by Amber Heart
“Good morning, ladies, and welcome to David’s Bridal. Do you have an appointment?” Both of them sobered up. Did they need an appointment in order to shop? They didn’t know that, so they hadn’t made one. This day would quickly go from good to bad if they couldn’t look at dresses.
“Um, no, ma’am, we don’t. We didn’t know that we needed one.” Rosalie’s heart was in her throat as she waited for the woman to say something.
“It’s not required, but sometimes we get so busy that you can only get in by appointment. Luckily, today isn’t one of those days. I can take you over here to Daisy, and she’ll help you right away.” Rosalie let out the breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. The woman led them over to a slender woman with beautiful, almond shaped eyes. She smiled at them as she led the girls to a section of dressing rooms. Vanessa dive bombed into a pouf that was clearly positioned for the people waiting to see the dresses, earning a reproachful look from Daisy.
“Hello, I’m Daisy. What sort of a dress are you looking for? We have about a dozen different main designs, then we can narrow down the particulars.” Rosalie felt blindsided. She had no idea about fashion or anything. Her eyes went wide, and sort of glazed over. Vanessa blew a bubble with her gum, then popped it.
“She’s looking for either an A-line, mermaid, or princess. No feathers, lace is ok, so long as it’s not dominating the dress, and strapless is alright if she can get a jacket to go with it.” Daisy looked Vanessa up and down critically before nodding and disappearing between the racks that held hundreds and hundreds of dresses. Rosalie mouthed a quick thank you to Vanessa, who just winked at her and resumed blowing bubbles, making sure to snap her gum particularly loudly any time Daisy was close. Rosalie was handed a gown and ushered into the dressing room. She did her best to get into the first gown, then ended up calling for help. Daisy went in, tugged and poked, prodded and yanked, then led Rosalie out to stand on a little pedestal that was surrounded by mirrors. It was a beautiful dress, but it didn’t call out to her. In the movies, the mom or whoever was with the bride always started crying when it was the perfect dress, and Vanessa was just looking bored, giving the dress a fake yawn and a roll of her eyes.
Rosalie had gone through about ten dresses, and the day was wearing on. At this point she was afraid she wouldn’t find a dress that she liked at all. There was one left on her rack to try before Daisy disappeared back down the racks. Crestfallen, she picked the last one up off the hanger without even looking at it and stepped in. When she called Daisy in to finish fitting it to her, her head was hung low. She didn’t even look at Vanessa when she came out, she just stared at the floor. Usually, Vanessa had a comment to make. Rosalie stood there, waiting. When the silence stretched on, she finally looked up. Vanessa had a softness to her face, and a glow, looking up at Rosalie with a tear leaking out of her eye, and beginning to trail down her cheek. This was the reaction she’d wanted. Was this the dress? She slowly turned around to look at herself in the mirror. The dress was stunning on her. It was an A-line with little cap sleeves, that fell to the floor with ruffles trimmed in lace. It had a sash around the waist with roses embroidered on it in pink satin thread. Overall, it was a simple dress, but she loved it.
“That’s the one. That’s the dress, Rosalie. Tell them to start fitting it and I’ll tell Eric to have his dad come pay for it.” Vanessa had gotten herself composed again, and was busy typing away on her phone to cover up her momentary lapse in composure. Rosalie loved the dress, and she felt like a princess in it.
“Would you like to add a veil to it?” Rosalie nodded eagerly. Daisy disappeared and came back with a floor length veil, a veil that only covered her face, and one that fell just past her shoulders. Rosalie chose the one that fell just past her shoulders and Daisy added it to her hair with a little headband covered in crystals. Rosalie’s eyes were shining. This was the most beautiful that she’d ever looked in her life. The typing had stopped at one point, and when it resumed with feverish strokes, Rosalie took a minute to look at her friend. Vanessa’s makeup was smudged and she was trying to covertly wipe another tear from her face. This was definitely it then.
“Would you lay it aside for me please and start the alterations?” Rosalie couldn’t believe her own voice was saying these things. Daisy took her back into the dressing room and undid whatever it was that she’d done to get her into the dress, then left her alone to change. When she came out, she was feeling light and almost like she was floating across the ground. “It should take a few weeks for the alterations, but it will definitely be finished by the time you said you needed it.” Daisy disappeared through a back door with the dress and the veil draped over her arms, and Vanessa shot to her feet.
“Time for sexy clothes!” She grabbed Rosalie’s hand and almost pushed her out of the store.
“And where exactly are we going to go for this?” Vanessa opened her mouth to say something but the devious look in her eyes made Rosalie throw her hand up to stop her friend. “If this is going to happen, I refuse to go to an adult store. I want somewhere conservative where I can feel a little less embarrassed about it.” Vanessa’s face fell and she started to chew her lip.
“Fine. I guess that limits us a little. Maybe we can try Macy’s,” Vanessa grumbled. Rosalie pumped her fist in the air in victory. If she was going to be subjected to embarrassment, then she was going to do it her own way. Smiling, she got back into the car, feeling like she’d achieved a victory.
