Laura is made to try on some new dresses

Several visits to various clothes shops and one trip to the corner shop later, they were in Michelle’s doom room. Laura had tried to steer them to her own but was swiftly informed by Michelle that all her clothes were too boring for her purposes.

Laura stood in the centre of the room, wearing a dress she had owned for all of half an hour. Under duress, Michelle had her do a series of poses.

‘Nah,’ said Michelle eventually. ‘Too boxy. We want something that makes you pop.’

‘I’m not sure pop is really… me,’ said Laura disheartened. It had been the one dress she’d picked.

‘Well, we’ll make it you. Come on, next one.’

Laura stripped, not a little conscientiously. She didn’t mind terribly being in a state of undress in front of Michelle, that is, as long as she was doing something, like getting changed. But there was always some sort of delay. She would finally take off the entire garment (careful not to take the tag off with it - they hadn’t landed the rich boy yet) and hand it back to Michelle, who would then take an unbearably long time to fish out the next one from among the bags.

Laura just kind of had to stand there in her underwear. She didn’t want to make it too obvious she was trying to cover herself, and beyond that wasn’t certain which part to prioritise, so settled on generally keeping her arms wrapped around her stomach. Every so often though, one would snake off to the bag of chocolates she’d bought from the corner shop outside Michelle’s flat. She usually ate more conservatively than this but couldn’t help herself but snack at an accelerated rate. She was eating them several at a time. It helped a little but it didn’t compare one iota to the chocolates Sable had given her. She was worried she was developing a craving.

Maybe she could get some more later tonight, she thought. She’ll have to ask where she can find them.

Michelle eventually pulled out the right dress and handed it to her. Laura took it quickly.