Best of Both Worlds

Chapter Fourteen

"How about this?" I asked Whitney, holding up a wine dress. An off-the-shoulder, velvet evening gown with a heart-shaped neckline.

"Nah, I mean it would be nice with your skin but it's too simple, you know," she said, after giving the dress a mere glance.

"Then it's perfect, I want to blend in not stand out" I stated as I held the dress against my body.

"No, no, no" she wagged her fingers at me. "You're looking at this the wrong way. You are going to a fundraiser with that hunk of a man and a lot of rich people are going to be there. The last thing you want to look is beneath them."

It was a big event and the paparazzi were going to be there. Too much fuss, too much attention. I was beginning to reconsider this whole thing and why I even agreed to go to it. On another hand, who knows what important person I could charm into funding my future hospital? I shook my head with silent laughter.

"Okay, how about this one?" Whitney brought me out of my thoughts, holding up another gown. A short white shiny gown, with a three centimetres wide, one hand strap. It looked nice but covered less on the bottom.

"Did you forget I'm pregnant? Or are you getting that for yourself?" I moved unto another rack of evening gowns.

She placed the dress against her body. "This is actually a size large but now that I think about it, I should probably get one my size"

I snickered as I shook my head, browsing through the rack. I pulled out a black dress and at one quick glance, I sent it back to where it belonged. It was short and still spotted a high slit.

"You do realize that for him to invite you to be his plus one, it means he's not seeing anyone" Whitney piped up from three racks away.

I raised my eyes to her for a second then returned to breezing through hangers of dresses. "And you think that piece of information would somehow interest me, why?"

She scoffed. "Don't you see? There's a chance for you two to be something . . . once you drop the co-parenting façade, that is"

I shook my head and clicked my tongue as I moved unto another rack. "It's at times like this that I wonder how we're still friends"

She crossed over to my side. "I'm serious. He's making out time to spend with you, helping you cook –"she looked around the boutique for any eavesdropper and lowered her voice. "—he left you with his black card and doesn't mind if you make a dent on his account. Sweetie, that's a wet dream for some girls."

I rolled my eyes to the high ceilings. "I'm carrying the man's child. It's only appropriate for him to make an effort"

"Right" she nodded her head, her tone soaked with sarcasm.

"See, let's just take the wine dress and call it a day. I don't care about any rich people anymore. My feet are killing me" I whined and pointed back in the direction of the wine dress.

"No, we are not giving up." She said and glanced around for something. "Excuse me," she lifted her hand and beckoned over a shop attendant to us.

"Can you find something for my friend? The dresses were seeing just won't do" she said, putting on a sugary sweet smile.

The girl ran her eyes over my frame, her lips pursed in thought. After a few seconds, her face lit up, as if the typical light bulb had come on above her head.

"I think I have just the right thing for her. It was just brought in yesterday, one second" she excused herself and walked away.

"See, all we had to do was ask" Whitney popped up one shoulder, her face glowing with pride.