April and Haley had already spent some time in a couple of shops and hadn’t found anything for the party. They weren’t really convinced by what they’d tried on, but that was about to change. In the other shops they’d been offered a couple of dresses, most of them really colorful. In this one, they wanted to choose themselves. Both of them wandered around by themselves and met at the fitting rooms when they were ready to try on what they’d found.
“How many have you got?” April looked at her new friend and grinned.
“Only two, but I’m pretty confident that I’ll take one of them.”
“Same goes for me. Okay then I’ll see you out here with the first one in a minute.”
Both women vanished in cubicles. Haley took a deep breath before she changed out of her clothes and into the first dress. It was about knee length, had short sleeves and showed just a little bit of cleavage. It was nice, but she wasn’t completely convinced. Looking at herself in the mirror, she smoothed down the material and turned to the side. She sucked in her stomach and watched her reflection. If she bought this dress, she’d have to walk around like this all the time to feel comfortable.
“Come on, I’m waiting.” April’s voice came from outside her cubicle. Could she really show herself to April like this. She didn’t really have a choice. After all, they’d said they’d show each other the dresses.
Slowly Haley stepped out from behind the curtain and looked at April who looked stunning in a simple, black dress. Her curvy figure, her blonde hair and the smile on her lips could make this plain dress look like something really special.
“Wow, look at you!” Haley said with a smile on her lips. “I guess you’ll go with this one without even trying on the other one?”
“Yes. Definitely. I won’t find anything better than this. What about you?” April inspected Haley and realized with a start how thin she was. She usually wore wide shirts or thick cardigans due to the weather when April saw her. This was the first time she saw Haley in a dress and it almost scared her. “You don’t look like you feel comfortable in this.”
“I don’t,” Haley admitted and sucked in her stomach again. “I’ll try on the second one, okay?”
“Yeah, go ahead, I’ll put on my own clothes and wait here.” April went back into the cubicle, changed quickly and sat down outside to wait for Haley. The way she’d just tried to hide her almost non-existent stomach worried April. But she couldn’t just go ahead and ask her, could she? They didn’t know each other that well and it would be rude. But maybe she could talk to Jonathan about this. The two of them had known each other for years, they were friends and maybe he could find out what was going on.
“Well, what do you think?” Haley’s voice made April look up and forget her thoughts for a moment. She looked more confident than before. The red dress showed a little more cleavage than the one before and had small straps. It hit her just above the knee and looked perfect on her. And she didn’t seem to have a problem with her body in this one. She didn’t suck in her stomach or touch the dress all the time. Instead she stood there with a smile on her lips, hands clasped in front of her.
“You look absolutely beautiful, Haley.” Slowly April got up and approached her friend. “Just leave your hair down like this, not too much makeup. I won’t let you buy any other dress than this one.”
That was all Haley needed to hear. She quickly changed so that she and April could pay for their dresses and leave the store again. Haley didn’t have time left to go for dinner with April, because she still had to get some work done at home. They’d share a meal some other time after the charity dinner.
Long after April had arrived at home, the apartment that now belonged to her and Jonathan, she was still thinking about Haley and what she’d seen. The more she tried not to think about it, the more she worried.
“Honey, I’m home,” Jonathan called from the door as usual. She didn’t know why, but he’d started saying this one day and never stopped. He put down his bag, took off the coat and walked straight over to where she was sitting on the sofa to give her a kiss. But he immediately sensed that something was on her mind. “Okay, what’s wrong?”
April heaved a sigh and pulled him next to her. She cuddled up to his side and closed her eyes before she started speaking: “Has Haley ever had a problem with her weight?”
“Not that I recall.” Jonathan thought long and hard. “She weighed more when we were younger, and after the incident on the ice she started working out more.” He looked down at his girlfriend and ran a hand through her hair. “She’s too thin, that’s what you think, right?”
At that April lifted her head to look in his eyes: “Yes. When I saw her in that dress, I was almost speechless. She looked so fragile and not comfortable at all. She tried to hide her stomach from me and she doesn’t even have one.” April shook her head, worried. “I think she’s got a problem with her body.”
“You might have a point there.”He kissed her forehead. “I was a bit shocked when I saw her a couple of weeks ago. At that time I thought it was just stress, now it looks like it’s more serious. How about we see how the charity dinner goes? Keep an eye on her during the dinner, how she behaves, what she eats and doesn’t eat. And then we can talk to her. If she has a problem, want to help her.”
April pecked his lips before she nodded. “Okay. Sounds like a plan.”