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I drag Bob towards the dressing rooms. Laura had already went in.

"Wait no Elle I can't go in there." Bob says and he stops walking...He refuses to go in.

"Fuck Bob its not a big deal, come on." I push him a little.

"No, I can't go in there." He shakes his head.

"Its not like your coming in the actually changing room and shit...you can just sit outside" I tell him and he frowns.

"Look see... there's even a chair." I say pointing to a chair that was against the wall, and he makes a face.

"That's not-" He starts to say and I laugh.

"What that's not for sitting in?" I tease him as this elderly saleslady comes in. "Can my husband sit there while I try on these dresses?" I ask her and she nods.

"Well that's what the chair's there for!" She says cheerfully motioning to Bob to sit. I smiled he shook his head and sat down reluctantly.

"Fucking Gerard." He mumbles under his breath.

"What?" I ask.

"I'm just thinking how the fuck I get myself into this." He mumbles.

"If Gerard could've- he would've been here." I say defensively. "He said six oclock...and its only 5." I tell him.

"Elle five bucks says Gerard's all ready here and he's fucking playing video games in the arcade with Frankie, while I sit here with your purse." Bob tells me and I laugh.

"Here you can hold my purse too!" Laura cries out and dumps her bag onto Bobs lap. Bob winced a little as she grabbed a few of the dresses she picked out from his arms and darted into one of the changing rooms.
He looked so uncomfortable. "Aw baby I'm so sorry." I try to tell him. He looked pathetic actually...You could tell he so did not want to be here. Sitting in a folding chair holding not just one, but two fucking purses and a stack of frilly dresses.

"Just go Elle." He says shoving the pile of dresses towards me. "Just go and hurry up okay." He says as he pushes me into the small dressing room. He kinda laughed a little in frustration as he shut the door.

The first dress I tried on was a short dark blue satin baby doll dress. I came out to show Bob. I was expecting him to say yes. Kinda like Gerard did to me that day I was trying to find something to wear to meet his Grandma. But he said no...

Didn't give me any specific reason. Just looked me over and shook his head no. I shrugged a little and went back in.
So I tried on the next one. It was white. Strapless. Kinda had some ruffles on the bottom. I didn't think it was half bad.

But Bob did. As soon as I came out he frowned.

"No." He says plainly.

"Well why not?" I ask spinning around a little. The ruffles kinda flew up a little.

"Cause." He replies.

"Cause?" I repeat back and he just looks at me blankly. "You gotta give me something more than that." I say and he shrugs.

"All right its uh... too short." He says and I snicker.

"Bob this is like 3 inches longer than the skirt I was wearing yesterday." I tell him and he shifts in his chair a little.

"Well you shouldn't have been wearing that either." He mumbles.

"What?" I laugh. He leans back and starts tapping his fingers on his leg. "Why not?" I ask him persistently.

"Cause your knees are too...mmm knobby." He says and I gasp a little.

"Knobby?!" I say pretending to be outraged. "You think my knees are knobby?" I ask and he smiles back at me.

"That's a little harsh there Bob." I tell him and he leans back in the chair and stretches his neck back, looking up at the ceiling.

"Then don't fucking ask me Elle." He sighs.

"Hmmph!" I say and I go back into the dressing room.

It was hopeless... I tried on a longer dress but Bob said the color really brought out the veins in my arms and my legs... I tried on a different color dress and he said the color was better and that he liked how the bow on the back really drew attention away from my big ass...

It was fucking hopeless... Every single thing I tried on he shot down. I was starting to get a little self-conscious too.

And I never do... I'm so use to people telling me that I'm pretty... Maybe they've just been lying to me all these years and Bobs the only one who's telling me the truth...

I had two possible dresses in my maybe almost pile. I only had one dress left to try on. Laura hadn't come out of her dressing room so I had no clue if she was having as bad a time as I was...

The last dress I had was a deep olive colored silk dress, with kinda a plunging neckline but it had like a beaded trim that covered most of my tattoo. I mean you'd have to be looking straight down into the top of the dress to see the tattoo.  It kinda had like a ruched bodice and the skirt had some taffeta sticking out from underneath. I almost touched my knobby knees.

I came out and Bob looked me over and immediately shook his head no.

"You hate it." I say and he just looked at me. Just then Laura comes out of the dressing room.

"Oh wow Elle that's gorgeous." She says smiling at me. I roll my eyes. "No I'm serious right Bob?" She asks him and he stands up and holds her purse out for her with out saying anything.

