Cruel Sanctuary

Chapter 13

Flourishing under the bright light of my new found friendship with Owen, I grin at him as he gives me an emphatic roll of his eyes, "Bye, Owen, have fun without me!"

"How will I survive without you?" He exclaims over-dramatically and Tina laughs at the solicitude between us both, "It's nice to see you two getting along," She glances between us and smiles gently, "Mum," Tina looks to Owen, "please don't embarrass Sky and don't make her try on or do anything she doesn't want to, okay?" Tina nods and Owen looks to me, "Don't be her little puppet for the day."

I convulsively slap his arm in a listless manner, "Don't be rude to your mum, she's lovely!" I link Tina's arm as if to take a stand against her jokingly audacious son and she reciprocates the gesture, leaning on me and I swear I see his eyes fill with pride, "Wait until she gets you trying stuff on," He raises his sculpted eyebrows to reveal slight stress lines that have developed on his forehead, although you cannot see them when his face rests, "Right, I'm gonna go now," He concludes and then turns around and wades back into his car, driving off and leaving me with Tina.

Tina begins to stride into the shopping centre and I am dragged along with her due to the fact she is linking my arm so tight that my circulation is about to halt, deadly, "The good dress shops are on the top floor," She informs me as we step onto the escalator that takes us up to the second floor. The words fall from her mouth making me feel as though I am the most frugal person in the universe, "They're also the most expensive!" I notice, a preposterous expression plastered into the grooves of my face.

Tina turns to me, amused by my outlook which she would consider an unconventional lifestyle compared to her own, "Honey, it's your wedding! When you walk down that aisle you're going to look like the whole shabang!" Tina gestures exaggeratedly causing me to giggle.

"Today is all about you, my darling! We'll try on as many dresses as you like and we'll buy the one that you fall in love with...it's going to be a day you'll never forget!" She fantasises and then tugs me into a lovely little bridal shop that smells distinctly of lurid rose petals and dulcet vanilla; pretty suiting for a wedding shop, I think.

As soon as we step through the open doors of the shop, my eyes lay on the elusive dress in the corner of the store. I've researched wedding dresses, I've practically planned my whole wedding, from the start time to the ending!  I know what this wedding dress type is: a ball gown sweetheart sleeveless dress. Utterly gorgeous if you ask me.

"I agree with you there, hon," Tina states in awe and I realise that I said that aloud and blush slightly as she turns to me and chuckles, "Sky, you do know I've known you since you were a tot! I'm used to your thinking aloud business by now," She jokes and I blush even further.

"Can I help in any way?" A dainty lady speaks out to us and Tina immediately welcomes her with a big nod and grin, "It's Skylar's wedding in a couple of months and we haven't had chance to really plan because of the quick circumstances but she knows what she likes and I've seen her gawking at that dress over there," Tina fills in the worker (who's name tag tells me she is called Rebecca).

Her smile flourishes and she winks at me, "Good choice!" and gestures for us to follow her over to the elegant dress, "It would probably be best if you tried it on just so we can get the gist of what best fits your body type," Both Tina and I nod in agreement as she struggles to get the dress ready.

In the end, it took Rebecca, Tina, me and two other women to get the dress ready to try on. Tina and Rebecca even had to help me into it because this girl is a hefty bitch of a dress! After about half an hour of fiddling with positioning, zippers and petticoats, we get the dress on and I step out of the changing room so that we can examine it in greater detail, "I'm not sure, it looks like it is weighing you down, Sky. We could do with more opinions. Why don't you invite your friend? Emma, isn't it?"