I get back to my house around 11:00. I'm reeling from the breakup, the embarrassment of what Tyler said, having to explain to JJ that I accidentally moaned his name during sex, and then him kissing me on the cheek when I dropped him off. I head straight up to my room and immediately change into pajamas and flop into my bed. What an evening.

I get a text from John B.

John B🤡
So, JJ is walking around
the chateau with the biggest,
cheesiest grin on his face and
he won't say why, but I'm making
an assumption that it has something
to do with you.

I read the message three times before I think of a way to reply.

He got to watch first hand as I
broke up with Tyler and it was
kind of brutal, so idk if it really
has anything to do with me, per say.

He better not spill the beans to John B about what Tyler revealed. I'd never hear the end of it. He texts me again.

John B🤡
You dumped Tyler? No wonder
JJ's on cloud 9

I'm not sure what emotion to land on after reading the message.

Don't know how I'm supposed to take that

He doesn't message me again, and I make it through ten minutes of a random cooking show before I'm bored with it. I decide I'll just go ahead and go to sleep.

My mind races though. I think about the party at Topper's, and stupid Tyler, and JJ. I think back to that night when the incident occurred: I had called JJ crying from that bedroom after Tyler had flipped out and screamed at me, accusing me of cheating on him with JJ. I had swore up and down to him that nothing was happening between us, that I would never in a million years want to be with JJ, that it was a mistake.

JJ came right away and picked me up on his motorcycle, somehow managing to drive us one-handed all the way across the island because I was too drunk to hold myself up. I had told him Tyler and I had gotten into a fight, but didn't get into specifics. He took me into the spare bedroom at the chateau and laid in the bed with me, holding me as I sobbed into his chest. The longer he held me, the more I realized the mistake I had made was continuing to be with Tyler. Why on earth would I want to be with him when I could have this every day? And yet I stayed with Tyler, like a fucking idiot. We had worked everything out during a long talk the next day, which JJ had driven me to. Tyler was pissed about that.

I toss and turn for hours, thinking about JJ. He has to know, on some level, that I have feelings for him, as much as I've tried not to. There's no way he wouldn't have put the pieces together by now. All the flirting, the little comments, the little touches, the cuddling. But the biggest question is: how does he feel about me?

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

Although I know I lost hours of sleep due to my racing mind, at some point I did eventually fall asleep, indicated by the sunlight beaming on my face the next morning, waking me up.

I groan to myself, silently cursing the fact that I forgot to close my curtains in my haste to get into bed. I roll out of bed and head downstairs to the kitchen. There's half a pot of coffee still in the coffee maker, and I pour myself a cup. My parents are both glued to the tv, watching the local news.

"Morning, Sunny!" my mom says cheerfully as she tears her eyes away from the news.

"Morning. Interesting story this morning?" I ask, pointing to the tv.

"Oh, they're just talking about the fundraiser this weekend. They're saying it's going to be the biggest one in years. They mentioned us as sponsors!" she says excitedly.

"That's great!" I say sincerely.

"Yeah, so I was thinking in the next day or two we could go shopping for your dress? Maybe make a little day of it? They've started up the ferry again. Shopping and lunch on the mainland?" she suggests.

"Yeah, sure, just let me know what day you want to go so I can tell the Carrera's," I say.

"Let's aim for Thursday," she says.

"Thursday it is. I'll let them know today."

I head back to my room after breakfast as my parents get to work for the day. All the workers were coming back to the farm today to get back in the swing of things. I grab my phone and check the group chat, which is blowing up already with a plan to meet down at The Wreck at 3:00 when Kie gets off work.

Since I have a lot of time before heading to the restaurant, I let mom talk me into running a few errands for her. She sends me downtown with a short list of items she needs from the grocery store.

I keep to myself in the small store, moving quickly through the aisles to grab the few items I've been asked to get. Everything is going fine until I nearly run over Tyler with my shopping cart.

"Hey, Sunny," he says bitterly. "Didn't think I'd see you around so quickly after..."

"Yeah, um, my mom sent me out," I reply.

"Yeah, yeah. So you fucking Maybank already?"

"No. And we are not doing this here," I say through gritted teeth. "This is not the place."

"I just wondered. You left with him last night," he retorts.

"Uh yeah because we went to the party together. I wasn't going to leave him stranded."

"But it's okay to leave me stranded? Sunny, I'm in love with you. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" he asks. When I don't respond, he scoffs. "Whatever. Fuck you, then."

I roll my eyes and quickly finish up my shopping before anyone else can accost me for anything. As I leave the store, I shake my head to myself at Tyler and his delusions in thinking he can talk his way back into a relationship with me.

I head back home and lug the groceries in the house. "Why do you look like you're in such a sour mood?" Mom asks as I empty the items out of the bags onto the counter tops.

"Ran into Tyler at the store," I tell her.

"Is that bad?" she asks, clearly confused. I hadn't even told her about last night yet.

"Oh, mom, I forgot to tell you. I broke up with Tyler last night at Topper's party," I say.

She gasps. "Why?"

"He's just not my splinter bean," I tell her, and she nods.

