Before Happily Ever After Story Five Part Two

"Well I would love that but we scheduled the appointment with only two people. So it wouldn't be very nice to bring more than that" I tell them quickly with a show of regret. Although I'm not regretting it at all. Shhhh.

"It's just two more people. I'd doubt they will care. How about this? We'll meet you there and if it is a problem, we'll leave. Promise" Sophi says to us. I look toward Lily for help. We both have to tread carefully since Janey is a little sensitive.

"Well the problem is that we don't know how long this is going to take. You don't know how Cori gets when she's shopping for something important. It could take hours of your day. We'd hate to cause a burden for you in case you guys have other plans" Lily explains to them and I nod my head in agreement. It ain't pretty when I'm in a serious shopping mode.

"Seriously, it's not a problem. We didn't have anything important planned anyway. Please, please, please let us come help you" Janey begs me. Ugh. I knew it was going to come to this. How am I supposed to tell her no and hurt her feelings?

"Okay fine. You guys can come. My car is near the south lot. So drive there in like five minutes?" I tell them and they smile in excitement.

"Thank you so much. Your are the best. I'm so excited" Sophi gushes as she crushes me into a hug. I try to smile back but I doubt it's very believable. She and Janey walk inside to get their purses and car keys.

"Well they sure are persistent" Lily says as we continue on our way. Well no duh Lily.

"I noticed. I can't believe they are coming. This already turning out bad" I tell her with a huff. Bad feeling is getting so much worse.

"Not with that attitude. Look, I know that they probably won't be a lot of help but try to look past it okay? We can always book another time with just us" Lily suggests as we reach my car. If only it would be that easy.

"So do you know what style of dress you would like to try on?" The sales attendant, Amy, asks me in the boutique that we are currently in. It's not huge or anything but they do have a nice selection. It's pretty nice for a college town anyway.

"Kind of? I really like fit and flare dresses. Although I'm not sure how I want the flare part or even what material. I'm not one hundred percent set on anything to be honest" I say as I look at the dresses on display. Lily, Sophi, and Janey are already taking a look at what the store has. Go figure.

"No problem. I'll pick some dresses to start with and then we can go from there" Amy tells me with an encouraging smile as she sets off behind a door. I sigh as I make my way toward the others.

"Look at this dress, Cori. Isn't it pretty?" Janey asks me while holding up a ball gown styled dress. Eek! So NOT my style at all.

"It's beautiful, but it's not really me" I tell her as I start to look through the racks too. I'm beginning to get overwhelmed. God, there are so many to choose from. How will I find the perfect one?

"But you haven't even tried it on. It would look amazing on you" Janey insists. I try not to roll my eyes. Of course it would look nice on me. Doesn't mean I'll love the dress.

"Okay. I'll try on a dress each of you picks for me. Only one though since Amy is bringing more out too" I tell them. Lily gives me an are-you-serious look. She was hoping to choose more than one for me.

"Not you" I mouth back to her silently to calm her down. She smiles satisfied. Lily takes her maid of honor duties very seriously. Amy comes back with five gowns and motions for me to follow her into the changing room.

"So I found five dresses that I think you might like to try on" she says hanging the gowns onto a rack. At first glance, they are really nice.

"Can I try my friends picks first?" I ask her. I just want to get there's out of the way and done with.

"Sure! Let me go get them" Amy says cheerfully. Please let this go smoothly.

Guess what? It didn't go smoothly. In fact, it was the opposite of smooth. It went up, down, and side to side about three times over. It was so bad that it gave me a headache. My poor head. I can't even take anything for it since I ran out the other day. I'm currently in bed trying to nap in the hopes that it will distress me. I start to doze off when my cell begins to vibrate. Ugh. Who's bothering me now? Oh, it's Eric! Happy dance time.

"Hey angel" Eric says after I answer. I so missed hearing his voice.

"Hey handsome" I say back as I snuggle back into my bed with a yawn.

"What are you up to? You sound tired baby girl. Dress shopping go okay?" he asks me over the phone.

"No! It went absolutely terrible. I mean the worst experience ever. It got me no where for a dress" I say with a huff. It was a big fat waste of time.

