2 boring bastards

Chapter Nine

Sebastian had loaned me Jenny for a few hours, and, more importantly, his credit card. Our mission was simple; find the most fabulous dress ever to wear to the charity gala tomorrow so I could be good arm-candy. That would have been easy enough, but I had ulterior motives. I wanted the dress to suit Sophie as well as me so that she could wear it to prom. Sophie, however, wasn't with us - for some reason, she thought school was more important than dress shopping - so I'd have to guess on her sizing and the way dresses would suit her figure.

The boutique we were at carried multiple designer labels and had been booked out by Sebastian (or rather Jenny with Sebastian's name) so we had the place to ourselves. That also meant that I couldn't avoid the shop assistants, which made the experience a lot more awkward than need-be. When one of them suggested champagne I almost squealed, I was less pleased when I realised they had no plans on imbibing. My world-famous puppy-dog eyes and the declaration that Sebastian would absolutely pay for their champagne convinced them to change their tune.

With the champagne flowing and a tiara that someone had plucked off a shelf on my head, things were going much better. That is, until someone suggested a mermaid dress.

"I would rather die! I'd rather choke on sequins and be punted off the face of the earth! Mermaid dresses belong in hell with furbies guarding them and protecting us innocent earthlings from their horror." 

Their faces showed they didn't truly comprehend the catastrophic power of mermaid dresses.

I was forced to explain further, "I would send my child to yodelling classes before I wore a mermaid dress." 

"My mom used to yodel," said Jenny.

"Huh," I really had no clue what else there was to say.

"So, I take it you're not going to want trumpet or fit-and-flare either?" The pro-mermaid-dress assistant asked.

"You so get me!" I chirped happily and took another sip of my champagne, "actually, I think a princess, A-line or a ball-gown would be the best silhouette."

☆☆☆

"I think Sebastian was expecting a bill higher than $1000 when he sent us dress shopping," Jenny remarked as we left the store. "He doesn't care about the cost, you know?"

"Oh yeah, definitely, but after a certain price you're just paying for the brand name, there's no quality difference."

"I guess."

"And I'd rather wear a cheaper dress that actually looks gorgeous from a smaller designer than an expensive bizarre spiky piece with a famous name."

"Hey! You were the one who insisted on trying that on!" She retorted.

I couldn't deny that, nor could I think of an appropriate response, so I just laughed and skipped away.

"Isabelle, we're driving back together, you can't run away from me."

Tragically, she was right.

☆☆☆

Sebastian had decided that I should get ready at his office so he could spend as much time working as possible. My apartment wasn't on the way to the ball and that meant that he would waste valuable working time picking me up - obviously not an option. The feasibility of getting prepped for an event at a busy tech office apparently wasn't a concern, nor was his own prep - he was going to change his tie and that was it. He had another thing coming.