Hiding from behind a clothes rack, Skye and Levi whispered back and forth over the current situation, that situation being spotting Levi's ex-girlfriend Megan, who Levi understandably did not want to interact with, especially right now. Bumping into your ex wasn't exactly the prettiest thing to happen, hence why Levi was trying to avoid it to big extremes. Hell, he would hide behind a grizzly bear right now if he had to.

"I can't believe I'm hiding from my ex right now." Levi whisper yelled.

"I can't believe I have to hide with you." Skye rolled her eyes and replied. The girl just wanted to do some shopping, not hiding behind clothes racks, but she had no choice but to understand him.

"God, I'm so sorry." He said. "I know it seems ridiculous."

"Oh no, I'd be doing the same thing if I saw Nikki right now." She replied. It was true, Skye would most definitely be going to the same lengths Levi was going to right now. She would probably be better about it, but still, she wouldn't hesitate to hide behind something.

"True. What do we do though?" Levi asked. He had no plan when it came to escaping, but luckily Skye had a plan that she thought of on the spot. It wasn't the best plan, but it was definitely some sort of plan regardless.

"Okay, I'm gonna need you to trust me right now," Skye ordered, looking him dead in the eyes, which made the situation feel way more intense.

"I trust you, no doubt about it." He replied without hesitation.

"Good, because I'm gonna grab your hand and we're gonna run to the complete opposite side of the store, find a sales desk, and get the hell outta here." She said. Again, not the best plan, but at least it was a plan.

"Whisk me away, Skye," Levi said.

"Okay, here goes." She nodded. "In five, four, three, two-"

"One!" They yelled at the same time, grabbing each other's hands and making a dramatic exit so they could find the farthest sales desk. Their yelling caught the attention of everyone in the store, even Megan, but thankfully she didn't realize it was them.

Skye and Levi rushed over to a sales desk, throwing their items onto the desk and breathing heavily. The sales associate gave them a "what the hell" look, but shook her head and began scanning the items while the two teens recollected themselves.

"She didn't see us, right?" Levi asked out of breath.

"Totally didn't see us," Skye replied, squatting down and letting out a huge sigh.

"That'll be $116.93." The sales associate said out of nowhere, which made Skye and Levi's eyes widen at the cost.

"We're gonna split this, right?" Skye asked. "I still need to get a dress, you know."

"No, no, I'll pay," Levi assured her, although Skye wasn't one hundred percent okay with the idea. "You just worry about getting your dress."

"Levi-"

"I insist, seriously." He interrupted.

Skye knew she couldn't fight with Levi on this as they would just go back and forth until someone (most likely Levi) got their way, so she just gave in with a certain condition. "Alright, but I'm totally paying you back."

"I'm fine either way," Levi replied as he handed cash over to the cashier.

"Let me pay for dinner then." Skye proposed. It was the least she could do considering Levi just dropped over one hundred dollars for the both of them.

"Thank you, have a good one." He said to the cashier then turned to Skye to reply to her offer. "Hm, I don't know."

"Come on, now I'm the one who's insisting." She said.

"At the end of the day, all that matters to me is that you get your homecoming dress." Levi shrugged, then began to walk towards the exit. Skye immediately runs up to catch up with him as his long legs got him around much faster than the average person, but Skye couldn't understand why Levi was the way he was when with her.

"Levi, why are you so nice to me?" She asked. "I've only known you for a little over a month and you've already done more for me than I could ever do for you."

"Because I want to." He answered.

"Is that really the answer?" Skye questioned. If Levi could be honest, that wasn't the complete reason why. It was too complicated for him to say out loud, so he just tried his best to keep things simple no matter how much Skye wanted to know.

"Yeah, it is." Levi lied, even though he hated lying, especially to her right now.

"If you say so." She sighed. "I'm paying for dinner though."

"Whatever you want, Skye, whatever you want." He said, then he two exited the store with their shopping bags and headed over to the food court.

"How do we feel about Chinese?" Skye asked as they looked at all their options. They could have anything from The Cheesecake Factory to McDonald's, but since Skye was the one paying, she got to pick, and she knew exactly what she wanted.

"I love a good spring roll," Levi replied, his mouth practically watering at the thought.

"Chinese it is." She said.

After scarfing down a delicious meal at Panda Express, Skye and Levi made their way down to a popular dress shop on the other side of the mall. Plenty of girls have gotten dresses there for various occasions such as homecoming, prom, etc., and this would be no different. Well, except for the fact that Skye was going shopping with a guy that wasn't her dad, so that was definitely a new experience for her. Future Skye would be so proud right now.

