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Monica perked up when she heard the bell above the door go off. It was the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday, which was typically a slow period.
Inside walked what appeared to be a young couple. The man had opened the door and held it for his companion. He was much taller than her, and in fact taller than most people. When he glanced over at Monica she saw he had the most striking violet eyes she had ever seen.
He slid his arm down to the girl's waist and escorted her all the way to the front counter
“Hello," he said calmly. “We're looking for a prom dress.”
“Well,” Monica responded. “You have certainly come to the right place.”
The young lady shot her excited smile. The girl did look around the right age for a prom dress.
“Do you know your dress size?” Monica asked her.
The girl hesitated for a moment. “Do you mean like wedding dress sizes or regular dress sizes?”.
“We do use something closer to wedding dress sizing for our formal dresses.” Monica explained. “However, if you can tell me your regular dress size, I can tell you what that translates to in this shop.”
The boy butted in. He leant forwards and casually spouted off both a regular and a formal dress size. For a moment both Monica and the girl just stared at him.
“Uhhh, Caleb!” The girl groaned. “I can do this by myself. There's no need for you to butt in.”
The boy laughed upon hearing that. He reached over and ruffled her hair. “Don't worry about it Pip-Squeak,” he said. “Just remember that I get veto on your little outfit.”
“Are you still grumpy that I'm taking Max?” The girl asked.
The young man shrugged, which drove the girl to giggle at him.
“You know I'm only letting him take me because you said you'd be too busy at University.” The girl pointed out. “We've known him for years Caleb, you're even good friends with his older sister. I don't see why you're getting so out of shape about this now .”
Violet eyes narrowed as the boy let off a soft huff. “You know I don't mean to leave you high and dry Pip-squeak,” he said calmly. “It's just exam week, so I can't excuse being away just for prom. Besides, you already got to go to my prom. I don't see why you need to go again.”
“Yeah, but that was your prom,” the girl pointed out. “This one's mine. Of course I'm going!”
Monica let the two of them argue it out while she pretended to bustle around in the back. She already had a couple dresses in mind, so she went back and got them. Then she hung them in one of the change rooms.
“Okay miss,” she gestured to the young lady and led her towards the change room. “Please try on the first one and then come out to show it off.”
“Yeah, I want to see them!” The boy called teasingly as the girl disappeared behind the curtains of the changing room.
The first dress the girl showed off was a purple dress with rhinestones and ruching across the skirt. It was technically one of last year's pieces, however, it was in a neutral enough style that it would still fit in with this year's trend cycle.
The dress was a rich deep purple and strapless. Monica clapped when the girl came out of the change room. “Oh, that looks lovely on you,” she said. “That shade of purple really compliments your skin tone!”
Instead of agreeing the boy frowned and shook his head.
“No.” He said curtly. “I don't like that at all. It's so frumpy, and look at that neckline. Try something else on.”
The girl rolled her eyes but stepped back inside of the changing room anyway. Since it didn’t seem to bother the girl Monica said nothing. It wasn’t her place to hand out relationship advice, but they wouldn’t stay together long if he kept bossing the poor girl around like that.
The next dress that the young lady showed off was a newer style. It was a baby pink mermaid style gown with a wide boat neckline and a trail of silk flowers all over it. It was very modern and on trend. The dress was also quite expensive, however the boy had indicated earlier that he was not overly concerned with the price. He told her his budget, and this dress was just within it. Monica smiled sweetly at the young girl. “This one compliments your hair better anyways,” she told her. “It is also very new and on trend.”
The girl did a few twirls in it. “I guess I like it,” she said.
The boy, Caleb, she believed he was called, shook his head again. “No Pip-Squeak, I don't like this one either.”
The girl glared at him. “Why not Caleb?”
“It just reminds me of like a Barbie doll or something.” He said after a moment's thought. “I mean, I guess if you want to look like a dolly, then you can. I just thought you wanted something with more class for your final prom.”
The young girl seemed quite dejected as she strode back into the changing room.
Monica was actually a little worried about the last dress she had left in the changing room. Typically most girls wanted to see multiple dresses but Monica always put them in sets of three in the room for them. It was just a number that was easy to work with and discuss. The last one of this opening round had been more risque than the other two. She often liked to mix and match a lot of colors and styles in the first couple of rounds to try and get a feeling for what her customer was interested in.
