Page 15 of When Ellie Falls in Love

“Mom says I have to wait until closer to graduation. Whichisn’tfair becauseyougot to move in there before graduation.”

“They like me more.”

“Yeah, right,” Ellie teased right back.

Chapter 6

Sadie

The downside to prom, Sadie had discovered, was deciding what to wear. She was most comfortable in sweats and a hoodie, but that was the furthest thing from prom attire. Her closet lacked any formal clothes, and she only had three dresses that survived the purge of clothes last summer. Sadie knew she could ask her mom to borrow a dress, or even ask her to go dress shopping with her, but Sadie wasn’t up for the fanfare. They’d make it a huge deal and it just wasn’t to Sadie.

Not like she’d thought it would be.

She had assumed that after Trevor asked her to prom, she would be happy. Not only did she have a date, it was with a cute boy. But the internal conflict battling it out inside of Sadie was enough to drive her mad.

On one hand, she wanted to give Trevor a chance. Hehadasked her to prom, so he must like her on some level. Or at least that’s what she told herself. She had barely spoken to him in person in the week since he’d asked her. Most of their conversations happened on Instagram or Snapchat.

Trevor seemed like a good guy. He’d always comment on the pictures she’d post on her Snapchat stories, which sometimes led to conversations. Granted, their conversations were only surface-level—maybe not even that deep. He’d yet to ask her what she was wearing to prom, if she wanted to grab dinner, or if they were going to take pictures together.

But he had asked her what her favorite hockey team was.

She’d said the Panthers, as it was the only team she could think of.

And on the other hand, Sadie hadn’t been able to get Ellie Mackenzie out of her mind. It was like she woke up one day and saw Ellie as awomanand not just her high school classmate. She dreamed about her long hair and how it would feel to run her hands through it. Her mind had wandered off on more than one occasion, thinking about how she would ask Ellie to prom if she were brave.

Sadie would get her a dozen roses and a pack of watermelon Sour Patch Kids—Ellie’s favorite, according to a post she’d seen on Instagram. She would have some Taylor Swift song playing in the background as she waited for Ellie to come out of the theater. Ellie would smile, run to her, and wrap her arms around her neck. And Sadie would hug her and hold her and ask her to prom.

But that fantasy only existed in her dreams.

Because it didn’t matter if they barely spoke to each other at school and didn’t see each other outside of school unless it was family events. And it didn’t matter that Sadie hadn’t given Ellie any indication she was interested in her. If Ellie had wanted to ask her to the prom, she would have. Even if it was just as friends. Sadie would have gladly joined Ellie’s theater friends just so she didn’t have to go to the prom alone.

“Can’t change that now,” Sadie muttered to herself as she pulled open the door to the thrift shop downtown. The A-frame sign out front advertised they had prom dresses, so Sadie hoped she could find something that would fit. Her mom was supposed to meet her there, but Sadie didn’t see her yet.

Smiling at the lady behind the register, Sadie made her way to the back of the store, where a giant sign said prom dresses with an even bigger arrow under it. The large gaps on the metal racks indicated that she was late in buying a dress. Sadie looked for her size marked on the circular tags hanging on the rack. There were a few options, which lifted her hopes of finding a dress.

Sadie selected two dresses off the rack and found a fitting room. She texted Delaney, telling her to come to the back when she arrived. Taking off her hoodie and sweats, Sadie changed into the first dress. It was a green, form-fitting dress, and Sadie was already not feeling it how she felt in it.

There was a knock at the fitting room door, and Sadie jumped.

“Sadie?” Delaney asked.

“I don’t like this one.”

“Well, let me see it before you decide.”

Sighing, Sadie opened the door and could instantly tell that her mother wasn’t keen on the dress, but wasn’t going to tell her. Delaney smiled, seemingly stifling a laugh.

“I told you I don’t like it.”

“It’s a pretty dress, it just doesn’t screamSadie.”

“And I look like Ariel.”

“You don’t look like Ariel,” Delaney laughed, doing little to convince Sadie shedidn’tlook like the mermaid. “Try on the other one.”

Delaney shooed Sadie back into the fitting room, and she quickly discarded the green dress. She looked at the navy dress hanging on the hook by the door. It was prettier than Sadie recalled just a few moments ago when she took it off the rack. It was a tulle, A-line dress with a V-neck that wasn’t too deep. Sadie slipped it on, struggling for a moment with the zipper before studying herself in the mirror.

Damn.

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