The First Date: A Sokeefe Short Story

The Dress

"Is everything alright?" Sophie asked when Biana walked back into her room.

"Probably," Biana responded. "Your boyfriend just needed help with something."

"He's not... we're not... I–" Sophie stumbled over the words.

"He's not your boyfriend, I know. He's just your friend who winks at you and smirks at you and who always has his arm draped around your shoulders."

"I want to wear something red," Sophie shot out, changing the subject.

"What?"

"Before he hailed you, you had asked me what I was thinking of wearing. I want to wear something nice. And red. And less fight-y than what I normally wear."

"So, like, a dress?" Biana asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes," Sophie replied with a sigh, "But NOT a gown. And I'm not wearing the type of heels you normally wear."

"Sorry, all I'm hearing is that you want to wear a dress (which you never do) and that you want to wear heels...Who are you, and what have you done with Sophie Foster?"

Sophie laughed, "Biana, I'm going on a date, not into battle. And I find it as weird as you do, but I came to you because I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to clothes for the sake of looking nice."

"Oh, honey, we don't want you looking nice. Looking nice is for school and talking to the Council. We, want you to look good. Cute. Hot."

And with that Biana turned towards her closet to begin the both organized, and messy, task of finding something that both she and Sophie could agree on. And eventually, they did agree on something, with a surprisingly few number of compromises.

And so, Sophie left Everglen in a very pretty red dress. It was made of a velvet-y soft berry red satin. The dress pattern itself was a very simple a-line wrap dress. It had sleek bishop sleeves that fell three-fourths of the way down her arms. What made the dress so special was the detailing. It was adorned with pure gold embroidery. Flowers and swirls, stars and vines. And, as Biana made sure to point out, beautiful swans outlined in gold and filled in with black.

With the dress, Biana had convinced Sophie to wear very slight kitten heels. They were mostly black with gold swirls embossed onto the inward-facing side of the shoes and one-inch block heels that Sophie found to be surprisingly comfortable. And, "to top of the look," as Biana had put it, ruby earrings hung from Sophie's ears and a scattering of matching ruby hairpins decorated her braided headband like fresh morning dew decorated the pastures of Havenfield.

When the gates of the impressive Everglen estate closed behind her, Sophie could have sworn they sounded lighter than normal. As if even the cold metal gates were telling her to lighten up and enjoy one of the few quiet, comforting moments of her life.

With that, she raised her home crystal up toward the light, stepping into the beam and leaping back to Havenfeild.