True to her word, Cecelia showed up at my front door way too early. I was still in the middle of getting dressed when she rang the doorbell.

"Coming!" I yelled down the stairs before quickly yanking my shirt on and hopping down the stairs as I pulled my socks on.

"I've got it, Addie," my mom called back already opening the front door and giving Cecelia a warm smile.

"Hi, I'm Cecelia, Addison's friend." She greeted pulling my mom into a hug.

"Well it is very nice to meet you, Cecelia, can I offer you anything to drink? Water, tea, juice?" My mom said going into full hostess mode.

"I'm alright, thank you for the offer though Mrs. Avery," Cecelia flashed my mom a million-watt smile. "Besides. Addie and I don't want to be late for the mall."

"Please, call me Sandra," my mom said. "Mrs. Avery makes me seem so old."

"That's because you are mom," I rolled my eyes, pulling my shoes on before grabbing my purse that was hanging by the front door.

My mom ignored my comment, she knew that I meant it all in good fun. "Well you girls be safe, and Addison I expect a full-on fashion show, of everything you got when you get home." My mom gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before I bid her a 'see you late' and Cecelia and I left.

"Your mom is so sweet," Cecelia told me once we finally got into her car and she started to drive.

"Yeah, she really is the best." It was true. My mom was my best friend, even when I was a kid she was the one I went to for everything. And after my dad passed away, we only got closer. I was so scared that I would lose her too that I started to sneak into her room at night and sleep in her bed. It felt like I was a little girl and scared of the dark again. Except now I knew what really lurked in the dark and wasn't scared anymore.

Xavier told me about your date tonight so now instead of just getting you one dress, you need two," Cecelia said like it was obvious.

"Oh, but I already have this cute dark blue dress at home that I was going to wear," I told her confused.

"And?" She asked, putting on her blocker and making a sharp right. "It's your first date with him, you need a new dress to wear. End of discussion."

"You know, I used to want a sister," I laughed.

"You better get used to it, Addie. Because you're basically part of the family now and we're not letting you go anywhere."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to invite you to our wedding," I joked.

"I'm thinking a spring wedding, maybe like May?" Cecelia said. But I don't think that she was joking.

...

"I don't think that I've ever walked this much in my life," I groaned.

As soon as we pulling into the mall parking lot Cecelia was practically running to the front door. I, on the other hand, was walking at a normal pace. And it didn't get any better when Cecelia instead that we go into every single store at the mall, so far we have been to at least half the stores and I have yet to find a dress for my date of the ceremony.

"I don't want to hear any negitivty from you," Cecelia instructed pulling me into another dress store.

I started to flip through the racks, and racks of dresses, pulling out anything that looked half-way decent. I had about five thrown over my arm when I turned to go tell Cecelia that I was going to try them on.

"Hey, Ce-" I started to say but stopped short to look at the pile of dresses in Cecelia's arms.

"Ok let's start with these," she smiled brightly at me, already handing me the mountain of dresses.

"Remind me to never go out shopping with you again," I told her.

It took both Cecelia, and a sales lady to help lead me to the dressing rooms, I could barely see above all the dresses in my arms.

Cecelia was sitting just outside my dressing room door, insisting that I show her every single dress no matter if I thought it was cute or ugly. She claimed that it was part of the shopping experience.

The first dress I tried on was a dark, forest green one that fell to just above my knees and had a square neck-line with slightly puffy cap sleves.

"That one could be perfect for tonight, but you'll need one of the long ones for the ceremony. I'll give this a nine out of ten." Cecelia was almost bouncing in her seat from how happy she was.

The second dress was a dark blue, almost black one. It fell just past my knees and had spaghetti straps. It was definitely cute, but not for me. Cecelia agreed.

I felt like my arms were going to fall off everytime I pull on and off a dress. Cecelia demanded hat I tried on every single dress, even after we both decided that the first one, the dark green one would be perfect for tonight. She told met hat she had a gut feeling my ceremony dress was somewhere in that pile.

I quicky rifiled through the remaining pile of floor-length dresses before pulling out a dark, red one. It had long sleves, but was super light-weight material. The skirt was flowly, and had a small slit on the left side that showed off my long legs. The neck line was a slight sweet-heart, that showed of just enough without being too much. The dress felt super soft, and it fit me like a glove, I just knew that Cecelia would love it.

"I think that this is the one," I announced walking out into the wall.

Cecelia stopped texting and looked up at me. "You look like a queen. We have to get it," she squealed.

I gave her a small twirl, showing off the full dress, and how it just sed to flow perfectly. "So does mean that I don't have to try on anymore dresses?" I asked hopefully.

"Only because nothing else will ever be able to top this one."

"I've never been so happy," I cheered.

"Now all we need are shoes!" She yelled over the dressing room door was I quicky changed handmade sure to grab my two dresses.

"I already have lots of shoes," I told Cecelia as we made our way up to the counter. "I have a pair of strppy black heels that I think will go perfectly with teh red on, and some small, white heels that I'll wear tonight."

"I'll be the judge of that."

I rolled my eyes at Cecelia, but knew that arguing with her would get me no where. I was pulling my debit card out of my wallet when Cecelia beat me to it and tapped her card, paying for the dresses.

"What was that?" I asked her completely confused grabbing the bag off teh counter and giving teh sales lady that helped us a quick smile.

"That was Xavier," Cecelia explained. "He gave me his credit card and told me to pay for the dresses you get. He knew that if he told you you would never let him, so it had to be a sneak attack."

"Well how much was it? I'll just e-tranfer him back," I was pulling out the receipt from the bag when Cecelia snatched it out of my hand and shoved it into her shirt.

"Not going to happen, Addie."

"You and your brother are way to alike," I grumbled.

"I'll buy you lunch before we go back to your house and do your hair and makeup?" Cecela knew that free food was my weakness.

"Fine, but I get to pick the restaurant."

"Deal."