Chapter 17 #2
“Me neither. That was a tough match.” Jess immediately wished she hadn’t said that. Because it probably wasn’t that hard for Vivienne.
But Vivienne nodded. “Very tough. You played great.”
Not great enough, Jess wanted to say, but she didn’t want to seem like a sore loser. “You too,” she said instead. “Obviously.”
Vivienne opened her mouth to reply, but Shay and Locke stood up at the head of the table and called for everyone’s attention.
“We have an announcement,” Shay said, threading their fingers through Locke’s and pausing for dramatic effect.
They waited, Jess and Tania sharing a speculative look.
“We … have decided to get married.” Shay and Locke beamed, Locke holding up her hand to display an amethyst ring.
The volleyball crowd cheered and squealed and covered the happy couple in hugs and kisses.
“We’re gonna need some bubbly over here!” Vivienne called toward April, gripping Shay’s hand.
“Tell us the story!” Chrissy cried.
“Well…” Locke turned to Shay and they shared a soft look. “We were walking on the beach after dinner yesterday, and we came up to this big heart on the sand made out of sea stones. I stopped to admire it, and when I turned around, Shay was kneeling in the sand.”
More cheering and squealing.
“How did they ask?” Tania called.
Shay’s round face flushed. “You all know I’m not much of a talker.…” They held up their hands and laughed as they were met with a deluge of sarcastic denials. “I told Locke that I’ve never been so happy as I am with her, and I want to be with her forever.”
“And I said yes, of course.” Locke leaned in to kiss Shay, eyes sparkling with joy.
“When are you going to have the wedding?” Lee asked.
“That’s the thing.” Shay’s gaze swept over the group. “We want to keep it super small and simple … and do it in two weeks, before Locke’s parents leave for Europe. But … we’ll need your help.”
“When they said ‘help’ I thought they meant, like, help making the decorations. Not being the decorations,” Tania grumbled.
“They meant both I guess, to be fair,” Jess said, settling into the front seat of Vivienne’s Mercedes. Being the tallest in the group led to some perks. “I also think you’re being a touch dramatic about clothes shopping.”
“Come on, Tania! Shopping is fun!” Chrissy chirped from the back, where she was squished in next to Lee and Tania. “Don’t you want to pick out something new and pretty to wear to the wedding?”
“No,” Tania muttered.
Shay and Locke—along with recruiting everyone to help with jobs like food and flowers and picking up grandparents at the airport—had requested that they wear “nature-inspired” outfits to the wedding to tie into Locke’s love of nature.
Jess knew there was nothing in her closet, or Tania’s, that would do, so when Chrissy arranged a trip to the outlets, Jess signed her and Tania up, despite Tania’s protests.
The first store Chrissy marched them into was not Jess’s vibe at all, a little too flashy, but she trailed behind the others, watching Tania with amusement.
Tania held up the first dress she came across. “What about this?”
“It’s fine, but … florals are maybe a little too obvious, don’t you think?” Chrissy frowned and flipped through the rack.
Tania rubbed her forehead. “Chrissy, so help me. Ask me how much I care about florals being ‘obvious.’”
“I mean, you can definitely go with flowers, if you want,” Chrissy said. “But I was thinking something more fun, like a bird-of-paradise vibe.”
Vivienne quirked an eyebrow. “Isn’t bird-of-paradise a flower?”
Chrissy tapped her chin. “Is it?”
“It’s both, I think,” Jess chimed in. “The flowers look like birds.”
“Okay, well, I guess I was thinking exotic bird, then.” She held up a red-and-yellow number hemmed with dangling feathers.
Tania raised an eyebrow. “I’ll stick with florals, thanks.” She waved the blue-and-purple-flowered dress she was holding. “Where are the fitting rooms?”
“Tania, we’ve been in this store for seventeen seconds. You need to find a few options.…” Chrissy took Tania’s arm and led her to the next rack.
Jess flipped through the hangers. Florals weren’t really her thing either, but she certainly didn’t want to look like a bird.
“Nothing catching your attention?” Vivienne asked, running her hand over the row of hangers.
Jess shrugged. “I don’t really know what I’m looking for.”
“I’ll help you find something.” Vivienne surveyed the store with a skeptical eye. “Yeah, nothing in here really screams ‘Jess,’ does it?”
“What does scream ‘Jess’?” she had to ask.
Vivienne’s face flickered. “Um.” She bit her lip. “Something…” She yanked the nearest hanger off the rack and held it up, staring. “… with a lot of buckles? Or … No, maybe not.”
