Les Femmes Fatales [2]

▪ Twenty-Nine

Standing in front of the mirror of the shop, Stella looked down at the wedding dress Branka had insisted she tried out. It was rather simple in general if one excused the impossibly long tail. It suited her quite a bit and if she were to judge by Branka's wide smile as she looked her up and down, this was her favourite dress on her. But she didn't like it.

"Branka, I don't like it."

"Come on, look at it once more," she said as she took a step closer, exchanging a look with the woman that was supposed to be showing them their options. "It suits you very much, don't you think so too, Delilah?"

Delilah, or else the woman working in the shop who had had the misfortune of serving such a picky customer, or in other words, Stella, nodded her head. "It does, like most of the dresses you tried before this one."

"I'm sorry," Stella sent her a guilty smile. "I just don't like it all that much. Maybe if we tried something without such a long tail, I'm really not all that fond of such things."

"I'll see what I can find."

Delilah left and Branka instantly rounded on her. "I certainly don't remember you being so picky."

"I didn't go into the shop you worked at looking for gowns, Branka."

Despite her scoff, she couldn't help but smile at her. "So, you don't want something tight or with much lace. You only want it to be elegant and comfortable. You know, that's harder than it sounds."

"I figured," she admitted with a small smile back at her. "You know you're going to be the maid of honour, right?"

"I'd be offended if I wasn't," she murmured, "but then again, Ian is a hard person to compete against."

Stella's eyes instantly widened. "You're lucky he isn't here now or you might have ended up missing tomorrow."

Branka let out a laugh just as Delilah returned, holding yet another gown. "I think you'll like this one more."

Stella sent her a small smile before heading to the changing room. She took her former gown off and carefully put the other one on, smoothed it down and then left, grabbing the gown she had been wearing beforehand as she got out. Branka whistled lowly as she got out but she didn't pay her much mind as she gave the gown she had worn before to Delilah and then turned to look at herself in the mirror. And she had to admit, Branka's whistle made some sense now.

The gown was nothing special. It was a bit long but that was nothing a pair of high heels couldn't fix. Her attention was instantly drawn to her upper body and she moved to the side to take a better look at the lacy design. All parts of the gown seemed to be covered in lace but surprisingly, she didn't seem bothered by it. It was tight from her chest to her waist, then getting wider and wider as it reached her legs. She turned around to look at it from behind before turning to her front once more, examining the way it closed around her neck much like a turtle-neck.

"I know you said you didn't like lace but I can't help but think this is such a nice gown," Delilah spoke up. "I know it's a bit long for you but a pair of heels will fix that. It really suits you, I think it'd be a shame if you didn't take it."

"I have to agree, Stella," Branka shared a look with Delilah before nodding. "It truly looks great on you and if I were the one getting married I would have bought it already."

Stella took another look at her reflection before speaking up, "Fine."

"Wait, did you just agree?" Branka's eyes widened as she blinked at her in surprise. "You'll buy it?"

"It does look good."

"That's not all, actually," Delilah piped in, taking a veil she had been hiding from behind her back and moving towards her.