The Wounds He Mended

Secrets and Dresses

Kirstie was at practice for about an hour before she returned to our room.

“Rian, the guys want to go out to eat, want to come with?” she asked, way too cheerily for talking about food.

“Yeah,” I replied, shutting her laptop.  “Where did all of your energy come from?”

Kirstie looked panicked for a moment and then quickly tried to regain her cool.  “Um, practice just, um, leaves me feeling all jittery and excited,” she replied.  “Are you ready to go?’ she asked.

“For the most part, except I don’t have anything to wear,” I responded.

Kirstie grinned.  “I can fix that,” she said.  “Let’s go!”  She grabbed her bag and we walked out into the hallway.  She banged on Avi and Kevin’s door until Kevin answered.  “We are going dress shopping and we will meet you at the restaurant at 7 o’clock!” she exclaimed.  Before Kevin could reply, Kirstie had a hold on my wrist and was dragging me to the hotel elevator.

“Where are we going?” I asked, through laughs.

“WE,” she said, pushing the buttons on the elevator wall, “are going shopping!  You need a dress, you need shoes, your make-up already looks fab, and so does your hair.  We got reservations at a really fancy restaurant and tonight’s the night-.” Kirstie stopped mid-sentence and starred at the floor.  She looked like she was holding her breath.

“Tonight’s the night what?” I asked, looking at her.  She didn’t say anything.  “Kirstie.”

“Doesn’t matter!” Kirstie burst.  “We can shop just to shop!”  I left it there.  You could see the relief on her face when I stopped asking questions.  We got down to the main lobby and headed outside where there was a taxi already waiting for us.  I stared out the window and watched car after car and building after building go by until we finally stopped at a rather large mall.  We got out of the taxi and Kirstie dragged me inside and to the dress department.

“Kirstie,” I said, looking at the price tags on a couple of dresses, “I can’t afford any of this.”

“But I can!  I need a new dress for tonight, too, so just pick out several that you like and we can go try them on together.”

“Kirstie, I can’t let you spend like a bajillion dollars on a dress for me!” I exclaimed, looking at the price tag of a dress I really admired.

“Do you like that one?” Kirstie asked, walking over to me with her arms full of dresses.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, finally looking away from the dress.

“Oh hell no girl!  I’ll get it for you,” Kirstie said, going through the size rack.  “What are you?  Like a 0 or a 2?”

“To be honest, I have no idea.  I’ve never tried on a dress like that before,” I replied.

“Hold up,” Kirstie said, pausing her search, “you mean to tell me you didn’t go to homecoming?  Or prom?  Oh Lord Jesus, Rian!  Please tell me you went to prom.”

“I didn’t go to prom,” I said, looking down at my feet and laughing slightly.

“TAKE THIS DRESS TO THE FITTING ROOM RIGHT NOW!” Kirstie yelled, attracting many judging glares.  Kirstie and I walked into the fitting area and into different dressing rooms.

“I’m ready!” Kirstie exclaimed on the other side of the wall.

“Me, too,” I responded.  I peeked just my head through the door to see Kirstie without letting her see me.  “Oh my god, Kirstie, you look fabulous!” I said.

“Ya think so?” she said, turning back to the mirror.  The dress was short, but not too short, was strapless, and had black sequins all over it.  “Let me see yours!”

I reluctantly opened up the door to my fitting room and walked out into the hall way with the 360 mirror.  The dress was beautiful.  It was black and silver sequin chevron at the top, and flowed out in beautiful teal colored tool.  It was perfect.

“Rian,” Kirstie said, quietly, “you look stunning.  Let’s go buy it!”  We changed back into our original clothes and headed off towards the cash register.  The two of us walked outside where the taxi was waiting for us to take us back to the hotel.