"What happened?" Eric asks me. Boy, where do I start?

"Janey and Sophi is what happened. They pretty much invited themselves along. It just went down there from there" I tell him while rolling my eyes.

"Really? So why didn't you just tell them they couldn't come?" He asks next. My goodness, he's clueless.

"Eric, you don't tell girls that are your friends they aren't invited to something. You know Janey is on the sensitive side. I didn't want to hurt both their feelings and start that drama" I explain. And I know that's rich coming from me since I'm a drama magnet.

"You could have told them it was an appointment and it have only a certain amount of people" Eric says. As if I didn't think of that myself, Einstein.

"I told them that but they kept insisting. They had all these excuses and repeated please a million times" I tell him. Eric laughs slightly.

"Excuses, huh?" He says.

"Literally tons. They just kept coming and coming no matter what Lily or I said" I say as I shake my head. I should get some tips from them. At least theirs seemed to work.

"I'm sorry, but you do hear the irony in this right?" Eric asks while laughing outright now. Okay, so it's not everyday that I'm the one on the other side of the excuse train; as Eric likes to call it.

"Alright. Laugh it up big boy. You should know that anything can happen with me. So let me continue on with my story" I remind him as I try to hold back my own smile.

"Okay continue baby" he tells me with a smile laced through his voice.

"Okay soooo I tried on about eight dresses total while I was there. the worst of the pick had to have been Janey's. She wanted me to try on a BIG poofy ball gown. It was huge and was so heavy. I probably tripped on that thing fifty times; No lie. And you know those cakes that you can buy at the grocery store that have the Barbie doll with a dress made out of disgusting frosting? That's what I looked like." I tell him. Eric starts laughing again.

"I'm sure you still looked cute in it. Are you sure you're not exaggerating just a little, angel?" He asks me. Do I ever exaggerate? Wait, don't answer that.

"No, not even a little bit it. I pinky promise you. It was that bad!" I insist.

"So I'm going to guess that it was a no...?" Eric asks me. Well, no duh.

"A big fat hell no and it only got worse from there" I say with a sigh.

"Worse? How is that even possible" he exclaims amused.  

"I know. I couldn't believe it myself. As I tried on more dresses, the others started to disagree on which was dress was better than the other and why. It got really heated. Like raised voices heated" I tell Eric. I thought that Lily was going to start a fight when Sophi and Janey hated the dress she picked out for me. It got a little too intense. And you know I love me some excitement in my life.  

"I honestly can't picture the three of them doing any of that" Eric says. There's a first for everything. He should be the first to know about that.

"What can I say? Weddings plus shopping can bring out the worst in people. You'll also be proud of me. I was actually the mature one out of the group. I told them to settle down. It's not worth fighting over a dress I'm not even going to buy" I say. That's right, people. I was the mature one for once. I'm telling you, there really is a first time for everything.

"Now I definitely can't picture that. You? Mature? Who would have thought....?" He says with a laugh.

"Shut up. I do listen to your wonderful words of advice from time to time" I tell him with a smile. Especially when I'm getting my butt soundly spanked.

"Glad to hear it" Eric tells me. I sigh again.

"It just sucks that I didn't find a dress and have to keep looking" I say while staring at the darkening ceiling. It's getting dark outside now.

"You'll find one. I know you will and you will look amazing in it. Don't lose hope, okay baby?" he says to me. Ugh. But what if I don't?

"Sure, Eric" I say back unconvinced.

"I promise you, you will. So are you still coming to stay with me next weekend ?" Eric asks me. Of course! Why ask such a dumb question? Only seeing Eric on the weekends every two weeks seriously cuts back on my cuddling time.

"Duh Eric. I wouldn't miss it" I tell him and at the same time my phone beeps letting me know someone new is trying to call me. I see that it's my dad. I'll talk to him later.

"Just checking. You know I miss you little angel" he says.

"I miss you more" I say sadly. Don't cry, Cori. Don't cry. I always get emotional when I'm stressed and tired. My phone beeps and my dad's name flashes across the screen. Grrrr. He is so persistent.

"Eric, baby, let me call you back. My dad keeps calling. So let me see what he wants" I tell him.