Walking into the store, Levi got memories of having to go dressing with his ex, remembering how grueling the process was as Megan was super picky, but happy wife, happy life they say, which would work if Megan was his wife. "Jesus, I'm getting flashbacks, and not the good kind."

"Dress shopping with Megan?" Skye raised an eyebrow. It was the only scenario she could think of unless Levi had a sister (he did not, he was stuck with an annoying, hyperactive, five-year-old brother, but he loved the kid to death).

"Yeah." He sighed. That was definitely the one thing he didn't miss from their relationships that's for sure.

"Well, now you can have memories of dress shopping with me," Skye said, looking up at him with a soft grin. "I'll try to make it as painless as possible for you."

"As long as you find what you want, I'll wait for a whole century for you," Levi said, not lying one bit in this instance.

"How sweet, now let's go." She replied, then tugged on Levi's sleeve and began their search for Skye's homecoming dress.

Scanning through the countless options, Skye struggled to find a dress that she could see herself in. There were some cute dresses, some hot ones, and some that were just downright ugly, and yet Skye didn't know which one to try on first. She didn't even know what she was exactly looking for. She didn't have that much of a preference, all that really mattered was whether she looked good and felt comfortable in it or not.

"God, there are so many dresses," Levi said as he attempted to search through all the racks. He lacked knowledge in this kind of thing, so he was struggling more than Skye. He really wanted to help, but he had no idea what to do.

"I know, my head is spinning over here." Skye sighed.

Levi then pulls out a dress that caught his eye to show Skye, mainly because the dress was pure white, which was definitely eye-catching. "How do we feel about this one?"

"White?" She raised an eyebrow. "I feel like that's a disaster stain waiting to happen."

"True, true." Levi nodded. He then pulled out a random yellow dress for her opinion, receiving a similar reaction from before. "What about this one?"

"I wore yellow last year." Skye frowned. Actually, both she and Nikki had a matching yellow moment. They looked good though, she couldn't lie about that.

"Oops."

"I appreciate the effort though." She assured Levi, noticing how he seemed a little discouraged as she turned down his suggestions. He was definitely trying his best though, which Skye appreciated a lot. It was better than having her dad help, now that would be a disaster.

"Skye, I vow to find the perfect dress, trust me on this one." Levi insisted. Now he wanted to prove himself to Skye. As he said earlier, all that mattered was that she got her dress, and Levi would be damned if he didn't help make it happen.

"I can't wait to see what the perfect dress is," Skye replied.

"Well, I'm gonna find it, and I'm gonna find it fast. Just you wait." He said, receiving a laugh from Skye.

"Love the Hamilton reference." She giggled.

"God, it's such a good sh-" Levi began to say, then quickly interrupted himself as he was getting off track. "Wait, no distractions! Wait right here."

"Okay..." Skye furrowed her eyebrows, then watched Levi run off to a completely different side of the store so he could find the "perfect" dress. Don't worry though, he was going to find the perfect dress for her.

After a lot of thought and consideration, Levi came back with what he thought was the perfect dress. He walked over to Skye with a sly grin on his face while he held the dress behind his back, eager to get her to try it on. There was no doubt Skye would look good in the dress, at least that was what he thought. "I found it."

"Well, hand it over," Skye said.

"Okay." He chuckled, sneakily handing her the dress like middle schoolers sharing notes in class.

"I'll be right back." She replied, then headed over to one of the dressing rooms, Levi following right behind her and sitting down on a bench while he waited to see how she looked.

As soon as Skye stepped out with that dress on, Levi's heart skipped a beat, literally. Now, Levi already thought Skye was beautiful, but now? She looked like the most beautiful being in the entire universe to him and she didn't even realize it. With the emerald green shade of the dress, it was like the color was meant for her. After seeing her like this, Levi only wanted to step foot into the dance with one person, and that person was Skye Simmons.

"How do I look?" She questioned, but Levi was too busy with his jaw hanging to the floor to form a response.

"Uh, Levi?" Still nothing, so Skye walked up to him and snapped her fingers in front of his face, which got him out of his little trance. "Levi!"

"What?" He jumped. "Sorry, I just-"

"You looked quite in a trance over there." Skye giggled.

"Did I? My bad." Levi said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly in embarrassment.

"Yeah, uh, anyways, how do we feel about the dress?" She questioned, taking a step back and showing off the dress to Levi, including a little twirl for full effect. No girl should ever miss out on the spin test, it was essential when trying on a dress no matter the occasion.

As Skye looked at herself in the mirror, actually feeling herself for once in her life, Levi blurts out three words that caught her by surprise. "You look beautiful."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow, stopping herself in her tracks and making eye contact with Levi from the mirror.

