Rewrite The Stars - 8 Shopping Spree

Sirius slumped on the couch and patted his stuffed belly. Nero was at his feet and rolled onto his back, unable to move with how full he was. Adeline and Emilie were in similar states.

“You are very dangerous.” Sirius said. “I could not stop eating your food.”

Nero whined in agreement.

Adeline laughed, “So you accept my apology for getting your hopes up about the divorce?”

“Yup. And I’ll probably be coming over more if you continue cooking like this.”

“Might want to get a gym membership while you’re at it.” Emilie commented sleepily.

“How did you get it done so fast anyways?” Sirius wondered.

“I already had the papers prepared and just asked him to sign them. It was easier because I said I didn’t want any of his stuff.” Adeline said with a sigh. “But he still forced me to accept a percent of his shares.”

“Ooh.” Emilie brightened. “One percent is still a lot. Take me shopping.” she demanded.

Sirius coughed.

“Not occasion appropriate?” Emilie asked guiltily.

“It’s fine.” Adeline waved her hand, “I don’t care about him anymore. And of course I will bring you shopping.”

“Count me in.” Sirius raised his hand, “I love shopping.”

Nero barked and wagged his tail.

____

Emilie and Sirius excitedly pulled Adeline into the mall with Nero nudging her knees from behind.

“Let’s go to XX!” Emilie said and dragged Adeline with her.

Arriving in the store, Emilie and Sirius dashed around like hyper puppies and kept pulling things off the shelves. Adeline simply sat down in a chair by the dressing rooms and watched Nero bring clothes over for the two shopaholics to try on later.

The clothes kept piling up and Adeline kept dozing off while Nero was happily adding clothes to the mountain.

When she woke up, Sirius and Emilie had finished trying on their clothes and picked which ones they liked.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Adeline eyed them warily.

“We have some clothes-” Sirius began.

“-for you that we want you to try.” Emilie finished.

Adeline wanted to run but the two gripped her arms tightly and marched her to the dressing room.

She lost count of how many clothes she tried on and felt like her soul had been sucked out by a Dementor.

“Last one!” Emilie cheered her on and gave her a bundle of fabric.

Adeline sighed and pulled the curtain shut. It was a deep blue formal dress with a long train. She pulled it over her head and zipped it up.

Adeline stepped out of the dressing room and Emilie gasped. With her mouth gaping, she backed out of the room and dragged Sirius into the waiting area.

“Hot damn.” Sirius let out a low whistle. “I do know how to pick the dresses.”

Emilie pinched his ear.

“Oh yeah you look good too I suppose.” Sirius said as an afterthought.

“You look amazing!” Emilie squealed. “You must buy it.”

“That does remind me,” Sirius said, “I heard from a client about this party they were going to attend and apparently there are going to be a lot of big shots from the fashion world.”

Adeline’s eyes lit up. This could be her chance!

____

In Emilie’s living room, every available surface was covered with bags from the mall.

“I think I’m in debt now,” Adeline said tiredly. Her arm was sore from the continuous swiping of her card.

“Nah,” Sirius said, “I did the math and you are definitely still rich.”

“I think that covered the cost of a year’s rent,” Adeline said to Emilie.

“Uh huh..” Emilie said as her head slumped on the arm rest of her chair.

Only Nero seemed to have boundless energy and he ran around the bags happily pulling out the tissue paper and tearing them apart.

All three groaned when they thought about having to clean that mess up later.

____

At night, Adeline sat at the desk Emilie thoughtfully provided her and was sorting through her designs from over the years. She was wondering whether she should start her own studio or work as an intern in a design company first.

Although she had given up her dream in her previous life, she did pick up some experience along the way but she wasn’t sure if she felt prepared enough to be successful.

She was wondering if she should go back to school and get a business degree or something when Emilie popped her blonde head into the room. “What are you doing so late?” she asked and yawned.

“Just organizing some stuff and thinking about the future.”

Emilie walked in and made herself comfortable on the bed, “Want to talk about it?” she offered, looking at Adeline with care and concern.

Adeline felt extraordinary gratitude for Emilie and vowed to herself that she would do everything in her power to make up for her sins in her past life.

Emilie listened to Adeline and came up with many good suggestions for Adeline. She wanted to help her friend get back on her feet after watching her suffer through that fruitless relationship and giving away her youth to that jerk.

“So I was thinking that I could start a company…” Adeline said hesitantly, “But I have no experience in business..”

“I could help.” Emilie offered, “I have a business degree even though my parents forced me to get it just so I can run their company in the future. Might as well use it for a cause I care about.”

“It’s not going to bother you?” Adeline asked.

“Nah. I haven’t been doing much and don’t even have a job. Plus I kind of always wanted to run my own thing without my parents pressuring me. I’ll support you in whatever you decide to do.”

“Thank you!” Adeline leaned forward and wrapped Emilie into a warm hug. In her mind, she thanked all her lucky stars for giving her this second chance at life.