Tainted

Chapter 52: The English Rose

"Yes girl work it work it, strut, strut, strut, swing those hips girl!" I cheer as Katie walks out of the changing room wearing a white pencil dress that accents her figure along with six inch white pumps. She walks back and forth through the changing room swinging her hips while striking different poses and as Naomi and I laugh at her exagerated movements I almost feel like a normal teenage girl out shopping with her friends.

"I still like the blue one better," Naomi crosses her arms as we all think back to the last store we visited.
"I did like that one better but this one feels more sophistacted while the blue one was more strip club material," Katie nods her head as if thinking really hard.
"I agree white is for sophistication and elegance, although neither one of those words describe Katie I still feel like she could fake it for one night," I grin at her as she rolls her eyes.

"Oh yeah says the one who bought a gray dress, like gray? C'mon Kir that's just boring," Katie points out before waltzing back into the changing room.
"I think the dress looks fine," I defend while peeking in my bag at the plain gray dress that fits my figure a little too loosely and clashes with my skin tone a bit. Ok maybe I was striking out and this dress was the only one that didn't make me look like a prostitute, but I'm sure Jesse will like it either way. A deep stone drops in my stomach as I imagine Jesse fake loving my dress and telling me I look pretty even though both of us would know that in this dress I look nothing short of a Cathlic school girl.

"Actually," I trail off as I stare inside the bag that my dress is in and Naomi looks up at me hopeful, "Maybe I should find a different dress." Katie's squeal fills the stall right next to us and she hops out with her top still half off as she pulls and tugs it on backwards.
"Ok there was this red one that I saw and I swear it would look gorgeous on you!" Katie exclaims as Naomi takes my other hand and soon they're both dragging me through the large Boston Store in the mall.

Soon we're back in the dress section that we spent the past thirty minutes in and I'm dragged towards a thigh length red dress that I'd seen earlier.
"This one?" I question while my fingers lightly skim the silk. I'd seen it before and didn't think much of it, red is just such a bold and spontaneous color, such a fiery look that demands attention I never really thought to wear it.
"Try it on, if you don't like it, then we can find another one but we are on a time crunch now we've got about 15 minutes left," Naomi instructs checking the clock on the wall.

"Go! Go! Go!" Katie playfully pushes me towards the changing room and soon I'm stripping myself of my shorts and tank and replacing it with a silk red dress.
"Hey can someone help with the zipper?" I call out and soon both Katie and Naomi have crawled underneath and are tugging to zipper me up.
"Aw Kira!" Katie sighs as she places her hands on my shoulders while they both look at me in the mirror. I will admit the dress itself is a lot more elegant on a person than on that hanger.

It's a deep red that makes my waist looker smaller than normal due to the part where it flares out at the hips. It stops mid thigh in the front and just above my calves in the back making me look like I'm about to walk the red carpet.
"I don't know it looks really fancy," I tilt my head but can't help the smile that crawls onto my face.
"You love it don't you!" Naomi pokes me and I let out a laugh and nod quickly.
"I really love it!" I laugh as Naomi and Katie both place each of their heads on my shoulders.

"Well Jesse is going to be in for quite the surprise," Katie smiles.

+++

"I'm sorry but I don't think I can tell you how beautiful you look enough times for me to finally feel pleased with myself," I feel Jesse's breath against the back of my neck causing me to turn around and grin at him.
"I know right," I shrug with a grin hoping out of all my attempts to shut him up about how I look this might finally do it. I adjust his red tie that Naomi picked out for him at Boston Store before looking up into his forest eyes that are a shade darker than before.