come in!’ I yelped, crossing my arms over my chest.
But it was too late. In the mirror, I saw John walk into the ladies as I lunged for the toilet stall, restraining my boobs with my hands.
‘I didn’t see anything,’ he called. ‘I swear.’
Pulling the dress back up over my chest, I leaned against the cool metal of the stall door.
‘Camille said you weren’t here,’ I said as the top part of my dress drooped back down around my waist. Why wouldn’t it stand up on its own? Was I really going to have to spend the entire day with my arms crossed to stop myself from flashing the entire family? What was my mother thinking?
‘I wasn’t, now I am. Can you come out please?’
Reluctantly, I unlocked the door and let it open, just a little. In the crack between the door and the wall, I saw his downturned smile, his brown eyes, his dark hair.
‘Ros,’ he said. ‘Will you please come out the toilet?’
‘I can’t,’ I explained. ‘I can’t keep my dress up.’
‘I’ve heard a lot of excuses in my time,’ John replied. ‘But that’s a good one.’
‘I’m serious!’ Emerging from the stall, I turned my back to show him the strange straps of my dress. ‘The bodice won’t stay up.’
‘That’s because you haven’t fastened it.’ John waved his hands in the air between us like he was casting a spell. ‘Those straps are supposed to wrap up and around, aren’t they?’
I grasped one end with my left hand, keeping my boobs firmly inside the front of my dress with the right. ‘Are they?’
‘I hate to be the one to tell you but you’re a rubbish girl,’ he said, taking the end of each sash in his hands. ‘Turn around.’
Biting down on my lower lip, I turned my back to him and felt him reach around my waist for the long swathes of lilac fabric. He cinched them tightly around my middle before winding the fabric up around my chest then tying a neat bow behind my neck.
‘How did you know how to do that?’ I asked, marvelling at his handiwork in the mirror.
‘I’ve put more women back into more complicated clothing than I care to remember,’ he replied as I put my dress through the shimmy test. ‘You pick up a wide array of skills when you work in bars for your entire adult life. Which reminds me, who do I need to speak to about outlawing jumpsuits?’
‘Not me,’ I replied. ‘You only need wear one to a festival once and you’ll never put yourself through it again as long as you live.’
‘You look beautiful,’ John said, straightening out the bow at the nape of my neck. I looked into the mirror and saw the pair of us staring back. Me in my lavender gown, John in a beautiful charcoal-grey jacket over his white shirt, grey tie and jeans, his hands resting on my shoulders.
And when he smiled, my stomach flipped.
‘We’ve really got to stop meeting like this,’ he said, his body warm against mine.
‘Thank you for dressing me,’ I replied. I wasn’t ready to move just yet. ‘And for everything else. You saved the day again.’
‘Least I could do,’ he said, removing his hands and digging them deep into his pockets, leaving my shoulders bare and cold. I felt myself sway backwards as he moved away and had to steady myself with one hand on the wall.
‘And thank you for coming yesterday,’ I said, folding my arms around myself as John slouched back against a rose-gold-painted radiator. ‘You really didn’t have to. I think it might have been better if no one had been there.’
‘I figured I owed you one after the way I acted at the baby shower,’ he replied with an apologetic smile. ‘And besides, Sumi said you’d introduce me to Snazzlechuff. I’m guessing that’s not on the cards now, is it? Unless I can crash your date.’
‘Please do,’ I groaned. ‘He’s already texting me. How do you let a fourteen-year-old down gently?’
John looked down at the floor, his black hair falling in front of his face. ‘The same way you let everyone else down,’ he said. ‘Tell him you’ve already got a boyfriend.’
‘But I haven’t,’ I said, noticing how hard I was breathing against the tight bodice of my dress. ‘Me and Patrick, it’s over.’
He looked up, his eyes wide and his face open. The downturned smile he always seemed to be fighting against slowly broadened.
‘Really?’
‘Really,’ I confirmed. ‘Turns out we both wanted different