Dress Shopping [Elaryn]

[emilybuj]

Eloise sighed as she looked through the rack of dresses in the very back of the small dress shop in downtown Cranbrook. She was quite excited for the ball, but not particularly excited to try on 1000 dresses until she found one she felt comfortable it, and her dad would deem 'appropriate'. Otherwise she would have to pay for it herself, and she had no income. Just the money that her father put into her account on occasion to help pay for whatever she might need.

She and Adaryn had agreed to go shopping this Saturday since the ball was quickly approaching. The shop was full of girls from both schools holding dresses up to themselves in a mirror, trying them on, convincing eachother that 'Purple is TOTALLY your color!'. Ella had never been a fan of shopping, but she really wanted to look nice for the dance. She wasn't even sure why.

In her hands she held three dresses. One was long and green, but she was pretty sure she didn't want a long dress, but Adaryn convinced her to try it on since the color matched her eyes. She also had a short red dress with a big black bow on the back, and a short white dress with snowflake lining the bottom hem, and a long sleeved blazer-like jacket which came with it.

With her choices in hand she walked over to Adaryn who still seemed not to find anything she liked. She was slowly looking through a rack with an unreadable expression on her face. "Find anything?" Eloise asked her friend hopefully.

[Lux]

Adaryn wasn't one for shopping, especially in a dress shop a few days before the biggest ball of the year between both Veritas and Spiritus. There were so many mixed emotions, and it was giving her a headache. There were some girls who were especially happy and confident, while others were depressed beyond belief. Probably can't fit into a size zero... Adaryn thought to herself, moving over to another rack that probably had nothing to her liking anyway.

She hated the fact that none of these dresses had any sleeves, and all the jackets were already practically sold out except for a select few that she would never wear in her life. Lacy red and green jackets. She cringed when a girl cried out in frustration when another girl grabbed the dress she was going for. "Sheesh," She muttered. "It's just a dress."

Eloise didn't seem to have much of a problem finding a dress she liked, in fact, she had three in her hand. Including the one Adaryn thought might look nice on her because the color matched her eyes. She jumped slightly when she heard Ella's voice come from directly behind her. "Oh!" She gasped, putting a hand on her heart. "You scared me Ella!" She announced, as if it was the least obvious thing in the word. " And no actually. I haven't." God, why did shopping have to be so frustrating? It was as if people specifically made things that people didn't like just to annoy them. Or specifically made something that only a model could fit into so people could starve themselves to fit into. "I'm just... not into the whole 'shopping' thing. And I think the last time I wore a dress was to my 3rd grade graduation." She admitted sadly.

[emilybuj]

Ella couldn't help but laugh a little bit at her friend as she jumped. Ella didn't necessarily take pleasure in scaring or tormenting others, but the look on Adaryn's face was pretty funny. But Ella quickly realized Adaryn was a little stressed and it didn't help that a ton of other girls with mixed emotions were in the store. "Hey," she said reassuringly, "We're going to find the perfect dress and you're going to look AWESOME." She handed Adaryn her dresses. "Here hold these." she said, and moved to the rack she was looking at before.

Adaryn was maybe a size bigger than Ella. If that. So Ella knew that there were a couple dresses she saw that Adaryn might like. She grabbed a long purple one, a shorter simple blue one, and one that looked like black lace with a wide black ribbon. "Here. I don't even care if you don't like them. You're going to try them on. Ok?" Ella said, handing Adaryn the dresses, and taking the other three back. "If you know what you DON'T like it'll be easier to find what you like." she explained. Adaryn still looked unsure. "Come on," Ella said, "Let's go back to the changing rooms ok?"

[Lux]

Adaryn was much more comfortable wearing her cardigans, jeans, and vans than a dress, but as Ella pulled her along and handed her two dresses, she knew she wasn't getting out of it. "I don't think I could look 'awesome' in any of these. They are way too pretty." She sighed, looking at the two dresses in her hands. No sleeves. Great. "Plus, I don't even want to go. I have no date." She saw how everyone was swooning over the dates they had. What was the point of even going to a dance with no date? Well, she did get asked by some Junior, but she turned him down because she didn't know him. Why was she using that as an excuse again?

