Nichole
Work was crushing me. I had left too much undone and now it was coming back to bite me.
I hadn't seen Drego in a while. Two weeks since I resumed and we'd bumped into each other only three times. He was always busy. And I was always busy.
The mission was beginning to feel impossible. And time was running so fast. One minute it was one day and the next minute, it's two days later. I wanted everything to slow down, unfortunately, I had no control over time.
And then the night of the gala came. It was the first free time I'd had since coming back to work. I wanted to make an impression on him. Thinking about it alone made adrenaline rush to my brain. I was excited and scared at the same time. It would mark a moment to be remembered for us, and I really wanted him to notice me. I wanted to make a lasting impression by any means necessary.
"I prefer the green dress. It's a little slutty, but you have the body to pull it off."
I squeezed, scrutinizing the many space on the dress. I'd never worn anything this revealing. Not even when I was skinny. The dark green dress had no back. What it did have was string like hands and a V neck line that was sure to expose my boobs. The more I looked at it, the worse the dress looked. The gown was too short. The hem of the dress was almost too far from my knee.
"Christine, I wanted 'captivating', not slutty. It's a charity gala, not a club."
"Do you want him to notice you or not?"
"Of course I want him to notice me. But wearing this…" I slightly touched the dress, "he wouldn't be the only one to notice me, the entire gala will. And you know what else, they're going to gossip."
Christine rolled her eyes at me, smiling when she looked at the dress again. "So what? who cares. Let them talk."
"I'm not like you Christine. I care."
"Ugh! You're such a people pleaser sometimes."
"Look who's talking. Those that live in glass houses don't throw stones, remember?"
"Whatever." Christine rolled her eyes again, getting up. "Just… wear it." She pushed the dress to me. "You don't have to buy it. Let's see how it looks on you."
"What's the point of that?"
Christine's breathing had gotten loud. I could see it in her eyes, she was beginning to get testy.
"You could at the very least do something for me after I left all I had to do to accompany you here. Wear the damn dress. You don't have to buy it."
"Alright, alright. Don't get irritated. Remember you're here to help and you're not much help to me irritated and angry."
Christine ignored my words, pushing the gown to my face again. Sighing, I grabbed it and went into the changing room. It was a little tight. But not to the point of being uncomfortable.
I pushed the door of the changing room open and walked out. Christine's jaw almost dropped when she saw me. I had to say, I liked the expression on her face. If Drego looked at me like that, now that would be perfect.
"You have to buy it. Get it. You know what, I'll get it for you. It's perfect. See."
Christine held my hand and dragged me to the front of the mirror.
She was right. The gown looked like it was made for me. I almost couldn't recognize my reflection. With my long black hair a little messy, and the gown hugging my curves and making my breasts conspicuous, even I couldn't deny that I looked like sex on legs.
I looked hot.
I was so lost in my reflection that Christine had been laughing for a while and I was only just noticing.
"What's funny?" I asked in a slightly moody way.
"You've checked yourself out in every light. You've looked at your ass in that dress. You stood on your toes to see how it'd look with heels on. You even touched your hair. I was just waiting for you to braid them." She laughed.
"Shut up Christine." I walked back into the room and took off the gown.
"It's perfect, like I said. And you like it." She yelled. There was a hint of condescending in her voice.
"Shut up, Christine." I yelled back.
Her laughter was the response she gave.
After almost an hour in the store, I finally decided to go with a black somewhat free long dress. It also had a V neck line and a long slit. Christine was obviously not happy about my decision. She made sure to sound her disapproval. And if I was being completely honest, I wasn't into the black dress like I was with the green one.
"Stop hiding your body." Christine said in an annoyed tone as I drove us to my place. The charity gala was tonight, only a few hours away.
"I'm not hiding anything. I've never worn something so… open before. It's just not comfortable for me."
"There's always a first time, no?"
"Give it a rest Christine. I already got the black gown. End of story."
"End of story." She mimicked, folding her hands around her body.
"Remind me never to take you shopping for myself again."
"Remind me not to follow you." She shot back.
I briefly removed my eyes from the road to look at Christine's sullen face. That's when I noticed the bag.
"Christine, what's that bag?"
"This bag?" She picked the bag from the ground and raised it. Her voice didn't have the shock I'd expected it to have. She sounded like she had not been trying to hide the bag from me, and knowing Christine, she may have had no intentions of hiding the bag, but this was the first time I was seeing it.
"Yes Christine. That bag. The same one that looks like mine. When did you buy a dress? And how come I didn't notice?"
"You didn't think you were going to a charity gala without me, did you?"
"Uhmm…"
"No way sister. You're taking me."
"Did you say you wanted to go and I didn't hear?"
"Does it matter? I'm going."
"Wow. That's a whole new way of asking."
"Nichole. C'mon. I wanna go. Take me with you."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes, Nichole. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. You need me there. I can be your hype man or something. You know, when you're feeling not so sure or confident anymore."
"I don't need a hype woman. You're not going."
"Give me one good reason why not."
I glanced at her again and she was pouting. Lips out and everything.
Sighing, I said, "Fine. But behave. You can't embarrass me with your childishness. And I won't babysit you."
"You sound like I'm two. I'm twenty three, you know."
"Should I remind you about the Incident from early this year?"
I could hear the sound of Christine shivering. I laughed silently.
"You've made your point."
"Good."