Who: Sam and Lizzie When: Mid Oct (before the Stark Party) Where: Shopping mall What: Looking for costume ideas Rating/Warning: G Status: Complete
Elizabeth was waiting for Sam outside the costume shop she had told Sam to meet her at. She’d only had a quick look, but there seemed to be a few costumes that Sam might think about dressing up in. She had no idea what to find for herself if she were honest, but she was rather hoping inspiration might strike as they were hunting. Otherwise she might text Leonard to see if he had any preference as to what she wore. She might do that anyway just to see what his reaction would be.
Sam hurried towards the shop to meet Elizabeth, she had gotten a little carried away reading a research paper but she was only a couple of minutes late. Smiling she waved with the hand not carrying coffee, “Sorry, sorry. I brought us coffee for the ‘Epic costume hunt’” she said grinning, “Which is now it’s official name”
“Are you planning on blogging about it with that title?” Elizabeth teased her friend.
Sam snorted, “It’s be very short and very boring if I did, I’m sure” she replied sticking her tongue out briefly, “Come on let’s get this over with”
“Oh come on Sam, don’t be like that,” Elizabeth said, opening the shop door for her friend to go in. “This is going to be fun!”
“Elizabeth I’m not the biggest fan of normal shopping let alone ‘costume’ shopping” Sam pointed out before taking a deep breath and entering costume hell.
“Did you celebrate Halloween as a kid?” Elizabeth asked, following her friend into the store.
“We watched Halloween movies, but trick or treating didn’t happen much - first few years we were old enough to do it there were no other kids around the compound” Sam shrugged.
“So, did you have any favourites from those movies? Vampires? Ghosts? Witches?” Elizabeth asked as she sauntered over to a rail to flick through it.
“Witches are overrated I think vampires have the much better storylines” Sam admitted.
Elizabeth laughed as she looked up at her friend, imagining her in a vampire costume. “Ok,” she turned back to the rails, finding the first ‘vampy’ looking costume she came across. “How about this?” she held up a costume, not having realised how short it was and that her friend would probably baulk at the idea.
Sam laughed incredulously, “Oh my god. There is no way I could wear that. For a start it’s shorter than anything I’ve ever seen and I have no idea what is even keeping it up and also what is with the glitter?”
Elizabeth laughed as she held the costume up against herself. “Ok, ok, so I think it’s safe to say that we found the cheap end of the shop, let’s go into the back and have a look,” she laughed as she put the ‘dress’ back on the rail. “By the way,” she said as an aside to Sam as they walked to the rear of the shop. “Your legs would have looked amazing in that dress.”
“Definitely the cheap end” Sam agreed before laughing, “You know they don’t see the light of day Lizzie but thanks” she smiled as they entered the area with some much nicer costumes.
“They should, people would kill for a figure like yours,” Elizabeth told her honestly. “Ok...let’s see what we’ve got...how about something like this?” she held up a dress.
“It’s pretty” Sam nodded, “A little...big maybe?” she said, “I think I’d end up smacking people with the skirt every time I moved”
“Ok, how about for me?” Elizabeth asked, holding it up in front of her and trying to look evil.
“The regal aspect of it works for you” Sam told her, “And you wouldn’t be a threat to anybody in the sense that I would” Elizabeth pulled these sorts of things off much better than she did. Sam always came across as awkward.
Elizabeth held it out to look at, mentally filing it away as a possibility. “I should probably find out what Leonard’s wearing,” she said, hanging the dress up and taking her phone out of her bag to text him. “Anything catch your eye?” she asked as she typed.
Sam was just about to say no when something caught her eye, pulling it out she looked at it. “Oh” she said disappointed, “It reminded me of something from the dreams but it’s too revealing”
“Something from the dreams?” Elizabeth asked, putting her phone away in her pocket. She stepped forward and took hold of the costume to get a better look at it.
“Yeah, I guess it the egyptian kind of feel to it” Sam explained, “The Goauld used to pose as egyptian gods like Ra”
“I remember that,” Elizabeth frowned, remembering seeing files upon files about the Goauld from her dreams. “Maybe it’s a sign,” she suggested.
“It can go jump because I am not wearing something that revealing” Sam told her.
“Well maybe not this one, Sam,” Elizabeth laughed at her friend’s reaction. “Have a look at some of the other ones, I’m sure there’ll be something that you’ll like,” she smiled, looking back through the racks.
Sam nodded somewhat reluctantly but did start looking, “So anything sparking ideas for you?” she asked as she delved into the racks.
“Well...I’m torn between nice,” Elizabeth held on dress up in front of her. “And naughty,” she grinned as she replaced it with one in her other hand. “What do you think?”
“I prefer that one” Sam said pointing at the first one Elizabeth held up, “The other is pretty but it’d actually be nicer if the skirt was full. And that’s not me being prudish” she added quickly, “I just think it looks a little ‘tacky’”
Elizabeth looked at the Belle costume. “So...too ‘come hither’?” she asked, looking up from the dress. Elizabeth sighed in frustration and frowned as she put the dresses back on the rail. She would normally go for the regal, covered, respectable costume, but she wanted to take the opportunity to be sexy for Leonard, seeing as it seemed the only time he saw her these days was on bad days when she was dealing with the telepathy.
“Sorry, did you like it?” Sam asked, “Don’t forget I know nothing about these things. I just think there are so many outfits out there is there really a need to ‘sex up’ a disney one?” Naive maybe but it just seemed a shame.
“No, you’re right, I just…” Elizabeth sighed. “It’s been so long since I’ve had a boyfriend, I guess I just want to be...y’know,” she shrugged and blushed a little. “Attractive for him,” she admitted shyly. “He hasn’t exactly seen me at my best lately,” she told her friend.
