Unedited

"Friends are the true definition of love" - Unknown

"Don't you know that is not your color?" Clara mumbled through a mess of material thrown everywhere. I rolled my eyes. Pulling the dress further up onto my body. I really never liked strapless dresses.

"You know what is ridiculous. The fact that we went shopping today to find some dresses for our casual date in the park tonight, but we are trying on bridesmaid dresses. How does that happen?" I chuckled slightly.

"Because Erin, you need to learn to have more fun in your life. Try on some dresses that are absolutely ridiculous every once in awhile." Clara left the dressing room in a hideously orange dress. Not like a sunburnt orange that was manageable but one that made your eyes burn.

"That is disgusting." I tumbled over in my neon green dress. She was correct it wasn't my color, but the orange she was wearing wasn't anyone's color. "These dresses need to go back to the 80's maybe somebody should just burn them."

"How was your date last night?"

"It was so amazing, honestly I could really see us going somewhere. Andrew was the best gentleman I've met in a long time."

Clara and I locked the dressing room doors behind us. I was ready to get out of this awful dress. Pulling the itchy material down, I couldn't help but notice the butterflies in my stomach. Just talking about Andrew drove me crazy. My brain drifted back to the park last night. I had gone for a jog through the area where we had gone fishing last night, even if it was a little out of the way of my apartment.

"What did you guys do?" I couldn't see her as she asked the question but I could feel the excitement through the walls.

"We had an amazing dinner and then we went to the park just down the road. He took me fishing on his boat."

"Is that code for you guys had sex?" Clara shouted a little louder than I was comfortable with. I could feel the color rushing to my cheeks. I pulled on my shorts hanging the dresses back up on the hangers and leaving the dressing room.

"No!" I said banging on the door of Clara's dressing room. "That was no code word for sexual activites. That was what we actually did. He took me fishing." I wasn't yelling, but I knew if anyone else was in the dressing room they could hear every single word I had just said.

Clara climbed out of the dressing room, the door flying open. Dresses covered every available space and I wasn't quite sure how she had found her clothes in the mess. I stood in shock before she grabbed my arm dragging me away.

"You might want to walk away from that dressing room before the entire thing explodes with tull." She snickered. We left the store. The mall wasn't too crowded today, the giant mass hallways only flooded with a few families. This wasn't normal for a saturday.

"I'm really glad we took the day off."

"Hopefully your mother has everything taken care of though, because she will kill us on Monday if today goes bad."

"Very true."

I watched some of the people we passed, taking a look at the way they moved about their day. Many were mindlessly wondering just wanting to spend money but no real reason behind the purchase. Clara's brown curls bounce with her practically skipping down the hallways towards one of our favorite stores.

"So how was fishing?" Clara questioned.

I thought for a moment, wanting to carefully explain to her how it went. I didn't want her to assume it was sex again. Who knew where she would take it though.

"We went fishing for crabs, when you put out a net and see what you can catch. I've never done that before. Honestly I've never done any kind of fishing and it was a really good experience for a first time fisher." I could see her mind wanting to make things dirty.

"Did you guys kiss?"

Now I could feel myself turning red again.

"Oh my gosh you guys did!"

"Okay maybe."

"I knew fishing meant sexual stuff."

I smacked my forehead.

"Clara, I'm telling you, we did not have sex!" I didn't realize how loud my voice was until a couple of guys walking past made some noises. I don't think the color in my face could have gotten any brighter.

"Okay, that was embarrassing, I guess I believe you." I wanted to kill Clara but I knew that was not a good idea at all. We headed into a store that sold clothes that both of us really liked. Nothing too fancy, and I was sure we would be able to find something for our date tonight. I couldn't say I was excited for the date tonight. I just wanted to spend all my time with Andrew. I was wasting my time by going on a date with anybody else.

Clara and I separated and went to our own shelves. Tugging at dresses as quickly as we could, not stopping our search until we both had at least five dresses. Once we had our selections we head for the dressing rooms. I wasn't mentally prepared to try on another buttload of dresses. My body was still worn out from the last shop. I wanted to just find a dress and get out of here now.

"We should find dresses that match, and just tell the guys tonight that we are sisters." I shot her a side look. Why would we lie to the boys tonight?

"Why?" I asked a little more harsh than I had meant it to sound.

"Because why not mess with them a little. It'll make the date a little more fun for us if they are a bunch of killjoys."

"Obviously your app doesn't work very well if you are just assuming they are killjoys"

"Maybe it doesn't, but you are running out of time."

~*~

"Weren't we supposed to meet them over here?" Clara and I looked around the park a little confused. This was the same park Andrew and I had gone to. I was having troubles just standing here without having flashbacks of the date with him. Goosebumps creeped up my arms. "Erin! Do you remember where we were supposed to meet them?"

I shook my head, both answering her question and pulling myself out of my thoughts. Clara had set up the date and I honestly have no clue who the boys were. I didn't even know their names.

Clara decided to take a seat on the closest park bench. I followed her plopping down besides her. Looking around the park I had spent so much time in last night, and even an hour or so this morning.

I watched as my friend pull out her phone. She opened the tinder app and searched through her recent messages. When she found the messages from the boys we were supposed to be meeting she glanced up looking around. Typing a quick message she put her phone away.

"Where are they?" I ask.

"They said they were here, they are trying to find us."

Soon two very tall men walked towards us. I felt my nerves twist up all of sudden. You'd think with the amount of dates I had been on that this wouldn't be so hard for me anymore. The blonde man reached forward leaving his hand open for me to take. I took it in mine shaking firmly.

"My name is John, this is my friend Jimmy." He smiled, his voice a little rough in a not so good way. I tried to put on a smile.

