Amara's POV

"There's no way we're letting you guys pay for this." I say.

"Then I'm unfriending you." Beena scoffs.

"Beena! That's unfair!" Zoya frowns.

"You guys need to be quiet and just shop!" Dina yells.

The associate at the entrance of YSL tries not to stare at us while we're arguing but I can tell by the look on her face, she's finding this all very amusing.

"We booked the store for three hours! Can't back out now!" Beena grabs my arm and pulls me inside

Dina does the same for Zoya, whilst the store associate closed the door behind us.

Three hours? That must be why she wanted us to leave the house by 9 AM.

My eyes fall on the first piece of clothing I could see and the price tag on it was loud and clear.

I gasp. "$3,000 for a top? I can't do this."

"Shut up!" Beena scolds me. "I had them pre-pick a few dresses for each of us, so we can get this done faster. If you don't like any of the ones they chose, we can roam the store."

The store associate, who's name I learned is Rose, pulls out four separate racks with the clothes. Each rack has one of our names on it.

I go to the rack with my name on it. Just one quick look at the dresses, and I'm absolutely mesmerized. They're so stunning!

I guess a dress wouldn't hurt... I'll pay them back by driving them around for... I guess the rest of my life.

I graze my fingers along the red dresses that are hung on the rack.

"Since the invitation said red gowns for women, I had them choose out their most flattering ones for us." Beena says. "Rose, our style consultant, has chosen one that she thinks would flatter each of us."

"Who should we start with. Ma'am?" She asks Beena.

"Amara!" Beena claps.

"Uh... How about we start with-"

"Nope! We start with you!" Beena doesn't even give me the chance to sit down.

Rose nods. She unhooks a few of the dresses from my rack. "Please, follow me, Ma'am."

I look back at my friends while following Rose, they're looking back at me with so much more excitement. I guess it reminds them of the time we used to play dress up, except, now it's real expensive clothes.

I try out three dresses and even though I found them pretty, Beena said they didn't give off the wow factor.

"It's just a charity event! Who cares as long as I have something to wear!" I say out of frustration. It's not easy changing in and out of gowns.

Beena shakes her head. "Stop complaining and get back in there to show us another one."

I groan in annoyance but abide to her commands. "Fine!"

Once in the change room, Rose suddenly makes an approving noise, "This one! This one would look absolutely stunning on you!"

I nod and change into the dress. It's more like borderline-ball gown made out of a heavy silk material. It feels fancy but I wonder how fancy it actually looks.

When I look in the mirror, I gasp. "I look like a princess." I whisper to myself.

I instantly fell in love with it. If my friends disapprove this one, I'm still sticking with it.

The girls and Rose are waiting out for me in the front of the changing room. Once I step out of the room, I hear multiple gasps.

"Mash'Allah! Mash'Allah! Mash'Allah! Amara, you look so gorgeous in this!" Zoya says.

"This looks so good on you that I'm speechless. Mash'Allah!" Dina says.

"I think I'm crying because of how good you look." Beena sniffles.

Rose looks really proud that she was able to find me the perfect gown.

"Thank you so much, guys! This is actually my favourite too! I was going to get it even if you said no." I laughed. "But don't you think it's a little too much for a charity event?"

Dina scoffs. "If you saw what kinds of clothes people in these higher level events show up in, you'd feel under-dressed."

Beena nods. "They're always trying to show off who looks the best, most fancy. It's so annoying, sometimes."

"If you say so..." I happily twirl around in the dress and wonder what Peter would think when he sees me in it.

"Peter will drop dead when he sees you in this." Beena says as if she read my mind. "And if he doesn't then I'll make sure he drops dead."

Zoya laughs. "Yeah! He'd probably get on his knees to propose right then and there."

The thought makes me blush. "Guys!"

"Ou! Amara's flustered!" Dina teases.

After I change out, the rest of the girls find their dresses, which are equally as stunning, if not more. This all takes about three hours in total, mostly because Beena couldn't settle on one until the very end.

Rose cashes us out. "Your total is $15,000, Ma'am."

"Cool." Beena hands Rose her card.

"W-what was the t-total?" Zoya could barely speak.

I'm sure I blacked out there for a second. "$15,000? I can't accept this!"

"Dina, do you hear anything?" Beena mocks us, jokingly.

"Nope, let's get the bags and leave." Dina giggles.

I have a headache from looking at the price. "Guys, this isn't funny. How do we repay you back? I-"

Beena turns to me, "You can drive us around for the rest of our lives."

Dina turns to Zoya, "And you can keep giving us the most spot-on advice for the rest of our lives."

What did I do to deserve such sweet friends?

After we leave, Dina suddenly says, "What about purses and shoes?"

Zoya and I look at each other, "Don't even think about it." We say in sync.

"Too late, already thought about it! Next stop Chanel then Christian Louboutin!" Beena says excitedly.

Zoya and I groan, "Here we go again."

• • •

I finally settle down onto my bed, snuggled inside my blanket. We came home around 9 PM because Beena just couldn't stop going from store to store. We were out shopping for literally 12 hours.

Just as I was about to shut my eyes, I remember how I sent peter a text last night about how the event planning was going.

I pick up my phone, half expecting a text back from him.

As I thought, disappointment flushed over me. He didn't text me back but what's even worst is that it says he read them.

"He's just busy." I tell myself. "Or he's 100% over you and moved on."

I sigh. As I was about to put my phone back on the nightstand, it dings.

I snatch it back only to find a text in the group chat I have with my friends.

"Let's make sure to look sexy tomorrow, ladies. Get a good night's sleep." Beena says.

I smile and shake my head. Beena loves socializing, I wish I was more like her.

I think about how I'll be seeing Peter tomorrow properly after a whole two weeks and drift into sleep.

- - -

A/N: Peter's going to show up in the next chapter!

Next Update: Tuesday, July 30, 2019.

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