“You know he’s going to think you’re gorgeous no matter what you wear” Sam pointed out, “But we can do tastefully sexy rather than tacky sexy I’m sure of it” She nodded, “You know that’s not your fault, you’re dealing with a lot right now”
Elizabeth quirked a smile at Sam’s compliment as she flicked through some more costumes. She knew Leonard found her attractive, he told her every time they were together, but there was still a part of her that felt she lacked curves and looked gangly. She’d always been thin, but she often went through periods where she looked less than healthy weight-wise, usually when she was buried in her work. “Thanks Sam, I can always trust you to keep me on the straight and narrow,” she smiled at her. “Oo, this is different. What do you think about this one then?” she asked, holding the dress up in front of her.
“No worries, that’s what I’m here for” she grinned, “Oh, now that is nice. Sexy with class”
“Yeah? You like it?” Elizabeth asked. “Never really worn pink before…” she commented. “I suppose it’ll be a change for the norm,” she joked, smiling at Sam before looking at the dress at arm’s length, biting her lip as an idea came to her. “Let’s go try them on, then I can send Leonard a picture,” she teased, turning Sam towards the changing rooms.
Grabbing a couple of things from the shelf she had been looking at Sam followed, “You can get in trouble sending those kind of pictures in a text message you know” she teased before entering her own cubicle.
“Oh, I hope so,” Elizabeth cast Sam a dirty grin as she ducked behind the curtain with her costume. Changing into the costume, she stepped back out, standing on her toes to simulate being in high heels as she looked in the long mirror opposite the rooms. “Sam? You getting on ok in there?”
"Umm it's a little more girly than I'm used to" Sam said, stepping out in the first costume. "What do you think?"
Elizabeth turned to look at Sam. She wasn’t sure what was wrong, but something wasn’t right on her with this one. “I don’t know, something’s...off,” she said vaguely. “Try the other one on...oh! But first,” Elizabeth darted back into the changing room and came back out with her phone with the camera open. “Can you take a picture of me?” she grinned, handing the phone over to Sam and stepping away to pose for her.
Sam nodded, “I thought so too” she sighed before laughing softly, “Of course” she took the phone from Lizzie, “I’d say pose but you’re there already” she teased as she took a couple before handing the phone back and stepping into the cubicle once again.
“Thanks,” Elizabeth smiled, looking at the pictures and reading the texts from Leonard before something caught her eye over the top of the device. She grinned and trotted over to take the dress off the hangar and headed back into the changing room with it.
“Okay, I actually like this. Which no doubt means it’s terrible” Sam said as she stepped out of the changing room, ”So?” she asked a look of hesitation on her face.
Elizabeth poked her head around the curtain to look at Sam’s costume. “Oh...now that I Iike!” she grinned at her friend, eyes scanning her from head to foot. “Elegant and sophisticated, yet sexy,” she teased. “You look great Sam!”
“Really?” Sam said checking the mirror again, “Okay, done. I’m trying nothing else on. So what did you find?” she asked waiting for her friend to finish changing.
“You know you do,” Elizabeth replied while rolling her eyes at her friend as she went back to zipping up the boots. She pulled back the curtain and came out to show her friend the outfit that had caught her eye. “Well? What do you think?” she held her hands out to the side and gave a little twirl.
“Oh now that’s good” Sam said nodding, “Regal yet cheeky too. I like it” she smiled, “I think Leonard will too”
Elizabeth blushed, grinning as she looked down at herself. “You think?” she asked shyly.
“Absolutely” Sam smiled, “Come on look at it, it’s perfect on you”
“And you think Leonard will like it?” Elizabeth asked, smoothing down the material on the skirts as she spoke.
“I think Leonard will love it” she assured her friend.
“Ok, well I must say that we are pretty damned good at shopping,” Elizabeth joked, grabbing her phone to hand over to Sam again. “Photo?” she asked.
Sam laughed, “I think it’s more luck than judgement” she smiled as she took the phone from her once more and snapped a few pictures.
“Well, luck, judgement,” Elizabeth shrugged as she took the phone back with a chuckle. “No-one ever said they couldn’t be synonymous,” she smiled, looking back at the pictures. “Ok, let’s go check these out and then get some coffee!” she told her friend before swishing back into the changing room, emerging a few minutes later and sending the pictures to Leonard, including some men’s vampire costumes hanging on the wall.
Sam emerged too and they headed to pay for the items, “I have to admit I might actually be kind of looking forward to this party now” she admitted, “Though I have time to come to my senses” she grinned.
“It’s going to be great! And now you have a costume, you can’t back out!” Elizabeth grinned, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet as Sam exited the changing room. She let Sam lay the costume down on the counter for the woman behind the counter to scan it along with her own, quickly handing over her card to the teller while Sam looked away to look for something. The teller bagged up the dresses in two separate bags while Elizabeth keyed in her pin number and swapped the device for the bags. “Hold these for a minute will you?” she handed the bags to Sam while she sorted her card, receipt and purse out.
Sam frowned as both bags were handed over, "Did you just..." she trailed off as she realised her best friend had just brought both their costumes. "You are terrible" she told her friend, "Lunch is mine" she added decisively.
“I’m not dragging you to the expensive part of the shop and expecting you to pay for it when I’m the one dragging you to this party,” Elizabeth explained. “I won’t, however, say no to your offer of lunch, I’m starving!” she grinned at her friend, offering to take her bag. “Lead the way,” she instructed Sam.
“Oh you know I don’t really mind” Sam wasn’t exactly lying, she was actually looking forward to meeting people she just wished it didn’t have to happen in costume. “Onward to food and beverages” she grinned handing one bag over to Lizzie as they made their way out of the shop and towards the food court.