Monday, April 10, 2017

Jess was too nervous to eat her breakfast. It was wedding dress shopping day. Jess was more than fine with such a short engagement; she really was. Her parents were going to fly down in a couple days. Nick's mom was also able to make it in time for their wedding on Friday. Jess still hadn't heard back from Abby but honestly she hadn't expected to. Knowing Abby, she'll probably show up the day of the wedding without any warning but fully expect to be maid of honor or something.

The one drawback of a short engagement that Jess actually cared about was the dress. She had always dreamed of finding the absolute perfect wedding dress, and if she couldn't find it in a store, she wanted to make it herself. Unfortunately, neither of those options was very realistic when your engagement is 10 days long. She had called every boutique within a 50 mile radius, but only one had an open appointment for her before the wedding date, and it was first thing this morning at 9:00 am sharp.

While Jess was trying to get a few bites of cereal down, her phone rang as Cece's face appeared on the screen. "That's strange," Jess thought to herself. "She's supposed to meet me there in 30 minutes. Did she forget the address or something?"

She answered the phone, "Hey Ceece, you need the address?"

"Jess," came the weak reply. "I am so sorry, but I don't think I can make it today. I guess morning sickness is finally hitting me today of all days."

"Oh no! Cece, that's terrible." Jess empathetically responded, then paused for a moment. "But, are you absolutely sure you can't make it? It's just, this is literally my one shot to pick out a wedding dress, and I can't imagine you not being there with me."

"Believe me, Jess, I want to be there too, more than you know, but if I go, it will be a scene straight out of Bridesmaids in that boutique, I promise you. I've been-" She stopped for a second and Jess heard the unmistakable sound of holding back a gag, "-throwing up all morning and I don't feel any better yet."

"Of course, of course you need to stay home. I'm so sorry you are feeling so awful. But hey, don't they say that's a good sign that your baby is healthy?" Jess asked, clinging to any positivity that she could find. "Do you need me to come help you?"

"No, Jess, you need to keep that appointment! I'll be okay, Schmidt's here and he's been taking good care of me."

"Okay that's good. Maybe if at all possible you can stay by your phone in case I send you any pictures?"

"Yes, I definitely can do that. Again, I'm really sorry, Jess. I know any dress you find will be beautiful on you."

Jess gave a sad smile. "Thanks Ceece. Feel better, okay? I'll check in with you later. Bye."

Jess hung up and set down her phone right as Nick walked into the room. "Hi, honey," he walked toward her while giving her a sleepy smile. "You ready to pick out the perfect Jessica Day dress?"

"Not anymore." She sighed, while Nick's face instantly became concerned. "Cece has morning sickness, and she can't come with me anymore so I have to go by myself."

"Oh that's rough, Jess, I'm sorry." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Maybe I could come with you? I know I'm not supposed to see the dress before the wedding, but hey, we've pretty much thrown all traditions out the window already, right? What's one more?"

"Nick Miller really wants to come to a bridal shop and sit on a super fancy and probably uncomfortable couch and wait while I try on dress after dress after dress for two hours?"

He scrunched his nose. "Two hours?! That's can't be right! How long does it take to put on a dress? I've seen you do it in like two seconds!"

"Nick! Wedding dresses are very complex! Most of them have zippers, and lots of buttons, some even have corsets that you have to tie up. And I'm going to have to try on a lot of dresses to find the right one."

Nick stood wide-eyed for a moment, quiet as he seemed to be processing this brand new information. "So I'd be just sitting there while you get zipped and buttoned and corseted for two hours?"

"Yup."

He sighed. "Okay, let's go."

"You'd do that for me?"

He smiled. "I've told you before, Jess, I'd do anything for you. I'd sit and wait on an uncomfortable couch for two days if it meant you being happy."

With these words, she leaned in to give him a kiss, which he willingly returned, deepening it as wrapped one hand around her waist as the other ran through her hair.

