Getting a Life Ch. 05

"Hi...Maurice?" She asked, reading his name tag.

He smiled at her, it wasn't a pleasant one, it was quite condescending, as though she had made an error he was lenient enough to ignore, "It's pronounced with a French accent dear, it's not English."

She wanted to tell him they weren't in France, but was in no mood to get into a petty argument with a salesperson, and even less in such a fancy place, "Right. Please, I'd like to purchase a dress, the golden one." She pointed toward the show-glass.

His eyes followed the direction her hand had pointed at, he looked at the dress and then at her and at the dress again, apparently he was trying to figure out how her size 14 frame would fit into a size 10 dress, he smiled at her- again, nothing pleasant, "For a friend or a relative?" He asked, his pea-sized brain already deciding it couldn't possibly be hers.

She bit her tongue to prevent herself from making a smart comment and replied instead, "I don't believe it's any of your business who the dress is for. Your job is to take my money and hand me whatever I want, isn't it?" She replied, using the same tight smile he had bestowed upon her.

She wanted to click her heels in excitement when his smile became a frown, "Of course." he replied in a clipped voice. He left his post to get the dress while Selly fed her eyes, the store definitely had some classy outfits, most of what she assumed socialites would love to have on, none of which interested her- it's not like they would fit anyway.

The man returned with the dress in his hand, he folded it and placed it inside an expensive shopping bag with the store's name boldly written on it, "That will be $1,100 please."

Selly's mouth went agape, what the hell? Eleven hundred dollars for a dress? What was it? Prada? She had never spent anything more than $600 on an outfit, and that had been for graduation- and she had beat herself up after she bought the dress. Her first instinct was to walk out of the store- and never return, but seeing that triumphant smile on the salesboy's face, like he knew she couldn't afford it anyway, made her banish that thought, it wasn't like she couldn't afford it, she just preferred not to waste her money on items she knew she wouldn't have in her closet in two years. She chewed at her bottom lip- something she would do when she was in thought.

The salesboy was staring at her with that smirk she wanted to slap off his face, she could tell he was just waiting for her to tell him she wasn't buying and walk out of his store- well, it would be a cold day in hell before she'd let him win. She got out her wallet and removed her credit card- the one she kept for emergencies because this classified as one, she slid it over to him, a warm smile on her face, and said in her sweetest voice, "Here you go."

The smile briefly faded from the salesboy's lips as he took the card, his eyes remained on her as he swiped it as though he was just hoping it would be declined, unfortunately he didn't get that. The money was deducted and he all but slammed the card on the counter, "Here." He ground out.

"Don't break it please. Can I have my purchase?" She asked sweetly as she returned the card to where it was kept.

He pushed it toward her, "Thank you." She turned to leave, but felt the urge to rub her victory in just a little more, she smiled at him, "Sorry, don't I get one of those appreciation speeches? I mean, this is a fancy place, I would expect some gratitude for all the money I just spent on a dress I'm sure isn't worth half the price I paid."

He glared at her, his bad mood was leverage for her good one, "Thank you for shopping here, do come again." He said coldly.

"Well, unless someone sacks you, I'll just get my clothes at Target from now on." She replied and then walked out with an extra sway to her hips, a shit-eating grin on her face.

Selly sighed, her eyes leaving the mirror. She had bought this dress for one man, but was now wearing it for another. She had debated with herself extensively if wearing this dress was the right thing to do, but she had come to the conclusion that Chukky would approve of this. He approved of Tai, so he would be pleased that she was putting some effort into this.

She looked at her wrist-watch, Linda and Chuks would be here any minute now, they had insisted on picking her up to be sure she wouldn't cow out. Chuks was especially cool with her dating again- he insisted it was a date. She had thought he would disapprove of his brother's fiancee dating another guy, but she was pleaantly surprised to find that he was ecstatic about it.

She let a small smile light up her face, it felt good to have people around encouraging her. Just as the thought crossed her mind, she heard the familiar sound of Chuks' salon car pulling up her drive-way...show time.