She was Never Yours

Dress shopping

At the radio studio

Luna sat in her chair at the recording table with the familiar microphone dangling in front of her face as she read through the short questions she'd ask during the interview. She leaned back in her chair and sighed before the door to the interview room opened and Ava popped her head in, "Hey Lulu Michael just arrived so we should be going live in 10." Ava informed. "Ok, thanks Ava." Luna replied monotonous. "What's wrong Lulu? You seem stressed." Ava asked "It's nothing its just that I still haven't found a dress for the radio awards and its only a week away." Luna explained throwing her head back.
" Are you serious? Why? You look great in anything so I don't see why you haven't found a dress yet." Ava said shocked. "I know it's just I'm going with T'challa and I want to look my absolute best, he is a prince after all." Luna explained dropping her head into her hands. "Is that it? Just because he's a prince doesn't mean you have to measure up to him in anyway Lulu. He loves you no matter what, you could go in a garbage bag and he'd still think you're the most beautiful girl in the room." Ava reassured walking into the room to stand next to Luna. "It's not his opinion I'm worried about Ava." Luna sighed
"You're being too hard on yourself girlie. You're a solid 10 out of 10 the media will love both of you. You two are gonna be the cutest couple there." Ava said putting her hands on Luna shoulders. "I know but I'm worried. We've kept our relationship out of the media for a reason and us going public like this has me afraid someone might use me to get to T'challa." Luna explain with a sad frown.
"Luna, T'challa has an entire royal guard protecting him 24/7 and he can defend himself. Besides if there was even the slightest chance someone would be after you T'challa would whisk you away to Wakanda and lock you in an tower until he stopped them." Ava said jokingly. Luna laughed and smiled "Yeah, you're right I'm just overthinking." Luna said. "Come on, we'll go dress shopping after work and grab some dinner to take your mind off it." Ava said with a tone that left no room for argument. "Thanks Ava." Luna said gratefully.
"Hey Luna you're on in 5 Michael is about to come in." Thomas said unexpectedly popping his head in the room. "Alright. Thanks Thomas." Luna replied. "Knock'em dead Lulu." Ava said before walking to the door and leaving. Luna smiled then put on her headphones to start doing her job.

