Paper Wishes (#1)

Chapter Two: A Heartful Experience

(Revised version of Chapter Two posted on October 28, 2015.)

When we arrived at the store Jez ran over to give us both a hug – her long, almost butt-length, black hair swishing back and forth as she moved. "Viiiillv! I can't wait for you to try on the dresses I held for you. They're from the new shipment, so you haven't seen them yet!" She rubbed her hands together gleefully, her large dark brown eyes sparkling with excitement, as she went into the back room to retrieve the dresses. Upon her return she hung the dresses in the fitting room and gestured for me to enter.

"Just leave the rejects on the hook. I'll find a place to put them later," she said.

After she pulled the curtain closed, I looked through the dresses she'd selected for me. They were very much my style. I put on a short-sleeved white sailor-inspired dress that landed just above my knees. Gathering the skirt in my hands, I couldn't help but giggle. Kai would love the way I looked in this dress - he was secretly an otaku and a big fan of the Japanese school girl look. I loved this dress but as I reached up to touch the dark blue bow at the neckline I knew it wouldn't work. I'd need something simpler, something that didn't put off Lolita vibes for graduation.

I tried on two more dresses before I decided on a short black dress with a sweetheart neckline under a layer of lace that went up into a mandarin collar. I loved this dress almost as much as the first; especially because it hugged my petite frame, but when I glanced at the price tag I knew I could only afford one of them.

"Which dress did you decide on?" Jez asked, smiling at me, curiosity alight in her eyes.

I held up the black dress for her and Kai to see. "This one," I smiled as I handed her back the other dresses.

"Are you purchasing the sailor dress too?"

"Oh," I said unaware that I had been holding both of them up, one in front of the other. "No, I don't think so. I can only afford to buy one dress for now, maybe another time?" I smiled sheepishly.

"Okay," Jez said, completely unaffected, as she collected both dresses from me and prepared to ring me up for the black dress.

As I started to pull my wristlet off so that I could pay, I failed to notice Jez making eye-contact with Kai and carefully bagging the white dress under the black one. After what felt like an eternity of me fumbling to get my credit card out of my wristlet, I finally handed it to her so she could complete the transaction. I hated how my cards stuck together sometimes, leaving me looking completely incapable in front of whomever was ringing me up. Thankfully it was just Jez, and I knew she wasn't the type to judge over something little like that.

"That went faster than I thought it would. Did you want to have lunch at the mall since we're already here? My treat," Kai offered.

"We could go to that new Japanese place – Ichiban, I think it's called. They opened up last month and I haven't had the chance to eat there yet. I heard their Japanese curry is the best," I said, batting my eyelashes comically. I hoped that mentioning Japanese curry would seal the deal because it's one of his favorite foods, and more importantly, it was one of mine, too.

"Okay," he agreed as we waved goodbye to Jez and left Heartful.

"Oh shoot," he said suddenly, patting his pockets, "I think I dropped my keys back there. Do you mind going on ahead and getting us a seat while I go back and take a look?"