The Valentines

XX

Staring at the garment bag in front of her, Theo couldn't help but feel nervous.

Esmé had gone ahead and chosen a dress for Theo to wear to the Gala, one that matched the theme, A Night Sky. Thankful as she was, Theo was also terrified of exactly how much this dress had cost.

"Well, go on," Mona encouraged. "Open the damn thing."

"I don't want to," Theo cringed, turning to look at her. The garment bag that held Esmé's dress was also hanging up in the wardrobe. Theo was tempted to look at hers first.

"Don't even think about it," Mona warned. "I don't know how she'll know, but she'll know."

Theo grumbled and turned back to her own bag.

"I bet this cost more than the car did," she mumbled.

"Probably. Well," Mona backtracked. "Depends on the car, really. Depends on the dress too."

With a sigh, Theo grabbed the zipper at the front and pulled it down. As she went, she caught glimpses of a dark blue fabric, some shiny embellishments standing out.

Gently pulling the dress out of the bag, Theo nearly dropped it. By no means was it light, and she couldn't imagine how she was meant to wear it for an entire evening.

Mona whistled lowly.

"That's pretty," she commented. Finally, Theo took a step back and looked at it.

Thin spaghetti straps led down to two separate pieces that covered her breasts, a band of chiffon fabric wrapping around the waist. From there it flowed down, the underskirt being a dark, midnight blue, and an over piece which was embellished with small crystal half moons and stars in varying sizes all the way around. Those crystals changed to even smaller versions on the top half of the dress, concentrated on the waist band and a small smattering across the top.

Theo sat on the floor in front of it, for a moment the thoughts of pricing gone from her mind.

She'd been apprehensive about letting Esmé choose her dress without her input, but now she couldn't even remember why that was. The woman clearly knew what she was doing.

"You know," Mona began, "I don't remember Esmé ever buying dresses like this for girls before."

"This wasn't something they did all the time?" Theo asked.

"Not with every fling to walk through their front door," Mona explained. "That would be too much. No, the first one was Rachel, but I've never seen a dress like this. They were always on the cheaper end, never from Esmé's favourite designers."

That struck Theo as odd.

Esmé had said before that she had loved Rachel, as much as she wished she hadn't. So why wouldn't she spend the money on a dress for her? Why wouldn't she have her favourite designers style her?

"Have you gone to an event before this?" Mona asked, a curious tone to her voice.

"Ages ago, like last year," Theo said, swivelling to face her.

"Pictures?"

Theo pulled up her phone and managed to find one that William insisted was taken. As she looked at it, she realised how stiff Esmé was. There was a space between the two of them, and Theo looked terrified to simply be breathing the same air as Esmé, nevermind stand next to her in that silver dress.

She showed Mona who looked back at Theo.

"How long had you two been doing whatever it is you were doing?"

"Not long at all, and we weren't even doing anything then."

"Yeah, that dress is way better quality than anything Rachel wore."