Bright Angel
Chapter 8

Taylor: “Mam, would you like our table?,” I heard her offer an elderly couple the table they had been sitting at. “Why thank you, sweetheart! That’s so nice of you!,” the little old lady thanked her. As we walked closer to her and Hillary, I remembered the advice Isaac gave me the night before concerning my nervous state, “flirt more,” he had said. As I came up with an idea, we caught Hillary’s eye. Before she could say anything to Melissa, I put one finger to my mouth motioning her to keep quiet and she turned around pretending she had seen no one. Then sneaking up behind her, I placed both hands in front of her blue eyes. Her skin was warm to touch as I gently whispered, “guess who” in her ear. Seeming surprised, she guessed me on the first try. When she turned around, I gave her small body a big hug. “Hey, you guys!,” she replied, with a twinkle in her eye as she greeted each of us with a hug and smile. “Sorry we’re late,” Isaac said, “traffics a bitch and Chloe is bad at give directions.” “No, I’m not,” Clover attempted to defend herself, “you’re just bad at receiving them.” “Yea, sure, say what you want, we all know the truth.” With that, Isaac got a punch in the arm. “Well, that’s ok, we were almost late too because Melissa has a problem waking up when her alarm goes off,” Hillary directed the comment at her best friend. “I did wake up and get to your house in time though didn’t I?” “Well, yea” “Then don’t complain!,” Melissa shot back at her. “ So where do ya’ll wanna go first?,” Clover said. “Doesn’t matter to me,” Melissa told her. “I just gotta get some shades,” Isaac lost his favorite pair in Dallas the week before and had been complaining about it ever since. “Good, its about time you got some, now maybe you can give us a break from hearing about them,” Zac critsized. “I’ll go with you to get them and we can meet back with the rest of you at 2 in the food court, if that’s cool,” Clover told the 5 of us. “Sounds like a good plan to me,” I said. “Ok, then bye,” and Isaac and Clover got on the escalator leading to the first floor. “So….what about just walking around until we see something cool,” Hillary said looking at Zac and then the rest of us. “That’s what you usually do at a mall, Hill,” Melissa sarcastically pointed out to her. “Yea, thanks” We all kind of laughed as we turned and started walking towards the Pacific Sunwear. “Hey, Lissa, wanna stop in here,” she turned to look at Melissa. “Yea, that’s cool, if its ok with you guys?” she asked as the sunlight from the glass ceiling hit her face at an angle that lit it up and gave it a magical and breathtaking glow. I could tell I was really going to like her and it was going to be really hard to leave her here in Atlanta. “Yea, I was going to suggest it anyways” I told her. “Great!” She smiled and it seemed to light up the world. After watching the girls try on a few things, we walked out of the store and continued our circle. It wasn’t long before Melissa spotted a few things in the window of another store. Without saying a word, Hillary turned nodded her head to the cute blonde and with a “go ahead,” Melissa scurried into the store and towards the many racks of clothes. “She has a bit of a shopping problem, that’s why her mom doesn’t like to take her. The kids smart, she knows that mom equals money.” We laughed. I thought it was cute if anything and we followed her footsteps into the store behind Hillary. Moments later, Hillary was in the dressing room screaming “ Melissa, where are ya girl?” “Here, the third stall” “Ok, just wanted to make sure you hadn’t died of shock over how cute some shirt was.” “Nope, not yet, not that what I found wasn’t cute or anything” “Yea, ok, come out when you’re dressed, I want to see what the fashion queen found this time.” “Ok.” Melissa emerged from behind the door minutes later interrupting the conversation between the 3 of us as we all sat speechless. She was wearing a slimming little black dress that hugged her every curve and gone was the scarf tying back her golden blonde curls as they now framed her bright and beautiful face. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I had never seen anyone look so beautiful in my life. “Oh my gosh! Melissa, you look amazing in that dress,” Hillary told her. “Thanks, I really like it too, but I don’t really have anywhere to wear it.” “Yea, I can understand that cause there’s no way I’m letting you take that on your trip cause I won’t be there to peel the guys off of you.” She laughed. “Well, I tell ya what,” Hillary told her, “we’ll leave it here for now and if you decide you have to have it, I’ll permit you to come back and get it before taking me home.” “I’d hope you would cause you kind of don’t have a choice seeing that you don’t drive yet and all.” “Hush you,” she snapped back and Melissa headed back into the dressing room.

Chapter 9