At Macy’s, Vanessa was instructed to find conservative outfits that wouldn’t embarrass Rosalie, then had to swear, on pain of death, not to enter the dressing room at any time. Vanessa was put out about it, but that was what Rosalie wanted, so she had to go with it. A half an hour later, Rosalie came back out of the dressing room, fully clothed, with a red lacy something bundled up in her hand as small as possible, so no one else could see what it was. Vanessa grinned at her and wiggled her eyebrows, insinuating lewdness, which only earned her a smack on the shoulder as Rosalie walked to the checkout, trying her best to hide what was in her hand. The checkout lady looked at them askance, and Vanessa eagerly told her it was for a wedding night, leaving both Vanessa and the cashier giggling while Rosalie shoved the money at the girl, grabbed the bag, and stalked out to the parking lot with her face as red as the lace.
“It’ll be fun, I promise. Sometimes it hurts a little the first time, but you’ll be ok. You should probably make an appointment for birth control pills though if you want to finish school before you have kids.” They were in the car now, talking casually on the way home. Rosalie’s face had gone from beet red to puke gray in the span of two minutes. She’d never even thought of that. She’d had no need for birth control before, because she was still a virgin. She scrambled for her phone, scrolling through her address book to call her doctor for an appointment.
“Thanks. I hadn’t even thought of that. Man, I guess I’m a bit more naïve than I thought.” Vanessa laughed.
“You’re good, honey. What are friends for? This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, and I’m going to help you make sure that it is.”
“Thanks, Vanessa. It means a lot to me that you’re here with me every step of the way. I’ve never had a friend like you before.” For the second time, Vanessa teared up, but this time Rosalie pretended to ignore it, because she was as well. Things would be different in her life after she married Eric, but she hoped that no matter what happened, or where they went, she hoped that Vanessa would always be a part of her life. She’d been the first real friend Rosalie had ever had, and she didn’t want to lose her.
When they got back to the dorm, Rosalie ran up the stairs with her bag, unlocked the door to her bedroom, ripped open the closet door, and shoved the bag with the lingerie as far into the back of her closet’s corner as she could. It made her feel a little better now that it was out of her line of sight. When she came back out, pink cheeked, she found Vanessa doubled over on the couch, crying from l
aughter. Rosalie stuck her tongue out and promptly slammed the door.
Chapter 24
The weeks were dwindling, and the date was looming closer and closer. Rosalie was starting to realize that she was afraid. What if Eric changed his mind at the last minute? What if something went wrong and the things she’d ordered for the reception didn’t come through? She was thinking that that wouldn’t be a big issue, because she didn’t really have that much. All she’d really had was the food and flowers, and a little bit of decorations. Well, plus the dress and the cake. She wasn’t sure about the tux for Eric, because he was taking care of that himself. He felt it was his responsibility to do that. It was cute, in a way, that he was insisting on that part himself, but Rosalie was thinking that he probably wanted to have control over what he wore himself, so she couldn’t put him in anything too embarrassing. She would never do that, of course, but it was understandable for him to think. She took a leaf out of his book and let both his sister and Vanessa choose their own dresses, too. She’d given them the color scheme, pink and cream, and they would work around that to find dresses that they liked. Both had assured her that they had already found their dresses, and that they were already fitted for them.
Rosalie tried to turn her mind away from the fear of the looming wedding by throwing herself into extra work for her classes that were coming up a few days after the wedding. She wanted to make sure that she got some of the work done ahead of time, in case they decided to take a little vacation for their honeymoon. Eric had laughed when she’d told him, saying that he was sure a little slip for the first few days of class would be fine, but Rosalie wouldn’t hear of it. She even turned to asking him what he’d be doing if he fell behind for those few days. He flat out told her that he wasn’t worried about it, because he had the rest of the semester to make up whatever points he lost in the first week. That had a logical ring to it, but Rosalie just couldn’t do it. Schoolwork had always come first in her life, and it was a sense of calm for her to lose herself in an assignment. It was strange, but that was who she was.
Vanessa had the same attitude as Eric, so that left Rosalie alone most nights, trying to study and read ahead in the textbooks that she’d just bought. Her writing jobs had taken off after she’d turned the first one around, and even though she’d been able to buy all of her books herself, she’d only come up with three quarters of the tuition money. Eric had given her the rest, and her cheeks had been burning when she accepted it, swearing that she would pay him back every penny of it. He’d tried to wave it off, but Rosalie had insisted. So he’d finally thrown his hands up in defeat and accepted the handwritten IOU that she’d given him. It hurt him that she wouldn’t let him do anything for her financially, except the wedding. He’d insisted, and if she’d wanted the wedding her way, then she had no way of turning him down. Other than that one thing, she refused to let him do anything financially for her. At first, he’d thought it was basically to throw in his mother’s face that she hadn’t been with him for the money, but the more he dealt with it, the more he realized it was something else. She had a pride and a code in her that he’d never seen before. She wanted to do things for herself, and if she did need help every now and then, she repaid that debt as soon as she was able.