She pulled away, but stayed close enough to put one hand on his cheek. "Nick, that's incredibly sweet of you to offer, but the truth is, this is one tradition that I do want to keep. I want the first time you see this dress to be when I walk toward you at the beach on our wedding day."

"Okay, honey, whatever you want." He agreed. "But I don't want you to go alone. Where's Aly? Or Winston? Apparently he was actually a big help to Cece when she picked out her dress, because he tells me that all the time."

"Winston and Aly both had early shifts this morning. And Schmidt's taking care of Cece at Jaipur Aviv. And even though I weirdly suspect that Outside Dave has good taste in wedding dresses, I'm not so sure that taking him to a nice boutique is really a good option."

"Definitely not. Well, I guess that's everybody. You sure about going alone?"

"It's definitely not my first choice, but I'll be fine. I guess this way, it can be a surprise to everybody." She looked at the clock. "Oh! I have to leave right now or I'll be late!" She gave a quick peck to Nick and grabbed her purse. "See you later, fiance!"

Jess walked toward the boutique, lost in her thoughts, when all of a sudden she bumped into someone standing right by the entrance. "Oh, excuse me, sir- Schmidt?! What are you doing here?!"

Schmidt smiled at her. "Surprise! Did you think we were going to let you do this alone?"

"But...," Jess began, flustered. "What about Cece? She needs you to take care of her!"

"Cece's okay," he reassured her. "I left her in bed with plenty of ginger ale and saltines. She was starting to fall asleep when I left anyway. She insisted I come with you, and I agreed. No one should go wedding dress shopping alone. Especially when you have such a fashion-forward visionary for a friend such as myself."

"You are weirdly up on all the latest fashion trends for women," Jess rolled her eyes, then gave her friend a genuine smile. "Thanks, Schmidt."

He opened the door for her, and the two of them checked in at the front counter. It took a bit of explaining that no, Schmidt was not the groom, and no, he was not her brother, and no, he was not her gay best friend. Since the workers were aware of her time constraints, they led her straight to rack that contained the dresses that could be sold today. On this rack were about 25 dresses of various sizes and shapes. Some were too old and out of season; some had slight tears or damages. Jess and Schmidt (but more Schmidt than Jess) quickly eliminated the dresses that were way too big, had too many damages, or were the completely wrong style for Jess. ("What is this a dress for a retired birthday clown?! Does this one come with pants?!") They were left with 5 dresses for Jess to try on.

Number 1 was a no. The neckline went down way further than they expected and Schmidt remarked that this wedding was not a four dollar strip club. Number 2 was a probably not. It was mermaid-style, which Schmidt said went well with the beach setting, but Jess found it very uncomfortable. Number 3 was a maybe. It was three-quarter length sleeved and tea-length, neither of which were what Jess had in mind, but it was made of pretty lace, and it was definitely more comfortable than number 2. Number 4 was a definitely no. It wasn't until she put it on that she realized that what she thought were ruffles at the bottom were actually feathers, and Schmidt's solemn, one word, "No" definitely put an end to that one. So they were left with Number 5. Jess said a silent prayer to herself that she would put it on and absolutely love it. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly the case. It was fine. A simple chiffon A-line with a nice beaded belt, but there was nothing extraordinary about it.

As she walked out of the changing room, she studied Schmidt's face, but all he did was stare back at the dress, with a contemplative look on his face. Neither spoke for a moment. Finally Jess couldn't stand it, "Well?"

He looked at her, then waited a beat. "What do you think of it, Jess?"

"I think it's pretty nice. It's comfortable. I like the belt. It's good."

"But you don't love it."

Jess sighed in frustration. "I don't love any of them, Schmidt! But this is all we've got. These are the only wedding dresses that I can have in time for my wedding. So it's either going to be this one, or the tea-length lace one. Which one do you think?"

"Neither of them is you, Jess. Neither of them is your perfect dress."

