Work Text:
Dress To Impress
Emma groaned as her alarm-clock rang, slamming her hand on it to shut it off and pulled her covers over her head.
Why did she even set it again?
It was Saturday after all and Saturdays were were meant for sleeping in, relaxing, hanging out with friends-
"Or going on a date with Norman!" she yelped as she shot up in realization.
That's right.
After years of wonderful friendship Norman had confessed to her that he liked her and she told him she liked him back.
After all, how could she not like Norman?
Sweet, kind, gentle, smart, always there for her and ready to do whatever to make her happy Norman.
Today was supposed to be their first date and while he would be picking her up in the evening for dinner and a movie, Emma had set her alarm so she would have enough time to mentally prepare herself because despite her usual cheerful attitude, she was nervous.
How were things gonna go? What if she did or said something stupid? What if Norman suddenly decided he didn't like her like that after all?! If that were the case things might turn weird and awkward between them and she'd not only loose him as a potential boyfriend but also as a best friend too!
'Enough of that!' she scolded herself and slapped her cheeks to snap herself from her funk and jumped up to get dressed in a pair of black pants and a white button-up shirt with a ribbon around her collar.
'It's just Norman! I've hung out with him many times before!' she thought.
Norman who had told her he liked all her little quirks and said how he'd have understood if she had rejected him and that he'd still treat her the same.
She had nothing to worry about.
"Today is gonna be great!" she told herself and started marching towards the kitchen for to grab some breakfast before stopping and frowning upon seeing herself in the mirror.
She was wearing one of her favorite outfits but suddenly she couldn't help but wonder if it was the right thing to wear for today.
And if it wasn't, what was?
Did she even own something good to wear on a date?
Deciding she needed a second opinion she took out her phone and send a quick text out.
The doorbel rang an hour later and Emma jumped from the couch where she was watching TV and opened the door to find her best female friends, Gilda and Anna.
"Hey, girls!" she grinned and pulled them into a hug.
"Hey, Emma! We got your text. Is everything alright?" Anna asked, being the gentle and caring girl she was.
"Yeah, we brought as much of our clothes that you can also wear as we could but I'd like to know why you wanted us to do so." Gilda added, walking in and dropping two large bags onto the floor.
"Y-Yeah, about that..." Emma nervously poked her fingers together as she felt her face heat up.
"Are you sure you're alright and not sick? You're awfully red." Anna asked worriedly.
"Yes, yes! I'm healthy, I promise!" Emma nodded.
"Well, that means there really something going on here to get you that red. Come on, spill!" Gilda put her hands on her hips and Emma sighed.
Might as well tell them and get it over with.
"I really need your help deciding on what to wear today." she started.
"Yeah, we kinda figured that but why?"
"Because I..." Emma trailed off as both other girls leaned in curiously. "Because I've got a date. With Norman."
There. She said it.
It was silent for a moment before both Gilda and Anna were squealing and hugging her in excitement.
"Oh Emma, I'm so happy for you!" Gilda looked close to crying. "I always thought you guys were perfect for each other!"
"Really?" Emma asked in surprise.
"Of course! Half the school already thinks you've been dating all this time!" this made Emma blush.
"Is that why you made us bring our clothes?" Anna asked after calming down and Emma nodded.
"Yeah, at first I was planning on wearing this but-" "Oh no you won't!" Gilda cut her off.
"Honey, I know you're a girl of simply tastes but this won't do for a date, especially a first date! Even if it's Norman, you'll wanna dress to impress!" the green-haired girl declared passionately.
"Yeah, that's kinda why I called you over." Emma scratched her cheek sheepishly.
"Well, you called the right number! Let's find you the perfect outfit to wear!" Gilda grabbed Emma's hand and dragged her upstairs, Anna trailing behind.
"So? I kinda figured this might not be the best to wear but can you tell me what exactly is wrong with it?" Emma asked as she stood in front of the other two girls who were sitting on her bed.
"Well, for starters, it's something you've worn a million times so it makes it seem like you don't think today is anything special." Gilda pointed out adjusting her glasses.
Emma gasped at hearing this.
"But I do think today is special!" she protested.
