Chapter 15 Shopping Experience
Serena's POV
I gulped her, imagining the several scenarios that could go wrong. It's safe to say that it's best not to imagine. Whatever happens today, I need to earn some respect.
I went right straight in after Valentina, walking right through the glass doors with my head held high. I could still hear Nico's warnings in my head.
I strolled through the large space, admiring each beautiful fabric with my eyes, not daring to touch any even though my hands itched to reach out. I had to look the role.
My eyes ran over each section, admiring the pieces and accessories before grabbing some dresses off a few racks without asking for any permission. I kept picking some dresses off their racks while strolling towards where Valentina stood.
When I got close enough for her to hear me, I lifted the dresses I had picked one by one to her face, starting with a white spacious gown. “This," then I lifted a blue one, "and this,” I added with a confident smile.
The silky fabrics in my hand felt so good, so comfy. Their deep bright colors, whether red, black, or emerald green... all glowed perfectly under the lights.
"No, and no," Valentina responded in a stiff voice. She reached for the dresses from my hands and gestured towards one of the staff.
"Hey," she called out when he didn't respond in time. The staff noticed and walked towards her briskly.
"Sorry mademoiselle, I didn't hear you earlier," he apologized as he reached where she was. He was quite cute if I may say.
"Yeah, you'll be helping us return these clothes please," she said, handing the clothes over to him. "We do apologize for the stress, we weren't clear before."
He nodded and flashed her a bright smile. "Of course, it's nothing," he replied and took the clothes, walking off after gesturing a greeting in my direction.
"Oh, please help us with a cart please," Valentina called back to him.
He flicked his finger on his head towards her and a few seconds later returned with the cart. "Thank you," Valentina replied politely, taking it from him as he walked away.
I turned to Valentina after he had gone, raising my hands in the air. "What the fuck, Valentina? I loved those dresses."
Valentina simply gave me a tight lipped smile before shaking her head. "Let me do the picking, Miss Moretti. What you can do is push this cart and follow me," she added with a smile, leaving the cart for me.
I scoffed, but refused to let it go even though I pushed the cart after her. I walked a few steps with Valentina before reaching for a simple blue top. “What about—”
“No.” Valentina snatched it from me after raising her voice slightly. She hung it back up with a grunt. “Don likes bold things," then she paused and picked up another dress. "Try this.”
I frowned but took the dress from her still with an exaggerated swipe. "Where?" I asked.
"There," she responded bluntly, pointing towards a box looking room. I held the cloth against my body and stepped into the dressing room box thing. It was bigger than the outside suggested, and had different mirrors around the walls.
There were three other ladies in there but they pretended as if they hadn't noticed me entering, so I returned the favor. I pulled on the black dress in front of a large mirror.
It hugged my curves perfectly, had a high slit and naked hands. It felt sexy, but not me. Too much cleavage showing.
But I still dragged myself outside to meet Valentina. She nodded when I stepped out. “Yes, this is it.”
"You sure?" I asked.
"Don't you like how you look?" She asked with a smirk, the warmest moment I had enjoyed around her.
I couldn't help but like it. “Ehm, okay then. But can we get a green one too? I like green.”
She shook her head. “Red is better. That's Don’s favorite.”
"But it's my dress too, isn't it?" I fired back calmly, careful not to tick her off.
She shook her head. "Fine."
So we grabbed three different colors of the same dresses. Red, black and green. All were of the same style and fitted me perfectly from the look of it.
Valentina walked by and picked a few other dresses, two reds and one green. At least she took my color into consideration. The dresses were all similar, looked tight fitting, high slit and exposed loads of cleavage.
"Okay, I think we are done here," she announced, dropping the dresses in the cart. "Shoes next," she added without waiting for what I had to say. At least I didn't have anything to say this time.
She led me down to where the shoes were and pointed at a set of heels. Stilettos with straps and pretty high heels. “These look like good leather, and Italian too,” she added after inspecting them.
She picked a few more, two pairs of sandals, three more heels and another strappy heel. I tried them all one at a time. Black, red, white and green... all were super comfy enough, hard to walk on but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it someday.
“You want another color?” She asked, taking me by surprise.
I thought for a second, not expecting this. "Maybe we can try purple. Would go with the white.”
Valentina flashed me a smile. "I guess you are not as dumb as I thought," she said before picking a purple pair of heels off the same rack we carried the rest.
I didn't know whether to take that as a compliment, but I smiled all the same. We settled with the ones we had picked, adding two pairs of boots in case it ever comes to that. All black.
We strolled to the hats section, not wasting any time here. We went with a wide-brim fedora, and a beret.
“Don likes hats that cover the face,” she said, plopping the fedora on my head. Black, of course.
We went for the accessories last. Picking a few necklaces on the way. They had to be one of the most expensive sets of necklaces I had ever seen. All diamonds, rubies and special materials, long too.
"These are perfect," Valentina said, trying one on me. "It will rest just between your cleavage, just the way he likes it."
I turned around, hoping no one heard that. That was awkward.
We selected a few shiny earrings, and bracelets to go with everything. All gold, silver, diamond or anything expensive.
She picked stacks, layering them on my wrist. “This set. Matches everything Don would want.”
I stood there like a doll with my arms out while she adjusted it around. I was already bored of everything though, felt like a spectator in my own shopping adventure. I mean, aside from the green dress, she had been the one doing the choosing, and I just kept nodding.
Our items piled up quickly as the cart got heavier to push around. We would probably be spending close to thousands here. All on Dante’s card, no doubt.
Finally, Valentina glanced at her phone. “I need to go for a second. Stay with the cart.”
She vanished towards what looked like a restroom without waiting for a word from me. I pushed the cart around slowly, strolling by aisles and trialing my fingers on fabrics. It was quiet for once. Almost nice.
Then a familiar deep voice cut through my little growing peace. "Good. We are finally alone.”