"Not that you don't look beautiful all the time." He said frantically, thinking he said something wrong. "I mean, you always look-"

"Levi." Skye interrupted, seeing him immediately shut his mouth as she caught his attention. "Thank you."

"Are you gonna get it?" Levi asked. "The dress, I mean."

Here was the thing; Skye loved this dress. Even though she had only tried on one dress, this just felt like it was made for her. She couldn't see herself in anything else. Levi didn't lie when he said he was going to find the perfect dress, and man oh man did he deliver.

With that being said, Skye had made up her mind, no take-backs. "I think I will. I know it's crazy to say cause it's the first dress I tried on, but I really like it. Not sure what I'll do with my hair though. Maybe a ponytail or I could straighten my-"

"I think you look perfect already." Levi interrupted.

"Hm, I would be saving myself from heat damage." She said, giving it some thought and taking a good, long look at herself. It would also give her plenty of time to do her makeup, knowing she would mess up at least once or twice.

"Do whatever you're comfortable with." He insisted. Levi wasn't going to control every decision she made, but Skye took his opinions seriously, and she was able to agree with them.

"Actually, I think I'll take your suggestion." Skye turned and replied with a little smirk. "I do look good already."

"Yeah, you do." He said to himself quietly.

"I'm gonna get back in my normal clothes, buy the dress, and then we can leave the mall, is that cool with you?" She questioned.

"Yeah. I'll be waiting here." Levi replied.

"Cool, cool. Be right back." Skye said then quickly got back into the dressing room. After spending a good five minutes attempting to unzip herself as she was too embarrassed to ask Levi to do it, Skye managed to get herself out of the dress without damaging it and back into her normal clothes. She came out a little flustered, but brushed it off and asked if Levi was ready to go. "Ready?"

"Yup." He stood, then the two walked over to an available register. The cashier actually thought the two were a couple, making them blush, but Skye spoke for both of them and insisted they were just friends. Were they really though?

"Let's get outta here." She said to Levi, then the two walked out of the store and the mall side by side.

•••

Today's adventure ended in Skye's driveway, the two sharing one last conversation before Skye hurried into her house. "Thanks for taking me to the mall and helping me out today."

"It's no problem. You know I don't mind our little shenanigans." Levi chuckled. He always loved his Skye time, there was no doubt about that.

"Yeah, I can't imagine what chaos will go down on Friday." Skye giggled. There would be chaos for sure, but neither of them didn't have a clue what that chaos would be.

The mention of Friday gave Levi the courage to ask Skye something that had been on his mind the moment she walked out with that dress. It was the first time he had gotten so nervous about this kind of question in a really long time, but this time he felt more at ease going about it. "Right, uh, speaking of, I wanted to ask you something."

Skye could sense what he was going to ask, making her mind swirl like crazy. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. "What's up?"

"I wanted to ask if you would want to go to homecoming with me? As friends, of course." Levi asked, not forgetting to mention the as friends part, as that was essential to the question. He thought Skye would freak if he didn't mention that, so he made sure he did.

Skye's eyes widened as he asked, but she gave him her answer without hesitation, which was uncharacteristic of her. "Yeah! That would be really fun."

"As friends." He insisted to make sure Skye was getting the picture.

"Mhm, as friends." She nodded.

"Cool, cool. I'll pick you up Friday?" Levi asked.

"It's a plan." Skye grinned. "See ya."

"Yeah, see ya." He replied, then watched her get out of the car.

Skye walks away with a huge grin on her face, one that she's unable to contain, so she bites her lip as she walks up to her front door. She turns back and waves to Levi with that same look, watching him wave back and drive away like always.

As Skye burst into the door, her dad sat in the dining room with a cup of coffee, seeing her come inside, also noticing how giddy she looked even from outside. "How was the mall-"

"I got a homecoming date!" She yelled out as she ran up the stairs, too excited to stop herself from standing still. "As friends! Ah!"

"Well then." Her dad chuckled, bringing the mug to his lips and taking a sip with a pleased grin on his face. It was about time Levi took the old man's advice.

•••

MARIA TALKS!

SCREAMING!!! HOMECOMING CHAPTER IS NEXT!!! I'M SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU GUYS REACTIONS!!!

ALSO NOT TO SOUND DESPERATE BUT I'D APPRECIATE IF Y'ALL RECOMMENDED THIS BOOK TO OTHER PEOPLE SO IT CAN POP OFF YK

IDK I JUST KEEP LOSING READERS AND IT SUCKS BOOTY CAUSE I WORK SO HARD ON THIS BOOK

ANYWAYS SEE YA AT THE HOCO CHAPTER!!! AHHHHHHHHHH