"And that is why we should pick out something else. I think that while what you're wearing is nice, maybe you should try something with a little more color." Anna suggested.
"More color, huh? Hang on." Emma mused before diving into her closet and getting changed.
"How about this?" she asked after putting on a blue pair of jeans, a red t-shirt and a yellow and green jacket.
"No." Gilda right away shot down.
"What? But why? It's more colorful and even pretty new. Gillian, Sonya and Paula picked it out for me when they took me shopping last week." Emma pouted as she looked down at herself.
"It's colorful alright but don't you agree that it's not exactly feminine?" Gilda asked as she looked her up and down.
"Did they maybe help you buy something else too?" Anna asked.
"Yeah but I actually only have it because Gillian literally bought it and forced me to take it. I mean I don't think it's ugly but... Hang on, I'll show you." Emma sighed and changed into a pair of demin-shorts and a hooded grey jacked that was slightly open to reveal a black shirt and a matching beany hat.
They were all silent for a moment.
"You look like Gillian herself." Gilda muttered, breaking the awkward silence.
"Yeah, she said it would be fun so we could match but while she's my friend on all, I want to go out with Norman looking like myself and not someone else." Emma nodded.
"Honestly, I think the shorts aren't so bad. Emma, let's try taking off the hat and putting another jacket on." Anna said, holding out a red jacket
Emma obeyed and did both only somehow this only made it worse.
"Now she looks like Barbara." Gilda frowned and Emma wrinkled her nose.
"Then I'm definitely not wearing this." she huffed and the other two nodded.
It wasn't really that they disliked the girl but ever since they met her it had been beyond obvious that she had a huge crush on Norman.
It made perfect sense that Emma wouldn't want to resemble another girl after Norman while on a date with him.
"Maybe this would be easier of we knew what you'll be doing." Gilda said.
"He's picking me up later and taking me to dinner-" "Say no more! I've got just the thing for that!" Gilda cut Emma off again before reaching into one of the bags and handing something to Emma to put on.
It turned out to be a huge sparkling light blue ball gown.
"Why did you bring this with you? And where did you even get it?" Emma looked down at herself with wide eyes.
"I'm not really sure but I think that I just grabbed it on autopilot when I read you wanted me to bring clothes you'd fit. Still, I think it's good I did!" Gilda nodded proudly to herself.
"Uhm... While I think it's pretty, maybe it's a bit too much. I'm not even sure if Emma can fit through the door with that dress on." Anna shook her head.
Gilda pouted but nodded at the blonde.
"Maybe this will be better." she said before forcing Emma to change into a different dress, this one being a green gala dress.
"There, you can fit through doors and still look fancy and it brings out your eyes too!" she announced.
"Why do you even want me to dress fancy all of a sudden?" Emma asked.
"Because you're going to dinner together and Norman's rich so he's bound to take you to a beautiful classy place!" Gilda clapped her hands together and had sparkles in her eyes as she probably imagined some really fancy restaurant with waiting-lists that go back for months.
"I don't think so, Gilda. Norman's never really been one to show off his wealth and even if it's with Emma, I doubt he'll start now. He wouldn't want to force Emma out of her comfort-zone like that." Anna snapped her out of her fantasy.
"Yeah and we're also going to see a movie after. Not really the kinda thing were you'd wear something like this." Emma added.
"Alright..." Gilda pouted. "Anna, how about you now pick something?"
"Okay, let me see. Something feminine but not overly dressed." Anna stood up and started digging through her own clothes.
Soon Emma was wearing a simple black sweater and a light pink mini-shirt.
"Uhm... The skirt is really cute but it's also really short." Emma squirmed as she tried to pull it further down.
"Yeah, can you turn around and bend down a little?" Gilda asked and when Emma did both she and Anna frowned.
"Yeah, I can almost see your underwear and I don't think that's a good idea for the first date." she said as Emma stood up and blushed at the implication of Norman seeing her pink with white polka-dotted panties.
"Maybe a longer skirt?" she asked and Gilda handed her a long grey one.
"Now I look like a librarian!" she groaned at the boring look.
"Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking when I handed you that skirt." Gilda agreed and they all sighed.
