Seven Twenty-Eight

34.

It was horrifying for Elisa to walk into her room to find another mysterious box laid out on her bed. Thankfully for her, she knew exactly the culprit behind the suspicious package before she even opened it. Of course, the beautifully written note placed delicately on top, helped immensely.

Elisa,
This year for my birthday, I asked Caroline to design you a dress for our party. You're my present this year. Come find me when you're ready, I'm excited to see how beautiful you look.
xx, Oliver

Grinning down at the custom tissue paper and ribbon wrapping, she almost didn't want to open it. Nevertheless, she did, carefully executing each paper tear and ribbon pull in fear she'd harm it's contents.

She took a step back, softly gasping to herself as the baby pink dress fell out onto the bed. She smoothed it out, smiling widely as her fingers touched the soft material. Her fingers traced the flowers that detailed the top, the delicate gold centers of each flower catching her attention.

When the crowd of stylists had shuffled out of her room, she stood in the mirror, unable to keep her eyes off of herself. The skirt fell below her knees, puffing out to give her more figure and the corset top hugged to her body in the most flattering way possible. She followed the boning of the top down her torso until she hit the soft tulle of her skirt and nervously bunched the material in her hands, stepping forward to take note of the finer details of her makeup. Fortunately for her, they kept it simple. There was a subtle brush of gold over her eyelids and a flawless wing of eyeliner drawing out the deeper shade of green in her eyes. Her skin looked smooth— Smoothed than she ever could've imagined it to be, and sparkling in all the right places.

Her eyes darted up at the movement in the doorway, holding on tighter to the fabric.

"Oh my God," Mary gasped out, tiptoeing into the room, "You look incredible."

Elisa took a deep breath, feeling the blood rush into her fingers as she relaxed. "Thank you," She smiled shyly, holding her hand out to the take the strapped gold heels that Mary offered, "You look beautiful, Mary."

"Not as good as you," Mary sighed, reaching forward to touch the dress, "Wow."

Elisa clenched her jaw, bringing her hands back to fold them in front of her, holding the shoes in her fingers. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great— Excited for the party."

"That's good but how are you doing?" She asked again, moving to sit at the desk chair.

Mary tilted her head, turning toward her and sighed deeply. "Good— You were right-"

"No kidding-"

"Sam's an angel and I was being dramatic," She rolled her eyes, "He was sort of disappointed I wasn't so we-"

Elisa paused, raising her eyebrows curiously.

Mary pressed her lips together, stifling a small chuckle. "Okay, maybe I'll keep that to myself for once," She smiled, "I'm way too distracted anyway by how fucking hot you are."

Rolling her eyes, Elisa dropped her foot back down onto the ground and stood up to move in front of the mirror again. "It's all in the dress-"

"Oh, shut up," Mary huffed, standing behind her. She put her hands on the seams in which the corset met the skirt and smiled softly. "Nothing Caroline's ever made has ever looked so good on anyone," She told her, resting her chin on her shoulder, "This dress was literally made for you— Oliver did a good job picking things out for her."

Elisa sighed, letting Mary turn her away from the mirror and smiled at her shyly.

"He's gonna eat you up," Mary grinned, carefully pushing the hair that had fallen from Elisa's braid behind her ear.