"Did you find something?" I ask her and she nods and holds up a real pretty silver dress. "Oh that's nice." I tell her and she smiles a little.

"Are you gonna get that one?" She asks me and I turn and look at myself in the mirror. I shrug a little. "Well hurry up and decide cause its almost 6 o'clock." She says opening her purse up. "I'm gonna go pay I'll meet you guys outside." She says and she walks away leaving me and Bob outside the dressing room.

"I'll be outside too." Bob says and he quickly jogs off after her leaving me alone outside the dressing room as the elderly saleslady approaches.

"Oh my dear that's just stunning." She says fakley of course... I think they work on commission here...

"Hmm?" I say handing her the dresses I had already tried on.

"That dress looks fantastic on you." She says and I frown. She puts the dresses in her arms down and pushes me towards the mirror. She tugs at the hem a little and fusses with zipper on the back. Tugging it, adjusting the dress slightly on my waist. "Mm hmm. It's a perfect fit." She declares and I sigh a little. "You don't like it?" She asks.

"I mean I do...Its okay I guess but my husband said-" I start to say and she smiles.

"He hates it right?" She says reaching for her pile of discarded dresses again.

"Yeah." I sigh.

"I'm not surprised." She laughs a little. I look at her funny. "That your husband hates that dress." She says and I continue to make a face at her. What the fuck is this lady talking about? "You show up in something like that... heads are gonna turn." She sighs a little. "Aah to be young again." She says reminiscing a little. "I certainly didn't look like you, but I turned a few heads in my day." She says and I smile politely...Yup this lady is a fucking nut job... and they definitely work on commission here...

I took the dress off and changed back into my clothes. I hung it back on the rack as we walked out.

"Aw you're not gonna get it?" Laura sounded a little disappointed. I shrugged a little.

As we came out I saw Gerard and Frankie sitting on a bench Bob was standing, they were all talking. Gerard saw me and stood up and came over he had a soda in one hand and his other hand was behind his back.

"Hey." He says leaning down and kissing my lips lightly. "Mmm where's your dress?" He asks looking at my empty hands.

"I couldn't find anything." I say a little sourly. I reach over and take the soda from him and take a sip from the straw. I look over. Frankie is telling Bob something about a new high score. Bob is smirking. "Were you at the arcade?" I said a little loudly. He just looked at me like I caught him. "Fuck now I owe Bob five bucks." I say swatting his chest.

"Well yeah, but I was somewhere else to." He says grinning a little.

"Where?" I ask and he steps back a little. "What's that behind your back?" I ask him and I reach for his arm behind his back and he pulls it back some more.

"Easy." He cries out. "I got you something." He says which only fuels my curiosity some more. I reach again. "Whoa come on easy babe!" He cries out and pulls out a small brown cardboard box from behind him. It had a couple of air holes punched out on the top. The box was no bigger than 6 inches. It was marked from that pet store in the mall.

"What is it?" I ask nervously looking at the box.

"Guess." He says and I stare at the box.

"A puppy?" I say very seriously.

"Elle come on you think a puppy would fit in a motherfucking box like this." He laughs a little.

"A fish?" I ask and now Frankie got up and is standing next to Gerard.

"In a box!" he hollers.

"Well I don't know Gerard." I say a little resigned. The only animals I've ever seen them sell in the mall are puppies and fish and...

He opens the box and I look inside..

"Aw it's a hamster!" I cry out. I reach in and touch it. It was small and light brown and oh so fluffly... kinda like Ray.

"Can I touch it?" Frankie asks holding his finger out.

"Touch him and die motherfucker." Gerard yells at him. Frankie pulls his finger back quickly as I continue to coo over the tiny hamster.

"Bob come see." I tell him and he makes a face.

"Fuck no!" he calls out as he sits on the bench.

"Aw come on!" I moan a little.

"It's a fucking rat Gerard." He laughs a little. "I don't believe you bought your girlfriend a fucking rat." He says and I laugh.

"It's not a rat it's a hamster Bob!" I cry out.

"Same thing Elle." He scoffs.

"You don't like hamsters." I say taking the box from Gerard and bringing the box towards Bob. He jumps up off the bench and takes a step.

"No I don't like hamsters or rats any kinda of fucking rodents! Now keep it away." He says holding his hand up at me.

"What are you gonna name him?" Laura asks reaching into the box and petting him.

I thought a second. "mmm Gus-Gus." I say and Gerard laughs.

"Gus-Gus?" He repeats back. I nod. Frankie laughs and I pout a little.

