We arrived at the shopping mall just as the clouds finally unleashed the highly anticipated rain, which flooded down upon the window of the car. It was bouncing from the pavement as Lily and I made a mad rush towards the all too far away door of the mall, as we tried to take refuge under the shelter of our jackets. Sprinting through the doors, while we were mostly dry thanks to the jackets, our hair had gotten soaked and was now sitting in a manner that made us both laugh. Lily’s straight locks had begun to curl, while my once gelled hair now looked more windswept than I had intended. There was no time to waste, we had to get a dress; who knows where you find them?
Fortunately Lily knew straight away were to go to get a dress, I mean while she may not have been your typical girly girl, when it came to clothes shopping she was just like every other - obsessed.
“Come on, get a move on, you don’t want to get locked in now do you?” Lily laughed, taking hold of my arm and guiding towards a store where she assured me she would get her dress.
“It’s all well and good getting a dress Lily, but can I have my arm back? It’s kind of important…” I joked faking pain in my wrist which Lily had now dragged from one end of the shopping mall to the other in order to reach her desired shop.
As we entered the store, it became apparent that any doubt I held in my hand about Lily not getting her dress here was stupid. I found myself surrounded by frills, drapes, tiaras the whole package! From wedding day to bar mitzvah this place seemed to have a dress for every occasion. There were big dresses, small dresses, thin dresses and large dresses; all dresses. The only real problem which became apparent to me was, how is Lily ever going to be able to choice between all these dresses?
“So Lily, any ideas about the type of dress that you’re looking for the big night?” I questioned, wondering if even Lily herself knew what she was looking for.
“I’m not really sure” came the bombshell; this was going to take forever. “But I don’t want anything short or revealing, you know I need to show some modesty kiddo” She joked, although I had thought nothing less of Lily and fully expected her to have a dress which reflected her personality.
“Well, we may be here a while” I said sarcastically, flopping down in an empty antique armchair positioned by a rack of dresses. “You can go look around and I’ll stay here” I joked, winking at Lily playfully.
“Oh no you don’t, you aren’t getting out of it that easily, now get up and come help me look for a dress” she smiled back at me with those beautiful blue puppy dog eyes that could make me do just about anything she wanted. She knew she had me.
“But I don’t even know what I’m looking for” I protested, knowing all too well that my efforts to dodge dress shopping and staying in this store one second more than we needed to would go unnoticed.
“Well, how about you go over there, I’ll go over here, you can pick out three dresses, I can pick out three dresses and then we will decide on a favourite. Deal?”
“Deal!”
Truth of the matter was that this did seem to have the potential to be quite fun and interesting with Lily genuinely giving me the option to pick her dress out for her. While I wished she had of been going to prom with me, the jealousy within subsided as I became focused on picking Lily out the best dress to compliment her and help her outshine every other girl at prom, in a way which I knew only she could.
I went to work, skimming through rack after rack of different dresses in the hope of being able to find that stunning dress for Lily. In the end, having searched for what seemed like forever, I ended up picking out a light purple strapless dress, a seductive red slim-fitting dress that I new Lily could completely pull off, and a dark blue dress with a flowery pattern running up the hem. I was pleased with my choices; they were elegant but yet modest - just what Lily had been wanting. I carried the dresses towards the section of the store in which I had left Lily, to be greeted by a mass of dresses, stumbling towards me seemingly of their own accord.
“Lily? Are you under all of that or do you need me to telephone for a crane?” I joked reaching out to take some of the mountain of dresses from her. Obviously she couldn’t choose just three, but if we wanted to be done by Friday she was going to have to.
“I’m just having a hard time deciding, but I really like these two in particular” She informed me while gesturing to two dresses poking out from the middle of the fabric frenzy. I had to admit, from what I could see they were definitely the best two dresses of the bunch.
“So it’s settled, take those two dresses and my three and go try them on” I told her, handing her the combination of five dresses and ushering her, in protest, towards the fitting rooms at the back of the store. Anyone looking on would have thought I was trying to kidnap her or something as I pushed a reluctant Lily away from her pile of dresses.
“Well there’s no way I’m even going to try that horrible blue dress of yours!” She announced, nudging me playfully in the arm with the dress, “Come on show me the other two”
With that I unveiled the other two dresses which had been beneath the blue one and her eyes lit up, like diamond filled orbs echoing the moons beams. She was literally gleaming with excitement as she stared at the red dress on top of the pile.
“That’s the one!” She exclaimed, letting out a girlish giggle while wrapping me in an in creditably tight bear hug.
“Lily…” I exhaled, “I kind of still need to breath to drive you home again”, I joked as she let go of her firm grip. She lifted the red dress off the pile and skipped towards the changing room door. I had no idea I was such a good dress picker!
“Give me a second” Lily called as the curtain was pulled behind her. More than a second later, following rustling and some huffs and puffs as Lily wrestled with the dress to shimmy her way inside, the curtain was finally pulled open as Lily slowly revealed her new attire.
“Lily, you look…”
“Promise me you will be honest and wont laugh…” She said nervously, turning around to give me a twirl, so that I could see the dress, and indeed Lily in all their elegant glory.
“You…You look stunning Lily, like a movie star on the red carpet” I stuttered struggling to find the right words to even comprehend the sheer beauty of the girl standing before me. I mean, I had always known that Lily was beautiful but in that luscious red dress, every curve was fully defined in a way I had never before seen, but yet somehow, Lily still failed to realise just how gorgeous she looked; not only in the dress but all the time. Why would Max pass up this opportunity?
“You really think that?” Lily inquired as her cheeks began to glow a bright red while she tilted her head towards the ground to hide her embarrassment, “Be honest”.
“You really do look amazing Lily, I wouldn’t tell you that if I didn’t mean it!”, I chuckled as I struggled to keep my mouth from revealing anymore of my inner most feelings. See the thing is, while I often teased Lily about how good she looked and joked around about it, to her that’s all it had ever been was joking around, never before had I given her any reason to think I might actually be serious about the whole thing. Now as she stood in her red dress, she seemed to realise that I might actually be telling her the truth as she gazed at herself in the long oval mirror outside the dressing room.
“I do look quite… good if I do say so myself!” She exclaimed, almost surprised by what she had seen in the mirror, she seemed to get this radiant glow about her, as though the dress was a second skin, unveiling a new part of Lily she had never before known, the part of beauty. It was a graceful dress to match her personality.
“See, didn’t I tell you I could pick a dress” I boasted as I threw Lily one of my reserved smiles, playfully teasing her and forcing the same smile to cross over onto her face too.
“Shut up Josh!” With that she turned on her heels back into the dressing room only to reappear a few minutes later after yet more panting and pulling, ready to check out. “Let’s get the dress!”
YOU ARE READING
Bromance
Teen FictionI’d known her for as long as I could remember. She was the first girl I can ever say I had a crush on; even back then there was something alluring about her that made her stand out from the crowd . We’d alway...
