“As much as I would love to never hear that phrase again, I won’t leave you here.” Her arm settled over my shoulder, the two of us laughing hard enough that we had to stop walking.
“Seems like you two are already in a happy shopping mood,” I heard Stella say. Turning once I finally got control of my giggling, I found her coming up behind us. “Anyone want to kick off the shopping trip with ice cream?”
“Oh, hell yes!” Lyla exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “I love all things dessert.”
“Perfect. So, any idea what kind of dress you’re wanting, Emma?”
“I have no idea, but this one said learning about what dress flatters your figure is on today’s episode of The Lyla Teachings, so I was going to wait and see what great wisdom she had to bestow on me,” I teased, jumping out of the way when Lyla reached out to swat at my arm.
“And how to walk in heels and not fall on your face,” she corrected.
“That’s a good thing to be informed on,” Stella agreed with a smirk, enjoying our inside joke. Stepping up to the ice cream counter in the food court, she continued, “Order whatever you girls want.”
Twenty minutes and all ice cream ingested later, we were finally at the first store. Racks upon racks were filled with dresses of different colors, lengths, and styles. Standing between Lyla and Stella, I scanned the space, growing overwhelmed with all the choices. Lyla seemed to pick up on my fashion overload and took mercy on me, digging into the first rack and pulling two dresses off.
“To start, let’s get a feel for your style. Which of these do you like and why?”
“I like the length on that one,” I explained, pointing to the floor-length purple dress she held up. “And that it’s not super poofy.”
“What do you not like?” she continued to ask. Stella let Lyla take the lead, content to listen intently from her spot beside me.
“I don’t like the strapless top. I know I’d just be pulling it up every two seconds, which is something I like about that one.” The second dress she’d picked out was shorter in length but had delicate spaghetti straps. “The sparkles are also really pretty, but I’m not a fan of the bright punchy orange. I think I’d look like a glam inmate if I wore that.”
“You would not,” Stella assured, stepping to the rack next to us, her head tilting as she sifted through the dresses. “What about a pink? Or maybe a blue?”
“I love pink,” I told her, walking a bit further down to start scanning. “Not sure how the blue would look since it’s not a color I wear very often, but I’m up for basically anything.”
“Except inmate orange,” Lyla countered, holding up another dress. Scrunching my face, I shook my head vehemently. It was a bit wider in the skirt than the first one, and the floral print was acceptable, but there was one major issue. “Not a fan of the pattern?”
“The v-neck, too deep for me,” I pointed out. “Assistant Principal DeRosa already has it out for me as it is, don’t need to give him any other reason to target me.”
“Ugh, fuck that guy,” Lyla swore, grimacing when Stella looked over at us with a cocked brow. “Sorry.”
She waved off Lyla’s apology. “Oh, you’re fine, Lyla. You’re not my son, so you can say whatever you want. Has DeRosa done anything else since the last time you talked to us?”
“Other than give us all glares from across the lunchroom, no. Thankfully. But I wouldn’t put it past him to be even more of a pain in my butt the night of prom.” Shifting the hangers from side to side with a bit more force than probably necessarily, I grumbled under my breath about how much I hated him.
“Well, if that’s the case, we’ll deal with it when we get there. For now, it’s time to have fun!” Stella expressed, holding up a dress. “How’s this?”
“Oooh, I love that.” I eyed the sparkly light pink dress. “Similar to this one, but this one isn’t as razzle dazzle.” I mirrored her stance, holding the pink maxi dress up for her to see above the rack.
“And I found a purple one that’s a similar style, though it’s made of a different fabric and has pockets,” Lyla added into the conversation. “Do we want to keep looking before trying on?”
“Nah, I don’t want to have a hundred dresses picked out since I know I’ll only buy one,” I explained, the three of us moving toward the dressing room. “That would suck to have to be the one to put it away.”
“If we don’t like any of them, we can come find a few more to try,” Stella suggested, both ladies handing over the dresses.
“Let us know if you need help zipping them up!” Lyla hollered after I closed the door.
“I will.”
Undressing quickly, I stripped down to my underwear and bra, my eyes inevitably falling on the hickey on my hip that was finally fading. A burst of heat filled me, flashes of mine and Kingston’s, and mine and Reid’s time together flaring in my mind. Jesse’s wandering hands filtered in among the memories, but instead of allowing myself to enjoy them, I pushed them away and took the first dress from the hanger. The fitting room is not a place to fantasize, Emma.
“All right, I’m ready for zipping,” I called, looking in the mirror at the pink dress I’d found. It was pretty, if not a bit plain. The fit of the dress was spot on, but the straps needed to be shortened a bit as they kept slipping off my shoulders. There was a soft sweetheart neckline, and the skirt flowed to the floor where the fabric pooled at my feet.
Note to self: get heels.
Lyla appeared, giving me an exaggerated ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ before zipping up the side. As soon as it was secured, I twisted back and forth, bending and maneuvering to make sure it wouldn’t be too tight or uncomfortable.
“Ready to show Stella?” Lyla asked, hitching a thumb to the cracked open door. I nodded, following her out of the tiny stall. “I think it looks great, though the straps need a bit of finagling.”
“Oh, that is gorgeous,” Stella agreed, her smile widening as I spun around, the soft fabric flaring out around my legs. “Looks like you’ll be able to wear heels if you want and the skirt won’t be abnormally short.”
“Yeah, I noticed that too, and I’ll definitely be wearing heels. I have a feeling all of the floor-length dresses will drag on the ground if I don’t.”
“So, onto dress number two?” Lyla said, stepping away from where she was leaning against the neighboring dressing room door.
“Yup, I’ll be right back.” Slipping back into the stall with me, Lyla unzipped the dress quickly before stepping out. I stripped out of the dress and pulled on Lyla’s pick. “This is going to be a no.” I popped my head out, keeping my body in the door. “The fabric is abnormally stiff and uncomfortable around my chest and hips.”
“That’s because you got those good birthing hips,” Lyla exclaimed in a ridiculous accent that I could only peg as poorly executed Russian. “But for real, definitely don’t want a dress that you’ll hate to wear. Next!”
Shaking my head, I stepped back into the room, Stella’s laughter filling the empty dressing area. Just like with dresses one and two, I slipped out of the current one and put on the next, this time able to zip it on my own. The pale peachy fabric was covered in shiny silver and rose gold beads, making the entire dress sparkle. It was the same fit and style as the first one, but the straps actually stayed in place. A smile spread across my face, loving how I looked in the dress.