Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

THE DRESS WAS a giant puffy pink mess. It looked as though it had been stolen from Marie Antoinette's wardrobe before being caught in a monsoon of sequins. Mrs. Sully was overjoyed about the prospect of seeing Vivienne in something other than dirty boots and a ragged hoodie. Vivienne reluctantly stuffed her slender body into the sea of tulle and satin. Standing in front of the full-length mirror in her aunt's dress shop, she felt like a human cupcake.

"You only turn eighteen once," Sully said. "Now if only I can find a matching ribbon for your hair. You'll look like a China doll."

Vivienne had never envisioned herself as a doll. She never even played with dolls as a child, except to conceive of various ways for them to be dismembered. There was something strangely intimate about twisting the dolls' heads around or bending their limbs in unnatural ways. It was the only time she felt as though she truly knew them.

"Is-is this dress too expensive?" Vivienne muttered, hoping that she could convince Sully to pick a more reasonably decorated gown. Like maybe the one hanging behind the back door that looked more like a sad grey nightgown than a ballgown.

"Don't worry about it! Call me, Aunt Sully, like your sister, Janun. Oh, the boys are going to go crazy!" Mrs. Sully gushed as she produced a monstrous ball of tangled ribbons of every conceivable pastel color. She struggled to yank a canary-colored one out of the top but only succeeded in pulling the knot at the center of the ball of twine tighter. Her old knobby fingers tugged without success at the dead knot. "Let me go get Lorie to help."

Mrs. Sully left to find her assistant girl. Vivienne sighed in relief and collapsed into a threadbare red velvet couch. Vivienne spent a few minutes with her eyes closed, praying that she would fall asleep and wake up in her own bed. Perhaps this was all a bad dream. There was no such luck.

In fact, Mrs. Sully was gone for an awfully long time, and the gown was uncomfortable to sit in. Maybe a more important client had stepped into the shop.

Vivienne became worried that she was going to wrinkle something, which would create more work for the poor shopkeeper. So, Vivienne decided it was best to take the dress off. Once she was free of the thing, Vivienne couldn't resist the temptation to sneak out the back door. She'll tell her mom that Mrs. Sully had forgotten about the entire thing, and maybe her mom will let her wear jeans to the party.

Vivienne squirmed out of the pink dress and hung it up among the other gowns. It went into a slot between a green Mandarin robe and a white fur-lined cape. Now, her escape plan was only hampered by the fact that Vivienne couldn't find the clothes she had come in. Where had her aunt taken her clothes? Vivienne searched the closet and wrinkled her nose at the other merchandise. There was a periwinkle gown with neon ostrich feathers shooting out from the shoulders. There was a red-scaled dress with a hood made from a python's head.

As Vivienne stepped away from the closet, a slip of lace fabric on the shelf caught her eye. She tugged it out under a pile of scarves. It was a long black dress with a lace collar. Vivienne never liked dresses, but if she were to wear a dress, she wouldn't completely hate wearing this one.

She decided the soft, liquid-like fabric was too inviting not to try on for a second. Vivienne pulled it over her head, and it fell perfectly over her modest breasts and slight shoulders. She tied the black ribbon in the back, and it flared from her hips. Its hem came down to her knees and moved with her every step.

Her phone started to ring. It was Janun.

"V? Vivienne! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm at Mrs. Sully's," Vivienne replied. A sarcastic thought lingered on her lips as to whether anyone subjected to the seamstress's attention could be 'okay,' but something about Janun's tone stopped her from joking around. "What's wrong?"