Yours Truly, Callie

5. Dress Shopping

"Nah, too sparkly," Phantom clicked his tongue at the bright gold glittery dress with a deep v-neck on Callie's screen. For the past hour, Callie shared her screen with the group and chose a couple of dresses she thought might look good on her. 

Except, a couple turned into eight, then ten. This was the fifteenth dress the group has looked at, and so far, none of them came to a consensus on which one she should buy. She instantly regretted her decision to solicit the help of strangers on the internet for their opinions on what she should wear to the gala.

James' warm baritone voice chimed in, "I don't know, there's just something off about this one?"

"BUT, POCKETS!" Callie should have known better than include a bunch of strange men in her decision to pick out the perfect gala dress. 

"It screams middle-aged lady reclaiming her youth," Augustus, the Ice Mage who James introduced her to as 'the one with the most taste' replied with disdain in his voice. 

She was starting to doubt James' recommendation.

"Sorry, dinner took a little longer than I thought it would. What did I miss?!" Katie giggles were muffled from her microphone brushing against her hair, "also, did I hear a dress with POCKETS?"

Thank goodness James let Katie into the Lotus Discord voice chat. After Cassandra's Castle, James honored her request by rounding up members who were available for fifteen minutes to look at 'a couple of dresses'. Turns out, the guys became too invested in this and it was too late for her to back out now. 

Katie, on the other hand, was there solely because of damage control. So far, Augustus got one strike for being too heated when he saw a short black mini dress being presented by Raeyn. According to him, galas are classy and certain criteria needed to be met, and anything above the knee was not considered. 

'I think you should wear this one,' a photo of a bright red victorian-era with a corset and ruffles popped up in the chat. 'What's the big deal about dresses with pockets?'

"Oh yes Raeyn, let me get my petticoat out of my closet next to my other corset," Callie rolled her eyes. 

Why did she think this was a good idea? 

But, it definitely beats dress shopping by herself on a Friday night. Normally, she would have asked Ryan or Chrissy for their thoughts, but both of them had other plans. Plans that included ungodly amounts of booze and sweating it up on the dancefloor. 

"You don't understand Raeyn, we don't have nice deep pockets on everything we own like you men do. Instead, we get shallow ones, or worse...fake pockets," Katie's voice became ominous. Callie knew exactly what she was talking about. Fake pockets should be listed as one of the most heinous crimes committed against female clothing.

"I mean, it matches the length..." she could hear the sarcasm spilling from James' comment. 

"If you want it, I'll buy it for you," Callie quickly snapped back. "I'll even buy Raeyn a matching one since you two like it so much."

"Okay, back to all seriousness. Keep scrolling. We need to find THE dress, dammit!" Augustus instructed with precision, besides Katie, he'd been the most invested one out of all.

Callie continued to scroll through the myriad of dresses on the webpage, and with each passing one, the group unanimously groaned with disdain. 

"Wait, wait!" Augustus and Katie both shrieked in excitement, catching Callie off guard.

Callie winced from the high pitched screaming in her ear, she would have sworn she might have popped an eardrum. But, she knew exactly which dress they were screeching about. Callie's eyes were fixated on the deep burgundy evening gown. The halter necklace accentuated the model's shoulders and decolletage. Delicate gold beading trimmed the sides of the bodice.  Callie knew the curve-hugging silhouette of the dress would celebrate her hourglass figure. She especially adored the sultry slit on the right side, it would highlight her legs. A pair of strappy gold glitter heels would be perfect to pair with the formal gown.