Family members: acceptable.
Friends: situational.
Romantic partners: expected.
Your ex-boyfriend’s brother who just admitted sustained interest: not on the approved list.
She tried yanking the dress downward instead, maybe if she could just exit the situation and start over, but the fabric cinched tighter and the tulle pressed in closer.
She was being actively opposed by textiles now.
April twisted to find one last angle. The strap dug deeper. The zipper remained philosophically opposed to cooperation. She was trapped now; the dress had made its position clear.
She’d been back here too long.
Long enough that silence was starting to mean something.
Long enough that Liam was definitely registering her absence as notable.
This is what happens when you reach for things you’re not supposed to want. The universe sends you obstacles you don’t have the manual for and locks you inside them.
Her options had narrowed to one.
April closed her eyes.
She gave up.
“Liam?” Her voice came out smaller than intended, which was rude of it.
“Yes?” He sounded calm. Patient.
April tried for lightness. “Are you… sitting there waiting for me to emerge in a gown like a butterfly from a cocoon?”
The silence that followed was careful, like she’d asked him a trick question and he was considering the possible traps.
“…Yes.”
Of course he was.
“So it turns out I am not a very good butterfly.”
“April, you don’t need to be self-conscious.” His tone was gentle, and so calmly assured it bordered on unfair. “I promise, whatever you’re worried about isn’t—”
“Liam.” April cut him off because if she let him finish being kind, she’d lose the nerve “The dress is eating me and it won’t let me out.”
Silence.
Then, carefully: "Can I come in?"
April stood there in her tulle prison.
Saying yes meant admitting fancy came with instructions she didn't have. That sometimes you needed rescue from the very things you'd reached for.
“…Yes.”
The curtain rustled.
April tried for casual recovery. “It’s just the zipper. Should be quick. You probably don’t even need to—”
