14
Jordan
Jordan nervously pacedthe hotel room. She couldn't believe she was so anxious about spending the night with Dylan. It wasn't like she hadn't slept with a guy before, but Dylan wasspecial.
She didn't want to mess anything up. She wanted their date and everything to be perfect. Jordan knew she was putting a lot of pressure onto a date, but she couldn't help it. If she didn't analyze everything, it wouldn'tbeher.
She looked through the clothing she brought with her on tour with Lucky. Never really caring about clothing and not thinking she'd meet a guy, she didn't bring anythingpretty.
"Since when do I want to look pretty?" she saidoutloud.
Sighing because she always spoke to herself when she was anxious, she looked through her clothing again hoping something new magically appeared.Something new. She looked at the time and figured she had about an hour before Dylan picked her up at her room. Calling the front desk, she crossed her fingers as she bit her bottom lip and tapped her footimpatiently.
"Front desk," a woman with a slow Southern accentanswered.
"Hi, I was wondering if there are any clothing storesnearby?"
"Yes, there's a shopping district about three blocks from here, but it's really not walkable because of construction. We do have a small boutique that sometimes carries dresses and whatnot. You might want to give that a tryfirst."
"Thankyou."
Jordan grabbed her wallet and the room key and bolted out the door. She hit the elevator down key repeatedly as she waited for it to arrive, then leaned against the wall while riding the elevator down to thelobby.
Running over to a signpost, she followed the arrows down the hall, away from the lobby and into a small alcove with several boutiques. The largest of the shops had a couple of dressed mannequins in thewindow.
As she entered the carpeted shop, the smell of perfume engulfed her, causing her tosneeze.
"Bless you, sweetheart. Well, aren't you the cutest little thing!" drawled the tall woman behind the counter. "What can I doyoufor?"
Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Jordan shot an annoyed look at the boutique owner. She was a matronly-looking woman with steel grey hair twisted into a large bun, and her oversized bosom pushed the boundaries of her blouse's silkfabric.
Giving the small boutique a quick glance, Jordan didn't think she'd find anything there but figured it wouldn't hurttoask.
"I'm looking for adress?"
"Are you askin'?" the boutique owner said with alaugh.
"Listen, I don'tneedthis."
"No, no, little one. I'm sorry, I know sometimes I'm hard to take. I don't usually carry anything as tiny as you, but you're in luck. I got the wrong shipment here today. They keep sending me the wrong stuff. Maybe if it's missing some things they'll stopdoingit."
"Forreal?"
"Now I don't know what's in the shipment. It's just a box. For all I know it's full of socks, but I know it's from one of those cutesy mall places you kids shop at. Let's check it out. By the way,I'mEdra."
"Hi, I'mJordan."
"Like theriver?"
"No, like the basketballplayer."
Edra shot her a suspicious look. "Now why don't Ibelieveyou?"
Jordan followed her into a room directly behind the counter where a large box sat on the floor. The woman grabbed one corner of the box, yanked it open, and started pulling out flat pieces of clothing wrapped inplastic.
"You said a dress? Goin' anywhere inparticular?"
"Onadate."