Fallen Stars // Manuel Neuer

Piper

We arrived just around half past three, the Beetle slowed to a standstill in front of a small, yet fancy boutique that had multiple gowns on display for the passerby to see.

"This is gonna be fun." Kinsey squealed with excitement as we headed for the door. For a boutique, it wasn't busy at all, there were about three other women shopping for dresses.

"Is Piper working today?" Lilly asked a lady working at the counter.

"Bitte?" The tall brunette questioned, completely confused by the foreign language.

"Ist Piper arbeiten heute?" I repeated in German. A flash of understanding crossed her face.

"Ja, eine Sekunde bitte." She smiled before walking into a closet behind the counter.

"Lilly Elizabeth Allen." A lyrical voice called from the 'closet', which on closer inspection, was a storage room.

"Piper Dianne Benter." Lilly called back just as a tall model looking woman stepped from behind a dress. She had auburn hair and eyes greener than an evergreen forest. I scanned her outfit, a cute flowery sundress with red and gold flowers dotting everywhere.

"Mein Gott. It's actually you." Piper squealed (even her squeal was perfect) and launched herself at Lilly, nearly knocking her down.

"Who did you think it was?" Lilly laughed loudly causing the three other women in the shop to turn and glare at the two.

"It's been five years since I last saw you. You're so grown and you finally have boobs." Piper chuckled causing Lilly to redden darker than a tomato.

"Piper!" Lilly hissed under her breath. Rolling her eyes, Piper enveloped Lilly into another bone-crushing hug.

"Don't Piper me." Piper tisked.

"Look, the three of us have a gala that we need to prepare for and we don't have much time." Lilly grimaced as Piper suddenly let go of her.

"You don't even want to catch up?" Piper asked, sounding wounded.

"Of course I want to catch up. That's why I'm inviting you as my plus one." Lilly grinned.

"Oh." Piper said, her eyes suddenly going wide. "Elke! Schließen Sie das Geschäft! Holy cow when does the gala start and where."

"Tonight at 9 at the Airbräu in the Munich Airport." Lilly informed quickly, watching as Elke shooed the three women out and locked the doors and put a closed sign up.

"Damn, well we need to try on dresses. Whose first?" Piper asked looking between the three of us.

"Alex." Lilly and Kinsey said together, pushing me forward.

"Why me?" I squeaked.

"Because it's to make you feel better, now go." Lilly shooed. Piper linked her arm through mine and took me into the storage room (which was freaking humongous).

"Well if you haven't found out through all of that squealing, my name is Piper. I'm Lilly's cousin." Piper smiled warmly at me before diving into the dresses.

"I'm Alexandria but people call me Alex. Lilly's a really good friend of mine." I smiled back awkwardly as Piper held up dresses against me.

"How did you guys meet?" She asked, attempting to make small talk as she gathered an armful of dresses ranging in different colors.

"Well she got lost, it was at the first meeting of the National team tryouts. I was with a friend that knew the stadium really well and Lilly tagged along." I smiled at the thought.

"National tryouts?" Piper questioned, furrowing her perfect eyebrows.

"Yeah, so we can play for the German National team." I stated.

"Oh yeah." Piper made a duh face. "I forgot. So what's your favorite color?"

"Red." I said as she took her free hand and dragged me along with her to what looked like fitting rooms.

"Try this one on first." Piper grinned, handing me a short, flowy red dress with a sweetheart neckline and jewels covering the midsection. With little effort, I pulled the dress up and stared at the mirror. It was simple and lovely, reaching just above my knees. Opening the door I saw Lilly and Kinsey sitting on a couch in the middle of the cluster of dressing rooms.

"Well?" I asked, twirling around once, grinning as the fabric fluttered around me.

"Too simple. You need a mermaid gown." Lilly stated simply. "It needs to make Neuer wish he never met Sophia."

"Agreed." Kinsey nodded before Piper shooed me back into the dressing room.

"This one's the one." She grinned before handing me a really long dress. Shimmying out of the short one I put it on the hanger and then put the long dress on. When I looked in the mirror I felt as though I was going to cry. It was a white mermaid gown with intricate navy blue lace embroidered in beautiful patterns all over the gown. It was also strapless and had a sweetheart neckline, down at the bottom there was a slit that traveled all the way to my lower thigh. A gigantic grin spread across my face as I exited the changing room.

"Holy shit." Lilly gasped, eyes wide.

"That's the one." Kinsey agreed, also wide eyed.

"Damn, you should be a model." Piper stated, looking me up and down with a look of approval. "Elke, kannst du bitte Alex's make-up?"

"Ja, Natürlich!" Elke grinned motioning for me to come with her. I did as I was told and she guided me to another back room where there was a salon. "Setzen bitte."

Time seemed to go by quickly and soon the four of us were standing in front of a large wall-length mirror. Piper had on a beige and gold strapless chiffon gown that seemed to be made for her. Her hair was up in an updo, courtesy of Elke. Lilly had on a black sleeved evening dress that also had a slit up to her thigh, and when the light hit it just right the dress looked midnight blue. Her hair was straight as a toothpick, flowing around her like a veil. Kinsey had on white flowey dress that had a gold belt around her waist. Her hair was braided to the side almost like Elsa's frozen. Then there was me, I had on the white strapless mermaid gown with navy blue lace embroidered in beautiful patterns all over, a slit ending on my lower thigh. My hair was down in waves, and Elke had put in silver and gold glitter in my hair.

"Are you guys ready?" Piper asked, a grin curling on her dark red lips.

"Ready." Lilly, Kinsey, and I all spoke in unison, causing us to burst into a fit of giggles. That's when I started to think that tonight wouldn't be quite as bad as I thought.

A/N: At the top is Piper :D