After work

Work went by fairly quick after Luna's interview, she was finishing up a recording for an advertisement for the radio station when it was time to leave. It was 4pm so it was still early and that left plenty of time to find a dress. Luna quickly grabbed her things and made her way to the lobby while saying goodbye to some of her coworkers.
Ava was standing at the door when Luna finally entered the lobby, she quickly made her way over and greeted her. "Ready to shop sweetie?" Ava asked enthusiastically lopping her arm with Luna's, she let out a giggle before replying "Ready as I'll ever be." Both women quickly walked out the door and got a taxi to the nearest fashion district. "So any idea on what type of dress you're going for Lulu?" Ava asked on the way to the fashion district, "Not really but I know it definitely has to be red because that's the color T'challa and I decided on." Luna explained looking out the window.
"I think we should go for something sexy but modest. Maybe something backless or with a high slit because you have gorgeous legs." Ava complimented as they pulled up the the shopping center. "I was thinking something more elegant." Luna said stepping out of the taxi after Ava.
"Ahhhhh like something that screams future queen of Wakanda huh?" Ava teased as they walked through the entrance. Luna nudged Ava with her hip "No I told you, royals can't marry outsiders Ava." Luna said with a sigh. "Lets say he could. Now if he did proposed would you say no?" Ava asked. Luna stopped for a second completely caught off guard "I don't know Ava. I love him but after what I went through with Erik. I don't know if I have it in me to get married again." She answered looking at the floor.
"Hey don't think like that what happened with Erik won't happen with T'challa, he'd never leave you alone in the world." Ava tried to reassure. "You don't know that Ava. I never thought Erik would leave me but look what happened." Luna said her voice cracking a bit. "No Erik was taken from you." Ava began "And so could T'challa Ava. He has a duty to protect and fight for his country just like Erik did, he can die in the line of duty just like him."Luna interrupted her voice going up an octave as tears gathered in her eyes. "I love him and God knows if he asked me I'd say yes but I'm scared Ava. I don't ever want to go through what I went through with Erik again." Luna said collapsing on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the shopping center.
"Hey hey. Look at me Luna." Ava said grabbing her hands. Luna's breathing was ragged and her hands were shaking, she was on the verge of a panic attack as she looked at Ava. "Luna breathe. Deep breath in and slowly let it out." Ava instructed, Luna followed Ava's instructions and felt her nerves slowly calming down. "That's it Lulu. Now do you want me to call T'challa so you can talk to him?" Ava asked knowing that hearing T'challa's voice always calmed her the best.
       "No no I'm fine. Last thing I want is to bother him while he's handling things in Wakanda." Luna said slowly standing. "You're sure you're ok? We can head home and go dress shopping tomorrow." Ava offered. "I'm fine Ava really, I need to find a dress now before it's too late." Luna said before scanning the shops around them. Spotting a dress shop that specialized in prom dresses and other formal wear she grabbed Ava's hand and started dragging her over to it. "Here's our first stop." Luna said as they entered the store. A sales rep quickly greeted them and asked if they could be of assistance.
       Luna quickly gave the sales rep a quick explanation of what she wanted and her dress size as well as stressing the the color had to be red. The sales rep quickly took off with that information and began collecting a variety of red dresses while Luna waited by the fitting room. Ava was also looking around the store collecting a few options for Luna as well, when they both made it back to the fitting room there was a mountain of dresses for Luna to try on. Luna groaned inside before sifting through the pile picking out what she would try on and what she wouldn't so this could go quicker.
     Finally having sorted the mountain down to 7 different dresses Luna went into the fitting room to try them on. The first one wasn't flattering at all, the second had too many ruffles and looks like she was going to an 80s prom instead of an award show. The third and forth had the same problem of not fitting past Luna's hips, "Ugh, curse my father's genetics." Luna said struggling to get dress #4 off. "Problem Lulu?" Ava asked outside the dressing room teasingly. "Yes I inherited my father's wide baby bearing hips." Luna said sarcastically causing Ava to laugh. "Well they'll be good to have when you have kids." Ava replied. Luna smiled as she put the dress back on the hanger, having a family was always her biggest goal in life. That smile quickly faded as she thought about Erik again, they were supposed to start a family together when he got back from deployment.
Luna sighed as she remembered all those nights after they finished making love she'd lay on his chest and they would talk about what their children would look like but Erik would always say "I don't care what they look like as long as they're with you."
Ava knocked on the dressing room door snapping Luna back to reality, "Lulu you alright in there?" She asked. "Yeah I'm fine. I'm about to try on the last dress." Luna answered before skipping over dress 5&6 and grabbing the last one. It was a floor length off the shoulder dress with a high slit of course in red, Luna pulled the dress on and zipped it up before looking in the mirror, she smiled and walked out the dressing room to show Ava.

Ava gasped as she saw Luna "That's it that's the one." Ava said, Luna did a little spin in place before smiling and saying "I think so too."
Luna quickly took the dress off and got back in her regular clothes, when she exited the fitting room she felt someone's eyes on her. She took a quick scan of the shop and when she didn't see anyone she took a glance out the big window by the door of the shop. There were many people walking around outside but none of them were looking at her until she spotted a man in her peripheral vision. Luna jerked her head to get the man in full view but he had already turned around and disappeared into the crowd.
Luna slowly walked to the check out to pay for the dress still thinking about the man she just briefly saw, "Hey you alright? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Ava asked. Luna paid for the dress and grabbed the bag before replying "I think I did Ava. I think I saw Erik." Luna confessed as they walked out of the store. "Are you serious?" Ava asked surprised, "Look when I walked out the dressing room I felt someone was watching me and when I looked out the window in the corner of my eye I saw a man that looked just like him." Luna explained. "Luna I think you're just seeing things. Bringing him up earlier stressed you out so your mind is playing tricks on you." Ava reasoned.
     "Yeah you're probably right. Let's go eat." Luna said brushing it off as they exited the store to go get food but Luna couldn't help but unconsciously look for the man again.

A/N:For anyone confused or having a hard time picturing what Luna's body type is, here is a reference photo of how she's built.