend, skirt and tee shirt. Completely casual, totally fine. Semi-formal... no, no way."
Bobby wasn't a particularly mature looking young man. Even less so when he screwed up his face in a pout. In fact, he looked much like he did as a five year old having a tantrum.
"I don't want to buy new shoes. I like my sneakers. They're comfortable." He poked at some ridiculously high-heeled things on a shelf next to him. How girls teetered about in these he'd never know. "I don't care if she wears them too." Jesus, what if someone stepped on your feet dancing in THOSE?