"Alright, fine. I'll try them on, but I'm wearing a cardigan over the dresses. It is way too cold to not have one on." y=m(x-x1)-k. She learned to mask her real thoughts with math equations. Actually it was pretty hot in the back of the store, but she had to figure out a way to hide her arms from Eloise. 7x-10b=15 "I'll be right back, okay?" She quickly slipped away from Ella, trying to walk through the crowd. Luckily there was one dressing room open and she quickly took it, locking herself in. She didn't need to have someone barge in.

After she tried them on, she noticed that she loved the second dress, the black laced one, especially with the black cardigan she wore, but she could afford it. She had no money. In fact, she hadn't even expected to really find anything in the first place. She walked back out to Eloise and showed her the dress she was in. "Ella?" She called when she finally located her. "The other dress was too big around the chest..." What? She had to make up some excuse. "And this one is okay, but I wouldn't be caught dead actually wearing this somewhere." Adaryn ran her hand along the fabric, and looked at it longingly for just a moment before looking back at Eloise quickly. "So, uhm, yeah... I don't want it." Because it is way too gorgeous for me... "I'm going to go get changed again and we can keep looking for some things for you? Like maybe shoes?"

[emilybuj]

"Oh come on Adaryn. I don't have a date either. I'm still going," Eloise said rolling her eyes. Adaryn was really self conscious, Ella knew that. But she was trying very hard to help her friend see that she was gorgeous and she could look good in anything she wanted to. As she walked away Adaryn was thinking up math equations. This pissed Ella off a bit. She hated math and it meant Adaryn was hiding something important from her. El just had to remind herself it wasn't any of her business. She sighed, and walked into the dressing room across from Adaryn. She tried on the red dress, but didn't like the way it clinged to her. She made a face, wiggling out of it. She looked at the green one, and made another face, deciding not to put it on because she didn't even really like it.

When she put the white dress on though she knew it was the one. She stepped out proudly so she could show Adaryn. But she forgot all about her own dress when she saw Adaryn in hers. "Ad Shut up you look gorgeous," she told her friend, meaning every word. She knew Adaryn would be able to tell how honest she was being too. Empathy was cool that way. "And seriously. You need to stop thinking that the dress is too gorgeous for you. Because without a person in it, a dress is just a piece of fabric..." she was trying very very hard now to convince Adaryn to go. Especially knowing fully she really did love the dress.

[Lux]

Eloise's comment took Adaryn by surprise. She had never been called gorgeous before, not by anyone. Even if it was by her best friend, she was still shocked to hear it. Looking down at the dress, she bit her lip softly.

Adaryn saw that she looked wonderful in the dress. The color of the dress didn't fully drain the last bits of color from her skin, and it fit her almost perfectly. It didn't hug her waist too tight, and it left room for her legs and chest to breath. Adaryn had seen some of the people around her grab skin tight dresses that she swore were going to rip if they so much as stepped to far out or put their arms above their head. Even still, they looked good in those. Better than Adaryn would ever look in anything.

"Ella, I think I should just stick to my room on the day of the dance. I mean, how much do you want to bet girls are going to have their hearts broken by guys who dump them that day or even not show up to pick them up at all? It will be a self pity fest for an empath like me. Plus, you know that it takes twice as many positive emotions to drown out the negative ones." Adaryn couldn't bare look Ella in the eyes. She wanted the dress, but what was the point if she wasn't going to the dance anyway? "You can go with Monroe or something, I'm sure he would be happy to go with you."

