𝐇𝐞 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 | 𝐅𝐍𝐀𝐅 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕

"Great! Which one of y'all are the bride?" she asked, in a sort of cheeky tone. Sophie immediately pointed a finger at you "This lovely drink of water right here" You nudged her playfully with your elbow, then smiled awkwardly.

"Lovely stuff! Follow me" she walked around the desk, the cacophony of her heels and her lanyard strung around her neck entering your ears.

Nikki briefly showed you around, a warm smile on her lips at all times. You nodded along to what she was saying, eager to start trying on dresses in this outstanding store.

"Anyway, enough of my rambling, i'll let you get to it! Have fun ladies!" Nikki exclaimed, then sashayed away back to the front desk. Sophie tuned to you and squealed with excitement. "Let's go go go!" Then you got to it.

You tried the first one that piqued your interest. It was one of those ones with floral, see-through sleeves. You stepped out from behind the curtain in the dressing room while Sophie sat on one of the cushioned couches. She instantly got up and zipped the back up for you.

You looked at yourself in the mirror. It was a tulle dress, and you weren't gonna lie it was beautiful, but you hated the way it itched your entire body. It was the only size left, and it was quite small on you. You felt like you were suffocating. You turned it down and tried on others.

You tried on your 5th dress, and you convinced yourself this was the one, but deep down in the bottomless pit of your gut, you knew it wasn't right. When you revealed yourself to Sophie, she narrowed her eyes at the dress.

"Whadd'ya think?" you spun around, smiling. You could see her fake smile from miles away. "It's definitely something!" she nodded slowly, as if unsure. You huffed "Liar. Tell me your honest thoughts, seriously, I won't be mad"

She pursed her lips, then exhaled as if she was about to burst "Okay okay, it's quite..ugly" You sighed, then you looked at yourself in the mirror, and you finally saw her distaste. You thought the reason you tried this on was just for the sake of trying it on. You nodded slowly at Sophie. "I see it now" then you trudged back to the curtain.

You were slowly becoming impatient, and you were scared you were gonna buy the next one you tried on just to spite it, because you would've 100% regretted it on your wedding day.

You looked through the rack of dresses again, and then you heard the familiar cacophony of Nikki's heels and lanyard. "Not found one you like yet?" she questioned. You turned to her and shook your head glumly. She flashed you a smile again "Well, I think i've found one that just might pique your interest" You stopped looking through the rack and turned to her again with furrowed brows. She jerked her head behind her, gesturing for you to follow.

She lead you around the corner, and she stood in front of a mannequin that had another beautiful dress fitted onto it. You can remember eyeing this one earlier.

She started to take it off the mannequin. Sophie nudged your side gently with her elbow. "Hey, that one is nice" she wiggled her eyebrows at you. You just shrugged with one shoulder. Sure, it was stunning, but you felt like it wasn't the one.

Nikki held it out for you. You held your arm out and she draped it over your arm. "Trust me on this one. You'll love it" she beamed. You nodded hesitantly. You might as well give it a go.

You went behind back the same curtain again, and changed into it. You slid into it perfectly, like a glove. You managed to zip it up yourself.

Taking a deep breath, you revealed yourself to an anticipated Sophie and Nikki. They both immediately gasped, mouths dropped. You quickly felt worried. Was that a shock of disgust, or awe? You couldn't tell.

"What? Do I look..weird?" you questioned frantically, smoothing out the dress. They both immediately shook their heads in unison. "Completely the opposite Y/N!" Sophie smiled. The two women rushed over to you and pushed you in front of the mirror, and you felt as if your own breath was stolen.

You admired yourself in the mirror, and completely blanked the two women over your shoulder. The dress hugged your body perfectly in all the right places, your wonderful curves revealing themselves to the whole world. Even with your baby bump, it looked good on you. It was comfortable, and you didn't feel restricted in it, like you had in some of the other dresses.

This was the one.

You slightly swayed, watching the material flow from beneath you. Your lip quivered, as you realised your eyes were glossy.

You felt like you were gonna pass out from the next thing you saw in the mirror.

There were two teenage girls stood to your right, but when you looked over your shoulder, they weren't there. They seemed to only be in the mirror. It definitely wasn't Sophie and Nikki, plus they were on your left and a bit further behind you. You knew who these girls were.

Susie and Cassidy.

They looked exactly as they did when you last saw them—nearly 30 years ago—but obviously older. They looked around 17 years old. They were both beaming at you. Susie looked excited, and Cassidy looked..proud?

Cassidy reached out and interlocked her hand in yours, and she then rested her chin on your shoulder, beaming at you through the mirror—the crazy thing is, it's like you could actually feel her. Susie went over the mirror, and breathed on it, making it steam up. She started writing something in the condensation.

"You look so beautiful" it wrote.

Your lip quivered some more as you let a tear fall down your face. She grinned at you through the mirror, then breathed on it again, and wrote a new message:

"We're so proud of you"

You choked back a sob. You doubt Sophie and Nikki could see this right now or they would've probably called the police when they saw two strange teenage girls just appear. Was this a hallucination? Was your mind just making this up? Or was it real?

You smiled at them both in the mirror through your sobs, and they smiled back. You lifted a hand to your face and wiped a tear, but when you looked back up, they were both gone.

Sophie brought you in for a hug, and rubbed your back. You pulled away and smiled at her and Nikki.

"This is the one"

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A/N

my girls cassidy and susie woop woop

when i wrote Nikki i kind of imagined her as this teacher at my school. she's super pretty though. i think she's like 27

imagine your own dress btw 😘

only proof read this once, so if there's any mistakes lmk!

if anyone is confused about the timeline here, just ask! i'll gladly clarify it for you

anyway, that's all for now!
-ava<3