Motion (Sequel to "Collide")

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I took my shades off as I stepped in the empty bridal shop. I was glad nobody was in there, so that I could only worry about finding the perfect dress for myself and not fear to get mobbed by some of Michael's fans. All over the shop were clothes rails with multiple wedding dresses on them, which made me feel as excited as a little girl all over again. Latoya was the one who told me about this shop in particular because it sold some of the greatest designers' work, and I knew I made the right choice by listening to future sister-in-law.

"Good morning. Ms. Thames, I presume?" the lady behind the front desk of the shop said, as I nodded my head. I made sure to call before going there, as LaToya advised me to. "My name is Denise, I'll be taking care of you today. We made sure to have the dresses ready for you," she sweetly said before she drifted her attention on Carl. "Is mister the future groom? That would be the first time I see a groom coming to pick the dress with the bride to be."

"This one is already married, I'm afraid," Alice answered, wrapping her arms around her husband's waist.

"Married and expecting," the lady observed as her eyes laid on Alice's belly. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you," Carl answered kindly. "But enough about us, we're here for this one," he said,

"Sure thing. Follow me," she grinned, leading the way further into the shop.

At the back, there was a circular room with all the dressing rooms. The curtains were made of a thick red velvet, which gave a very fancy look to the place. Just in front of the different booths were a couple of couches with a coffee table on which was placed a bucket of ice with a bottle of champagne in it.

Just as I asked, Denise gave me different dresses that I needed to try in order to find the type that fitted me the best. She didn't waste a minute to give me the first one. I began with a white ballgown dress, the princess type – well, the Cinderella type, to be specific. It had a fitted bodice, with a long, full skirt. It looked amazingly beautiful, and I remembered dreaming of wearing a dress like that when I was only a little girl with her head full of dreams.

To be honest, it was a real struggle for me to put the dress on. As a doctor, you somehow forget to wear fancy clothes as you spend most of your day wearing scrubs or comfy clothes under your smock. So a wedding dress? This was huge for me.

One I managed to put it on made, I realized this wasn't the kind of dress I was meant to wear, and my best friends strongly agreed with me.

"Too much," Carl said, shaking his head.

"Way too much. This is so not you," Alice added, suppressing a laugh. "You look like a huge meringue. You know, that french pastry?"

"I know what's a meringue is, Al," I shook my head at her as she finally let out the laugh that she had been holding. "But I have to agree with you, this is definitely not me."

A few dresses later, I realized how finding the perfect dress was more complicated than I imagined. At some point, I started to get nervous because I realized that I had no clue about what kind of dress I wanted. This was a problem I didn't encounter when I was engaged to John due to the short term engagement we had. After that, I had just given up on marriage so finding a wedding dress for myself – even hypothetical – wasn't a plan of mine.

"I might as well pick one and call it a day," I sighed heavily before I drank from my third glass of champagne, sitting on the floor with my overly puffy dress.

"You're not giving up, Hayley Thames. Your perfect dress is somewhere here, waiting for you," Al encouraged, rubbing her prominent belly. "Now stop whining and go to that dressing room and try the next one."