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This was going to take forever.
Forever, it seemed, lasted about ninety-nine minutes. Not one hundred. Ninety-nine. Yes, I set a timer on my phone. I wanted something to write about in that journal I had to fill out, and as awkward as this was, it was so much better to try and focus on than the fact there’d been no word from Ian.
Not a peep.
I tried on the skater dress, the mermaid one, the dresses with one slit, dresses with two slits. I fit into the lace crop top and satin mini-skirt—Coop was a serious fan of that. The fact he took multiple pictures said as much.
When I walked out in the pale, silvery blue illusion gap dress, however, Coop and Cheryl both went absolutely silent.
“Wow,” he’d exhaled, and leaned forward.
“I’ll say,” Cheryl commented slowly. “Twirl.”
I did, and the skirt had the slightest bit of flare.
“That might be the one.” She’d decided on hers, but we were still trying them all on. It was the principle of the thing. And I had to admit—I loved the dress she’d found for her. It was pink, lacy, and had a sheer lace overlay on a satin skirt. It was stunning. While not my favorite color, it looked amazing on her.
I’d left the red dress for last. I had no idea who picked it out—I hadn’t seen it before we carried all the dresses in. It was simple, spaghetti straps, a curve bodice and the rest just fell straight down. No fitted waist or body-hugging cut. While I couldn’t wear my bra with it, it was the first dress I put on that I actually felt comfortable in.
It clung without being clingy. The skirt moved easily and fell to my calves. The pair of slits played peek-a-boo with my knees but didn’t really gap open unless I moved.
If Coop’s reaction to the illusion gap dress had been anything to go on, the red dress blew it out of the water.
“That one,” he said without preamble as I stepped out. I grinned and glanced down, then rose up on my toes like I had on pretend heels.
“Yeah?”
I’d actually beaten Cheryl for once, but her door opened as I made a little twirl. She was back in her crop top and shorts. She paused to stare at me and nodded.
“Definitely that one.”
Just like that, I had a dress. I ran my hands over the hips on it and then faced Coop again. He nodded as he snapped a picture. “Yes, Frankie. That one. You look great, you look like you feel great, and it’s perfect.”
Relieved and a little elated, I slipped back into the changing room and took the dress off. As I hung it up, I tugged out the tag and stared at it.
That was two weeks of tips…for a dress.
“Now that you have the colors,” Cheryl said. “We can go get shoes.”
“No,” I answered. “Not tonight.”
“But there’s a great place…”
“I believe you, but I’m toast. I’m starving. And I’ve kept Coop up way past his bedtime.” I crossed my fingers.Please play along.
“Well, she’s not wrong. You know, I’m eighteen on Thursday, it’s all down hill from here.”
I grinned before mouthingThank you, Coopto myself.
“Well, it is almost ten, and we still need to buy these before they close.”
Almost ten?
Seriously?
I snagged my phone from on top of my shorts and stared at it. There were some messages from Archie and from Jake. Both giving me ratings on the various dresses.
Jerks.
