about all of this, it was going to be a freaking disaster, and I wanted to plan a trip so I could be anywhere else when it happened.
My mom discussed alterations needed for the dress, and Miranda assured my mother it would all be done in time.
“Okay, your turn,” my mom said as she turned to me.
“Aren’t you going to pick a bunch out for me?” She’d been a mini-hurricane in looking for Vee’s dress, and I’d been expecting the same treatment.
“You and Vee can pick.”
Who is this person?
“We can?”
“Of course. It’s Vee’s wedding.”
“Huh. Okay, well, did you have a color in mind, Vee?”
Vee looked a little startled. “Oh, uh, green?”
“Really?” I asked, unable to hide my dissatisfaction with that choice from my voice. Green was not my color.
“Purple?” Vee tried again.
“Sophia, if Vee wants you in green, then you’ll wear green,” my mom said absently as she tapped on her phone.
“Yeah, I know. She just didn’t sound too committed to the color.”
“Miranda, can you pull some bridesmaids dresses in green?” my mom asked, never looking up from her phone.
“Absolutely. Let me just help Veronica get changed, and then I’ll pull some.”
“Wonderful,” Mom said. “Sophia, shouldn’t you go help them?”
“Help them look for dresses?” I asked.
My mom finally glanced up but only to give me a long-suffering look.
“No, help Veronica out of her dress. There may be some things about it that you’ll need to know.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. That’s what you need to find out.”
I looked over at Taylor, who smirked at me. Judas. Arguing was futile, so I followed Vee and Miranda to the dressing room.
The dress was a simple zip back, and there was no train, so there was absolutely nothing I needed to learn about this dress. But I dutifully hung it on the hanger when Miranda handed it to me, and I averted my eyes as Vee got dressed.
Once we were ready to exit the dressing room, I opened the curtain and stepped out, only to be confronted with an armful of green garments.
“What are these?” I asked my mom, who held them out to me.
“Green bridesmaids dresses.”
“I thought you were letting Vee pick them.”
My mom shot me a smile that looked a tad scary before shoving the dresses into my arms.
“I thought I’d lend a hand.”
“How kind of you,” I replied, the words sounding droller than I intended.
“Vee, they have some refreshments set out for you,” my mom said. “Let’s go relax while we wait for Sophia to model the dresses for us.”
My mom put her arm through a perplexed Vee’s and led her away.
I slid my gaze to Taylor. “What just happened?”
“Honestly, if I didn’t know better, I’d say your mom just circled the store and grabbed the ugliest green dresses she could find.”
I groaned. “Why would she do that? And why didn’t you stop her?”
Taylor held her hands up. “First of all, that woman is a force of nature. Stopping her is like trying to stop a tsunami. Second of all, she was probably just grabbing everything green she saw. It’s just coincidence that they’re all hideous.”
I made a face that would’ve done a tantrumming four-year-old proud before Taylor pushed me into the dressing room.
“See you out there,” she called cheerfully as she walked back to the viewing area.
I stood still for a second, lamenting my lot in life, and then began hanging the dresses on the hooks in the dressing room. Once that was done, I surveyed what was in front of me and came to a declarative decision: I didn’t want to try any of them on.
There was an array of greens—from forest to pea soup—but not a single one of them looked in any way flattering.
“Hi, Sophia? Your mom wanted me to see if you needed help?” Miranda called through the dressing room curtain.
“Not unless you’re a fairy godmother,” I whispered.
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing. No, I’m fine. I’ll be out in a second.” I clutched a hand to my chest as I looked around once more and finally pulled a dress off a hanger at random. I slipped it on, didn’t even bother to look in the mirror, and left the dressing room, holding up the poofy bottom of the dress as I went.
“Oh, don’t you look darling?” my mom said.
With the way Vee’s and Taylor’s eyes widened, I think “darling” was a misstatement.
I climbed up onto the pedestal and let the bottom of the dress unfurl as I watched in the mirrors.
“Is this entire dress made of organza?”