Monica could already tell that the boy was not going to like what was coming.
It took a bit more time for the young lady to return from the dressing room in the next dress.
The dress she was wearing was a sleek black number with lace sleeves and the thigh high slit. It didn't show off a particularly large amount of cleavage but it was a little too sexy for a high schooler.
The boy snarled. “Absolutely not! I don't want the fools at your school panting after you whileI'm not there.”
The girls stomped her foot and glared at him. “I like this one," she argued.
Caleb shook his head and waved his hand about. There was a flicker of blue and red around the girl as she floated slightly and was shoved back into the dressing room.
“CALEB,” the girl yelled. “Using your Evol is cheating!”
“Take It off,” the boy demanded.
Monica could not help but shiver at the tone he was using. She’d never seen an Evol user so casually display their powers before.
The young girl continued to yell at him through the curtains of the changing room. “I can't believe you're vetoing everything. You didn't have a problem with the dress I wore to your prom two years ago!”
“Of course not,” the boy snarked back. “You went out shopping with Josephine for that one. I didn't see it until you guys got home with it. Besides, I was there to look after you then, so it was all right.”
“You're so overprotective. You act like I'm going to get kidnapped out of the school gymnasium.” the girl giggled, her temper beginning to cool.
The boyfriend hummed low in his throat but did not respond
“You know just because you're not going to be there doesn't mean that I'm going to be alone. Did you forget that I'm going with Max?” His girlfriend teased.
A sour look appeared on the boy's face at the name Max.
“Right, your friend...” the boy said after a moment
“Mmhmm.” The girl agreed.
“Please give me a couple of moments and I will pick out some new dresses for you to try on.” Monica told the girl as she stepped towards the back of the store where the dresses were stored. The boy strode after her.
“If you could please pick something in a dark color, I would prefer that,” he said. “That way if one of the fools at her school spills something on her it won't go see through.”
“I can certainly do that," she told the boy.
“I'd also appreciate it if you picked out something with some sort of sleeve, please. A sleeveless dress can fall or get pulled down during dancing,” the boy added on. “Actually, I'd also prefer that the dress not be floor length.”
“Most prom dresses are of the longer, more formal variety. I don't have too many short dresses available.” She told him and she flicked through the racks.
“I don't want her in a short dress.” The boy said with a shake of his head. “I want her in a dress that's covered, but doesn't reach past the ankles when she's wearing shoes. What if there's an emergency and she needs to run? It'll be easier if she doesn't have to heft several fistfuls of dress.”Mr. overprotective kept going.
“Oh I almost forgot, absolutely no slits. I don't want to think about what the pigs at her school might try to do if she shows off that much skin.”
Well, none of his requests were particularly ridiculous. Monica couldn't help but feel that the boy was a little controlling. Still, if he was the one paying...
Of course, working in the industry she did controlling, family members and lovers were something one simply had to deal with. Whether it was prom dresses, debutante dresses, or wedding dresses, it was always a relative certainty that someone in the peanut gallery thought they knew better than the person who was going to be wearing the dress. In this case though it was clear that the boy was controlling the finances so it was him that Monica had to please if she wanted to get a sale out of the time she was going to spend with them today.
After a couple of minutes Monica returned to the changing room and passed the young lady three more dresses. All together he had a lot of requests, but none of them had been overly complicated. Certainly he had narrowed down the selection quite heavily, but Monica did have the largest dress shop in her area of Linkon City. She had managed to find eight or nine dresses that she thought would fit the situation.
The three she was bringing over at the moment were the three that she thought would be acceptable for the boy but also with the most in fashion for the young lady.
The first one the young lady came out in was a deep navy blue with long sleeves and silver netting over the skirt. It had a kind of celestial night sky inspiration going on and was quite classic.
The boy nodded upon seeing it, but shockingly it was the girl who had an issue.
“I don't like it at all, Caleb.” The girl told her boyfriend after doing a few swirls. “It's just not my style.”
Caleb nodded “Okay, try on the other ones. If we can't find something we both like here Pip-Squeak there are always other places we can go to.”
Monica sure hoped that after all the trouble she'd gone through she would be the one getting the commission on this, but she knew that some people had to go through multiple stores before they found anything that they liked. It was, sadly, a part of the business.