"Well, what took you guys so long?" Clara asked. I noticed Jimmy was standing shyly behind his friend, but he held a brown basket close to him.

"Jimmy forgot the basket so we had to go back and get it" John chuckled for a moment, the two men shooting glances at each other. They looks like brothers. "We just wanted a nice meal for you guys. So we should go find a nice spot down by the water to eat." He shot us another million dollar smile.

"Good I'm hungry." Clara jumped up. We followed the men, they picked a not so flat spot in the grass close to the water. My body was filled with emotions. I could see Andrew's boat from here.

Jimmy took the time to lay a blanket out carefully, allowing Clara and I to sit down first. He placed the basket in the middle before opening it up and pulling out some of the contents. He handed each of us water bottles. John leaned up against a tree that was close to us. I wasn't sure I was willing to eat any of the food. I didn't trust anybody I didn't know especially not guys who showed up late to a picnic because they forgot the basket.

The conversation slowly picked up. Clara doing most the work. My thoughts wouldn't stop drifting back to my date with Andrew. I checked my phone multiple times looking for any kind of contact from the runaway man. I soon found out that Jimmy was unemployed and he lived in John's basement. John worked at a bank and was actually very well off. I lost all interest in any of the conversations when I found out one of them actually did something and the other was just a bum.

"So you guys don't actually live in new york?" I heard Clara ask. It piqued my attention just enough to remove myself from my thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm here helping my company open up another location. My brother came just for the moral support." I rolled my eyes. "So we should be here for a little while long and we are honestly just trying to have some fun in our free time." My stomach turned. There was no point in being here anymore considering they were obviously not looking for more than a night. Clara continued to hold the conversation but I could tell she was also not very pleased with the responses she was getting. She was right, they were killjoys.

This tinder app really seemed ridiculous. You either had really bad dates, or just subpar ones. All except for Andrew. Why was it so hard for him to get a girlfriend? Why did he need some mobile app to find a woman? He was sweet, and so passionate.

I checked the time on my phone one more time. I had sat in the park with Jimmy, John, and Clara for over an hour now. I hadn't said more than three words and I felt pretty pathetic just being here.

"That's a really pretty dress you have on." John leaned in whispering softly in my ear. I pulled away for a second looking at him.

"Thank you."

The conversation continued on for another twenty minutes. Nobody touching any of the food. I tried to give my input where it was needed but I was so far out of the conversation I couldn't even bring myself back to it.

All I could do was pray Clara would be ready to go very soon.

~*~

Monday Morning

I sat in my office trying to wipe some of the sleep out of my eyes. This weekend had worn me out. I was hoping taking saturday off would have given me enough time to catch up and not feel so exhausted today. It didn't. I couldn't focus on many things and I felt myself fading from my work. I was lacking some inspiration.

There was a small knock on the large wooden door. "Come in" I responded. Shuffling some papers to the side at an attempt to make it look like I was getting stuff done I realized it was worthless when my mother walked through the door closing it behind her.

"Erin what is going on in here?" She asked her voice soft. I turned my chair to look at her shrugging my shoulders.

"Honestly just really worn out"

"Going on too many dates? Not sleeping well? Stressed about something? What's wrong with you?" I know my mother is coming from a place of caring but the questions came out as an attack. The rush of them all in a sudden breath.

"I wish I knew what to tell you momma, I just really don't know what's going on with me." She placed her hand gently on my shoulder in an encouraging manner. I looked up to her. She knew how to make me feel better.

"Well I have a little surprise for you." She seemed nervous as she spoke. I couldn't help but wonder why she had a surprise for me. "Stay here I will be right back." She left the room before giving me a chance to respond. I was confused. Honestly I felt this was something normal in my life. I've been more confused the last few weeks than I've ever been before. I couldn't stop thinking about Andrew. I couldn't wait for our next date.

My mother entered the room again leaning against the door. "Okay please don't get mad at me, but you are really running out of time with the bet and this is the only person I know of that I think might help you out if you give them a chance."

"What are you talking about?" If I was confused before I had no clue what kind of confusion was coming.

My mother grabbed the door handle. Slowly and carefully she opened the door to reveal a face I hadn't seen in years. I jumped out of my seat when the man entered the room. He was just that, he was a man now. He looked different, older. Much more masculine than he did back in highschool. But he was still the same man. My breath hitched in my throat taking in the blonde hair that I had cut so many times. The eyes that had told me so many secrets. The friend I had missed so dearly.

"Carter?" I questioned, wishing I had sounded more confident with my response.My reaction to this kid standing in my doorway was not one of long friends meeting up again but more of a stranger breaking into your home. Out of the corner of my eyes I noticed my mother sneaking out of the room, a wide smile covering her face. "Carter!" i said again, this time much more sure of myself.

"Erin, it's me." He said with a smile. It was the same voice that washed over me with so many memories. I wasn't sure where to begin, was I supposed to run up and hug him? Did I stand my ground and draw myself away from him?

He answered my question for me when he closed the distance between us. I removed myself from my seat in shock. He grabbed me pulling me into a tight embrace. I melted in his arms. It had been so long since I had seen my best friend. I couldn't help the smile that had formed on my face.

"What the hell have you been up to?" I nearly cried into his shoulder taking in the smell I knew all too well.

"Mostly just a lot of college and medical schooling but right now I'm just out here on my fall break just visiting old friends."

"Well I'm glad you stopped by, I really miss you."

"Well, I'm only here for a couple of weeks, so I'd love to catch up with you. How about lunch today? I really need to get going. It was good seeing you. Hopefully I see you at our spot around 12:30. Goodbye Erin." Carter rushed out of my office almost as quickly as he had entered. I plopped down on the couch, my heart racing a million miles.

"Carter?" I whispered to myself in the empty office.