Shawn
Starter for @mainevcnt with Neraine
Rows and rows of sparkly, sequined, shiny, colorful, luminescent, lacey, dresses filled the store racks. Sweeping floor-length evening gowns, cute prom dresses with frills and embroidered beads, elegant wedding dresses in pale white, eggshell, and cream. The top 100 indie-rock Spotify list played on the store clerk’s bluetooth stereo from the front desk. The college-age woman lounged in her little wood chair with her feet propped-up on the counter. Dressed in plaid and ripped blue jeans she had her nose in the new best selling YA romance novel, Afternoon Stars. It was a lazy and quiet Tuesday afternoon at the large, sprawling mall in downtown. Nobody but elderly couples and a handful of socialites to rich to wait for weekend. There were three dress boutiques in this mall alone, one of them had to have what Neraine was looking for.
Neraine was systematic as she riffled through each dress, checking for color, texture, weight, size, and design. On the other side of the rack a woman and daughter debated the merits of a dress for homecoming. In the far back corner, a flock of women clucked over how to best coordinate the bridesmaid for a wedding. Shawn meanwhile, hovered at Neraine’s left elbow, well out of place in the shape as the only male. Neraine removed a midnight blue, sequined evening gown with a plunging neckline and girlish frilled sleeves. The color was right, but Neraine estimated the fabric would be too tight around the hips for the choreography she had planned. She also didn’t have near the cleavage to pull off that neckline, and the sequins were a bit tacky. She glanced at Shawn and held it up to him. Designed for a taller woman it’d almost fit him with some clever tailoring.
“This seems more your style than mine,” Neraine commented, appraisingly. “But I don’t know if something so dark would suit you.”










