The Elijah Walker Fanclub

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Your dad was bound to start dating eventually, I'm not sure why you're surprised," said Rosa from the dressing room.

"I don't know, I guess I just expected him to talk to me about it first," I said. I was in the dressing room next to hers, struggling to reach the zip at the back of my dress, spinning on the spot as I tried multiple different obscure positions to reach it.

"I'd say that I'd have been a little freaked if I found a half-naked woman casually relaxing in my kitchen," said Cody. "But that kind of thing is standard for my house. There are new women traipsing through my house on a daily basis."

I peeped my head over the top of the dressing room door to see Cody draped across the chaise longue in the waiting area. Had this been a normal clothes store in a shopping centre the store clerks might have had a thing to say about him being in here with us, but as it was, this was not. We were in a fancy store where people would come for designer wedding dresses or ball gowns. The whole place was plastered in soft cream velvet with fluffy carpets and huge mirrors curving around the rooms. There were no separate changing rooms, just a set of rooms near the back of the shop, because mostly only women came in here.

"That's not quite the same thing," I said to him, resting my chin on the top of the door. "Those women all work for your mum, and doesn't she use your house for photoshoots sometimes?"

Cody ran his hand across the back of the chaise longue. "Hmm I guess so. It is a bit weird that he didn't even introduce her, you just kind of found her. Was she young, this woman?"

Rosa's head appeared at her dressing room door; her hair was sticking up in places where she'd clearly been struggling with her dress too. "Are you asking if Mae's dad is a cradle snatcher?" she said with a raised brow. "Because I'd struggle to believe that. He doesn't seem like the type."

Cody waved a hand. "Well you never know with these men, do you?"

"No," I said, pulling a disgusted face. "She wasn't super young. She was just kind of normal age looking. Probably younger than dad, but not by much."

"Well at least he isn't being gross about it," said Cody with a smile.

The sad thing was that he was right. I knew a few kids at our school whose parents had gotten divorced and their dads had gone on to be sugar daddies with new girlfriends barely out of High School. I shivered at the thought, I couldn't think of anything worse.

"Are you girls coming out so I can judge your dress choices, or should I just take a nap right here?"

Rosa disappeared from above her door. "I'm not coming out; this dress looks hideous on me. I have no idea why I picked out one in white."

"You said you wanted to look like Marilyn Monroe," said Cody with a tinge of boredom in his voice as he dropped his head back against his seat.

Rosa made a tsk sound. "I can say for absolute certainty that I look nothing like Marilyn Monroe, and everything like cotton candy rolled in glitter."

"Huh, well that's awkward," said Cody, staring blankly at Rosa's closed dressing room door.

"I think I'm just going to get the last one I tried on, that one looked chic as heck."

Cody threw his attention back over to me. "What about you sweetie, how's the halter neck working out for you?"

I reached for the zip again and failed, floundering around the dressing room until I gave up. Pressing open the door a little, I gave Cody pleading eyes through the gap. "Help, I can't get the zip."

Cody stood up and crossed the room, grabbing the zip from the middle of my butt and pulling it into place halfway up my spine. "There we go. Now out with you, I want to see it in full swing."

"Thanks," I said smiling as I backed out of the changing room and spun to face him.

Rosa's head appeared above the door again, her hair now neatly tied up in a bun. "Stunning, absolutely stunning," she said. "Elijah's going to fall madly in love when he sees you in that. Not to mention Danicka will melt with jealousy."

"Melt?" Cody said, giving her a questioning look.

"Yes, melt, because she's a witch. I thought that was understood?"

I glanced at myself in the mirror, wondering if Elijah would like it or even if I liked it. The emerald green dress I had chosen cinched in at the waist and spilled out at in a princess style poufy skirt down to my knees. It was stylish and made me look a little older, without being too overtly sexy. That was a no no at our school dances, and with me now being on the student council, it was something I had to be careful of.

"Does green really work for a Winter Formal, is it not a completely weird colour to wear?" I asked, eyeing it uncertainly. I was a fan of the way it swished when I moved but I didn't want to stand out in a bad way.

"Pfft, it's Paris themed, not snow themed," said Cody, waving his hands around animatedly. "Besides, Rosa's right. You have to get the dress because it suits you so well."

We'd been trying on dresses for several hours now. Cody was already sorted, and Rosa had decided on hers too, so we were just waiting on me and frankly I was too hungry to care now. "Can we get sushi after this?" I asked, heading back into the dressing room to change back into my normal clothes.

"Only if you get that dress," said Rosa, coming out through her door with the white dress hanging over her arm like a lifeless ghost.

"You've got yourself a deal," I said excitedly. Man was I hungry.

"Besides," said Cody, reaching back into my dressing room to help me unzip. "I can think of another guy who's going to love this dress."

Rosa nodded. "Valid point. Alex is going to regret dumping you when he sees you like that."

"Ugh," I said, sighing loudly. I was going to have to see him at the Formal all dressed up with Carly Davidson, and deal with all the stares of people waiting to see my reaction. Of course, like Carly and Alex and Danicka, they were going to expect to see me being a blubbering mess, or maybe throw a drink at them or something dramatic like that. It was going to be awful.

"Don't worry," said Cody, giving me a scheming smirk. "I've been thinking about Alex and this Winter Formal and have the perfect idea to rub his whole stupid face, in how much you don't care about him anymore."

I sighed again and fought the urge to roll my eyes. Well at least that was something to look forward to.

**Author's Note**

I totally meant to write yesterday. Woops! Anyways I hope you liked the chapter, what do you think of the style of Mae's dress? Are we a fan? What did you wear to your school dances?