Fire and Silk

Chapter Eight

I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist. - Tammy Faye Baker

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I'VE never been the one to enjoy shopping; it was hard on the feet and annoying having to try things on. Generally whoever enjoyed stripping their clothes off behind a thin -sometimes sheer- curtain with small gaps down the side that also could be easily pulled by a toddler that parents left wondering the store while they tried on clothes were crazy. My eyes constantly were on the curtain as if it was about to grow arms and legs to move itself to flash my entire body to the mall. That's why i enjoyed the buddy system when it came to shopping, your friend stood outside while you tried things on -because then they can also grab things in a different size if needed- and they could defend the curtain. I always made the move to always wear comfortable shoes; that being slides or sneakers. Penny was the worst to go shopping with because she wants to explore every single shop, every single aisle and try on almost everything that was pink or silver.

Even though when she got home from her date with Zac she had been going through all of the shops website that we will be visiting today and picked out dresses to try on and i know for a fact she won't be satisfied with any of them when she tries them on. At least it was easier for me, i always went with black. Penny had been on my back this morning while we got ready to pick something out of my comfort zone, she had gone on a rant about how i would suit red, blue or anything other then black. She made me promise to try on other colours; i had my boyfriend jeans on with my pink nike sneakers. My hair was up in a messy pony-tail and a white strapless crop top; i made it so i had easy clothes to take on and off but also comfortable clothing to wear all day.

There were a few boutique shops we needed to go to; but we decided to go grab food first. Once we finished with that we made our way to the first shop where i tried on two dresses; one crisscross backless wrap satin teal maxi dress and the other a gorgeous dark green one that had long sleeves, a deep plunge neck line and a thigh split. After so many dresses i narrowed it down to two dresses, the first one was red shimmery; it has sleeves that dropped down my arms exposing my collar bones, a small plunge down my chest; the dress hugged my body showing my curves as well as accompanied by a split up to my mid thigh. It also came with matching red gloves. The other dress that i had loved was black -of course- it was sparkly, the top was like a corset; see through besides the part that covered my bust, skinny straps and a beautiful flowy bottom that reached the floor. It also had a thigh high slit.

Both were equally beautiful in their own ways; the red dress was elegant, classy and showed off my curves. I can imagine it with silver heels, hair down with diamond earrings. The black dress would stand out amongst the crowd, it reminded me of a beautiful fairy dress; it made me feel like a princess. I could wear black heels with it.

Penny was hoping for me to decide on the red one; which i did want to get for the reasons i normally wore black. The black seemed more of something i would of chosen as my prom dress which Penny so kindly pointed out.

I was about to make a decision until my eyes stop on a beautiful lilac dress that looked vintage. It was floor length with a sweetheart neckline and corset top. Off the shoulder sleeves, covered in tiny pearls. A slit up the thigh and it flowed out like the black one. It was much more elegant and it was a colour i would never wear. Underneath the sheer flowing fabric it had a tight fitting fabric like the red one; it was almost as if it was the red and black dress combined into one. It would stand out easily at the ball, which was something that i wouldn't be upset by.

I showed Penny and her mouth drops open, "Please try that on."

I stripped off -in the dressing room- and pulled the dress up onto my body; i was in shock to see how easily it fit me. The dress gave me the same feeling i had when i put on my silk green dress; the same one i had worn when i first met Price. Looking in the mirror even makeup-less i felt like a different person; like i was overdressing to cover up how fucked up i was. It looked as though i had my life together when in reality i didn't. My mind floats back to last night when Randy was over, the conversation he had on the phone.