Capturing Ella

Chapter 14 - Ella

Note to readers: This chapter contains alcohol. Seems an odd warning, but I would like to point out everyone who drinks alcohol in this chapter is of the legal age - Sky is eighteen, Phee is nineteen, Crystal is nearly twenty and Ella is approaching her 21st birthday meaning they can all drink legally within the UK. Whilst some may drink more than others, they are drinking responsibly. If you are not of the legal age, please don't drink, and if you are of the legal age of the country/state you live in please drink responsibly. Be safe!

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'Do you know all of these people?' Sky whispered, sitting on the table next to me in the middle of a dress shop in Camberley. It was the day before the party and the dress and wing/mask fitting for all the girls. The theme of the engagement party of two of the older members of Maui was "Angels and masks" which was pretty gender-neutral, which was why they chose it. A few months ago, they sent out the invitation to my home in Colorado - and even invited all of the boys as well as Crystal, Sky and Phee. Whilst we managed to book our holiday to include the event, but none of the boys could get the time off work or break the other commitments they have. So when we all replied, the girls decided to go with "angels" rather than "masks", which meant we had to go to the dress fitting. Honestly, I would prefer not to wear dresses. I'm not really a girly girl - and I bloody hate dresses. So now I was being forced into a dress of a colour that I might not even like and a pair of burlesque-style wings in said colour. Talk about events to build anxiety.

We were told to be in the dress shop for ten o'clock, but as we all work for a secret organisation where time keeping was a major feature of our work we all turned up early - much to the receptionist's horror. So we were all shuffled into one of the side rooms, so whoever was getting their dresses fitted for a wedding wouldn't be horrified when they came out. Currently, about 65 woman all sat around in the small room, and we took our place in the corner - Sky and myself sitting on the table, Crystal leaning against the wall and Phee keeping her back to everyone else so we could speak quietly.

'I know a few - most are just acquaintances.' I mumbled, retying my converse. 'Whose dumb idea was it to pick wings? We could have just gone masks and gone to New Look to get a dress... or Primark.'

'It'll be fun.' Crystal said, touching my skinny jeans and pulling it down slightly.

'Yeah - only after a few shots of vodka.' I mumbled, and they all laughed. If I was in a dress that made me very uncomfortable and there was an open bar... well. I did promise Karla and Saul before I left that I wouldn't drink anything in order to make sure the girls were okay. However, we did compromise saying that the only time I could drink anything alcoholic was tonight. Many would get annoyed that their parents were being restrictive but I could understand the paranoia coming from them.

'Hello girls, and welcome to Tussian Dress shop, and we're all here to fit the dresses and your wings for the party tonight.' The assistant came in, clapping slightly to get our attention before hesitating. The girls in this room ranged from small, tiny blonde girls such as Sky and me, to hench body building woman who could literally punch you and knock you out. I don't blame her for hesitating, but the biggest fear should be the combined gifts we could do. I mean - most of the females in this room had various gifts and if you piss us off. Well, I doubt the result would be good.

'Mine and Erik's aim for this party was to eliminate anyone being different from the crowd - which I'm sure we've all felt once or twice,' Everyone in the room laughed slightly even the assistant. The reason we all felt different was because of our gifts. We've had to keep ourselves hidden for years before Maui was established. So whilst the assistant laughed probably for hiding her expensive shoe buying habit from her husband. We all laughed because the length of time we had to keep ourselves to ourselves. The idea of the party was good - the 67 woman that were invited and agreed to the angel dresses and wings - were now all in this room together. Samalia, who's engagement party was tonight to celebrate the union of her and Erik, had already purchased 67 identical dresses at a massive discount in 68 different colours (her dress was gold, she got to choose hers) as well as 68 pairs of burlesque feather wings in the same colours - and we were just here to get the dresses adjusted and fitted. The entire dress shop was booked out for three hours in order to adjust all the dresses. This party was destine to be the talk of the office for weeks and even months to come.