"Juliette do you like this one?" Eliza questioned, holding up a baby blue long dress against her body.

"I don't know" I pondered, "it feels too simple for Eliza Harte"

There was less than a month left until prom and we hadn't gone prom shopping. It was mostly because Eliza wanted to go shopping after Jordan had asked her prom, which honestly I found stupid because obviously he would have asked her out anyway. But I honestly didn't complain because I couldn't be bothered to go shopping, which clearly I now regret. All the girls had basically gone prom shopping in like January and here we were in April, with less than a month left until prom, still looking for dresses to wear. We had visited around five stores already and one time Eliza literally barged past an employee to check the back.

And even then she couldn't find a dress she liked.

Great.

"There is literally nothing here that is good enough for me!" She groaned "and it's like the seven hundredth store we've visited all day. "I wish we had a like...Oxford Street" she aid, referring to the famous street in London.

"I mean" I began "I've been there loads of times, and I don't remember everything but it's not amazing" I shrugged. 

"Yeah, I forgot about your yearly visits to London" she glared out of jealously "I wish mom would have let me go with you"

I smiled "Mom loved London, she said it was just so beautiful and posh"

Every year for a summer vacation, mom, dad and I would fly to England. Mom loved how serene it was and dad just loved how happy it made mom. I loved going to England, it was my favourite part of the year. It was just a time when out entire family was happy. My favourite part about England was the just the places, Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus. Everything in London was just so beautiful and calm.

When I was in sixth grade, mom decided that she wanted to live in London for an entire year. So we did. We rented an apartment for an entire year, I went I to school in London. Everything was so different. I had to wear uniform, and I went to Secondary School. There were no populars, or nerds or jocks. Everybody had their groups of friends, and everybody was just nice to each other. London seemed like a dream.

But mom really missed aunt Jen and as much as I loved school in London, I loved Eliza more.

"What colour do you think Jordan would like?" Eliza asked me, holding a dark purple dress to her chest "oh my god, we have to go tie shopping today as well!" She groaned loudly.

"I told Levi to just wear a black tie, he looks really good in black" I said to her.

"That, and it's your favourite colour Juliette" she snorted, holding up a brown dress the scrunching her nose in disgust. "Gross" she whispered at the colour of the dress.

Did they even expect to sell that?

"I also told him to not buy me a corsage" I said to her.

She rolled her eyes "you might as well have told him to bring another date considering you aren't following any prom tradition"

"At least I'm gonna be wearing a dress" I muttered "besides, I'm being practical, hay fever and makeup does not go together"

"Okay, I'm done with this conversation unless you help me look for a dress." She responded in a typical Eliza fashion. "Why aren't you looking for a dress?" She asked me.

"Mom promised me she's take me to London for prom shopping" I said quietly, scanning the room for a dress.

"I wish we could go to London" Eliza muttered.

"Same"

"What about this dress?" She questioned, holding a mint green dress up.

"It's cute, but it's double your size and it's the only size left" I answered.

Eliza groaned loudly, causing three people to turn and stare at us. She glared all three people before turning back to the rack of dresses.

"Let's go to another shop" she pleaded.

"What other shop? We've basically raided every single one within our price range" I answered.

"No, we've raided every single one within my price range, Miss inheritance" she smirked.

"Eliza, I don't want to spend a bunch of money on a dress we'll only wear once, plus what would you do?" I asked.

"Let's go back to coast!" She said loudly, again catching the attention of pretty much everybody in the store, grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the shop.

Before we could make it to the exit however, we were stopped by someone, who I presumed to be, the owner of the shop. She was a woman in her mid thirties, had a tight updo and was wearing a formal work dress. "Hello ladies, I see you are searching for prom dresses" she began.

Both Eliza and I nodded simultaneously.

"Follow me upstairs, I don't know whether you were aware or not but every summer we open up prom section upstairs. Prom seasons just started and we opened this section of this store just last week. Most of the dresses are still there" she said kindly as Eliza and I exchanged looks.

This feels like a scene straight out of a movie.

"That would be great, thank you" Eliza said kindly, following the woman who had led us upstairs

We were taken all the way upstairs, and no wonder nobody went there, it felt like I climbed Everest or something. However, when we did enter the room we were literally awestruck. It was huge and packed with prom dresses and shoes and whatever the hell else that even remotely linked to the word prom. Each dress even had a tie that hung off it matching it exactly.

Where was this store five hours ago?

Each dress had a number on it, the number then matched shoes which then matched corsages.

Why isn't every store like this one?

"This dress!" Eliza gasped "I don't care that I haven't seen any other dress, this dress is my size and it's in my price range so don't you dare tell me to look around!" Eliza ranted, running up to a doll which was wearing the dress she was so madly in love with. The dress was a pink-purple colour, it had the heart neckline things, tight around the waist but loosened around the hips. It was held up by something that looked like flowers. Like silver flowers sewed onto a white material.

It was really pretty.