"Well, I never said anything because I didn't want to come off as rude, but honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of Tyler. You've got much better options out there," she says.

"Like who?" I ask.

"You know exactly who I mean."

****************************************
Three o'clock at the Wreck. It's dead, which is surprising. I had expected to have to fight for a table for the five of us, but we've pretty much got our pick of the place. I'm the last to join the group, sliding into the booth beside Pope.

"So, what's new?" Kie asks as she brings over a tray of sodas and sits down.

"Lots of things," JJ says cryptically as he spins a salt shaker around on its edge.

"Okay, some elaboration would be nice," Kie replies.

"I broke up with Tyler last night," I say, grabbing a soda and a straw. "That's kind of why I wanted to go to Topper's party. I did it there."

"No shit, you really did it? I don't believe it," Kie exclaims.

"It happened. I was there. Saw it with my own eyes," JJ says.

"Single and ready to mingle, huh?" John B asks.

"I'm just glad to be done with him," I tell them.

"You're really done?" Pope asks after a gulp of soda. "I'm not gonna have to smack you because you end up taking him back in a week, am I?"

"I am absolutely done with Tyler," I assure him. "Honestly, I'm a little offended you think I would go back to him. Not one of you seemed to like him or think he was good for me."

"Because he wasn't good for you," JJ comments.

"I think JJ knows who is, though," Pope says. JJ shoots him a look.

"When are you getting your dress for the fundraiser?" Kie asks, changing the subject completely.

"Good question," I say, chewing on my straw. "I actually meant to tell you that earlier. Mom's taking me shopping Thursday on the mainland. So no help that day."

"Oh, cool, actually, my mom was taking about taking me Thursday, too. Do you think your mom would be up for the four of us going together?" she asks.

"Yeah, probably. I'll ask her this evening and let you know."

"Cool."

"Why do you need new clothes to go to a fundraiser?" John B asks.

"It's like a semi-formal event. You have to dress up," I tell him.

"Oh, well pick something nice so you can show off for us. All three of us will be there. JJ got us on staff for the event. I'm hoping those fuckers get super drunk and leave some hefty tips for clearing all those glasses," John B says.

"Aww, the whole gang will be there!" I say excitedly. "I'm kind of looking forward to it now."

"Me, too," Kie says. "Now, what do y'all want to eat?"

*****************************
A couple days later, it's Thursday, our shopping day. My mom was delighted at the idea of Mrs. Carrera and Kie tagging along. "Fun girls day!" she had said when I presented her with the offer.

Kie and her mom Anna come and pick us up Thursday morning and we take the ferry to the mainland. We head to an upscale boutique to pick out our dresses for the event.

"Kiara, baby, you look so pretty in lavender," Anna says as she eyes a rack of silky looking lavender dresses close to the entrance of the boutique.

"Hmm..." Kie says as she steps toward the rack and begins looking through the selections.

"Mom? Color suggestions?" I ask.

"Oh, probably blue for you. Maybe a royal blue? You and Kiara look here in the juniors section, Anna and I are going to go see what they have for us," she says. She motions for Anna to lead the way towards the back of the store.

"What do you think of this?" Kie asks me, pulling a very mature looking dress off the rack and holding it up.

"Um, that looks more like a clubbing dress than a raising money for hungry kids dress," I say with a laugh. "It's cute though."

"Yeah, I thought the same thing, but I do like it," she says, giving it one last look before putting it back. "Formal, formal," she mutters to herself as she flicks through the dresses.

I step over to the rack with blue dresses, sifting through some of the fuller ball gown styles to find one with a smaller silhouette. I find a few in varying shades of deep blue that I like as Kie pulls a few of her own off the rack. "Fashion show?" I say, quirking my mouth up in a smile.

"Yes," she says enthusiastically.

We take our selections to the fitting rooms and start trying them on, modeling then for one another in the mirrors. Our moms joins us shortly after we start trying dresses on, having already found what they want to wear for the event.

It's Kie's turn to model. She comes out in a floor length satin dress, light lavender in color. "Oh, Kie, that's the one, I think," I say as she does a little twirl.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart," Anna says as she smiles at her daughter.

"Well, bag her up, I'll take this one," she says as she heads back into the dressing room to put her regular clothes back on.

"Okay, Sunny, your turn," Mom says. I stand and walk back into my dressing room.

"I haven't had much luck so far, this is actually the last one I have picked out," I call out to her from behind the shut door. "We may need to keep looking." I undress quickly from the current dress I have on, one that isn't even a contender, but I had tried on for fun. I pull the final dress off the hanger, royal blue satin with an empire waist and a sweetheart neckline. "Kie come zip me!" I call out as I pull the dress up over my torso. I let her into the dressing room so she can pull the zipper up my back. It fits like a glove and the billowing bottom of the dress lays perfectly on the ground.

"Sunny, wow," she says as she looks at me. "This is the dress. Come show our moms," she says, grabbing my hand and pulling me out into the mirrored area.

My mom gasps as I come into view. "I just knew royal blue would be your color, you look stunning," she says as I twirl the skirt around with my hands. "It doesn't even look like you need it altered." She gets up from her chair and moves to stand in front of me. "You're just so pretty, Sunny."

