The Decoy Date

Chapter Nine

"That shade of blue really suits you, it brings out the blue in your eyes." Imogen was stood in front of a mirror wearing the fifth bridesmaids dress in one hour, it was made of ruffles and toile and nothing else. She looked at herself and saw how the dress, if that was what you could call it, made her look frumpy and her hips spread wider than a hippos behind. It was tight across her chest but made her cleavage bulge in a completely unflattering way and the skirt burst out like a ballerina's tutu but did not look graceful and elegant on her body. In the mirror she saw the grimace on her sister's face at her mother's comment and stifled the giggle that nearly burst out, afraid if she let it go it wouldn't be the only thing bursting out.

Even the shop assistant frowned at the garment, the same one who had started out by gushing how beautiful we all were and the three of us could be sisters instead of mother and daughters, the same one who had found Daisy the ideal wedding gown; white and lace.

"I'm not sure, I think I've got one more dress that might be suitable. It's just come in, but I think it would look great on you." She retreated to the dressing room grateful to be away from her reflection, She wasn't comfortable wearing dresses anyway and being forced to look at herself in some of the worst dresses ever made was even more painful. She struggled out of the pale blue monstrosity and sat on the stool in the corner of the room waiting for the next horror show to arrive. God I hated shopping with my mother, she made Hannibal a better companion; at least he'd eat you before you could see yourself in these awful clothes.

The assistant popped her head through the curtain and handed through a dark blue dress, as soon as Imogen saw it her heart beat a little faster. She took the hanger and held it up, it had three quarter length sleeves and was made of lace with a lining in the main body; when she held it up in front of the mirror it came to just below her knees. Smiling at herself she couldn't wait to try it on, removing the hanger and undoing the zip; she stepped into the garment and shimmied it up, pulling the zip up her back.

Slowly her eyes swept over her body as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, a smile spread across her face as she saw how the dress accentuated all her features. It hugged her curves in a sexy way that made them look voluptuous rather than chunky, it especially showed off her breasts without being low cut and her legs looked amazing for the first time in her life. She turned and pushed the curtain aside, walking proudly through to her mother and sister in bare feet.

"Now that is the dress my bridesmaid is wearing!" Daisy clapped her hands together and pranced across to get a closer look. "You look beautiful and sexy as hell. Charlie won't be able to resist you in this." Imogen let the smile on her lips widen as she thought about Charlie's reaction to her in this dress, she knew she shouldn't care what he thought about her but part of her was still waiting for that judgement from him. She looked at her mother who was wiping a tear from the corner of her eye and knew she just had to get this dress now, there was no excuse not to.

Having spent more than she'd wanted to on a dress she would probably only wear once, Imogen and Daisy headed to the dance lesson in Bloomsbury. They walked from the wedding boutique as it was only a few streets away, the excitement she'd got from the dress waned and became a dread lying heavy in her stomach as they approached the road. Charlie was standing on the street talking to Sam when they arrived, he turned and gave her slow smile as tremors shook through her stomach. She put them down to nerves as he leaned down and kissed her tenderly on the lips, next to them Sam and Daisy embraced in a similar tender way.

They were greeted by a woman who was a cross between Judy Dench and Louis Spence, in looks as well as mannerisms. Every sentence was ended by calling them darlings and she flourished her movements with pirouettes and hand gestures only a dancer would get away with. Imogen was completely out of her comfort zone, shopping with her mother was a walk in the park compared to this.

The terrace house they were in had been converted into studios, the bottom floor had been opened up into one big room with a dance floor installed and mirrors lining every wall. It was like being in a fun house at the fair, every time she turned she saw a new and more disturbing reflection staring straight back at herself. It was even worse when they started actually dancing, she caught sight of Charlie's hand on her waist and flushed with embarrassment.

Madame Lebon, who was no more French than Imogen dressed in a stripy t-shirt, beret and a string of onions hanging around her neck, was exactly as Daisy had described her; a slave driver who loved the sound of her voice way too much. Having got the two pairs into position she put some music on in the background, unfortunately it wasn't loud enough to drown out her instructions.

"How was the fitting with your mother?" Charlie looked down at her as he held her waist with his left hand and her hand in his right hand, they were moving around the dance floor slowly trying to stay in time with the rhythm of the music. Madame Lebon was distracted getting Daisy and Sam into position, leaving the two of them to their own devices. He smiled as he looked into her eyes.

"Ugh! Don't ask. I had to try on six dresses before I found one that I wanted, my mother said all the previous five looked beautiful when they were downright bloody awful. I looked like a pink blamange in one of them, honestly you could have served me as a dessert. The last one I tried on though was amazing, I'm not a dress kind of girl but it was beautiful and I looked good for once."

"You look good all the time, you don't need a dress to look sexy. Some girls look mind-blowing in jeans and a baggy jumper." Imogen blushed as she remembered the outfit she had been wearing on Sunday when he'd come to apologise about the night before. She looked away from his eyes as her heart beat a little faster; nobody had ever told her she looked good in her scruffs before and she doubted he really meant what he said. "You should learn to take a compliment you know, there were men practically drooling in the coffee shop the other week."

She burst out laughing as she listened to him, alerting the other people in the room to their presence for the first time in a while. All three of them stopped and watched as they swayed around the room completely oblivious to the bystanders observing them.

"Watch carefully you two. Zat is how a couple in love wiz each other dance togezzer. They are only focuzzed on each uzzer, nozzing else around zem." Her false French accent cut through the music and Imogen turned her head to see the others stood still and watching. Embarrassed, she let go of Charlie's hand and froze on the spot. "No, no. Please don't stop, you looked wonderful togezzer." She glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw the pink of Charlie's cheeks flare up like her own.

Madam Lebon returned her attention to the other two when it was clear no coaxing – subtle or obvious – going to get her and Charlie dancing again. Imogen walked over to a set of chairs in the corner of the room and plonked herself down, Charlie joined her a few seconds later and they watched as Daisy and Sam were forced to dance with each other for another half an hour before they were all finally released. When they got out onto the street it was already getting dark and the street lamps had sprung into life. Sam and Daisy rushed off to a restaurant reservation they had booked leaving her alone with Charlie for the first time all night.

"Are you doing anything now?" She shook her head in answer to his question as they fell into step slowly ambling up the street, people were beginning to come out of the buildings on their way home from work. "My mum's cooking dinner for me and my sisters if you want to come?" She looked up at him, unsure of what to say; it seemed a little too personal to go to his mum's house and eat dinner with her and her children, but then she remembered they were supposed to be dating.

Sensing her hesitation, Charlie filled her in on the details. "It's not just me and my sisters, Adam will be there and my older sister Catherine's husband Harry will be there." Imogen considered this, it made sense he'd want to take her and she knew Adam and Molly and that they thought the two of them were dating, besides he'd gone to meet her parents why shouldn't she meet his.

"Okay, you said she was a good cook didn't you. Are you sure she won't mind an extra person showing up?" He smiled coyly at her before looking away. "Oh, she asked you to ask me. How did she know about "us"? Molly told her didn't she?" He nodded, sighing as he pulled his phone out and revealed he'd better let them know they were on their way.