Page 74 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

She laughed. “I wish I could claim I was doing just that. But alas, I actually tried on a dress.” Tara quickly dressed and then pulled the door open. She held up the dress for her friend to see and felt a little smug when Shelly grinned stupidlybig.

“Okay, so the black isn’t soooo bad,” Shellysaid.

“Thanks.” Tara noticed Shelly was holding something behind her back. “What did youfind?”

“Um,” Shelly said as her face turned a shade of red that Tara rarely saw on her friend. “It’s just simple, nothingfancy.”

“Let mesee.”

Shelly sighed and pulled the dress around. It was alsoblack.

“Seriously? And you gave mecrap?”

“It’s an Audrey Hepburn remake,” Shelly said, her face suddenly getting animated. “The classic black sheath with the high neck and the gloves. I’ve always loved that dress.” There was a vulnerability in Shelly’s eyes that made Tara decide not to give her a hard time aboutit.

Tara remembered Shelly had talked about getting something like it for prom but adding a cape to dress it up even more. “It will look amazing on your tall, slim figure,” Tarasaid.

“Now we just need shoes and I need a pair of gloves, both of which they have here.” Shelly pointed to the farthest right-hand corner of the room and made a beeline forit.

Tara grabbed her purse and the dress and followed. To her surprise, she was a little excited about wearing the dress. But then she remembered it wouldn’t be Elias who would be seeing her in it, which irritatedher.

By the time they’d both found the shoes they wanted, earrings, and gloves for Shelly, Tara was shopped out. She was hungry and tired of the salesclerk following them around like a vulture, attempting to upsell them. Two hours from the time they’d entered the store, they checked out and climbed back into thecar.

“I’m starving,” Shellysaid.

“It’s a good thing because I was about to start gnawing on yourarm.”

They drove through a fast food place and then were back on the road and headed for home. Just as Tara finished her lunch, her phone chimed, letting her know she’d received a textmessage.

She pulled the phone from her purse and felt the familiar storm of butterflies in her stomach that now seemed to erupt every time she received atext.

“That your boo?” Shelly asked as she popped a fry in hermouth.

“If you’re not talking about a ghost then I have no idea what you’re saying,” Tara said as she looked at the screen of herphone.

It was from Elias. The butterflies picked up the pace as she clicked on the text and watched itopen.

Good afternoon,luv. Checking in to see how your day has been. I missyou.

Tara wantedto ask why he hadn’t called her if he missed her so much. He said he missed her in every text he sent. She also wanted to know why he only sent her one text a day. And she was curious as to why his texts sounded like something a girl would receive from her boyfriend, when he clearly wasnother boyfriend. But instead of demanding answers, because she was not going to look like an obsessed girlfriend, especially since she wasnothis girlfriend, she responded as she alwaysdid.

It’s been a good day.Shelly and I went dress shopping. The prom is coming up in a couple ofweeks.

Tara hitthe send button before she could delete what she’dtyped.

“Why do you have an evil grin on your face?” Shellyasked.

“Why don’t you have your eyes on theroad?”

“Because I noticed the evil grin on your face and want to make sure you’re not about to shankme.”

“Why on earth would I shank you while you’re driving? I don’t have a death wish,” Tarareplied.

“Good point,” Shelly nodded. “All right, then what’s got you all pleased withyourself?”

“I told Elias we went dress shopping for theprom.”

Shelly’s lips turned up into a big smile. “Did you mention that you have adate?”

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