Paper Wishes (#1)

Chapter Fourteen: The Heartful Matchmaker

Jez looked exhausted when I walked into the store.

"Are you okay?" I asked, curious why she looked so wiped out. Jez was a natural night owl, but she was responsible enough to plan her sleep schedule according to her work schedule. I hadn't seen her look less than lively in a long time.

"I just found out there are Taiwanese dramas on Hulu, so I stayed up all night because I was supposed to be off today but Piper called out so I had to come in to cover her shift."

I sighed. I really liked Piper but she called out a lot. If she had been calling out because she was legitimately sick I wouldn't be so annoyed, but it was my opinion that she frequently called out for the sake of calling out. Piper was younger than me, as she was still a freshman in high school, but had obtained a work permit so that she could work part-time at Heartful. Since this was her first job, she still had room to grow.

"You could have called me in early today so you could have gone home and napped."

"I'm okay," she smiled, "I didn't want to take you away from your new boyfriend. By the way... you still have to give me all the details!"

"I know," I laughed. "I graduate soon, so we can hang out more often during the summer."

"I'm going to hold you to that," she said as she gathered her things to leave the store. "By the way, do you want some halo halo? I think I'm going to get a cup for myself before I leave the mall."

Jez had introduced the dessert to me when the Filipino restaurant had opened up last year. She extolled its virtues (It's delicious! There's no better ice cream than ube ice cream! It's got flan in it - maybe!) until I agreed to have a cup (or two, or three.) In the end I loved it and it became one of my favorite desserts, and something that Jezabel and I bonded over.

"Mmm... no, it's okay," I said after having mulled it over for a bit, "maybe next time."

"Okay, your loss," she said with a laugh as she left the store.

Shortly after Jez left, Nikki strolled into the store with a shy smile on her face.

"Hi," I said as I walked up to her to give her a hug. "My boss just left, so I didn't have any time to pull any dresses aside for you. Shall we look together?" I held my elbow out to her indicating that we should link arms.

"Sure!" Nikki laughed as she linked arms with me as I walked her over to the rack with all the new dresses from our most recent shipment.

"Before I forget to tell you, I had been texting with my boss about how you were going to come in tonight to shop for your graduation dress and she said that you could use my discount," I beamed at her.

"Oh my gosh... really? That's so awesome!" Nikki's enthusiasm shot through the roof.

"So then, let's shop!" I said as I pulled a black dress with lace peplum off of the rack. "What do you think of this?"

"I love it," she said as she reached out to hold it. "Should I try it on now?"

"Hm... let's pick out at least two more dresses before I set you up in the fitting room."

We found two more dresses - a short dark blue A-line dress with a cut out on the back and a crimson red dress with cream lace patchwork that would cover her décolletage. She loved all three of them, and wasn't sure how she would pick just one. I assured her that although she'd look fabulous in all of them, she'd know which dress was 'the one' when she put it on. I hung the dresses up in the fitting room and gestured for her to come in as I stepped out.