Opposites Attract

Shopping With The Girls

The owner, a lovely lady by the name of Poppy, greeted them at the door, hustling them inside and immediately offering them drinks of the alcoholic variety. They all declined, it being still relatively early in the afternoon.

"We always ask our clients what they envision as their perfect dress, we need to get an idea of your style and preferences so we can better choose the gowns we offer you," Poppy chirped, her impossibly cheerful tone already starting to make Selene regret the fact that she had allowed Penny to talk her out of ordering a dress online.

Penelope nudged Selene. "Describe your dress."

"Erm…I don't really know, I've not really thought about it," Selene admitted, receiving a chorus of shocked gasps in return from Penny, Poppy and her assistant.

"How could you not have thought about it?" Penelope whispered in horror. "All women think about the dress they will walk down the aisle in."

Selene shrugged. "I don't know, I'm pagan, I'm not even sure I'm going to have an aisle."

Poppy found the entire conversation simple unbelievable, never had she met a bride who seemed to care so little for the thing that was usually their most cherished item.

"A classic white?" Poppy suggested gently.

"Not white," Selene insisted. "Do I look like the type of person who would wear white?"

Kayo snorted out a laugh.

"Maybe not that then," Poppy agreed, giving her an assessing once over. "So you have a theme?"

"Yes, that I do have."

"And that is?"

"Casual and effortless."

Kayo covered her mouth with her hand.

"I want unique but pretty, casual and easy to move in but not shapeless, no fussy patterns or lots of lace," Selene reeled off, taking pity on the woman. "I like the idea of maybe something gothic, but I promised my mother I wouldn't wear a 'horror gown'," she rolled her eyes. "so maybe not too gothic. Is any of this making sense?"

Poppy nodded, then shook her head, then nodded again as if she couldn't quite make up her mind. "I'll just…go and see what I have, feel free to look around and see if anything catches your eye." She escaped quickly out the back of the shop.

The girls wandered, searching through the racks of dresses for anything that took their fancy.

"What about this?" Penelope suggested, displaying a coral coloured slinky number that would look beautiful on Penelope but would never suit Selene.

"I don't do pink," Selene shuddered.

"This?" Kayo offered up a plain red sheath dress.

"Nope, but that would look great on you."

Poppy bustled back in with a pile of fabric in her arms and began to hang the dresses on a rack to display them.

"I've selected a few that I think might fit your criteria," she promised, pulling out the first dress, a cream number. "Shall we try it on?"