"I'm sorry, Emma but I'm not sure if we're gonna end up finding something really good. For some reason we're running stuck." Anna hated herself for saying it but they were all thinking it.
"Yeah, I get it. Thanks for at least trying, girls." Emma smiled before lowering her head.
They were all silent for a while before a Emma broke it with a sob, making the other two look up in worry.
"Emma, are you crying?!" Gilda asked as she jumped to her feet and when she looked up they saw that sure enough, Emma had tears running down her face.
"I-I'm sorry! Man, I feel so stupid!" Emma whined as she tried to wipe her tears but it was no use as they kept coming.
"It's just that Norman went out of his way to ask me out and I just want to look really nice for him but I guess I can't even do something as simple as that. It feels like I'm letting him and all his efforts down." she whimpered before crying more into her hands.
Seeing their dear friend like this hurt both Gilda and Anna so sharing a look they nodded and ran to hug her.
"Tears away! We're not done yet!" Anna exclaimed, making Emma stop and look up in confusion.
"Listen, you're not gonna let Norman down because we're not letting you down! Grab all your clothes and dump them out so we can compare literally everything we have!" Gilda instructed before both she and Anna ran to dump out all the clothes they brought along as Emma stared in surprise before grinned.
"Thanks, you guys!" she hiccuped before going to to work too.
"This is it! It's feminine, it's pretty, it's not too dressy and just one hundred percent Emma!" Gilda cried victoriously as Emma twirled in front of them as Anna clapped.
"I love it!" the red-head beamed, wearing a black skirt with white flowers, a white tank top and a blue denim jacket.
"Oh Emma, you look lovely!" she cheered as she hugged her friend who happily hugged back.
"It's all thanks to you two! Really, I don't even know how to even thank you!" she almost started crying again from joy.
"How about you keep those eyes dry and just give us all the details of your date later on?" Gilda teased, laughing as Emma blushed.
"What time is he picking you up anyway?" she asked and Emma went to look at her clock before gasping.
"About now!" she cried with wide eyes.
Looking outside they saw it was indeed starting to turn dark.
Apparently they were spending more time on finding Emma the perfect first date outfit then they had thought.
The doorbell then rang, making them all jump.
"Oh god, there he is! What do I do!?" Emma asked, panicking.
"Go answer the door! We'll be fine!" Gilda snapped before shoving the girl out of her own room and slamming the door in her face.
Emma stared in shock before snapping out of it when the doorbel rang again.
Sprinting down the stairs and somehow managing to put on her shoes on the way without falling over she reached and opened the door and came face to face with Norman.
"Norman! Hey!" she greeted excitedly.
"H-Hey!" Norman greeted her back and Emma felt proud to see how his blue eyes slowly looked her up and down.
"Something wrong?" she asked innocently, stifling a giggle when he blushed.
"Not at all!" he blurted before clearing his throat as she laughed at him.
"I was just thinking that you look really nice." he rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile and she laughed some more.
"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself!" she answered as she now looked him up and down.
He was wearing a blue dress-shirt that matched his eyes and black slacks and she could tell he even gelled his hair a little.
"T-Thanks." he thanked her and she giggled at how adorable he was.
"I brought these for you." she gasped when he pulled a bunch of daisies from behind his back.
How had she not even noticed before that he'd been keeping a hand behind his back?
"Oh Norman! You really shouldn't have!" she cried as she accepted them, bringing them to her face to smell them.
"Well, I thought you deserve them." he shrugged.
"Thanks, really. This is really sweet of you." Emma smiled, feeling herself blush too as she said so.
"Just let me put these in a fase and we can go." she rushed inside and came back a few moments later.
"We should get going if we wanna get to the restaurant in time for out reservation. Ready?" Norman held out his hand and she took it.
They had held hands many times through their lives but this was different.
It felt nice.
"You didn't wait too long for me, did you?" Norman asked as they started walking away.
At this question Emma discretely looked back at her bedroom window and spotted Gilda and Anna grinning and waving at her.
"Oh, I managed to stay busy while waiting for you." she answered before full on hugging Norman's whole arm.
"And I'm gonna make sure all that time was well spent!" she added.
The End