Beautiful Days

Chapter 9 -Shopping, Shopping, Shopping...-

I looked back at Carlie in the backseat. She looked out of the window, but looked sad. I reached behind and took her hand into mine. She looked up to me and smiled. “Is everything alright, sweetie?” I asked her. Carlisle looked through the rearview mirror at her. She nodded and smiled at her Daddy as well. “It’s not much longer anymore,” he smiled. She returned to watching the other cars rushing past. It started to rain halfway through. Half an hour later Carlisle followed Alice into the parking garage and he stopped the engine. I looked back at Carlie and she was sleeping. I smiled at her peaceful sleeping form. “I get the buggy,” Carlisle whispered and got out of the car. I opened the backdoor and carefully lifted Carlie out of the car seat. She moved in her sleep and sighed, but did not wake up. “Here,” Carlisle said and I lay Carlie into the buggy. She curled together, but slept. Carlisle pushed the buggy towards the elevators. As soon as we were in the mall, we spotted Alice waiting for us. She rushed over to us. “There you are, guys! Let’s go!” she demanded and walked next to me. Carlisle held one of my hands and pushed Carlie at the same time. “What are we looking for today?” I asked her as she led us through the mall. “We will look for costumes. Carlie and you will need one. We already figured out the guys’ outfit,” she told us. Carlisle sighed, but didn’t say anything. I tried not to giggle. The thought of tights was still horrifying to him. “The first stop!” Alice announced and walked into a boutique. There were rows after rows of gowns of multiple cuts and colors. “Come,” Alice said and dragged me towards one of the rags in the back corner. Carlisle smiled sheepishly and mouthed a silent sorry. I sighed and could see how he sat down on one of the couches and watched Carlie. How much I would do to trait with his position with our daughter…

“You should definitely try this one,” Alice told me with enthusiasm and gave me a long aquamarine dress. I just followed her through the room until a shopping assistant came over to us. “May I help you?” he asked with a polite smile. “Yes, we are looking for a dress for my friend. It should be a long dress with a vintage flair, but not too formfitting because she is expecting,” Alice explained to him and she smiled warmly at me. I just nodded politely. “Okay,” he smiled and helped Alice picking out dresses. I already had five dresses in my arms when I was sent into the changing room. I stripped down to my underwear and put the first dress out of the stack. It was the aquamarine one. I got it on, but the zipper was on the back. I peeked through the curtain of the room and saw Alice with the man, but also Carlisle. I waved over to him. He grinned and waved back. “Alice?” I whispered. I knew she would hear. She turned around and realized what the problem was. “Just a second,” she told the assistant and rushed inside the room to help me. “There you go,” she smiled and moved me over to the mirror. The color didn’t fit me at all, it was too bright and honestly, too fluffy with all the tulle. “Alice…” I looked back to her and she had the same expression on her face. “Yeah, you’re right, it’s not the one,” she said understandingly. I nodded eagerly. “Okay, next one, just call if you need me,” she smiled and hugged me fleetingly. I sighed and put the next dress out. 

This one was white and quite simple. That I liked, but it clung too much around my stomach. I got out of that one without showing Alice. It just wasn’t the right one. The next one was red and had many layers of satin. I looked at myself in the mirror and had to laugh. I looked like a Christmas impersonation with all the frills. I peeked through the curtain again and Alice was still busy. I moved the curtain away and showed Carlisle. He laughed out loud, but muffled his laughter with his hand not to wake up Carlie. I tried not to laugh and showed him thumbs up or down. He made thumbs down and laughed again. I nodded and now laughed as well. “What are you up to?” Alice asked as she was suddenly in the changing room with an amused smile. “Nothing,” I grinned and got rid of the Christmas dress. “How about this one?” she asked and held up a pink one. I raised an eyebrow and looked at her incredulously. “Okay, okay, no pink,” she laughed and disappeared again. I worked my way through the stack of dresses, but none of them had the wow effect. Some were so horrible Carlisle and I had lots of fun laughing at them when I walked out of the changing room. As I just stepped out of the last one, Alice walked inside. “I think we will have to go to another shop,” she said. “I think so, these are not the right ones,” I told her and thought that this was even an understatement.