The next dress the girl came out in was a deep emerald green. It did have a v-neck, however it had large batwing sleeves with silver gems and ruffles across it. The gown itself was slightly sexy, and was more mature than your average prom gown.
The boyfriend frowned again when he saw it. “I don't like the neckline at all,” he said.
The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. “I could bring a shawl?” She offered in compromise.
The boyfriend simply shook his head again and gestured back into the change room.
A few minutes later the girl re-emerged in the final dress Monica had picked out for round two. This dress was actually from several years ago and had been unpopular. It was a deep scarlett gown with bright red lace all over the half sleeves and bodice. It did have a sweetheart neckline but it also had a layer of lace that went all the way up to the throat for coverage. It had a full skirt but was slightly shorter than most gowns. On the girl you could see the tops of her feet. With some proper shoes it would come to her ankles.
The girl practically lit up as she twirled around to show it off.
“I really like this one Caleb! It reminds me of an apple.” She said.
The boy laughed upon hearing that. He got up from the viewing chair and slowly walked around his girlfriend. “It's okay,” he said when he was done with his examination.
“We also have matching opera gloves and a selection of shoes in the other room, if you two would like to take a look at them.” Monica offered, smelling a sale..
The girl bounced up and down and glanced over at the boy excitedly.
“Ooh, Caleb, can I have high heels?” She asked while skittering into the adjoining room. Caleb gave a considering hum as he followed after her.
“I don't particularly want you in high heels, Pip-Squeak. You know you don't have the best balance in them.” The boy said as he watched her dart around the room. The girl was picking up heels and holding them before the dress, likely comparing colours.
“But it's prom!” the girl whined.
“I don't think it being prom is going to stop you from spraining your ankle again, just like last time. And this time I won't be available to carry you home.” The boy said.
Monica could see the clear displeasure on the girl's face as she spoke with the boy about this. “But I don't want any flats or runners," she huffed.
Monica strode into the room and fetched a pair of red and black kitten heels from the rack. “Here,” she said, holding them out to the couple. “We have these In seven different sizes. They barely have an inch of heel.”
The boy took the heels from her and examined them carefully. After a minute he slowly nodded his head. “These are okay, what do you think Pip-Squeak?”
The girl looked them over and squealed. “I love them!” She said excitedly. “Can I get these too?” She pointed at a red pair of elbow length lace gloves.
The boyfriend directed the girl to change back into her clothing and then headed towards the front register.
Monica rang him up for a pair of gloves, the dress, and the heels.
“Will she need a clutch or purse?” Monica asked, angling for a bit more commission.
The boy shook his head. “I’ve already gotten her the purse she's going to use that night." he said.
Monica rang them up and assured the boy that she would have the dress boxed and ready within 5 minutes.
When she had the dress done up and everything packed up in one of the boutique’s bags she handed them over to the excited girl.
“Good luck with your prom!” Monica told her.
The girl smiled at her. “Yeah! It'll be my first dance without Caleb,” she said. “I'm going to miss him, but I guess it's kind of exciting!”
The boy pouted and flicked the girl on the forehead. “Hey, that's kind of rude!” He said. “Maybe I won't invite you to my University's dance at the end of the year.”
The girl gasped.” No fair Caleb, you already promised I could go meet all your University friends again.”
He laughed and pushed the girl out of the boutique. “All right, let's get going, we still have to get groceries.”
Monica watched the young couple go with a faint frown. On one end the boy had been so very controlling about the girls outfits. On the other hand that was nothing Monica didn't deal with when Dad's or older brothers came along. She’d never heard of going dress shopping with your boyfriend before, but she also never heard of someone attending prom with someone who wasn't their boyfriend while in a committed relationship. Perhaps she was just old fashioned?
She supposed the age gap made things difficult for them. Although, since the girl was going to prom, this was likely her last year. The boy had probably just started University so the age gap wasn't too excessive. Monica shook her head and put the two of them out of her mind. She got in a pretty good commission off of those sales and the owner would be pleased with how she'd handled things. Prom season was always a bit of a hassle at the shop, but most of the girls going to prom were better than the absolute bridezilla's that sometimes came in.
Monica shrugged and went back to wiping down the counters. She was off soon anyways, and she had better things to ponder in life.