Noah

September 3rd 2011

"What do you think?" Craig asked, gesturing to one of the dresses on the rack.

I crinkled my nose at it. "Where does it end?" I said, counting the layers of puffiness on the dress.

"Uh, I don't know," he admitted. "I've never been dress shopping before."

Admittedly, neither had I. We weren't the best duo to be doing this. However, Craig was meant to be going to his mum's charity party tonight and since Arvy was out of the country, he'd decided to drag me along.

"Why can't I just wear jeans?" I sighed.

"Because it's a posh party," he said. "And for some reason that means you've got to wear a dress. What about this one?" he pointed another one out.

I pulled a face at it. "It's such an awful colour." I said.

"Excuse me?" Craig called over one of the shop assistants. "I don't suppose you could help us find a dress? We're looking for something quite simple, not too flashy."

She smiled kindly at us. "Of course. I would suggest one of the dresses over this side, follow me."

She led us over to the section of dresses that I hadn't noticed before that seemed much less in-your-face than the ones we were currently by.

"Any colour you're looking for in particular?" the shop assistant asked me.

I looked at Craig expectantly.

"Um, probably something monochrome." he said. "Black would probably be best."

"Alright," she said with a cheery smile, picking through the rack. "How about this?" she asked, holding up one of the dresses.

I shrugged. It looked like most of the other dresses we'd seen- though admittedly, it was a lot less puffy.

Craig sighed. "Yeah, it's good." he said with a friendly smile. "We'll take that one."

"Alright," the woman said with a smile, trying to hide a look of confusion. She grabbed one of the dresses off the rack then headed over to the till. We followed after her, though not too closely.

"I hate shopping." I groaned.

"This isn't even half as bad as the shops my mum would've dragged you to. You think these dresses are over the top, you should see some of the ones my mum's worn in her time."

"So what's the deal with your mum?" I asked. "Is she bothered about you being gay?"

"Her and my dad split up about a year back. She tries to be accepting but... well, she'd much rather I was straight. Just don't bring it up at the party, it puts her in a bad mood."

"Well at least she didn't disown you like your dad did." I said as we reached the counter.

"I suppose." he said morosely. "It would've been nice if neither of them had disowned me. But at least I can still talk to my mum."

I shrugged. "Parents are over-rated." I commented.

He smiled as the woman behind the counter bagged the dress. He reached into his wallet and pulled out some money.

"What's the party going to be like?" I asked, as he paid for the dress and we headed out the store.

"Imagine getting all of the snobbiest people in the country and putting them in a room. Then ask them to prove who has the most money and the kindest heart."

"I'm picturing it." I replied.

"There you go." he laughed.

"Oh," I said. "Sounds like fun."