White
396 Words
Prom.
Our last high school dance.
Every dance before that, Matt and I had always planned our outfits together. We'd pick a color, then somehow find a dress and tie that matched. It had become our little tradition.
For our final dance...
We chose white.
Sophie happily volunteered to help me shop.
We spent an entire Saturday going from store to store, trying on what felt like every white dress in San Diego.
My mom had given me a budget.
"Three hundred dollars. That's the absolute maximum."
At the time, three hundred dollars felt like a fortune.
Until I started looking at dresses.
The moment the color was white...
Everything suddenly became twice as expensive.
Before I knew it, Sophie had wandered over to the bridal section.
"You know..." she said with a grin. "These are actually kind of pretty."
I laughed.
"Sophie, I'm shopping for prom, not a wedding."
"But they're white!"
She wasn't wrong.
Curious, I started looking too.
Most of them were way beyond my budget.
A thousand dollars.
Fifteen hundred.
Some were even more.
I remember thinking, **Who actually spends this much on one dress?**
Just when I was ready to give up...
I spotted a white dress hanging on the clearance rack.
I looked at the price tag.
Two hundred and eighty-nine dollars.
Barely within budget.
I hurried into the fitting room before anyone else could grab it.
It fit...
Kind of.
I was still so skinny back then.
I hadn't really grown into my figure yet.
The dress had been made for someone with a little more in the hips and bust than I had.
Sophie zipped it up anyway and stepped back.
"I think this is the one."
I looked at myself in the mirror.
It wasn't perfect.
But I loved it.
"We can make it fit," Sophie said confidently.
"How?"
"My mom."
I laughed.
"You're volunteering your mom now?"
"Absolutely."
Sophie's mom was an amazing seamstress.
If anyone could make that dress look like it was custom-made, it was her.
So we bought it.
I thanked my mom for stretching the budget just enough to make it happen.
At seventeen...
All I could think about was how excited I was to wear it to prom with Matt.
I didn't know it then...
But that would be the only time in my life I'd ever wear a wedding gown.
- Writer