"I'm not going to have the perfect dress, Schmidt! One of these is going to be good enough, so please help me decide which one it is!"

Schmidt walked over to where she was standing, took both her hands in his, and looked directly into her eyes. "Good enough is not good enough for you, Jess. You deserve the best. You're the prize, remember?" He asked with a glimmer in his eye. "You're marrying my best friend, but, you're also my best friend too. And you deserve a dress you love."

Jess squeezed his hands in hers. "Thanks, Schmidt. That's so sweet of you. I just don't know where would would find another dress."

"Excuse me, good woman!" Schmidt called out. The boutique employee popped her head in the room. "Ooh, that one looks-"

"Quiet." Schmidt interrupted her. "I happen to know for a fact that these are not the only dresses you have that we can buy today, so I would like you to please go in the back and bring us the rest of the dresses you have."

The worker paused a moment. "Sir, I don't know where you are getting your information from, but these are the only off the rack dresses we have today."

Schmidt walked over to her. "Ma'am. Look at this woman." He gestured over to Jess. "This woman is one of the kindest and most selfless people you could ever meet in your life. And she's marrying the man who has been my best friend for over nearly half of 30 years. This woman deserves the most perfect dress in the world. And she hasn't found it yet. But I know, you have it somewhere here in the store. So please go back and bring us what you have, because we both know you have more."

The woman looked at Schmidt, then looked at Jess, then back at Schmidt. "I think we have a couple in the back that we are taking out of our inventory. Let me check." She walked out.

"What?!" Jess scream-whispered to Schmidt. "How did you know she had more dresses?!"

"I didn't!" Schmidt whispered excitedly back. "I was totally making that entire thing up!"

Schmidt and Jess laughed to themselves for a few minutes before the woman returned with two dresses in her hands. "Yeah, we're taking these out of inventory because nobody ever buys them…"

But neither Schmidt nor Jess was listening, because both of them were staring at the dress in the lady's right hand.

"Jess."

"I know. Let me try it on before we get too excited."

"Too late. I'm excited!"

"Shut up, Schmidt!"

"I've got a scream and nowhere to put it!"

"Can I try that one on, please?" Jess asked, gesturing to the right dress.

"Sure, but it's sample size so be warned that the sizing might not be exactly right."

When Jess put the dress on in the fitting room, she closed her eyes so she wouldn't even see it in the mirror. She was too afraid. She loved it so much from looking at it on the hanger that she was terrified that she wasn't going to like it on her. As she zipped it up, eyes still closed, she became aware that it fit her absolutely perfectly. "No," she thought to herself. "Don't get too excited. There's no way it's this perfect."

"You ready, Schmidt?" She called out.

"Ready."

Eyes shut, she walked out of the changing room. She expected to hear a gasp, a shout, something, but heard nothing. "Well?"

"Oh, Jess" Wait, was Schmidt...crying?

She opened her eyes not to look in the mirror, but to look at Schmidt and saw his glistening eyes. "Schmidt! Stop crying! You're going to make me cry!" But the tears were already filling her eyes.

"Just look!" He shouted back.

Jess looked into the mirror. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined a more perfect dress. It was strapless, sweetheart neckline on a beautiful lace bodice. The full skirt was made up of several layers of tulle. The very bottom of the tulle layers were dyed different pastel colors: blue, purple, pink, green.

"Yeah, we didn't sell very many of these." The worker commented. "Most brides don't like the colors for their wedding day."

"Oh, she's colors." Schmidt stated, then shook his head slightly. "I mean, she's perfect for colors. I mean, if anyone should have a colorful wedding dress, it's Jessica Day. Jess, this is your dress."

Jess watched herself do a twirl in the mirror, and whispered back, "Yes, Schmidt. This is the dress."

Author's Note: My pick of a colored dress might be controversial, but I stumbled across a picture of one once that I thought seemed perfect for Jess, so that's what I based it on.