Who: Hanna Marin & Caroline Forbes What: BFFs in the making When: April 17th Where: Mall, expensive shop Rating: PG
One of the things Caroline loved about her job was that it gave her excuses to buy new outfits. She had to dress for each event after all!. And Caroline Forbes was not about to be caught dead (although technically she was dead) wearing the same dress twice. Which meant Caroline spent a lot of time at the mall.
Today Caroline was searching for a dress to wear to a gala for Paws On Animal Rescue. The blonde was super excited about the event. She loved that with her work she also got to support charities. And well who didn’t love animals?
Caroline as in one of the fancier boutiques at the mall searching the racks for just the right dress, when she spotted another blonde eyeing a dress that would be perfect on her. “Oh my god,” Caroline said. “You have to try that on. It’ll look amazing on you!”
Hanna glanced up from where she had been eyeing up a green dress, holding it off the rack and looking at it critically. It was a good length but she hadn’t been too sure on the style. Her eyebrow lifted as someone spoke to her and she tilted her head, lips curling up a little into a smile as she held the dress against herself, looking in the mirror and then back at the other woman.
“You think?” she asked, hardly bothered by starting a conversation with a stranger in a store. Often she’d done something similar, offering (sometimes) appreciated opinions on a stranger’s clothing choice either at the rack or in a dressing room. She looked down where the dress was resting against her and she looked up. “You don’t think it’s the wrong shade?” Green was a colour she had to be careful with. This one was a deep green that she thought would probably look okay on her provided she accessorised correctly.
“Oh no,” Caroline assured. “It’s like perfect for you. It will really bring out your eyes.” Caroline got it though. She didn’t wear green too often herself. Her dresses were usually more on the lighter side - pinks, reds, whites. A lot had floral designs. At least for her casual dresses. The ones she wore to events were also in that color pallette but not so much the floral designs. And she did have a few blue and green dresses as well. And of course, can’t forget the classic black dress.
“Try it on!” Caroline said already ushering the girl towards the fitting room. “And you have to show me!”
Hanna did like bold colours, she’d read something once that said ‘fortune favours the brave’ and what was braver than someone with her complexion wearing a burnt orange jacket? Exactly. She looked at herself in the mirror, dress held up against herself once more, before she looked back at the other woman and smile.d
“Sure, but only if you come with me and try that on.” She pointed at a pale pink knee-length dress with a pale overlay. “Because you’d really suit that style.” She reached out and picked it up, twirling it on the hanger and seeing the skirt fan out a little. “Even if it’s not what you’re looking for it’s super cute.”
Besides, trying on clothes with other people was always fun.
Caroline did like pink. It wasn’t exactly right for the gala, but there was probably another event she could use it for. Like that tea party for a bunch of rich housewives she had in a few weeks.
“You have yourself a deal,” Caroline said accepting the dress from the other woman.
In the fitting room, Caroline was in the stall next to the other blonde. Caroline put the pale pink dress on admiring how the skirt fell against her skin, a little bit flowy but not too much. Definitely not poofy. The pale pink did look good on her. There was a reason Caroline gravitated towards light and bright colors. It didn’t hurt that it just happened to fit her bright personality as well.
“Ready?” she called out stepping out of her stall so she could see how amazing the green dress looked on the other woman.
“Just a sec,” Hanna called as she finished pulling the zipper up. It was one of those dresses that fastened at the side, and she’d slipped her bra strap off her shoulder, stuffing it into the edge of her dress and looking at herself in the mirror, head tilted to the side as she stared at her reflection. She ran her hand over her stomach, stood up a little straighter and sucked her stomach in, brushing her hand over the dress and frowning at it a little. She turned to the side, then around to look at her reflection to see the full back of the dress.
She wasn’t sold.
She wet her lower lip and stepped out of the stall, lower lip between her teeth and a slight frown on her face. “It’s not as cute on as I thought it would be,” she admitted, a little disappointed. Objectively, it probably looked fine, but Hanna felt that it highlighted parts of her that she still felt self-conscious about.
Eyes falling on the other woman, though, dragging her gaze away from her reflection in the unflattering full length mirror at the end of the changing room, her face lit up in a smile. “You look beautiful, oh my God. It looks better than I thought it would.”
Caroline’s brow furrowed at her comment. Personally Caroline thought it looked stunning on her. It hugged her curves in all the right places. Brought out the blue in her eyes. Her blonde locks shone against the deep green.
“What are you talking about?” Caroline asked. “You look incredible.” Though she didn’t know the other girl’s insecurities, she did understand that it was sometimes difficult really seeing how good a dress looked when first trying it on. Especially with the lighting in fitting rooms. “I swear,” she added hoping that would get the other woman to believe her.
“Really?” Caroline asked about her own dress. She even twirled around in it, beaming. “Well that settles it then. I clearly have to get it.”