The label that was hanging off the dress read $200 dollars which was just over Eliza's budget but I wouldn't mind paying the rest for her. The label had the number 36, which meant the corsage and the tie and the shoes were also number 36.

"Fine by me, it means less shopping time" I shrugged.

"Ha, you wish" she snorted "we need to find you a dress"

"Eliza" I whined "I'm tired, we'll come back another day"

"What and risk this store running out of dresses too?" She asked in disbelief "I thought you were smart."

"I'm more lazy than I am smart"

"Which is exactly why you won't be bothered to come along another day" she smirked. "Name two colours apart from black you would want to wear"

I scrunched my eyebrows together "I don't know, um silver and gold"

She smiled "yay" she squealed. "And you don't need sleeves right, you'll be wearing bracelets"

I shrugged "probably"

"What about this dress?" She asked, holding up a dress. It was both silver and black, having intricate silver patterns running down the entire dress.

"I don't know, I don't really like the design" I commented, grabbing the dress in my right hand and using my thumb to feel the patterns. "It seems really stiff too"

She shrugged "fair enough. What are you looking for, long or short?"

"Long" I said immediately "ones that flares out after the hips".

She nodded understandingly "this one?" She asked, holding a strapless black dress. It was long, but very simple, the top half having faint silver designs on it.

"I like it but-" I began before cutting myself off "that dress! That one! I want it!" I squealed really loudly when I saw a gold sparkly dress hang on the window. It was beautiful, strapless
Ike Eliza's but was a lot pouffier. It was longer than me, but heels would have helped out. The label that hung off it read $350 dollars, and despite it being way out of my budget, it's not like I couldn't afford it.

"That's a one of a kind" I jumped when I heard the ladies voice. It was the owner again who smiled kindly. "Sorry, you were pretty loud".

"It's so gorgeous" I muttered, walking over to it and grabbing it.

"And I'm guessing you like that dress" she said, turning to Eliza who had not left the side of the dress she wanted. She nodded.

"Would you like me to ring you up?" She asked.

We both nodded at the same time as she laughed.

**********************************************

We finally got home around eleven, and none of us were surprised. Aunt Jen loved both dresses, insisting she would pay me back the fifty dollars I spent on Eliza's dress but I rolled my eyes and nicely told her to shut up. She also fell in love with my dress, and didn't want to let go of it. Neither Eliza and I decided to buy shoes, because the shoes that came with it were another $50 and neither of us wanted to spend that much money. I had white pumps left over from the wedding which Eliza could have borrowed and of course Eliza had gold shoes which I could have worn.

Eliza decided to just give Jordan the number of her dress and the name of the store so he could buy the tie himself.

We went to bed around one, and despite not being tired at all, I decided to sleep- until my phone buzzed.

You awake?
-L
Seen at 1:32am

No I'm asleep :p
Seen at 1:32am

Ha ha, get dressed, we're going on an adventure
-L
Seen at 1:33am

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, before getting up and pulling on a pair of leggings and an oversized sweater.

My sweatpants were somewhere at the back of my closet but I couldn't be bothered to look for any of them. I pulled my hair into a ponytail, despite Levi hating it and patiently waited on my bed.

True to his words, Levi knocked on my door at exactly 1:38am which made me smile.

"It's open" I called as he walked in. "Who let you in?" I asked.

"Eliza" he shrugged.

"I thought Eliza was asleep" I stated

He shook his head "she's in in this, something about thanking you for a dress and Jordan" he said in confusion.

"You can't be confused! I'm confused. What was she in on?" I asked.

"Follow me, we're going on an adventure." He smirked, grabbing my hand and dragging me downstairs.

I laughed quietly, hoping not to wake up aunt Jen and followed him out of the house, remembering to take my keys and my purse with him. I had no idea what Levi would be doing, and whatever it was-knowing him he would want to pay. I followed him to his car, buckling myself in as he began driving.

"Can I know now?" I asked curiously, expecting a no.

He sighed "I probably have to considering it would be pointless if you didn't want to go ahead with it. But how do you feel about tattoos?"

"Eliza set this up, didn't she?" I asked smiling.

"No, but the smile on your face reassures me slightly" he sighed in relief.

"I've always wanted a tattoo, but aunt Jen wouldn't let me get one until I turned eighteen. I'm eighteen now" I grinned. "Do you have a tattoo?" I asked.

"I do" he nodded, "although, considering I'm driving I think it would be hard for me to take my shirt off and show you"

Do it.

"Wait" I said before feeling like an idiot "I'm getting a tattoo?"

He laughed loudly "I thought you figured that out already"

I slapped his arm "shut up, it's almost two in the morning.

He rolled his eyes, "yeah, blame it on the time"

"Shut up!"

The entire car ride was just full of me looking for tattoos designs on my phone and squealing in excitement as I scrolled through my phone. Eliza or Levi should have told me earlier! I couldn't decide what I wanted on my skin for the rest of my life. I spent at least three quarters of my time scrolling on my phone and searching the hashtag tattoo on Instagram.

"Wait, does it hurt?" I asked, looking up from my phone.

