DARKSIDE

21 | Dressing & Impressing

As the women blinked back at her from the mirror, Nova found her hands patting her dress from the waist down, flattening her palms open against its fabric. Taking a deep breath in, she eyed herself through the mirror, the lavender colour dress that she wore having taken a part of her soul with it.

Derek had taken her to that place again, the one from which they'd shopped previously and this time the receptionist was even friendlier with her. She had three dresses taken out for her already when they'd arrived, and as soon as Nova reached the floor she was rushed into the changing rooms with all the three dresses hanging in her arms.

The first one had been red, and Nova didn't want to wear red, so that was cancelled. The next one was a gorgeous sea-green colour which suited her perfectly and so she bought it. But when her eyes landed on the lavender one, her breath was literally taken away and Nova realised how other girls felt when they went shopping and gushed about their dress, for Nova hadn't really been that great of a shopper before.

Having bought the sea-green one already, Nova wondered if Derek would mind buying another dress; which was why she handed her own credit card to Olivia - which was the receptionist's name, Nova learned - and was about to discreetly sneak that particular product when Olivia froze in her tracks and pulled the card out. Nova was confused for a second before she realised who would have that affect and who would actually make her do that. Sighing to herself, she just let it be and took the credit card back and put it back in her bag, hiding a smile that wanted to break out - that traitor.

Now as she stood in front of the mirror of her house, the smile broke out and Nova blushed, brushing her hair behind her ear.

She hadn't done much with her makeup and hair; it was the same simplistic and minimalist look she'd gone for at the retirement part and anywhere she'd ever gone for, really. Her hair wasn't tied; it fell freely on her shoulders. Her makeup had been the subtlest she could manage. A purse that she took out from her closet that she hadn't taken with her to the penthouse, a pair of shining, silver block heels waiting for her. She liked how she looked and the smile on her face just won't remain hidden.

It did, however, vanish as soon as she heard a knock on her door and she gasped at the sudden sound. "Come in!" she said hastily, in a high-pitched voice, she cleared her throat. She adjusted herself on the stool then, patting down her dress once again and looking at the doors of her room wide-eyed, in anticipation, through her mirror when she heard the door click open. She knew who it was; of course, there was no one else apart from her and him.

"Are you ready to -"

When Derek cut himself off, Nova's breath hitched in her throat too.

"Yes," she heard herself reply to his incomplete question in a soft voice. Her eyes travelling from his form to her eyes, trying to distract herself and not make her eyes travel over him because she knew she would be stuck there. And she hoped to get done with the party as soon as she could. Because where she never really cared if Abby invited her or if she really had to go, this time she felt obligated because one, the party wasn't the usual college party; two, it was connected to her own company that she now worked for; and three, Abby had invited her just too many times and she'd declined just as many and now she felt something that seemed a lot like the feeling of guilt when she thought of declining again.

There was just one more reason, a reason that perhaps was the most important one - she got to have Derek by her side. She had no idea what a thought like that was doing there, but she had now decided to stop ignoring it. It was there, she was there, he was there. And they were together. Real or fake, it didn't matter because the fake now had to be real.

Nova had gone so deep in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when Derek had reached right behind her, standing so near her and looking down at her through the mirror. The hand that landed on her shoulders was the same one that pulled her out of her thoughts. And now that hand was squeezing her shoulder softly, making Nova shudder lightly.