Naked by Stacey Trombley

Author:Stacey Trombley [Trombley, Stacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Friday night my mom takes me to the mall. Not once since that night has she mentioned what she said to my dad, the reason we’re here shopping together at all. But it’s hanging over us, and it feels even heavier knowing what he said to her later that night.

The mall is different than I remember. In the food court, the carousel I used to want to ride is gone. Even most of the shops have changed.

No one looks at me strangely here, which is quite refreshing, and I think helps my mother to relax. She can be a normal mom with a normal daughter.

We take our time going through the shops. I’m not sure how much my mom is willing to spend on me today, so I don’t pick out much.

“What about these?” My mother holds a pair of dark-wash jeans.

“I don’t really need jeans,” I say.

“You always need jeans.”

I take them and keep looking through a rack of sweaters. No point in arguing if she’s going to buy me more clothes than I planned on.

I find a sparkly cream sweater and hold it up to her.

“Your tastes haven’t changed,” she says with a pinch of her lips.

I shrug.

She follows me to the fitting room, and I show her the clothes I have picked out. Despite how normal she’s trying to pretend we are, things still feel really tense. Like she can’t even trust my choice in clothes or something.

I come out wearing a black lace top.

“You sure that’s not too…” she says, but she doesn’t finish her sentence. I think I can guess where she’s going with it, though. It’s not like I’m trying to get knee-high stripper boots or fishnets.

I roll my eyes and take a few steps farther into the store and point out two other girls in similar tops. Neither of them looks slutty in the slightest. “It’s cute, Mom.”

I can see her weighing her options here. “What about if you get it in another color?” she asks.

A compromise. I supposed I can handle that. “Okay, can you go grab me the tan one?”

She smiles and hops up to grab the top. She comes back with a black jacket and a T-shirt. Both of which are actually really cute. And best of all, they feel like my style. Okay, one point in Mom’s favor. At least she’s trying.

Next is the dress shop. Super.

I have absolutely no idea what to look for here. I’ve never been to a dance, and it’s not like I have friends I can take cues from. Jen and Alex aren’t really the dance types.

My mom grabs a hideous high-collared dress that looks like something her mother wore in high school. Not cute. I can’t help but laugh.

“What?” she asks.

“How about no.”

Her mouth opens in surprise. But then she seems to get that I’m just giving her a hard time, so she smiles, shakes her head, and puts the dress back. “Fine, what then?”

I pick out a cute blue cocktail dress that’s probably a little too short for my uptight mother, but it would look good on her.

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