Anything but Ordinary by Lara Avery

seat. For just a moment, she had forgotten.
    Gabby glanced at her. “I tried to get him to come with us today, maybe try on some tuxedoes, but he said, ‘Nah.’ That’s exactly what he said. ‘Nah.’”
    Bryce’s jaw clenched. The cars around them started to move. This was the part they should glaze over. This was the part that would make her pissed off. But they were going dress-shopping, and he was the groom. Did she think she could avoid it forever?
    They jerked forward. Silence. Greg’s name was ringing in Bryce’s ears.
    Finally, Gabby broke the silence. Her voice was grave. “Bryce, I have something to tell you.”
    Bryce’s stomach was in knots. What now?
    Gabby opened her mouth, but instead of speaking, she hit the CD player’s ON button. A few chords filtered out, and Bryce recognized the song instantly.
    “Yeah, B. Talk your shit,” Gabby said in her best Jay-Z impression.
    Bryce always played the Beyoncé part, because then Gabby could call her “B.” She let out a throaty, “Partner, let me upgrade you,” and immediately giggled with embarrassment. Like most things these days, Bryce was out of practice singing like an R&B star.
    As they pulled into the mall parking lot, Bryce and Gabby danced Beyoncé-style in their seats, swinging their hips and flipping their hair. “Upgrade U” was the first track on their warm-up CD. This was what they pumped from Bryce’s basement speakers as they practiced tucks at her house. This was what they sang to as they rolled into Hilwood High in the mornings. The CD even skipped at the right place.
    Bryce yelled over the Jay-Z part, “Where did you find this?”
    “Are you kidding?” Gabby yelled back between lines. “I would never have let this thing out of my sight!”
    As she nodded her head to the beat, Bryce dabbed sudden, grateful tears with the back of her hand. She smiled at her best friend. A thank-you for this little part of Bryce’s old life, and for letting the subject of Greg drop. They kept rapping and dancing as they entered the mall, doubling over with laughter at the shoppers who stared as they passed.

    An hour later, everything was chiffon. Layers of the light-pink, netlike fabric surrounded Bryce. She climbed through them, the edges of each piece tickling her face. Suddenly she was in the open air again, staring at her own reflection. The dress was very puffy and very pink.
    “I look like one of those shower pouf things.”
    “Let me see,” Gabby said, and pushed her way into the dressing room. She caught Bryce’s eyes in the mirror, and there was an awkward pause. There had been a lot of those since Bryce had filled up her Macy’s bags with T-shirts and Gabby pulled an issue of Modern Bride out of her purse. She had asked if Bryce wanted to take a break while they looked through it, maybe get some Orange Julius. She even offered to take Bryce home to rest, but Bryce was determined not to let the mood fall, not when things were starting to feel normal between them.
    “I just thought it would be interesting.” Gabby twisted a strand of her hair around her finger, looking worried. “You know, different from the average bridesmaid dress.”
    “No, it’s nice,” Bryce said. The top of the dress was pretty. Kind of soft, not too shiny, with a cut right at her bust line. But then it exploded. “Different is good.”
    “But not always good,” Gabby offered quickly. “Here, let’s get it off. Now we’ve narrowed it down. We need something more classic. Maybe slimmer lines.”
    She stepped out of the dressing room while Bryce wriggled out through the forest of chiffon.
    “See, my…er, dress is really traditional,” Gabby said in the eveningwear section when Bryce emerged, moving through different shades of red. “I was thinking bigger shapes, something more elaborate to provide a contrast.”
    Gabby picked out a long, silky dress in vivid red. She pulled Bryce into an oversized dressing room with an upholstered chair in the