“No, it’s all right,” Nora said quickly. “I want the size I specified before.”
The attendant hesitated, but finally nodded and stepped aside.
Nora and I started looking through the portfolio.
“Hey, Brooklyn! Come look at this one, isn’t it pretty? Oh, this one, too! And this one!”
I rolled my eyes as she kept exclaiming at each photo, but I had to admit they all looked beautiful. After ten minutes of her gushing over everything, she picked out a few she liked, and from those, I helped her pick from those what she would look best in. When we were ready, we called the attendant back so Nora could show her the dresses we wanted.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” she said with a firm nod, and turned around to leave.
Nora fidgeted beside me, her leg bouncing uncontrollably as she twisted her hands together. Seeing her so obviously nervous, I put my hand on top of hers and gave a light squeeze.
“Honey, if you keep acting this nervous I’m going to wonder if you really want to marry this boyfriend of yours,” I joked.
She looked up at me in surprise, as if she’d forgotten my presence for a moment, then let out a light laugh.
“Of course I want to marry him, Brooklyn! I know it hasn’t even been a year yet… but Paul just makes me so happy, when he proposed, how could I possibly say no?”
“He hasn’t officially given you a ring yet,” I said with lips pursed in disapproval.
“It’s not his fault,” Nora defended earnestly. “Paul’s been having a tough time at work so money is tight for him. I actually met him when he was about to get fired, but he managed to fight to keep it. I’m not in such a hurry to get an engagement ring, he promised me one before the wedding ceremony, anyway. And even if I don’t get one, a wedding ring would suffice for me.”
I sighed and patted her hands. I wasn’t so sure about this soon to be husband of hers. She’d spoken of him a lot, but the times I got to meet him were so few. I had been with her for the past four days already, and I’d only met the guy once and both times very briefly. Also, I didn’t know him well, so I couldn’t say I trusted him, but I definitely trusted Nora.
The attendant came back before I could think too much about it.
“Here you go, ma’am,” the attendant called.
Nora had turned before I did, and her eyes lit up. When I turned and caught sight of the dress…I gasped.
“Nora, this looks so amazing,” I whispered, getting up to go and see the dress. I reached my hand to touch it, but didn’t dare, it looked so amazing and delicate…
“Try it on.”
My head whirled around to face Nora who was still seated calmly, watching me with clear eye. For a moment, I thought I heard her wrong.
“What…did you say?”
She smiled and waved a hand at me. “Try it on already,” she said insistently. “I want to view the dress on you. Brooklyn, not only are you my chief, you also picked out this dress. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t wear something you picked out for me?”
Nora had a scowl on her face, but she was still smiling. Not that she needed to for me to know she was just teasing. But since she put it that way… I rolled my eyes at her.
“Just don’t complain if I look better in this dress,” I said haughtily, then turned to the attendant. “Where can I change?”
“This way, please.”
I was led to the changing rooms, and the attendant followed so she could help me. While getting half naked in front of a stranger and having someone help me get dressed was strange, the dress deserved that kind of attention. Five minutes later, I was walking back to the seating area and on top of the display platform. To the side of where Nora and I had been seated were a set of mirrors, and I took a look at myself.
Amazing…
In the mirror, my blonde hair was falling around my face, my blue eyes were bright and wet. The dress… was simply a masterpiece. It was a mermaid design with the area above the chest, up to the neck, and the sleeves made of lace with some pearls inlaid in a pattern. The dress was slimming and flared out at the knees with a bit of a train.
“The veil that goes with the dress is longer in the back and closer to opaque to cover up the back, if all you want to show off is the front. You also have the option of choosing a shorter veil if this is not your intention. The longer veil usually is used if you want to attach a longer train to the dress. The train can be attached at the small of the back.”
The opaque veil was probably so it wouldn’t ruin the look of the dress, not that I thought it was even possible. I twirled in front of the mirror with a smile on my face, and turned to look at Nora. Her eyes were misted a bit, just like mine.
“You look so beautiful, honey,” she whispered, emotional as she dabbed at her eyes. “Oh, just look at you! Here I am desperate to lose weight and you look so perfect. I’m not sure I’ll even fit into that dress…”