About an hour into their drive to Valencia, the car settled into a peaceful silence. Carlos had rested his head against the passenger window of the car and the slight snores told Amélie that he had started to sleep off the last of his hangover.
The low murmur of the Spanish radio could be heard as Amélie hummed along to her favourite songs.
After another hour of driving the pair of them had reached Valencia. It was a beautiful city After parking up outside the small wedding dress shop Amélie turned to face Carlos.
"Wake up sleepy head." she spoke softly, patting him on the shoulder to get his attention.
"Hmmph" This was not the sound that Amélie wanted to hear.
"Come on. It's dress shopping time." She laughed, knowing that this was the last thing that he wanted to do.
She was right.
The look of Carlos' face as he slowly peeled his head off the car window was that of a disgruntled teenager. Amélie got the stark feeling that this is what his family must be so used to seeing from Carlos. Not the well cut slightly confused look that was shown to all of the fans of formula one, but the grumpy, bed-head Carlos, who looked as though he would rather jump out of a moving vehicle then go get dresses.
"Come on." She ordered, "I'll need your help to bring the dresses to the car."
A disgruntled humph was his only response but Amélie took this as a yes as he began to get out of the car.
"How many are there?"
"I'm picking up the bridesmaids ones as well. That's why I need your help." She waved her hands frantically, ushering him into the front door of the shop.
A small bell rang as they opened the door and a small woman dressing in a sharp looking woman's suit walked up to them.
"Miss Leclerc?" she asked. Clearly she had been expecting them.
"Yes. Sorry we're late." Amélie cast a quick side-eyed glance at Carlos.
He scowled back at her as the woman continued to lead them round the small shop. Pristine white dresses hung on the walls, covering them in pearly fabric. Carlos sat him self down on a small sofa in the middle of the room. He watched as the woman lead Amélie into a corner of the room by a clothes rack and pulled out the various dresses that she was to collect.
"If you like, I can get your bridesmaid dress for you to try on?" The woman asked politely. The two women looked over at Carlos who had let out an audible groan at the thought of having to spend any longer in the cramped room.
Amélie scoffed slightly at his reaction before turning to the woman with a sweet smile, "I would love to try on the dress."
The woman smiled brightly and picked out the dress for her and hung it in the changing room. "I just need to nip out for only one moment. I will be back shortly."
Amélie smiled in response and stepped into the changing room and drew the curtain behind her.
After about two minutes of gentle rustling and shuffling about, Carlos heard a quiet 'Fuck' sound from behind the curtain.
He raised his eyebrows as he looked in the direction of where Amélie had disappeared to get changed.
"Are you Ok mi vida?" He asked curiously.
A strained voice sounded back, "Er.. I'm fine."
Carlos rolled his eyes, Amélie was proving to be the most stubborn woman he had ever met. "You don't sound very fine."
There was a pause of silence. Amélie was clearly contemplating her options, "I think the zip on this dress is broken." She spoke quietly.
"What?" Carlos had heard her, he just wanted to hear he say it again.
Amélie raised her voice slightly, "The zip on this damned dress, it's broken."
"Are you joking?" He asked her, half amused.
"Does it sound like I'm joking Carlos?!" She hissed back through the curtain clearly losing her patience.
Carlos looked around the small shop, praying that the woman would come back so he wouldn't have to deal with this. No one came. He looked back over the to the curtain of the dressing room. For fucks sake.
"Carlos!" Amélie called again.
He let out a big sigh. He wanted Amélie to hear just how much of an inconvenience this was for him.
He walked over to the curtain and drew it back. He stood for a moment, watching Amélie as she struggled to reach her hands to the zip at the back.
Her long brunette hair had fallen over her face which wore an exasperated look. She looked at him through the mirror in front of her. She immediately huffed in annoyance as she studied the wide smile that had spread across Carlos' lips.
"Don't laugh."
"I'm not laughing." replied Carlos, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Carlos." She pleaded, clearly frustrated with not being able to reach the zip on her back.
"Ok ok. Hold on a second."
He placed his hands on her waist as he turned her gently so she was facing away from him. He could feel a tightening in his chest as his palms pressed against the silky fabric of the dress. He immediately tried to ignore this feeling.
His fingers traced the line of the zip up the dress before reaching the clasp that was holding the back together. He could feel Amélie's breath hitch as she felt his hand on her back. He studied the top of the zip for a moment before trying to tug it down gently.
It wouldn't budge.
He tried again a little harder, pulling Amélie's body back slightly as he did it.
"Christ!" She exclaimed as he pulled her suddenly again, "What are you doing back there?" She asked.
"I think the zip is broken." He answered.
"You don't say!" Amélie jabbed back sarcastically.
Carlos yanked it again causing Amélie to jerk back once more. "Jesus Christ!" she exclaimed. She tried to turn around to pull his hands off the dress. It clearly wasn't coming undone and there was no point in letting Carlos rag her around.
"Let it go." She protested as she tried to swivel towards him.
"I can do it-" He argued back not loosening his grip on the back of the dress.
"Leave it!"
"I think if I just -"
A loud ripping sound caught Amelie by surprise. The two of them stood in silence for a moment as if taking in what Carlos had just done.
He was still standing close behind her, holding the torn fabric in his hands. "Uhm, there." He muttered staring at the fabric in his hands. It dawned on him that this wasn't the smartest thing he'd done.
"Carlos." Amélie spoke slowly. Carlos could her the quiet rage that she was trying to hide. "Did you just do what I think you did?"
"What I did?!"
"Yes!" Cried Amélie "Of course what you did."
Carlos held his hands up in mock surrender, letting go of the back of the dress and causing Amélie to have to quickly grab the dress to stop it from falling down.
"If you hadn't of been spinning around, the dress wouldn't have ripped." He argued.
"If you hadn't of been ragging me around, I wouldn't of had to turn!"
Their shouts had brought the small shop keeper to peer into the changing room.
"Any problems?" A small voice asked causing the both of them to jump back in surprise. In their racket, they had obviously not heard her come in.
The woman's eyes scanned the scene before her and quickly judged what must have happened. She walked into the changing room and swatted Carlos' hands away from the dress. "Oh no no." She muttered to herself as she assessed the damage.
"I'm so sorry." Amélie said apologetically. She felt like crying. All she wanted to do was make sure this wedding was perfect for her friend. She was only given one task: pick up the dresses. And now she was proving that she couldn't even do that.
"O' ma belle. Not to worry. I will have this sorted in the morning for you." She quickly cast a nasty look at Carlos who pretended to look away. She clearly wasn't happy that he had ripped on of her dresses.
After a lot of thank you's and words of gratification Carlos and Amélie set out to find themselves a hotel for the night.
***