Page 20 of My Big Fat Shifter Wedding

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

“You’ve got a longer torso and shorter legs, so you’re going to want to wear things at your natural waist rather than your literal waist,” Amanda said blithely, marching along in her platform heels almost faster than I could keep up with my flats.

“I have two types of waists?” I questioned, befuddled.

The entire day seemed a bit like a dream, which was the only way I could explain how I ended up at one of the few malls still alive in our area, following along behind Amanda like a lost, beige duckling.

“Oh, you have many! Natural waist, empire seam, side waist, dropped waist, basque waist, need I go on?”

Uh, yeah, she most definitely did.

“And to answer the question you haven’t asked yet, your natural waist is the narrowest part of your torso, wherever that may be, normally somewhere very different from where your pants’ waistline would sit.”

“Oh, uh, I see.”

“Do you? Good! Because that’ll make this next part much simpler.”

“Next part?”

The next part was us beelining to a dressing room and me being shoved into it while my blonde chaperone disappeared to find various garments for me to try on.

I was stronger than her. I should throw her into the closest wastebasket and make a run for it, but for some reason I stayed.

Maybe because, despite having two older sisters, I’d never had the classic shopping montage that every teenage girl craved.

It wasn’t like my family didn’t have money; we were very lucky to be well off with none of us worrying about bills or where the next meal was coming from. We weren’t millionaires—at least not individually—but we were all financially comfortable. It was just that… well, I was too damn shy or awkward growing up. At first it was that I was a chubby girl in the aughts, which was a fate worse than death. Then it was that my boobs came in and they made me feel so uncomfortable that I only wanted to cover up. By the time I finally grew out of that phase and began to explore what it meant to be a grown woman, it was like I’d missed my chance to find my own style and kinda wore whatever felt appropriate for the office.

“Here you are!”

Amanda’s cheery voice cut through the dismal line of thinking brewing within my mind, and even if I did want to linger in the misery, I couldn’t. Mostly because I was suddenly caught in a deluge of garment after garment.

“I’m pretty sure you’re a deep autumn or a deep winter based on your tan overtone and yellowish undertones,” she said while a blouse, a skirt, and a pantsuit joined the growing pile. “I’m leaning more toward autumn, but I played all over the spectrum at first for us to really hone it down.”

“Uh… sure?” I had no idea what she was talking about. Autumn? Was this a horoscope thing? Last thing I checked, I was born in July.

“I also figured by your style that you’re more of a comfort-casual kind of girl, so I made sure to get some basics that you can play around with for different occasions.”

Cue two pairs of trousers, some jeans, and another skirt flopping down.

“You know, there’s a sign in here that says the limit is ten items per customer.”

Suddenly, the door to my changing room was opening despite it being locked, and Amanda peeked her head in, all smiles.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. You’re with me.”

“How did you get in here?”

She held up her hand where a bit of metal hung on a ring from one of her fingers. “I have the key, of course!”

Right. Of course.

“So, I’m guessing you come here often?”

“You could say that,” she said before looking over the puddle of clothing that was both around and on top of me. “Hmm… we need a few co-ords!”

“Amanda!”

But she was already gone.