The Outlaw

The car stopped a few feets away from the boutique. We all walked inside, “It’s it like, amazing! That your sister is getting married!” The redheaded girl screeched overly excited.

I gave her my biggest fake smile with my teeth showing like I had diamonds drilled in them, “I know! I have always dreamt of going wedding shopping for my sister” I said just as excited.

Another girl came by my side as she retouched her hair looking into a small mirror in her hand, “I know you must be feeling sad and lonely. Everyone at your age is either married, have children or at least dating… And here you are, if you need any support we girls are here for you” the blue eyed chick gave me a smile batting her eyes at me.

I look at her like she has lost her mind, “That’s so kind of you love!” I say with a huge smile as we entre the boutique. There were two girls standing with trays of champagne. We all take a glass and follow Layla in who is busy talking to our mom.

Mom arrived in Italy a couple of days back, as the date to the engagement party is approaching all the family members are flying here, including her college friends whom I despise a lot.

“And people of my age are also divorced, depressed and unsuccessful. And with over two hundred thousands pounds in my bank account I am far from being lonely and sad. Anyway how is your life going on?” I ask the two annoying bitches with a smirk on my face.

The two looked mortified, they tried their best to avoid eye contact when I was talking. There was a minute of silence among us but when we heard the bridezilla yell at us to come help her with the dress the two almost ran out of my sight.

One of the many reasons I don’t like them is because of the influence they had on Layla since she was in college. These brainless barbies have nothing else to do but poison my sister. Both of them, Hannah, the redhead and Susan, the blue eyed brunette, also at a point of time Layla got so influenced by them that she started staking drugs but thanks to the stars above, we found about it sooner than later. Mom sent her to a good rehab and now she is clean for over 6 years. Mom had threatened those two bitches with a big law suit but they managed to convince mom that they had nothing to do with Layla’s addiction, instead they were the ones who had stopped Layla to drugs in many occasions. And mom being herself, she believed them. Now I can still argue in their favour and say they did try to stop her. But then why didn’t they inform us the moment they got to know about her?

Why did they speak up only when mom threatened them with law suit? There are many things that’s stand up as a red flag but all I could really do was tell Layla my side. Now its her decision to make, she is a big girl and she knows what’s best for her. Or I hope she does.

“Lily come on here! What are you standing there for?” My sweet mother shouted at me. I rolled my eyes and walked to them.

We all sat in a line as Layla kept on trying one wedding dress after another. They were all so beautiful, some had beautiful lace or soft net or beaded with stones and diamonds. It was over three hours and Layla was in a middle of a breakdown because she still didn’t find her dream dress, “It’s okay Layla! We will go to another shop next day and if you still didn’t find a perfect one then we will hire you a designer to make a custom dress for you.” Mom consoled her while looking at me. I nodded my head, “Don’t worry so much, okay? Just have a drink and relax!” I nodded at one of the saleswoman who walked off to somewhere and came back with a new bottle of champagne.

As soon as the woman filled Layla’s glass, she swallowed it’s at one go. She heaved for a second and shook her head, “We have been looking for my wedding dress for over three days, mom! Three. Fucking. Days.” She growled in annoyance. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves down, “What type of dress do you want Layla?” I ask softly.

She snapped her head to me, “The prefect one!” She said as a matter of fact.

“Well that narrows it down quite a bit!” I said sarcastically.

“Will you stop being sarcastic bitch for a moment and help your sister out with passing judgements every second!” Layla snapped at me. I smiled and put my flute of champagne on the marble table. I go inside the shop section of the boutique where big dresses are hung. One of the sales assistant comes to me, “For you?” She asks politely.

“No, for my sister. Show me size 8 please.” I ask her and she takes me upstairs in a room filled with all sizes dress, “We have all kind of dresses for all body shape but since we only have unstitched materials here, you choices are plenty.” she said as I looked around in awe. The ceilings were high and a golden chandelier hanging from it, the walls were painted in pure ivory color. I walked around the aisle of dresses, my hands feeling the soft material one by one. I told the type of dresses I want and she bought them all. There were seven dresses in total, I narrowed it down to three according to Layla’s likings.

The sales assistant helped me take the three dresses downstairs where the women were about to leave, “Wait guys! There are still these dresses Layla should try!” I said as one more assistant came and took the dress from my hand to the changing room where Layla was.

Layla has tears strained her face as she came to me, “I am so sorry for snapping at you” she said with a pout as she held my hands, “Oh it’s nothing, chill out! Now go ahead and try them!” I said motioning her to go back to the changing room.

She looked skeptical and bite her lips, “Lillith I don’t kno–” I cut her off

“Shut up and go try them! If you don’t like any then we’ll do whatever you say!” I ordered her making her chuckle, “Yes boss!” She said and walked towards the changing room. Mom smiled widely at me her blue eyes shined with relief, “I thought she was going to have a panic attack. When you left she started crying loudly saying that you hate her now.” Mom chuckled and sat on the sofa. Layla’s two other bridesmaids also sat beside mom looking annoyed and exhausted.

Before I could reply my business phone buzzed indicating a call. I excused myself to a corner and took the call. There are couple of more cases my boss wants me to take over. At the moment I am a junior associate at my firm but I want to be the senior associate. The more cases I get, the more are my chances of promotion. I talked to my boss for a while before I hung up and joined my mother.

I looked up when I heard the sound of heels clicking, I gasped in awe. Layla was dressed in a beautiful white dress, I heard my mother cry in delight and the two barbies rushed to hug her. Layla smiled widely, “I found the perfect dress mom!” She cried happily making me smile.

The dress was indeed a master piece. It was a long ivory mermaid dress. Though it had a sweetheart neckline a fine soft glittered net covered her entire hand and shoulder. The top stopped on the smallest part of her waist then it flared out like a princess dress that had hundreds of layers. She turned around to show her back, the glittered net covered her bare back. There were very fine hand woven lace and glitters beautifully sprawled all over the dress.

Layla smiled at me and mouthed a thank you. I nodded at her as she went back to her dressing room. I huffed in exhaustion and layed back on the single couch. Thank God for Flynn who was friends with the owner of this boutique, who was kind enough to close the shop only for us. We were the only customers in the boutique.

Layla jumped on the couch with a sigh of relief and put her feet on mom’s lap, “So I have decided that my bridesmaids are going to wear brown.” she said with a wide to the three of us. The two of them practically jumped on their feet and made a run for a dress.

“So Layla, are you going to wear that dress just like that or are there any changes?” Mom asks her.

“Actually, Flynn’s family has a tradition of wearing golden dress in wedding, so the dress would be golden with bronze glitter..” she smiled widely.

“What are you sitting here for? Go find yourself a dress!” My mom said narrowing her eyes at me. I sighed, “Fine woman!” I throw my hands up in surrender and walk towards the bridesmaid section, “Do you want same dress for all?” One if the assistant asked my sister, “Yes!” She replied and took me to where the rest of the girls were. I roamed aimlessly around the shop looking at brown dresses when one caught my eye.