Chapter 7 Fashion Advice

Ella POV As we were heading into the building, I heard someone call my name. I turned around to find my parents walking toward us. Not far behind them were David's parents and even Amanda's family with all of her siblings. It seemed this opening was a far bigger event than I had realized. We now had quite a large group heading in to check out the shopping center together, but I couldn't have been happier. I wanted to savor this time with my parents since I had a chance to do things over and keep my good relationship with them. Amanda seemed more than a little annoyed that her siblings were here, which I found funny. She always seemed so jealous that I was an only child; she often made comments about how lucky I was to have so much attention. She had two older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister, and I'm sure it did make her feel terrible to get lost in the mix sometimes. But Amanda was spoiled in her own way—I just don't think she realized it. Maybe if she did, things would have been different. We headed inside and started making our way through the clothing stores—there were a lot of them. As I was walking around the racks, running my hand along some of the clothes to see if anything caught my eye, my father asked, "What exactly are we looking for?" "I want something to wear to the council meeting," I said. My father's face lit up with that proud smile again. "You're coming to the meeting?" he said in surprise. I nodded. "It seems very important to you, and I feel like now that I'm engaged, it's important for me to start taking my duties more seriously." My mother and father exchanged a look, and I could tell this was something they had been discussing between themselves. My mother looked just as surprised as my father was. I found it a little funny but also sad that I couldn't talk to them about how much I had learned in the time since I married David. None of that had happened for them—they would think I was crazy if I started talking about things that would happen in the future and things that, hopefully, I could stop from happening. I just had to pretend like nothing strange was going on and do my best not to waste this second chance. We didn't find anything in the first store, so we went to another. Amanda was making an effort to stay away from her siblings, who seemed intent on either talking her ear off or teasing her. She looked absolutely furious about it, and I kept catching David glancing at her sympathetically. By the time we were heading into the third store, I could see that Amanda was completely agitated—her face was beginning to turn red from her anger. I didn't want her to cause a scene, so I approached her siblings and smiled at her oldest sister. If there was one thing I knew about her family, it was that her siblings were always hungry. If anyone ever commented on it, Amanda would just smirk and say they were lucky enough to have high metabolisms. “I hear the food court here is amazing,” I said. "I am hungry," she replied, looking over her shoulder at her brothers. "Should we take a break and get some food?" "Heck yeah!" they said in unison. "I've barely eaten all day," their younger sister added. Amanda rolled her eyes at all of them. "Go on ahead," she said. "I'll meet up with you later." Without argument, all of her siblings hurried off toward the smell of popcorn and pretzels. Amanda took a deep breath and, looking at me reluctantly, said, "Thanks." "No problem," I replied. "After all, I need you to be able to focus on helping me find the perfect dress, right?" She smirked a little and nodded. "Absolutely." With that out of the way, we headed into the third store. I had a good feeling about this one—the colors I could see on the racks were a little less flashy, and it seemed there were more business-casual outfits. Hopefully, I would be able to find something appropriate. “So boring,” Amanda said as we walked by a rack of pantsuits. I paused and started to flip through the jackets thoughtfully. They weren't boring; I actually thought the cut was very stylish while still being business-appropriate. I settled on a color that I thought would complement my complexion. It was a pretty emerald green tone. I pulled the jacket out and held it up against myself. “Are you serious?” Amanda asked with a scoff. “If you want to blend in with the wallpaper, I guess that'll work. You want something that'll have people talking.” I didn’t, but I wasn't going to tell her that. If I started acting completely differently too quickly, it would make people suspicious, especially David and Amanda. For the time being, I had to play along. “This is why I need your help,” I said as I put the jacket over my arm and grabbed a matching skirt in my size. “I'll keep this as a backup.” “You're not going to need it,” Amanda said. She turned and looked around the store slowly with her hands on her hips. After looking for a moment, she gasped with excitement and rushed off toward the corner. I followed after her slowly. I could vaguely remember an outfit she had picked out for me around this time in our original timeline, and it was hideous. I had a bad feeling that I was about to see that dress again. My sense of dread was correct. A moment later, Amanda was holding a neon pink strapless dress with a flowing skirt and flowers embroidered on the bodice with sparkly gemstones. She waved it at me with a huge grin on her face. “This is perfect for you,” she said. “It looks like your style,” David agreed. I hadn't even realized that he had walked up behind me until he spoke. I could tell David hated my style, but he was trying to flatter me. I used to think it was because he loved me, but actually it was because he needed to stay on my good side. I could feel myself struggling to smile. “Are you sure?” I asked. “Just try it on and you'll see,” Amanda said, shoving the dress into my arms. This isn't the kind of thing I ever would have argued with her about in the past, so I took the dress into the fitting room. I tried it on, and it was even worse than I remembered. Then I tried the suit on; it complimented my build well and it made me look a little bit older. I would just buy both—it was a simple solution. I walked out with the suit, and I could see Amanda disappointed that I didn't step out of the fitting room wearing the dress, but I pretended not to notice. She was having a very disappointing day, and it seemed it was starting to wear on her. After all, so little of the attention had been solely on her; even David's attention had mostly been focused on me since I met up with them. It must have been driving her crazy. As I approached the checkout, Amanda grabbed me by the elbow. "Are you really buying that suit?" she demanded. I carefully pulled away from her grip and set the small pile of clothing next to the register. "I like it," I said simply. "And I'm sure I'll have a reason to wear it." "If this is just a whim, don't you think it's a bit wasteful?" she asked in a loud voice. I could see the people around us turn to stare, and I understood immediately what Amanda was trying to do. She was attempting to make me seem like someone who squandered resources and couldn't manage my money. She wanted people to judge me negatively. David was playing right along with her. He let out a long sigh and reached for his wallet. "It's fine," he said. "My treat." Here he was, coming into play as the doting fiancé who always went out of his way for his spoiled girlfriend. The employee had walked up to the register. When she saw David reaching into his wallet, she had a puzzled look on her face. "That won't be necessary," she said. "What do you mean?" David asked, frowning. "Don't you know? All purchases for the Rowan family are covered today." "What?" David asked in shock. "Why?" my mother asked as she walked up beside me. "Alpha Alexander left messages with all of the stores this morning," the employee explained. "Whatever you need will be covered as a gift for the bride-to-be."