Dark Secrets (Dark Secrets #1)(113)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“Well, I guess it’s up to you, Ara-Rose. But, before we go home, can you please just humour me and try a dress in that store?”

I looked behind me to the window of glitter decorating the front of a very expensive-looking store, with fairy-tale-perfect dresses beyond. “Fine,” I rescinded with a huff. “I’ll be your little Barbie doll for another half hour—but that’s it.”

“Thank you,” she said kindly; I rolled my eyes and finished my steak.

We stepped carefully around the silks and tulles falling over the wooden floor as we entered the realm of couture, and a thin girl smiled from behind the counter before turning her attention back to her magazine.

“This is beautiful,” I said, spinning slowly to take it all in.

“Told you,” Vicki beamed.

“Okay.” I held my arms out. “Dress me up.”

Turns out, you should never say that to an old lady who never had a daughter, in a room with a commission-based sales clerk. I unwillingly tried on every dress in the store, like a dummy, lost in some mind-blank brought on by constant movement and the repeated inhalation of the manufacturer’s fabric preservatives and dyes.

But when they threw a shimmering, sky-blue dress at me, I woke suddenly. It slid onto my body like silk to satin, the carefully tailored lines fitting the contours of my hips like a glove.

I stepped onto the box in front of the four-walled mirror and smiled as Vicki and the clerk gasped.

“You look like a princess.” Vicki almost started crying.

Spinning around slowly, running my fingers over my hips, I marvelled at the soft organza, bunched together at the waist on one side and shrouded with little diamantes. The strapless corset bustle hugged my body until the full, flowing drop of the skirt glided out from my hips and over the ground—like a wedding dress, but blue. And even better, the clerk had pulled the corset so tight my waist became a half-size smaller and I totally looked like I was wearing a push-up bra.

Vicki was right. The dress was amazing.

“We’ll take it,” Vicki all but squealed.

I shook my head. “No, it’s a thousand dollars, Vicki. I can’t. I’ll just get the green one in the other store.”

“But why, Ara?”

“I told you. I’m not going to let my boyfriend buy a dress for me. It’s ridiculous!”

“He’s buying it for you?” the clerk asked, astonished.

“No! He’s not.”

“But, Ara. It’s so lovely, and—”

“It’s just a stupid dress. Who cares? I’ll wear it for a few hours, then take it off and never wear it again. It’s a waste of money.”

“But—”

“I can do what I want, Vicki. It’s my life!” I jumped off the podium and stormed into the change room—slamming the door.

The girl in the mirror looked up at me; she was thinking the same thing; the dress was beautiful. I wished I could afford it, because it definitely was the one. But I wouldn’t take advantage of my boyfriend just because he happened to have made a few smart investments in his hundred-year existence. On the other hand, David would love this dress too, and I knew, from the look on Vicki’s face, that I just broke her heart. “Maybe—” I said, reaching out to the girl in the mirror; she smiled.

No. I drew my hand back quickly. “No! We’re not getting the dress.”

“Did you say something?” the clerk asked.

“Uh, no—just talking to myself.”

Myself looked at me solemnly.

I shook my head. “Stop pouting. We’re getting the green dress.”

Vicki walked quietly behind me as I headed to the other store, purchased the green dress with my own money and headed to Summer Magic, Masks and Hats Boutique.

“This one would’ve been perfect with the blue dress,” Vicki offered, holding up an almost transparent blue mask. The little stones around the eyes were patterned out like a butterfly, and as she angled it just so, it caught the light, shimmering like a diamond-powdered oil painting.

“Yes.” I swallowed, switching to ‘indifferent mode’ with a noncommittal shrug. “It’s great. But I have the green dress.”

“Oh, well, the only mask here that goes with green is this gold one.” Vicki’s lips spread into a sinister grin. “I know how much you love gold.”

“Gold?” I tried to swallow the vomit in the back of my throat. “I do love gold. And you’re right, it’ll look great with the green.”

Begrudgingly, I snatched the mask, purchased it and left the store, gagging on the bitter taste of regret.

After the first five minutes into the drive back home—in complete silence—I watched Vicki’s face, and the pig-headed me softened a little more. Sam was her only child. He would forever be her only child. I felt kind of guilty for ruining her only chance to do the girlie ‘going-to-a-ball’ thing.

“Vicki?”

“Mm?”

“I…I had fun today.”

She gave a small smile as we pulled up to the garage door, and my heart sunk into the pit of my stomach.

“What’s David doing here?” I sat forward slightly, looking at his car. “He was supposed to be here at two.” I was supposed to have this dress hidden by then.

Vicki shut the engine off. “We thought it might be better if they started earlier.”

“But—”

“What’s the matter, Ara? I thought you’d be happy to see David.” Her tone had all the malice of a person who knew that I knew she knew I was totally getting busted—and she was relishing in the idea.

“Of course I’m happy to see him, Vicki.” I closed the car door with my hip and folded the dress over my arm. “I can’t wait to show him my dress.”

“Me too.” She walked ahead and opened the front door for me, all the while grinning like an evil stepmother.

The skin on my neck tightened.

“Greg? We’re home.”

“We’re upstairs,” Dad called. “How was shopping?”

“Great,” I said.

“So you got a dress?” David, with his fingers wedged into his pockets, looked down at me from the top of the stairs, anticipation lighting his eyes.

“I did, and I think you’ll love it.”

He kissed my cheek as I passed him and, as Vicki followed, my shoulders subconsciously hunched around my ears.

“Did you have fun?” Dad asked, standing behind a big red sofa—wedged in the doorway of the spare room.