[emilybuj]

Ella sighed as Adaryn walked back into the dressing room. "Fine," Eloise said with a defeated voice, though she knew it wouldn't be the end of it. El didn't really know why her friends were being so cranky about the dance anyway. She was pretty much positive they wanted to go together, but niether of them would bring it up. and being the middle man who knew it all El just wanted to force them to go together, but knew it wouldn't be that simple.

She walked back into the dressing room, and changed again. Then before Adaryn could find her, she slipped out of the dressing room, picking up the dress Adaryn had tried on from the rack of dresses girls tried on and decided against, and went up to the counter. If Ella explained to her dad why the charge on the card was so high he would understand. She bought both dresses, and had them bagged before Adaryn had a chance to find her. Feeling slightly triumphant, she turned to find her friend again.

[Lux]

Stripping off the dress was probably one of the hardest things (in terms of shopping) that she ever had to do. But while she watched the fabric fall to the floor, she told herself that it was better like that. The dress was never going to be used, so what was the real point in buying it? It wasn't as if she was going to the dance anyway. Too many heartbroken people will be sure to be invading the Veritas Auditorium or wherever they held it. Quickly slipping it on, she had put it on the 'tried on but not wanted' rack beside the dressing room. With one last glance, she walked away and headed towards the cardigan section to hopefully replace the cardigan she ruined the other day. She cringed at the thought of how it happened, but she still continued, waiting for Ella to make her choice on a dress.

(sorry it is so short. Not sure what else to do.)

[emilybuj]

Ella walked through the store until she found Adaryn again, purchases in hand. She smiled. "Hey," she noticed Adaryn looking through cardigans and it only took a moment of her thoughts to remind Ella why she needed a new one. She shuddered a bit. "You know we should probably get out of here. It's not doing well on your emotions... I wouldn't have to be a mind reader to know that." She looked at her friend with a bit of sympathy.

Adaryn was getting good at hiding some of her thoughts though. Which Ella.... mostly respected. But something had happened to change Adaryn's outlook on the ball. Earlier she had at least seemed slightly excited... or at least willing to go. She expressed some desire to. But suddenly all her thoughts about the biggest event of the year were negative. And Adaryn was hiding what it was that changed her opinion. "You know... whatever happened you're going to have to talk about eventually. Because I know its just eating away at you. And we BOTH know you're not going to want to explode into a pool of emotional goo so you might as well let it out now." Sometimes Ella wasn't the best with her words, but at least she was clear in her intentions, and never beat around the bush.

[Lux]

This time, when Ella walked up behind Adaryn, she didn't jump. She was in the middle of looking at a black cardigan that was actually very much in her price range. Some of the cardigans she had seen had cost a fortune, so she never got them. Not because she didn't have the money, because her family had plenty, but because she never wanted to ask too much of them. She didn't deserve anything they gave her after what happened. "Yeah, but I just want to get this cardigan. It is nice and would probably last me a while." She said, looking over at Eloise with a reassuring smile. She would be alright, it isn't like she hadn't had Cain problems before. She could manage.

"I also want to get some new shoes of some sort," Adaryn looked down at her ratty black vans. She loved the pair she was wearing, but they were practically falling apart and she needed something to replace them when the time came. "I don't want anything too fancy, but something comfortable. Like nice sneakers or something." When Adaryn grabbed the cardigan off of the rack and draped it over her arm, Eloise began speaking again and honestly, she didn't know how to respond. Only one thing was truly bothering her, and that was the fact that the upperclassman asked her to the-- Oh crud, she forgot to mask that.

With a defeated sigh and an embarrassed blush, she started talking. "Well, some upperclassman asked me to the dance the other day..." That pretty much summed the whole thing up, but some people would have a hard time wondering why that would be a bad thing. "And I think he was just doing it as a dare. Like one of those 'look at that stupid freshman, let's get her hopes up and crush her' sort of things. So I said no, and that was that. I have nothing against the dance, I just don't like being in crowds. But that also dropped whatever ego I had acquired when I met you and Monroe back to zero." Adaryn hoped Eloise understood now, because she wasn't going to explain it again.