"What's wrong with Gus-Gus?" I ask and Gerard smiles and runs his thumb along my pouted lip.

"Nothing baby, Gus-Gus is a perfect name." He says and he kisses my lips softly. "Now why couldn't you find a dress?" He asks when he pulls away.

"I don't know." I shrug. I was still a little down from not being able to find one. "Can we just go eat cause I'm starving." I say and he nods.

We went to eat at the Ruby Tuesdays. It was thing halfway decent in the mall. Bob kept glaring over every time Gus-Gus stuck his nose out one of the air holes. He didn't like him...

We sat down and ordered and Gerard got up suddenly and whispered something to Laura. The he said they'd be right back something about calling Ray. I was too busy trying to get Gus-Gus to eat a carrot stick I took from the salad bar.

Just as the food arrived Gerard and Laura appeared. He was carrying something. It was a fucking dress. Well a dress bag.

"What the hell is that?" I ask him.

"Its your dress." He says laying it over the back of his chair. I went to open the bag up to see it and he stopped me.

"You trust me?" He asks and I sigh.

"Gerard come on." I argue and I reach for it again.

"It's a surprise baby leave it." He tells me and I frown. I look over at Laura.

"Its real pretty Elle don't worry." She says smiling a little.

"Well what if it doesn't fit?" I ask and he looks over at Laura.

"It'll fit." She says as she starts to eat. "I helped him with the size... it'll fit trust me." She says and I roll my eyes at her.

"Well what color is it?" I ask and he laughs.

"It's a surprise Elle, you know what that means?" He teases me. "It means you don't get to see it until you're ready to put it on." He say and I pout.

"Well I need to know what color it is so I can buy shoes to match." I say and Gerard laughs.

"With the number of shoes you have-" He says and then he sneezes. Like 3 fucking times.

"Are you all right?" I ask and he shakes his head. "You look like you're getting sick Gerard." I say and he tries to shrug it off. But I could tell. His fucking nose was red. He was kinda pale. His eyes were a little glazed over. He was either fucked up or sick...

Then he sneezed again... he was sick...

We all went back to my house. I wanted Gerard to go home and go to bed but he insisted on helping me set up Gus-Gus's tank in my room. I got him a little wheel and a food dish and a water bottle and a ball that he could run around the house in.

"Why did you get me this?" I asked as I loaded Gus-Gus into his ball.

"To make you happy." He says smiling at me, smiling at Gus-Gus as he rolled down the hall.

"Naw I think you did this to make you happy. You know replace thor." I say and he laughs.

He pulled me into his arms and hugged me a little as Gus-Gus turned into the living room.

"You're always saying how alone you are here." He says lowering his voice a little. "Now you wont be so alone." He says and I sigh and lean back against him.

"Fucking rat." I hear Bob grumble from the living room.

"Oh shit." I say pulling away from Gerard and running in to save my Gus-Gus from Bob...

Laura had went home. It was just me, Frankie, Bob and Gerard now. My papas car was back in the garage where it belonged. Chico was in the driveway. So was Bobs car. Gerard had picked up his now fixed car from the shop and it was parked in the street.

It was getting late. Some one had to bring Frankie home. I wanted Gerard to go home since he was obviously sick.

"Tomorrows Thursday." I tell him.

"So?" He replies.

"So your grandma comes on Thursday." I tell him and he shrugs. "So you're gonna go home and go to bed and tomorrow Helen can make you some soup and nurse you back to health before the dance on Friday." I say and he just looked at me. "Well that's what Grandmas do isn't it?" I ask them and they laugh.

"I don't want you here by yourself Elle. Especially not after what happened this morning." He says and he sneezes again. I go to object and he talks over me. "Don't even fucking say your not alone cause you have Gus-Gus!" He tells me and I pout.

That is what I was gonna say... fuck...

"Bob will stay with me." I say loudly and Bob looks up like 'I will?'  "Sure you will Bob." I say nodding at him. "He could stay on the couch." I say and Gerard sighs a little. "Gerard please I want you to go home. If you stay here you're gonna get me sick and then I wont be able to go to the dance on Friday and then Pete wont tell me what he knows and then I'm gonna cry and cry and cry and cry and-"

"Okay Elle!" He sniffles a little. He was all stuffed up... Congested and shit... "I'll call you in the morning okay?" He says and I nod. I kiss him on the cheek before he and Frankie leave. I walked them outside and then Bob said for me to go get changed for bed that he was just gonna go check all the windows were locked and shit...

