“Mia, I feel like a sausage. Don’t you have anything that’s a bit … looser?”
“Rosie, your curves are hot! You should flaunt them!” Mia came up behind her and put her hands on her shoulders, and then squeezed them in disbelief. “Dude, your muscles are like rocks.”
“Yeah, that massage chair is going to have its work cut out for it tomorrow.” Grateful for the distraction, Rosie turned in the mirror to check out the profile view. “How do you wear underwear with this dress? I can see my panty line!”
“One word, my friend: thongs.” Mia giggled, then her face grew serious. “Look,Ithink you look hot as hell, but you’re clearly uncomfortable, and that’snothot. At all.”
“I don’t mind dresses, but this is just … too much.” What was shethinking, trying to borrow a dress from Mia when all she wore were baggy clothes to hide her chub? Mia loved being the center of attention, but Rosie hated the spotlight.
Mia was typing something on her phone when Rosie came back out of the bathroom dressed once more in her leggings and t-shirt. She hung the dress back up in Mia’s overstuffed closet and fell onto her friend’s bed, sighing in frustration.
“Why didn’t I think of this a week ago?”
“No worries! We’re going out.” Mia pocketed her phone and pulled on her shoes.
“Out? Now?”
“Yep. Jade is going to meet us at Nordstrom’s.”
“Why are we going to Nordstrom’s?” Rosie ran a hand down her face. She needed more coffee.
“To go shopping for you, of course.”
Rosie groaned. The one thing she hated more than being the center of attention was trying on clothes. “Do Ihaveto?” she whined.
Mia laughed, grabbed Rosie’s hand, and pulled her up. “If you let us play Barbie with you, I’ll buy you ice cream.”
“It’s winter.”
“So? It’s free ice cream. And there’s that new rolled ice cream place in the food court. We won’t be outside.”
“How does one play Barbie with a human being?” Rosie was grudgingly letting Mia push her out the door.
“It’s simple. You go in the dressing room and try on whatever we bring you, then let us see how it looks.”
Ugh. The two things she hated most, rolled into one. And Mia was grinning like she was going to have the time of her life.
“You’re lucky I love you.”
“I feel like a banana,” Rosie said, exiting the dressing room in a canary yellow one-shoulder dress that exposed way too much thigh on one side. The bow-like extension on the shoulder tickled her ear as she turned around for her friends.
“Because you’re so appealing!” Mia laughed and applauded her pun, while Jade hid her face.
“It’s not a great color for you, sugar, and it feels way out of season.” Jade scanned Rosie’s outfit critically as she shook her head, tiny black braids flying around her shoulders.
Season? Fashion had seasons? This was why Rosie stuck to scrubs and t-shirts. Gram had raised her to be more modest, and she just never paid attention to fashion. Once the girls in her school hit puberty, it hadn’t mattered what they wore; Rosie wasn’t allowed to be fashionable, because it inevitably showed too much skin. Gram had never fat-shamed her. The girls in high school had done that plenty, but she had insisted on dressing Rosie modestly growing up. It hadn’t helped with the teasing. While her peers roamed the halls in short skirts and heels, Rosie could never show any skin above her knee.
“Guess that explains why it was on the clearance rack,” Rosie said as she shut the door once more.
“Try the dark red one on next!” Jade called in.
The one covered in sequins. Of course.
Rosie wriggled her way into the dark glittery tube of fabric and managed to pull it all the way down. And down. Anddown.
“This is almost ankle length on me!” She hobbled out of the dressing stall feeling like Morticia Addams. “Why do these designers think plus-size women are all five-foot-nine?” She pulled at the straps, which, while thick enough to hide a bra, were so long on her she could see the edge of her cups in the mirror.
“That could look amazing on you, Rosie! I wouldn’t need much time at all to alter it.” Jade’s dark eyes glittered with possibilities.