"Like a bitch, but it's worth it" he muttered. "Have you decided what you want?"

I shook my head "no, but I know where I want it"

He quickly glanced at me "where?"

"My wrists" I responded. "I want to cover my scars. It's where I've always wanted it, I haven't changed my mind"

"Wow" he muttered "and you haven't decided what you wanted?"

I shook my head "it's really hard"

"I probably should have warned you about it considering it was such a big decision, but I wanted it to be a surprise" he said as I smiled.

"What would you have done if I said I didn't want a tattoo?" I asked

His eyes widened "probably play it off and take you to a park or something?"

"At 2am?" I asked, raising my eyebrows

"I didn't have a backup plan okay?" He said defensively as I laughed. "We're here" he announced, easily finding a parking spot.

It takes me at least ten minutes to find a parking space no matter what the situation, but with him he finds it straight away.

"Are you nervous?" He asked.

"I don't know what I want," I said.

"There's more designs inside, this is where I got my tattoo" he told me.

"Are you getting one?" I asked him.

He shook his head "I'm just your moral support" he shrugged.

"Levi! It's nice to see you again man, you here for another tat?" A man asked Levi, he was a large man with full sleeve tattoos and a very long beard. Levi bro-hugged him grinning slightly.

"Nah, I'm here with my girl" Levi said motioning towards me.

The man's eyes landed on me as he grimaced slightly.

Okay, wow, rude.

"Is this Katherine?" He asked distastefully.

"Nah, didn't I tell you last time? I broke up with her man. This is my girlfriend, Juliette" Levi said, his hand landed on the small of my back making me feel less tense. "Juliette, meet Rick"

"Oh so this is Juliette-the girl you wouldn't shut up about" Rick smirked as he sent me a warm smile. "Sorry for the look of disgust, I just really hate Katherine"

I nodded understandingly "that makes about a hundred of us" I said quietly.

"I like her," he said to Levi. "Now Levi, don't tell me you forced this pretty little thing into getting a tattoo"

Levi shook his head "I wouldn't say forced more than I would say surprised her with the privilege of getting her one"

Rick nodded, turning to me. "What would you like Juliette?"

"I don't know" I said shyly.

"Well here are a bunch of designs for the wrists" he said, sliding panels towards me.

"How did you know I wanted it for the wrists?" I asked.

He looked down at my arms which were covered in bracelets. "Wild guess" he began, "are you planning on getting it anywhere else?"

I shook my head.

My eyes skimmed the designs, there were a mix of pretty flowers, and feathers and butterflies along with things like skulls and clocks and other things. My eyes landed on a design of a feather and a dandelion. The dandelions were my favourite flowers because they reminded me that no matter how far you got in life, no matter how bad the problems were, you could always change it and make it better.

I decided what I wanted and as I turned to tell Rick, I caught him talking to Levi.

"You never brought Katherine here" he said to her.

"You're not going to hide your dislike for her, are you?" Levi chuckled.

"Nope" Rick said "Juliette's a sweet girl"

Levi grinned "she's perfect"

"Wow, you really like her" Rick smiled understandingly

"I love her" he corrected.

"I think I know what I want" I interrupted, not wanting Rick to ask if I said it back.

I really really liked Levi, but I didn't know what love was.

Did I love Levi?

"What do you want book girl?" Levi asked  walking over to me and placing his arm around my waist. I couldn't but immediately smile.

"I want a dandelion" I said to Rick. "And a feather. One on each wrist"

"Are you sure? These things are permanent" Rick reminded me.

Did I stutter?

Instead I nodded "I'm sure"

Rick shrugged "take a seat, I'll be with you very soon"

I nervously took a seat in one of the chairs, taking all my bracelets off and placing it on my lap. Levi audibly winced, just like he did the first time I showed him.

"Scared?" He asked smirking slightly.

"Nope" I lied through my teeth.

"It's okay to admit you are, ice queen" he said, still smirking.

"But I'm not" I denied, completely lying.

"Whatever you say" Levi sang as I rolled my eyes and held back from pushing him off the chair.

Rick came back with the needle, taking a seat besides me as he turned the tattoo thing on. It buzzed lightly as I braced myself for the inevitable pain.

"Try not to move around too much" Rick instructed.

Right, I'll try not to move whilst you fucking move a needle around my skin

As soon as the machine touched my skin, I winced slightly. Although a few seconds into the actual design of the tattoo and it barely even stung. I'm pretty sure to everybody else it would have hurt, but from all the cutting of my wrists during my depression period, I was sure I was pretty much immune to pain on my wrists.

"How are you not even in pain, your boyfriend over there was practically in tears" Rick smirked.

"I was not!" Levi responded defensively.

I bit my lip to stop from laughing and shaking. "Were you scared Levi?" I questioned patronisingly.

He pouted "no"

"It's okay, I'm sure everybody finds tattoos painful" I said sweetly.

"Shut up Juliette," he muttered.

I laughed.

Written: 28/11/15
Posted: 29/4/16