He was a little worried about that for later on in life, because he had intended to support her through school with his own trust fund. Now he was going to have to sit back and watch her scrimp and save, wearing herself out by not only doing the heavy workload that she had from her chosen program, as well as the hours of working on her computer to come up with the writing jobs she was being hired for, and he was afraid that it would eat up all her time and energy, draining her. He wanted to step back and let her do what she felt she needed to, but he was worried about her. Maybe he could find a way around helping her out without her noticing.
Rosalie needed to pick up her dress, and she wanted Vanessa to go with her. After all, she’d been there on the day they’d picked the dress out, so she should be there on the last day of fitting. It was something that they’d done together, and it was also closing the door on a chapter of how things had been between them. Rosalie had already seen her doctor and acquired the pills she would need to keep from getting pregnant, so not too much would change, but the girls wouldn’t be living together in the same room, able to come to each other at any time of day or night with a problem, knowing that the other one was right there. Now it would have to be through text messages and phone calls, or visits. Their Saturday vegging and movie night would be nonexistent, and both of them were a little torn up about it. Rosalie’s mother used to tell her that nothing in life ever lasted forever, and it was sad but true. The worst thing about that statement was that the great things didn’t stay around forever, but the flip side of that coin was that the bad things didn’t last that long, either. It made the world bittersweet.
Rosalie froze outside the door of David’s Bridal. This was it. The last thing to fall into place. The food had been confirmed, she’d seen the decorations for the reception, the ceremony would be performed right outside, and the flowers had already been confirmed. This was the last piece. This made it seem so real, and it scared her. It was the biggest step she was going to take in her life, and she’d never done anything close to it before.
“Come on, honey, this is it.” Vanessa’s voice was a little sad, and she knew what this signified. It would warp their friendship into something different, but it would still be a friendship. They walked in together. When Daisy met them for their appointment, Rosalie had made an appointment for every other meeting after that first day, she put the dress on, looked at herself in the mirror, and broke down crying. She looked beautiful, and she was going to start the rest of her life soon. It was overwhelming for her, but she was glad that Vanessa was there with her. She did her best to wipe her eyes and look normal for when she walked out for the last once over. Daisy poked and prodded, tugged and yanked, and finally gave them a big smile and a thumbs up.
“That’s it! It’s perfect!” Once Rosalie had changed, Daisy had taken the dress and wrapped it up for her, letting her know it would be at the front when she was ready. The girls sat there in silence on the poofs, not really knowing what to say. After a while, they got to their feet and took the dress, Vanessa driving them back to their dorm. Rosalie hung the dress on the front of her closet door. The weight of importance that it represented crushed her, and she made a break for the living room. Vanessa stood there with a selection of romantic comedy movies and a big tub of popcorn.
“Wanna watch a movie?” Rosalie grinned and threw her arms around her friend. She knew just what to do in this situation.
“Yeah. I don’t know if things will be the same after the wedding, but I don’t want to ever lose you as my best friend. I’ve never had a friend like you before, and I’m not going to lose the one thing that’s been stable for me since I got here. Thanks for being there.”
“Oh, stop it! I’m not that special, and you’re just going to make me cry. Go pick out a movie and get it started. I’ll get the butter.” The next few hours, Rosalie spent blissfully ignoring the dress and the nerves that came from thinking about her upcoming nuptials.
***
Eric was a little nervous, too. He didn’t want anyone to know that he was scared of how things would be once he was married, but he was. Men weren’t supposed to let on when they were nervous, and it wasn’t that he wanted to get cold feet or anything, he was just nervous about the unknown. He’d never been married before, and this was all new to him. He wasn’t quite sure yet where they would go to live, but he knew that he wanted out of his parents’ house. He’d been covertly looking for a place without her knowing, because it was going to be his wedding present to her. Granted, he was going to take her shopping for whatever furniture and decorations or accessories that she wanted for it, but the initial home was going to be from him. He wanted to ease her mind a little. He knew that she was worried as to what they would
do, and how they would move on once they were a couple. He could at least help in that respect. He’d also talked to his dad about getting a part time job in his company, just so he could help her out with her own tuition. If they were married, the money he earned would be hers as well. He had a trust fund, and his father had still said he would take care of everything while his son was in school, but she wouldn’t want to touch his money for any of her own bills or let his father help. He respected that, and decided that he would do the same. He would do what it took so they would be self-sufficient, and only accept help when absolutely necessary.
After he’d come to that conclusion, he’d realized the changes that he’d gone through for her. They were good changes, and he was shaping himself into the kind of man he’d always wanted to be without even realizing it. Smiling to himself, Eric put on his coat. He was on his way to an open house right now, and he’d had a feeling from looking at the pictures online that this one was going to be the one. He whistled as he walked out the front door of his house, smiling and nodding to the valet who brought him his car, and cheerfully waving to his mother who was out on her balcony, tending to the flowers. Maybe everything was going to work out in his favor after all. His mother and his fiancé getting along was at the top of his wish list, and he knew that Rosalie would do whatever she could to give him the world. If his mother could only see that and let that rub off on her, his life would be perfect. Oh well, all in good time. Right now, he was just taking baby steps and letting things happen as they would. Things would work out or they wouldn’t. He wasn’t going to stress over it because he had no control over them. If he could just get Rosalie to have the same attitude, then she would have a lot less stress in her life.