When I came out of the bathroom Bob had all the lights out. He had taken blanket from the closet and was laying on the couch. Looked like he was already asleep. Fuck. I was gonna tell him he didn't have to sleep on the couch. I mean I had pretty large bed, There was no reason why he couldn't lay with me again...

I went back to my room and said goodnight to Gus-Gus. And shut the light. I was snuggling up under my blankets almost asleep to when I heard it...

Squeak... squeak.. squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, and squeak. It became more and more frequent. Louder and louder... What the hell? I flip my light on.

Its Gus-Gus. In his wheel. When I flicked the light on he froze. Mid spin too. The wheel kind swung with him inside.

"Aw Gus-Gus, baby its time for bed." I tell him reaching into his tank and pushing him off the wheel. He just looked at me. "Now be a good little hamster and go to bed." I tell him softly and he scurried off to the corner and curled up in a ball.

I went back and got in bed and shut the light and curled up into a ball too. I shut my eyes and then...
Squeak, squeak squeak, squeak, squeak,, squeak, squeak squeak squeak.

"Motherfucker!" I yell jumping up and flipping the light back on. Gus-Gus ran back to his corner abandoning the wheel.

"Thank you!" I cry out.

I shut the light again. It was silent... thank god... I rolled over.... Squeak.....
...
squeak...
....
squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak.

"Oh you fucking motherfucking rat!" I jump out of bed totally enraged. I grab my blanket and storm down the hall into the living room where Bob was sleeping.

"Bob" I whisper. He didn't move. "Bob!" I yell loudly and he sit up abruptly.

"What the hells the matter Elle?" He says a little panicked.

"Nothing." I say and he exhales a little in relief and lays back down. Stretching his arms over his head. "I cant sleep...Gus-Gus is running on his wheel and its squeaking." I say and he chuckles.

"Fucking rat." He mumbles.

"Let me sleep with you." I say and before he could argue I climb up on top of him and pull my blanket over us.

"No whoa Elle wait." He says wiggling a little under me. I pulled the thin blanket he had from between us and pressed my self against him. I was wearing a pair of boy shorts and a tank top. He had taken off his shirt but had left his jeans on. His skin was so warm. He was laying on his back and I was lying on my stomach on top of him. I sighed a little trying to get comfortable. It would have been easier if he stopped squirming so much. "Fuck." He mumbles and he grabs me and pulls me off of him a little.

He rolled over on to his side with his back against the back of the couch and he pulled me laying in front of him facing the same way.

He was smushed between the couch and me now. I moved a little more to the edge to try to give him more room and I lose my balance. How do you lose your balance laying down? I don't know. I got to close to edge and I guess gravity kicked in and I started to roll off.

Bob reached over and grabbed me just in time. "Fuck." He mumbles pulling me closer to him in his arms.

"sorry." I say weakly. "am I smushing you?" I ask and I can feel him take a deep breath. "If I lay on top-" I start to say and he shifts a little.

"I'm fine Elle." He mumbles. "Are you okay?" he asks softly.

"Yeah but your belt buckle is digging into my back." I say squirming a little. He shifts back from me and doesn't say anything. I press back against him.

"Goodnight honey." I say and he doesn't answer. "Bob?" I ask.

"Goodnight Elle." He finally says and I snuggle up a little more and drift to sleep.

I woke up the next morning a little confused. I mean I was in the living room. On top of Bob.... on the couch... The phone was ringing... I reached for it with out getting off of Bob.

It was the school... wondering where I was... I look over at the clock... fuck...

It was after 9. We were late. Like so late it wasn't even worth it. I told the lady I wasn't feeling well. Fuck. I could hear my alarm clock ringing faintly down the hall... It must've been ringing all morning but you could hardly hear it in the living room.

I hung up the phone and sat upright on top of Bob and stretched a little.

"You're not going to school?" He mumbles stretching a little himself.

"Naw I got a lot of thing to do today." I sigh. "aw fuck you better call the school too.. they're probably looking for you too Bob!" I exclaim.

"I'll call my mom in a minute." He yawns.

"You're not going in either?" I ask and he shakes his head no. "All right then, call your mom... I'm gonna go take a shower and get dressed." I say climbing off of him. I step down onto the floor and trip a little on the crap Bob left on the floor... "Aw fuck." I cry out stumbling forward.

"You okay?" he asks sitting upright.

I look down at what I tripped on..."Yeah I fucking tripped on your shoes and your...belt"