[emilybuj]

Eloise sighed, because she wasn't exactly sure how she could argue Adaryn's points about the guy who had asked her to the ball. Sure, he may have been serious, but there were no ways to actually know for sure if he was. "That shouldn't stop you from wanting to go," Ella pointed out somewhat quietly. She understood why Adaryn was uncomfortable at the moment right now though.

"and why don't you pick a nice pair of shoes?" she asked. "You don't have any. And it's always good to have at least one good pair of shoes. They don't even have to be heels," she said, hoping Adaryn wouldn't question it too much. She needed to have shoes to wear with the dress to go to the ball. El wasn't letting her sit alone in their room all night, and she wasn't letting her wear vans with the dress.

[Lux]

Adaryn looked at Ella in confusion. Why didn’t she want Adaryn to wear sneakers? Sure, they probably weren’t what were ‘fashionable’ at the time, but they were what she was comfortable in. Was it that El was embarrassed to be around her if she wasn’t wearing nice things like she did? There was a sudden wave of anger that passed through her, but it was gone as soon as it had come. She looked around frantically, wondering if it had been someone else. And when she looked outside, Adaryn saw someone trying to calm another girl down and she had realized that was where it came from. She couldn’t handle this anymore. She wanted out.
“Alright sure, I guess I can.” What would she get if it weren’t tennis shoes or heels? Well, she did see a pair of white flats with a cute buckle at the top. Adaryn was a very simple girl, liking things in blacks and whites. Color was alright, but she preferred the blank colors. She never was noticed that way. There were no flashy colors to attract attention to her. She quickly walked over to where she had seen them and picked them up to show them to Ella. “Last ones and in my size?” She waited for the nod of approval, and when she had gotten it, they proceeded to the checkout counter as fast as they could. Adaryn wanted out, and she wanted out now.

[emilybuj]

"Beautiful," Ella said with a smile, thinking they would go lovely with the dress Adaryn had inadvertently picked out for herself. "And for the record I don't give a shit what you wear. As long as you're not streaking through campus I'm not going to be embarrassed by you." Eloise wished there was some way to prove Adaryn of her own self worth. But Adaryn was equally stuborn as Ella. And she was stuck to the mindset that she wasn't good enough. She wasn't good enough for the dress. She needed better shoes to be El's friend. Ella hoped by the end of the year she would have boosted at least a little bit of the girls confidence.

"Now lets get out of here before all these girls emotions end in you killing me," Ella was half serious. She didn't think that Adaryn would actually lash out, but a sudden wave of emotion could probably tip anybody over the edge.

[Lux]

The anger was gone, and she regretted what she thought. Eloise tried to reassure her that she wouldn't be embarrassed of her, and she felt bad for even thinking that Eloise would ever feel that way. If she wasn't her friend, she wouldn't act like one to her. Plus, there would be annoyance surrounding her at all times. Adaryn knew from experience.

"Alright." She agreed, finally getting the the cashier and handing her the two items she was going to buy. Swiping her card that her parents gave her, she put the pin and collected her items. She was glad to get out of there as quickly as she did. The moment she stepped out of that store, it was as if she could breathe comfortably again. "I hope you liked what you got El." Adaryn smiled over at her friend. She knew Ella would have a great time at that dance and no guy could resist her with an outfit like that.

[emilybuj]

"Oh I LOVE it," Ella said, a broad smile crossing her face. "I love getting dressed up. Part of me wishes I was famous just so I could wear some really gorgeous dresses on the red carpet and stuff. That way I wouldn't have to pay tons of money. People would GIVE me their dresses to wear. Advertising and stuff." She chuckled.

"I know I might look ridiculous especially with my white heels from home. But I don't care. I just think dressing up and dancing is fun," she said - knowing her friend didn't share the same opinions. Monroe didn't either. She wondered how the hell she was going to convince them to go to the dance after all. She hadn't considered their general dislike for dances, and socail events in general.