Someone Like You

“So, Josh told me you go to university in France.” Charlotte said, turning the dial down on the radio so she could hear me better, “What are you studying?”

“Business.” I smiled, “But it’s not really what I want to be doing.”

“Oh, what is it that you’d rather do?” She asked me, keeping her eyes dead set on the road ahead of her, even though we were stuck in a traffic jam.

“Photography, but I need money after I leave uni and a degree in Business is my best option.” I told her.

“But darling, if you don’t want to do something, you shouldn’t do it.” She smiled at me, which made me hate her so much more inside because not only was she purely gorgeous, she was the sweetest girl I’d ever met, “If photography is what you want to do then switch courses.”

“I wish it was that simple, My parent’s paid too much money for me to go to University in France for me to switch courses now, they’d be so angry if I dropped out to do photography.”

“But Riley, working in an office or owning a business isn’t going to make you happy, this is your dream, not your parent’s, so surely, if you don’t want to do business, then you shouldn’t do business.”

“Thanks, but I think it’s safer for me to do business, the photography business is particularly notorious for being one of the hardest professions to succeed in, next to make-up artistry.” I told her as she pulled her car into a spot outside a wedding shop in London.

“Well, just think about it for me, yeah?” She asked, as she put her keys into her bag.

I nodded and followed her from the car into the shop and as soon as I took my first step into it, I cursed myself internally for letting Josh and a bottle of wine talk me into doing this. I was blinded by the amount of shiny white dresses that were hanging up, deafened by the three load women who were talking by the cash register and overwhelmed by the sickly smell of flowers.

“Charlotte darling!” One of the women exclaimed as she noticed us in the doorway of the store, “It’s so nice to see you my love, the dress just came in this morning with the alterations done.”

“Thank you Denise.” Charlotte smiled, “This is Riley, she’s one of Josh’s friends, come to save his ass because he can’t tear himself away from his band long enough to come and help me.”

I had to hold my tongue at her comment about him and the band. It made me mad that she was expecting him to just drop his dream to go to a dress fitting – which he really shouldn’t be going to anyway because it’s bad luck for a groom to see the brides dress before the day of their wedding anyway.

“Right, come with me then, young Charlotte.” The woman known as Denise said, “Carrie, take care of Riley, make sure she’s comfortable, yes?”

A young redheaded woman nodded at the request and showed me through a doorway to the changing rooms, where Charlotte and Denise had headed merely seconds before. She smiled at me and pointed to some chairs.

“Can I get you a drink or something?” She asked.

“Only if you’ve got hard alcohol.” I muttered, she shook her head and walked away, leaving me to sit for what felt like an hour, before the drama started.

I didn’t really understand what was happening, but I heard shouting from both Charlotte and Denise, I sat up in my chair from my previous slumped position just as Charlotte came out from the dressing room, holding the dress to her body.

It was a pretty gown, it wasn’t long though, and was a halter neck – nothing that Josh would have wanted at all. I knew he would want to see Charlotte walking down the aisle to him in a magnificent long gown that was absolutely breath-taking. Not some short gown that made her look like she was 40 and renewing her vows. The thing that was most obvious about the dress was that it was miles too big for her. She had to hold it up herself, but even then, it was hanging from her thing frame.

“What have you done?!” She exclaimed once more to Denise, who looked flushed, “It’s miles to big and I have five days until my wedding!”

“Charlotte, just calm down, Riley, tell her that it looks fine.”

I scoffed, “She has a point you know, it’s hanging off her body like she’s anorexic. She can’t get married in this.”

Charlotte turned and looked at Denise with a glare.

“I want this fixed, right here, right now!” She shouted, “I am not leaving his shop until this dress fits me properly.”

“It’s going to take hours though Charlotte, past closing time, and I’m sure your friend…”

“I don’t care how long it takes, Riley can phone someone to pick her up, and we will stay here all night if we have to until this fits perfectly.”

Charlotte threw her blackberry at me and told me under her breath to ‘ring Josh to pick you up but mention nothing.’ Which is exactly what I did, and without mentioning a single thing, he told me he was on his way to pick me up.

“What’s happen then?” He asked once I was in the car and we were on the way back to his parents’ house.

“Don’t say that I told you because she made me promise that I wouldn’t, but the fittings for her dress are completely wrong.” I told him.

“And let me guess, she’s having a complete fit and making them all stay behind until it fits perfectly?” He asked.

“Got it in one, Franceschi.”

The ride to his parent’s was pretty silent, other than the radio that was playing.

“Are you going to come in and see your mother and father?” I asked as I went to get out of the car.

“Well, I suppose it would be rude not to.” He smiled, following me up the drive to his parent’s house.

His mother opened the door and she seemingly paled when she noticed that Charlotte wasn’t with us.

“Oh, I’ve cooked a huge meal for you all and Charlotte isn’t here.” She sighed as she let us pass, “There’s going to be so much waste.”

“Don’t worry Mummy Franceschi, I’m pretty sure your son and I will make sure there’s little waste as possible.” I smiled, hitting Josh in the stomach.

“Oh I had no doubt that Josh would, but I don’t remember you having a very large appetite darling.” Anne spoke, showing us through to the dining room where Josh’s father was already sat at the table with the day’s paper in his lap.

“When you live in France, you develop a very large appetite.” I smiled, sitting down next to Josh, waiting for the obvious dinner conversation of wedding planning and business to begin.