“There was a pair of black heels just before we came in that’d compliment those perfectly,” Hanna added, very taken with how the pink dress sat on the other blonde. She looked beautiful. Hanna felt a familiar jolt of envy in her chest before she looked down at herself and swept her hand over the fabric once more. It felt nice against her skin, which was something, and she really didn’t need a new dress but having to catch up on so many classes was stressful and shopping was the best kind of retail therapy.
She glanced up at her reflection again and stood side on, still not looking sold. “I can always bring it back if I don’t like it in normal mirrors,” she said, half to herself and half to the other woman, “not these stupid carnival house ones.” She clicked her tongue, “It’s no wonder these gorgeous clothes end up on the ‘no thank you’ rack, I mean, these mirrors belong in a fun house, not in a changing room.”
Caroline never said no to shoes. No outfit was complete without the right shoes to go with it. “Oh!” Caroline said unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. “I’ll have to check them out!” How lucky was she to run into someone who was basically styling an outfit for her. Not that Caroline really had trouble with that, but still. It was nice to have someone else’s opinion.
“Oh my god I know right?” Caroline didn’t understand at all why dressing rooms were so unflattering. “You’d think they’d actually want us to by the clothes we tried on.” It literally made no sense to her. “But you definitely should get it. Try it on in front of your mirror. I’m telling you it looks amazing,” Caroline assured her. And it was the honest truth.
“I’m Caroline by the way.” She figures she might as well introduce herself to the woman helping her plan an outfit.
“Hanna,” she replied, holding out her hand for Caroline to shake since that was polite. “Nice to meet you.” And it was. It was always good to meet new people and make new friends that had similar interests. God knew Hanna could use some friends here, since she’d been here for a little while and was yet to form any proper connections outside of Caleb (the unfairly cute-hot guy that she’d met in a coffee shop and was almost like… whatever that fancy word for a meet-cute is, she knew it began with a K but couldn’t even remember what it was).
She looked at her reflection again and wrinkled her nose. “Well, like I said, if I don’t like it I can always bring it back.” She smiled at Caroline and smoothed the dress down again. “I really think that there should be some kind of petition to make the mirrors in every changing room actually flattering. And improve the lighting, because it is the worst.”
“You too!” Caroline said with her genuine smile as she shook Hanna’s hand. And she meant it. Though Caroline usually always enjoyed meeting new people. She was especially enjoying meeting Hanna. She seemed to like shopping and had good taste. Caroline really needed more friends to shop with. Elena was always too busy studying and shopping wasn’t really her thing anyway.
“Exactly,” Caroline replied. “But I’m pretty sure you will.” She hoped her assurance was helping at least a little. Caroline could tell Hanna didn’t seem to have the best confidence, which was something Caroline had struggled with back in high school. But there was no reason for it. She was gorgeous and she seemed super sweet. “If you want to start one you totally have my signature.”
Hanna laughed, “I mean, I might as well put my passion for this stuff into something useful, right? Making changing rooms better one at a time with good mirrors and better lighting.” And maybe a make up and hair counter, something where people could just top themselves up a little to make the outfit look better. And the shoes should be accessible from inside the changing room because sometimes things looked better back on the shelf than on your feet, even if you thought they’d suit the outfit.
“I might just do that. It’d help improve sales in the stores, too, so it’d be worth the investment.”
“There you go,” Caroline said grinning. “You could even make a business out of it. Pimp my dressing room.” Even though Caroline was joking around. It was still something that was needed. And really, Hanna probably could make a business out of it if she wanted to.
“If anyone was shooting a TV show in here,” Hanna said, “they’d definitely need to bring their own lighting.” The idea was hilarious but necessary. Dressing rooms needed an overhaul and, especially in the age of internet shopping and easy, painless returns, shops needed all the help they could get to increase their sales.
She tucked her hair back behind her ear and smoothed her hand down the front of the dress. The longer she was standing in it, the more she liked how it looked. She’d probably get it anyway. A girl could never have too many dresses.
“I’m gonna get out of this so I can add it to the list of things I’m gonna buy from this place,” she said, “meet you outside in a couple of minutes?”
“Definitely,” Caroline agreed with a large smile. “You still have to show me those shoes.” She had to admit she was pretty proud of herself for convincing Hanna to go through with buying the dress. She wasn’t going to regret it.
Caroline changed back into her skinny jeans and dark red top. Ballet flats back on her feet, dress in hand, she made her way out of the stall to wait for Hanna.
Hanna took a little longer to change, carefully hanging the dress back up and slipping her feet back into her heels. They weren’t dressed too dissimilarly; Hanna was in pale blue skinny jeans and heeled ankle boots with a baby blue t-shirt. She hummed, stepped out and tucked her hair back, tilting her head and smiling at Caroline. The dress was draped over her arm.
“So,” she started, “shoes?”
“Shoes!” Caroline agreed enthusiastically. Her dress draped over her arm as well. “We need to find a pair for your dress too!” Hanna deserved a complete outfit as well.
Hanna laughed and led Caroline out of the changing rooms towards the shoes. This, she thought, might be the start of an actual friendship.