Love's Rendition
Part 6
by Tragedy88
E-Mail: Tragedy88@goplay.com
Disclaimers: See Part 1.
Chapter
Six
I
was up and ready when Allison knocked on the door at precisely ten
o'clock. I'd succumbed to my near
starvation and wolfed down a bowl of Doug's Frosted Flakes before he'd stumbled
out of bed.
I'd almost laughed when he'd reached
into the cupboard, pulled out the big blue box and tipped it over a cereal
bowl. The look on his face was
priceless. "Who ate all my
goddamned cereal?" he'd screamed.
The knock on the door had saved me
from the evil chuckle bubbling up in my throat.
Wow. "Morning." I smiled at the vision in front of me. I could get use to facing that every
morning. Stop that....
"Ready?" Allison asked, casting a furtive glance
around the apartment in the full light of day.
"Yep." I shut the door and followed her down the
stairs to the sidewalk and the limo where Ed was waiting, a smile on his
face. I tried to ignore the ache in my
right foot, that hadn't gone away during the night, and smiled back.
"Good morning, Miss
Jordan." Ed gallantly opened the
door.
I stuck my tongue out at him. We'd hit it off instantly that night he'd
driven me home from Allison's. Was it
the fact that as soon as we were out of sight I'd insisted he stop the limo and
let me sit up front like a normal person and not some rich snob?
Allison watched the exchange with an
arched eyebrow.
I sat in the back with Allison this
time. "Where are we
going?" I asked after she had shut
the door and settled on the rich leather seat.
She rambled off a list of stores
that were well out of my budget, my eyes widening the whole time.
"Well, did you really expect us
to find you a dress at Wal-Mart?" Allison grinned.
Something like that. "Of course not," I said
defensively.
"Ed, let's try Giovani's
first."
"Yes, ma'am." There was nothing playful in his response to
Allison, I noted.
Giovani's turned out to be a two
story affair, with bright lights, cheery sales people on high commissions and
price tags that made me gag. Trundle's
was next. More high prices, overbearing
sales people, and harsh florescent lights.
I was having a difficult time with Allison's statement; 'Find a dress you like and don't even glance
at the price. Your advance will cover
it.'
By the fourth store Allison seemed
vaguely angry at my ineptitude to find a dress and I was more then pissed at
the fact that it hurt so much to stand.
I was ready to throw in the towel and say 'fuck this, I'm going home'
when a pale creamy color caught my eye.
It was on the rack. Mother would
be so ashamed.
Carefully I pulled it out of the
jumble. It was a straight shift,
traveling well down to my ankles, but with a slit on the side. Spaghetti straps finished off the top with a
fairly conservative neck line.
However, it was two sizes too big.
"If that's the dress you want,
Grace, you can ask them to resize it."
Allison's low voice sent a shiver up
my spine as she whispered close to my ear.
I turned and looked up.
"Let me try it on first."
She showed me to the dressing room
and left me to it. I risked a glance at
the price tag anyway as I slipped it off the hanger. Damn, only 500 dollars.
Only...could be worse. How about
that one that was the price of a used car?
Or the one that was equal to a down payment on a nice house?
Shoving my uneasiness aside I
slipped into the dress, then turned to the mirror.
Hmmm...take it in here, and
here.... It could work. "Alli?" I called through to the chairs area at the front. I heard footsteps across the carpeted floor
then a hesitant knock on the door.
"Come on in." I flipped the lock off and stood back. Allison's eyes widened and I felt a surge of
disappointment. "That bad?" I
asked.
"N-no. No, not bad at all," Allison
stammered. She reached out a hand and
plucked absently at the waist line.
"Take it in a bit...."
She pulled back.
"Will they do that here?"
I asked, uncertainty clouding my words.
"Yes. I'll get someone to come back.... You really do look nice,
Grace." Allison walked out.
I was left with my mouth hanging
slightly ajar.
•••
The
lady gushed and fussed, trying hard to re-earn the commission she'd nearly lost
earlier when she'd ignored me in my ratty jeans, and targeted straight on
Allison in her tailored slacks and silk blouse.
I endured it all, feeling Allison's
eyes darting back and forth over the whole situation. When the hemming was finished and my back and legs ached once
again I was in a foul mood. I suddenly
balked at the idea of paying 500 dollars for a dress I would wear only once.
"This is a bad idea," I said again as we followed the woman up to
the cash register. Bad, bad, bad,
stupid idea.
"Relax, Grace." Allison smiled kindly and touched my
shoulder. "Why don't you go out to
the limo and see how Ed is doing? I'll
take care of this."
"Yeah, sure, Ed's probably
bored out of his mind, wondering if aliens have landed and flown off with
us." I sighed with relief.
"Don't worry, he's been
shopping with me before." Allison
chuckled.
I smiled and kept my head up as I
exited the store, knowing Allison was watching me. Once outside I nearly collapsed on the pavement in pain. Suddenly there was a hand around my waist,
pulling me up.
"You all right, Miss
Jordan?" Ed's deep voice was
filled with concern.
Tears of pain threatened to overflow
and I gulped them back down. "Can
you help me into the limo, Ed?" I
asked, full of shame.
It was a relief to sit down, but
that biting pain was in my lower back again and I felt nauseous. Ed fixed a glass of water from the small
refrigerator then hurried back up to the front as Allison exited from the store,
a garment bag slung over her shoulder.
"Everything all right in
here?" Allison asked, her gaze
shifting from Ed back to me.
"Yup, " I answered lamely.
"Why don't we have lunch at my
house? I'll show you around and you can
figure out where you want to paint the portrait tomorrow." Allison draped the garment bag over the seat
in front of us and settled back into the seat.
Ahh, lunch. At least a half hours worth of sitting
time. "Sounds good," I
stifled a yawn.
"Tired?" Allison asked.
"A little bit," I admitted.
Ed pulled slowly out into traffic
and we headed back to Allison's home in silence.
•••
(c) 2000, Tragedy88