Legacies

The Book-Thief, The Breakfast and The Guy in the Door [2]

“You do know how exasperating you can be right? Please just choose a dress,” Zara said as she watched Skye prancing around in what must have been the thirteenth cocktail dress.

Counting the points on her fingers, she stated, “It needs to be black, it needs to be short and it needs to be appropriate. Chanel is the obvious answer.”

Skye rolled her eyes. Zara’s impatience was so palpable that the boutique assistant had adopted a permanently wary expression. Not that Skye wasn’t used to it already.

As odd as it sounded, the bubbly, outgoing Skye Melua had befriended the cold and arrogant (the other freshmen’s description, not hers) Zara Von Straussburg. But even though they regularly referred to her as the ice queen, Zara exuded a certain energy that made all of them wish she’d accept them as friends. So Skye had made a point to randomly appear and chat to Zara (her room was adjacent to hers), slowly drawing her out of the private sphere she inhabited. And she’d found that she actually liked her. 

Now, nearly a week after their initiation into Bridgeton, they were out shopping for a dress to wear to the following night’s Freshman Soirée.

Or rather, Skye was shopping.

“Excuse me for not having had my entire couture wardrobe flown over. In Louis Vuitton trunks. In First Class.” Skye replied in a teasing tone.

“Well, you can’t very well blame me. Most of the pieces are vintage and worth a near fortune. And much better quality than this place can afford, it seems,” she added, giving the assistant an accusing look - as if to say it was her fault that she had to wait so long.

“I don’t know… do you think this one makes me look fat?”

With her petite frame, honey-brown curls and big blue eyes, Skye knew that hardly anything made her look fat, but she loved pushing Zara’s buttons.

“Okay okay, seeing as you’re not impressed by Marc Jacobs, how about we compromise? I’ll finish up here and you can go over to Mocacino’s and get us a table. I’m starving.”

“Remind me why we became friends again?” Zara replied with a sigh.

“Aha! So you’re admitting that we’re friends. That’s good. Baby steps frosty.”

“Half an hour and I leave, Skye.”

“Baby steps!” Skye called out as Zara walked out of the boutique. 

Sipping the best coffee she’d had since landing in America, Zara felt a little bit guilty. Sure, she was supposed to have met Skye at the coffee shop, but something had drawn her to the dusty windows of a quaint little bookshop in an offbeat alley.

Charlemaine’s Books as it was called, was a gem of a find. On first inspection the shop looked dingy and the books worn out, but as she wandered down the rows, she was surprised to find that there were more than a few classic first editions. Despite its appearance, the store had to make a pretty penny to afford books that expensive.

A perfect example of don’t judge a book by its cover, Zara mused wittily.

Now, nearly two hours later, she was sitting in an old leather couch in the corner of the store, perusing through two of her favourite books - Anna Karenina and the War and Peace collection. Zara was an avid reader, finding the activity to be both soothing and stimulating at the same time.

She regretted not having brought at least a portion of her collection with, but having found this place, she decided to purchase the books.

“Excuse me. Excuse me!”