"It's okay," Lydia assured him. Really, she ought to be more in tune to her surroundings even when she was lost in thought. "I don't mind, I just wasn't paying enough attention," she added.
I had a sister, she almost said, but just because Allison felt like it didn't mean that it was true, so Lydia held her tongue. "I learned how to make a scrunchie in home ec sophomore year, even though no one's worn a scrunchie in twenty years unless they were dressed up for Halloween," she said with a huff. "But that's kind of what I was thinking, yeah. Empire waist," she agreed, giving him a little smile. "I don't think it looks period all the time, and they're so adorable." She left out the part where she'd never actually worn anything with an empire waist because she always figured they were designed for fat girls. ...now she kind of was one and she was ashamed of herself for how shallow she'd always been.
"I was trying to put these little strips," she said, holding the fabric out to show him where she'd already pinned the strips of fabric meant to be the belt loops through which she'd thread the palm cord, "and then I have this cord I made out of palm fibers and I was going to use it as a high belt..." she sighed and pursed her lips. "I'm not very good at this," she admitted. She didn't seem to be good at much of anything on this island so far and for someone who prided herself at being the best at everything, that was a tough pill to swallow.