Utopia

Chapter 17: Dress Fitting

Alejandra's POV

"How much longer are you going to make me wait?" I whine, earning me a small chuckle from Eledina as a response. Her attention is on the dress rack in front of her, sifting through it for a dress to wear. "Fill me in on what's going on between you and Frostbite."

"What do you want to know?" She asks me, her hand landing on a dress that catches her eye. She takes it off of the rack and stands in front of the mirror, holding the fabric up against her. I motion for her to turn around and let me take a look; I smile and nod my head in approval. "That he's everything I expected from my visions and more."

"What were/are your visions like?" I can't help but wonder, the curiosity building up inside of me. I can see the wheels turning in her head as she thinks the words over in her head before she goes behind the privacy screen to try on the dress she had picked out for herself.

The room we were in was small, with bright-natural light flooding in from the window disguised as the entrance to a cave to the outside world. I'm sitting on a white couch placed in the center of the room. Across from the window, a privacy screen was established so that no one who entered the room or looked in from the window could see who was behind it. Racks of beautiful gowns and elegant dresses lined the expanse of the wall, waiting for their chance to shine. A vine chandelier hung from the ceiling, and bioluminescent flowers provided more light that bounced off the rugged red-stoned walls. A body length mirror was resting on the wall next to the privacy screen to give Eledina a better look at what she was trying on.

"That's right, we've never really talked about my visions," she mumbles to herself, but my ears still manage to catch it.

"You haven't, but I haven't gone into much detail either," I say in an attempt to make her feel better. The sound of the dress bag unzipping reaches my ears, followed by the sound of rustling fabric as Eledina pulls the dress over her. Seconds later, Eledina steps out with a look on her face that screams for help. I laugh and shake my head as I get up and go to help her zip up the dress.

The fabric mimics that of lace under my fingertips, and it hugs Eledina's slim figure well. Eledina had picked out a white-lacy gown with a sweetheart neckline and A-line trim. The lack of color on the dress brought out the red tint of her skin. She moves to look at herself in the mirror, her lands tracing the fabric as she contemplates how she looks in the dress.

"I love it," I whisper, laying my head on her shoulder. She offers me a warm smile and plays with the skirt of the dress.

"I love it too," she confesses, smiling back at me in the mirror. I playfully bump her with my hip and go to take a seat back on the couch. While I do that, she starts looking through a display of accessories the staff had laid out for her to try on.

"So, it's decided. You are going to wear that to the banquet," I exclaim, plopping down on the couch, my head resting on a pillow. She turns around to show me a set of belts, and I pick the sparkly one in her right hand.

"Do you know what you're going to wear?" she asks me, and I sigh. Truth is, I hadn't really thought about the banquet that much. I was waiting for a date to be set before I started looking for dresses, but I don't really know my way around Ursa yet.

"I don't have anything picked out as of right now," I explain to her. Eledina walks up to me, turning around so that I can help her unzip the backing of her dress. I sit up and loosen the zipper for her before she rushes behind the privacy screen to change back into her regular clothes.

"Why don't you try on some of the dresses here?" she offers. "You have plenty of options to choose from; plus, I can offer some feedback."

I've never been comfortable with shopping, not that there was much opportunity in my last years on Earth. The years before Earth's downfall, insecurities weighed heavily on my life. Ever since I hit puberty, I've been curvy, and I'm grateful that my weight has always been proportionate; but how I looked was still on the back of my mind. Shopping always brought those insecurities out, and it was detrimental to my self-esteem.