Jess had to laugh. “Maybe not.”
Jess didn’t have any luck in the next store, or the one after that.
The fourth place had a big sale and was full of bargain hunters.
Chrissy had already picked a dress but had made it her personal mission to see that Tania found the perfect outfit.
Tania was putting on a show but Jess could tell she was secretly enjoying Chrissy dressing her up and fawning over her.
Just when Jess was about to give up on that store too, she spied a light blue sleeveless dress in her size with white swirls that reminded her of clouds. She snatched it up, then groaned when she saw the huge changeroom line. Resigned, she joined the queue.
Vivienne hopped in line right behind her, holding an armload of dresses in green, taupe, and yellow. “Ugh, this line is brutal.” She shifted from foot to foot. “My feet hurt.”
Chrissy scurried up to them. “Oh, there you guys are. Tania and Lee are buying something, then we’re just going to pop over to the shoe store across the way, then we’re thinking we’d grab some dinner?”
Jess’s stomach growled. She hoped the blue dress fit. “I’m in.”
“Perfect. I’m starving,” Vivienne agreed.
They waved to Chrissy and shuffled forward an inch.
“God,” Vivienne groaned. “I’m ready to just strip my clothes off right here to try these dresses on.”
Jess tried to keep her face blank, but was now imagining Vivienne taking her clothes off. “Er…”
“Just kidding,” Vivienne assured her. “For now.…”
“Just one item?” the salesperson said when Jess finally got to the front.
“Four,” Vivienne said, scooting behind Jess. “We’ll share.”
Ummm … Jess’s brain lurched.
Vivienne followed her into the changeroom. “That’s fine, right? I just cannot wait another second.”
“Yeah, sure.” We’ve changed together in the locker room a million times, Jess reminded herself.
Jess put her dress on the hook while Vivienne tossed hers onto the bench.
Then Vivienne turned her back and whipped her tube top off.
Jess stared at her naked back. Imagined her naked front.
Vivienne picked up the green dress and started to pull it over her head.
Jess wrenched her eyes away and turned her back, fumbling to pull off her tank top accompanied by the sound of Vivienne unzipping her jean shorts.
“What do you think?” Vivienne asked a moment later.
Jess turned, holding the blue dress to her chest over her bra. Her heart fluttered. “Oh, that’s pretty.”
Vivienne turned to study herself in the mirror with a skeptical expression. “I’m going for a few notches above ‘Oh, that’s pretty.’”
“Er, I mean…” Surely Vivienne knew how gorgeous she looked in everything. Or nothing. “You look—”
“Nah, this one’s not right.” Vivienne whipped it off, not turning around fast enough. Jess got an eyeful of breast. Her face warmed. She tried to pull the dress over her head but got tangled in the lining, all trapped elbows and staticky hair. She yanked it off again.
“What about this one?” Vivienne examined herself in the taupe dress. How did she get changed so quickly? “No, this is the worst shade ever on me. I thought it was a good nature color but I look like someone’s eighth-grade shop project. Just a hunk of cheap wood.”
“Oh, I—”
Vivienne tugged the taupe dress off.
Jess flushed and attempted to pull the blue dress over her head again. “Oh, sorry…” she mumbled when she bumped into Vivienne’s warm shoulder, the contact leaving a trail of sparks down her arm.
“Do you need some help there?” Vivienne asked. Jess couldn’t see anything but the white lining tangled around her head, but Vivienne sounded amused.
“Yes,” Jess said, aware that her bra was fully in Vivienne’s view.
Vivienne tugged at the dress in a few places until Jess’s arms were freed and it fell down over her shoulders. She wiggled it into place and turned to look in the mirror.
“Oh, Jess. That’s … perfect. It’s like the sky.”
Jess frowned at her reflection—her hair was a casualty of the wrestling match with the lining, and the dress was a bit short.
“And it shows off your arms so nicely,” Vivienne continued. “And your waist. And … You have to get it.”
“Really?” Maybe her arms did look nice. And her waist. Her stomach growled again. She’d have to hope Vivienne wasn’t just being nice. “Okay. I’ll get it.”
“Perfect. I’m right behind you. I’m going to try on this yellow one, but if it doesn’t work, I’ll take the green.”
Jess nodded and slipped out of the room, but her thoughts stayed with the way Vivienne looked at her in that dress.
About a week later, Jess opened her door at quarter to six on Monday morning to a scowling Vivienne.
“How did we get stuck with the flowers?” Vivienne grumbled.