I am Chloe

Chapter Fourteen

Thank you all for the comments! I think this chapter might be the last non-action packed chapter, hopefully! I don't know why I suddenly had the tendency to add some pics of what the characters might look like, they won't be the official cast, but just to get the idea of what I had in mind. What do you think?

Once again, thank you!

***

I followed Holly as she adjusted her sunglasses on her head, her black coat hugging her body and the sound of her black heels echoed loudly against the floor . We inspected every section, well she mostly did all of the work. She pulled out a couple of dresses, and shook her head at all of them, "Geez, where are did all the good dresses go?" Holly complained, she hurried towards a black dress, and pulled it out carefully from the rack of clothes. "Perfect."

It was a full sleeved black dress that was puffy at the shoulders, it looked simple yet elegant.

"Go try it on," Holly told me, flashing me a smile. I practically sprinted to the changing room and changed into the dress, I turned around and faced the mirror taking a look at it. It was a couple of centimeters above the knees, but it fit me perfectly, I actually felt pretty.

I unlocked the door to show Holly the dress, "what do you think?" I asked her, she got up from the chair nearby.

"Chloe, I love it!" she exclaimed, she motioned for me to turn around with her manicured finger. "Like I said, perfect!" she said with a clap.

I sighed in relief and smiled at her, I re-entered the changing room to change back into my clothes, the price tag scratched my back. Uh-oh, I hadn't check the price; I hastily flipped the tag over, I read it and read it again. A hundred and ten dollars. Genius, Chloe...

I glanced inside my purse and looked over for some extra money, but all I could find was the forty dollars my father had given me and five dollars from my savings.

I got out of the changing room casually while holding the dress, Holly was still outside "Thank you so much for everything, Holly."

She smiled back, "no problem, Chloe. Hey maybe we can shop together next time, well I guess I should get going, see you," she told me.

"See you," I replied.

I hastily approached the cashier, "is this dress on sale or something?"

She looked at the dress's price tag, "nope, no sale on this one."

"Thank you," I said with a defeated sigh. 

I placed the dress on the table.

"I'll take it from here," I heard someone say, Holly was right behind me.

"No, please you can't!" I begged her, clearly embarrassed.

"Oh yes I can, watch me," she said while she took out some money from her wallet and handed it to the cashier. "I want you to wear it till it molds, got it?" she ordered.

I nodded till my neck hurt, "thank you so much Holly, you seriously shouldn't have done this," I told her.

"But I did, you really loved it, don't deny that," she said as she smiled. "Need a ride?" 

"No thank you, I live a couple of steps away from here, but thank you for the offer though." 

"Anytime," Holly replied. 

I was thankful Hunter wasn't there to ruin things.

* 

I waited for my father in the living room for us to get going, I wore the dress Holly bought me, pairing it with black tights and flats. My hair was pulled up in a bun, Holly said a bun suited the dress more. "Let's go," Dad told me adjusting his bow-tie. He was dressed in a suit with his dark brown hair slicked back, and I had to say he looked pretty good.

We entered the elevator outside the apartment, and Dad adjusted his bow-tie for the millionth time -well, second time technically-

"Dad. It looks good," I stated, and he actually quit fiddling with it. The elevator came to a halt, Dad leaded the way to his car parked in the building's garage. I only got in his car during Dawn days, and that was it.

We got in his black Mercedes, I didn't know where we were going to have dinner or meet that great Aunt Jane of mine. I was nervous, for sure, "where's the dinner?" I started to say.

"The Waldorf-Astoria hotel," Dad replied. "That's odd, her wanting to meet me, I mean."

Dad didn't reply.

"Who else is going to be there?" I asked, pretending to oblivious. 

"When we get there you'll see." 

I looked at my left; the lights at night were extravagant, well it was New York after all. I kept my head fixed in that position till Dad parked the car, a man in a uniform opened the door for me, "thanks," I muttered. The Waldorf-Astoria had a pretty small entrance, but a huge lobby with red furniture everywhere and a big chandelier dropping down from the ceiling. 

I followed Dad to the restaurant we were going to dine in, he adjusted his bow-tie for the last time and got in. It was pretty crowded, and just like Saks Fifth Avenue, it was filled with old people. I couldn't help but wonder how old my great aunt was. 

Dad told the waiter something and he guided us to our table. An old woman grinned at us, I guessed she was Aunt Jane; there were other people at the table too: a man and his wife; they looked about fifty years old. The man looked pretty stern, while the woman looked lost. There was also an older man and his wife, the woman looked bitter and the man looked depressed, no wonder... And a younger man -younger than the first man- and his wife. The worst thing was, I didn't know any of them.

"William!" Aunt Jane called out while chuckling. She gave him a small hug as he kissed both her cheeks. "This must be the little one, how are you dear?" She asked me while examining my whole look, she wasn't the only one doing that.

"I'm fine thank you, how are you?" I replied as politely as I could.

"I'm fine as well, dear," she replied with a smile.

 "Mom, Dad," I heard my father say. I desperately wanted to know which one of the two couples the were. My hunch was right, they were Bitter and Depressed.

"How are you son?" My grandfather asked Dad, they shook hands and greeted each other, it was more of a formal greeting rather than a father-son greeting. He actually looked like my father a bit, though his hair was gray, but they both shared the same eyes. Then it was his mother's turn; he didn't look like her at all. My father kissed her make-up caked cheek and moved to greet the other people, I guessed their relationship seriously sucked. I, on the other hand, stepped away from all the greetings. I mean no one welcomed me other than Aunt Jane.

"Hello young girl," Stern Man told me, and he stuck his hand out which I shook in return. "I'm your father's uncle," I was starting to like him. And just like my grandmother, he didn't look like my father.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you," I replied. 

This was going to be one interesting dinner.