Second time lucky

39

It was a long morning. Much to my surprise Ava had decided to go all out for this shopping trip and while I had agreed to let her take the lead, I still wasn't going to wear anything that made me uncomfortable.

I didn't even look at the store name when we walked in but I could tell by the look of the clothes that it was way out of my budget.

"Ava I can't afford any..." I was cut off by a familiar voice as we walked into the store.

"Ava will you tell your best friend to be quiet and start shopping please? My husband is going to panic if gone too long."

"Averleigh?" I turned slightly confused before wrapping her in a hug.

"Ava may have called and explained the emergency. If it's any consolation, Spencer agreed to let her stay, I had nothing to do with it."

"Is she...?"

"Here? Yeah, and I can already tell this isn't the bad post break up she fed my son either. As soon as she stepped in the house her eyes got stuck in this position." She widened her eyes dramatically causing me to laugh.

"Don't worry though." Ava reassured me "we are going to get you a knock out outfit for dinner tomorrow, and then you're going to go get your man."

"I'm with Ava, and it's on me." Averleigh agreed. "You deserve something nice for a change."

"Thank you." I smiled at them.

"Okay, let's get busy!" Ava clapped her hands together excitedly before we all started looking through the racks. I had picked out a few options I liked while they did the same.

Once we had a variety of outfits it was time to strip and climb into the plethora of outfits. Each time I put something on, I would walk out, show it off and return to the changing room.

Nothing was striking me the way I wanted it to. It was either too safe or too slutty for a family dinner. I needed something that stood out but was appropriate.

After the last outfit was a bust I returned to the dressing room feeling disappointed. There was so much weighing on my ability to look good and without an outfit I would never be able to upstage curvy Courtney.

I was about to get back into my clothes when someone slipped a dress under the curtain. It was red and off the shoulder. The top was made of a soft satin like material, which hugged the top half of my body while the bottom was made of mesh and fanned out towards my knees from the bottom of my waist.

Honestly it was beautiful and comfortable. The only thing left to do was to see what my duo panel thought and take a look in the mirror.

I didn't look at their reaction until I had looked at myself in the floor length mirror. It was perfect, just sexy enough to demand attention, but not enough to be inappropriate for a family dinner.

"It's perfect." Averleigh smiled as Ava just sat with her mouth open.

"Do you think he will like it?" I asked nervously.

"He won't know what hit him once I'm done with you." Ava smirked making me a little nervous.

"He's going to love it sweetie. I know I try to stay out of your relationship unless you ask, but I am really glad that you want to work things out." Averleigh added.

"I just hope it's not too late." I said more to myself than to them.

I went and changed out of the dress before we went to the counter to pay. All that was left was to prepare for how I wanted tomorrow to go.