Before Happily Ever After - Story Five Part One

“I-I loved your d-dress. You looked s-so pretty in it” Devon tells me as she flips to the page where I am wearing my wedding dress. I look down into the album on her lap and glance at the picture and smile. Yeah, I’ll admit it. I looked hella good in my dress. The best I’ve ever looked honestly. The dress just fit my body perfectly and it was just so….ME.

“Thanks. I absolutely adored it. It couldn’t have been any better” I say as I smile thinking about that night. Everyone loved it too; especially Eric. His opinion was the only one that really mattered to me. Well okay, everyone else’s did too. But only because of the huge hassle it was picking it out. Ugh. It was probably the most stressful event of the entire wedding process. And I went through a ton of them; especially my poor butt. Between my friends, my mom and dad, and everyone’s mother, they all wanted a say in my dress. If it weren’t for Eric, I probably would have strangled them or thrown my heels at one of them. No wait, that last part actually happened. Yeah, it’s quite a story.

                                     

"I'm so excited to FINALLY go dress shopping! I thought you were never going to go" Lily says as we walk out of our dorm room. Yeah, you read that right. Me not wanting to go shopping am something that seems impossible. I love shopping. I live and breathe for it. When I first got engage to Eric, I couldn't wait to buy my wedding dress. However, as time went on, I couldn't decide on a kind of dress since there are literally a bazillion styles, materials, and accessories to go along with each. I got overwhelmed on what to choose. I have to find the perfect dress for my wedding; literally perfect. The kind of dress that people stop and stare at amazed.  The kind of dress you that future brides wish they could pull off. The kind of dress that Eric would love at first sight. And I wasn't finding that dress which seriously pissed me off. So I kept pushing it to the back of my mind, then other wedding preparations kept grabbing my attention. So imagine Lily's surprise when I continued to avoid finding a dress. Her shopaholic friend not wanting to go shopping. She thought I was sick or something.

"Well I can't keeping pushing it back. So I have to find a dress sooner or later,” I say with a sigh as I check that I have my phone, wallet, and keys in my purse. It's kind of a habit Eric installed into me. If you can catch me drift. Lily locks our door and snorts.

"Wow. Well aren't you jumping with excitement right now,” she says sarcastically. God, I'm so so not in the mood for her sassiness. I roll my eyes.

"Shut up miss sassy. You know why I'm not looking forward to this" I tell her as we head down the hall. If bitched about it a million times to her, even when she didn't want to hear about it.  She better know! Hmph.

"Relax. You'll find the dress. I know you will. Let's just go today to look and if you find one, then great. If not, no pressure. Okay?" Lily tells me as we get into the elevator. No pressure? Ha. Easy for her to say. She found her maid of honor dress ages ago.

"Okay. But I have a feeling this is going to be a pain in the butt. And you know how I get about my feelings" I tell her. I didn't mention how my feelings are usually bad. Like when I am about to get my behind toasted. Nonetheless, my feelings are usually right.

"Whatever you say, Cori" Lily says laughing.

"Laugh all you want, but mark my words, girlie" I warn her as she has an amused smile on her face. If she doesn't want to believe in my feelings, that's fine. They're never wrong. Okay, they're wrong occasionally. Or a little more often than that, I swear. So my feelings are sometimes skewed, a little. No biggie. Lily and I exit the elevator and walk out toward my car when we run into Janey and Sophi on the way there.

"Hey, guys. Where are you headed?" Sophi asks us with a smile. Uh oh. Bad feeling getting stronger.

"Shopping" I tell them as I block the sun with my hand. The weather is finally starting to warm up after a long winter. I thought I'd never live to see a warm day again.

"Oh yeah? Can we come too? It feels like we've hardly seen you two in forever,” Janey asks brightly. Oh great. Lily and me give each other a quick glance. Look, you know I care greatly about the both of them greatly. I don't really want their help find a dress. It's just that they don't have the best.... fashion sense. At least one that is close to mine.

"Well you know how busy school is for all of us. And you know Lily's on the debate team and in the marketing club and I teach classes and work at the Rec center during the week" I explain to them. Yeah, I had to get a part time job a while ago after my dad cut me off for a short period after one of my failed "plans". It was honestly one for the books. It really was that bad. My butt still clenches in pain after remembering it.

"Right. And we also go visit our guys when we can and there is so much to do for the wedding. There's honestly no time left for anything,” Lily adds in agreement.

"Well you have time to go out right now,” Janey says pointedly. Sheesh, she's acting as if we're making up excuses.

"We're actually going shopping for my wedding dress" I say, looking at Lily in regret. Both Janey and Sophi's eyes light up at the news.

"Really? Can we come too? Please! I would so like to help you find one" Sophi asks us full of hope. Janey nods her head in agreement. Sigh. How should I let them down easy?