"You said that about the first one," Stacia said with a roll of her eyes.
"Well, I do."
"Let's keep going."
And so, we did.
We went through a few more dresses. Each one was different but perfectly acceptable. Stacia, though, always found something wrong. And Tolliver was no help whatsoever. By the time we were on the next to last dress, Stacia had had enough.
"Tolliver," she said, throwing up her hands, "what are you even doing?"
He held up his hands. "Uh...eating a cookie?"
"That's not what I mean, and you know it."
Quickly, stuffing the cookie whole into his mouth, he chewed and swallowed.
"I hope that was good," I said.
"It was," he said, washing everything down with a sip of cucumber water. "Very refreshing."
Stacia sighed. "What do you think of this dress?"
"I already told you," he said, looking at me then her, "I like it."
"You've 'liked' all of them."
"Yeah."
I spoke up as Stacia growled. "I think she was hoping for a little more input than that."
"Thank you, Freya," she said.
"Well, I do like all of them," Tolliver said.
He glanced at the dress again before meeting my eyes.
"She looks beautiful in everything."
My cheeks flushed, breath catching in my chest.
"Oh," Stacia said, "well, that's sweet then."
It was.
It so was.
"I think Freya has to choose the one she wants regardless of what anyone else thinks," he said.
"I agree," Stacia said then shooed me back into the dressing room. "Last dress, please. And if that doesn't work, there are plenty more in the store."
With a deep breath, I nodded, not looking at Tolliver, and closed the dressing room door.
The last dress was flowy with a simple bodice and a slit up the side. It was a cross between a light dusky pink and mauve that looked good against my skin, making it almost glow. Something about the train made me smile too. Fitted to my hips then fluttering to the floor, this dress felt magical.
The only problem was I had a hard time zipping it since the closure was fully in the back.
"Hey, Stacia?" I said. "Can I get some help in here?"
