It's Not That Easy

Chapter 11 - Dress for Dinner

Nobody can hurt me without my permission. - Mahatma Ghandi

Chapter 11 - Dress for Dinner

"It's called sensory overdrive, and I'm suffering big time. Could we please call it a day? Please?" My whines fall on Joel's deaf ears. Since the dress we are shopping for is needed for tomorrow night, he ignores me as he and Helen continue their discussion,

"This one. I would have never chosen this, but look." He holds it up to me as he looks over at Helen. "I think this one might do."

"Can we at lease keep this? This is the perfect color." Helen flashes a red dress in my face and holds it up to me. "I think it makes her eyes sparkle."

"Maybe so, but it also washes her out."

"Let's decide after she tries it on. OK, how many does that give us?"

"Eight." I let out a sigh knowing that I have eight dresses to try on. If I knew saying yes to Gavin a few weeks ago would have caused this scene before me, I'd have said no and then offer to babysit Chloe.

Resigning myself to the inevitable I slide my clothes off and begin trying on formal dresses. At least they understood my distain for glitter and bling, and it was kept to a minimum with each dress.

"Put the red one on first so I can eliminate it from the realm of possibilities," Joel says as Helen huffs beside him.

'There is no way I would get caught dead wearing this dress.' I think as I zip it up. It is not so much the color I have issues with, it is the vampy-ness of the design. The only redeeming quality is that it doesn't have a slit up the side. The low-front, tight bodice makes my D-cups look like Gs and it has a low cut back as well. I'm a high-class prostitute.

"Joel, seriously shut your mouth," I say as soon as I come out of the fitting room. He stands with his mouth agape staring at me. "I am not wearing this."

Before he or Helen could say anything, the dress was off and a pale blue took its place. "Washes you out," was all that was said. The brighter blue dress puckered on the sides, "The fit is wrong." The black one lacks sex appeal according to Helen. The pink one looks like a prom dress. Each had their faults; it was a matter of which one was best under the circumstances.

"Ok, go try on the last dress," Joel says, after he okayed the coral dress, but he wasn't in love with the one shoulder look on me. Helen is holding the other dress that could be a contender.

I fling the coral dress over the door, so she could look at it compared to the teal dress she's holding. I zip up the back of the floor length a-line dress, and clasp the beaded strands that secure the shoulder straps in place. Maybe we have a third contender I think as I open the door.

"Ok, we're done." I announce and Joel agrees, as does Helen. Standing waiting for the verdict, I watch Helen gather the other dresses and returns them to our clerk. "What?" I'm confused. Neither of them has dogged this dress, but they haven't complimented it either. I look at the two dresses we were deciding between are with the clerk, and don't understand.

"We're done." Joel tells me, and I go step out of the dress and put my clothes back on.

I hand the dress back to the clerk to return to the rack, and Helen asks, "I thought you were getting that one?"

"I don't think so. You guys didn't say anything."

"You announced you were done. We agreed. I didn't think we needed to discuss it." Joel says, as he takes the dress and hands it back to me. "It's the perfect color, even though I would have never guessed it, and it's the perfect fit. You don't look like a teenager or a vamp. It's perfect for the occasion and Gavin will love it."