"JJ will like it," Kie says. I make a face at her.

"Why would you say that?" I ask her.

"Because he will."

"JJ is coming?" Mom inquires.

"He's working the event. So are Pope and John B," I tell her.

"I didn't realize all three boys worked at the country club," Mom says.

"Only JJ does. They needed extra people for the event so he got them a job for one night," Kie explains.

"Oh, well that's fun. Your whole little friend group will be there," mom says.

"Yeah... so are we done here? I'm starving," I say as I head back towards the dressing room.

"Yeah, lets check out and go eat."

*****************************************
We get home late in the afternoon. I hang the garment bag with my dress and shoes in my closet and flop down on my bed, exhausted from the long day. I hear my phone ding.

JJ🌊
Did you have fun sHoPpInG
wItH tHe GiRlS?

Okay, 1. Idk why you said it that way,
and 2. Yes I did,

JJ🌊
What does your dress look like?

You'll just have to wait and
see tomorrow night

JJ🌊
Fine. I will eagerly await
your arrival

Whatever

JJ🌊
LOL

I spend the time until dinner working on different hairstyles for tomorrow's event. I head down to the dinner table with a bare face and wild hair. Dad gives me a look.

"I was trying hairstyles for tomorrow," I tell him as he completes his once-over of my strange look.

"Is this what you decided on?" he asks carefully.

"No! I'll make it look nice. This is just the product of many different trials," I tell him. "Thanks," I say as mom puts a plate in front of me.

"Oh, well, alright then," he says as he digs into his meal.

"So, tomorrow, mani/pedis at 4:30, then home to get ready for the evening. We have to be at the country club at 7:30 to start greeting guests. Event starts at 8:00," Mom informs me between bites. "So no plans tomorrow. I don't want the time getting away from you and then you miss our appointment."

"Okay, no plans," I promise her.

"Thank you," she says sincerely.

"Yep, no problem."

***********************************
The next day, I have no idea what to do with myself. On a normal day, I'd text my friends, make plans, then spend my entire day with them. Today, with this not being allowed, I'm bored out of my mind.

Kie understands; she's under the same kind of orders. A sunburn would be unbecoming, her mother had told her. The boys didn't get it. They express their distaste for our forbiddance of plans in the group chat.

John B🤡
You can't even come out to surf this morning?

JJ🌊
We can be done by like 2:00

The beautification process will
take most of the day

I get a separate text from JJ, outside the group chat.

JJ🌊
You wake up pretty, what
could you possibly have to do?

Butterflies erupt in my stomach at his comment.

You just want me to come surfing.

JJ🌊
Yes, but I mean that, too.

Well thanks, but I can't.

The group chat kind of dies after Kie and I refuse several times to go surfing with the boys. I take the opportunity of the lull in my morning to go ahead and take a long shower, meticulously grooming myself from top to tail.

With the boys surfing, I don't have anyone to text besides Kie, but she's about to go to her nail appointment with her mom. I fiddle around for the afternoon, watching movies and feeling restless at the thought of having to get so dolled up. Finally, our appointment rolls around and I let myself get lost in being pampered for a while. I choose a glossy, pearlescent white polish for my fingers and toes. The color pops against my already golden tan. Afterwards, we return to the house and I spend the next hour and a half meticulously putting soft waves into my hair with a curling wand and applying makeup to my face - a little bit of foundation to even my complexion; eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara to highlight my eyes, a bit of bronzer to highlight my cheekbones, and gloss for my lips. On a normal day, I don't generally wear makeup. I've been blessed with pretty clear skin, long, thick, dark lashes, and nice eyebrows, so I figure, why mess with what already looks halfway decent? As I look in the mirror as I'm finishing up my look for the night, I feel like I look so different. Not bad different, just... fancy, I guess.

I call my mom to my room to help me get my dress zipped. "Oh, wow, look at you!" she says as she looks at my hair and makeup. "You're already so pretty, but wow! You're stunning, Sunny."

"You really know how to gas a girl up, mom," I say with a laugh.

"Well it's easy when you're so beautiful!" She says. "Now, get into your dress and I'll zip you. We need to leave soon and I still need to get my dress on."

She sits on my bed as I get the garment bag out of my closet and pull the dress from it. I turn away from her and undress quickly, stepping into the dress and pulling it up over my body. She walks over to me once I tell her I'm ready and she zips me up.

She smiles when I turn around. "Look at you. JJ will like this," she says knowingly.

I give her a look of surprise. "Why would you say that?"

"Kie made that little comment yesterday when we were shopping. Doesn't he have a little crush on you? I always thought he did," she says. "And now that Tyler is out of the picture..."

I feel myself blush. "No!" I say. "Well, I don't know, honestly. We're not talking about this now."

"You're blushing. Okay, I'll stop," she says. "Get your shoes on and meet us downstairs in a few minutes so we can get going."

AN: I had a request to see the dress/makeup in a comment and I couldn't figure out how to reply to the comment with it so I'm posting it here haha - this is more or less what I had in mind, just obviously not on Nina Dobrev