Now, Check That

[Somersault]

((Britnee Joyner, pre-game start.))

So, yeah, this was like sooo not the place to be right now, 'cause while everyone else was living it up, partying it up, getting to like do fun shit and shit, she was here, working her ass off, the whole part-time suffering zippa-dee-dah. Being part of the whole proletariat sorta shit was not what Britnee vibed with. Not at all. She was a queen, sometimes, maybe-okay, okay, fine, maybe she just liked to think she should be treated well, but if like all humans were entitled to that, because, you know, human rights and she was a human, that meant she deserved something than this whole minimum wage for dealing with screaming children sort of thing, yes? Yeah. That was the whole end of the thing. She hoped.

Regardless, she thought, adjusting her name-tag to make sure it could be seen, the money was okay. Not like for someone with a degree, but like, in the sense that this'd be enough to get something pretty if she was willing to go clean the piece up. It was enough to ignore the fact that the name printed on the tag was Britney, at least. She'd given up worse things before.

Now, maybe Dee's Discount Deals wasn't the height of haute couture, but it...it was there. And there was enough for her to stick around, mindlessly folding clothes ip in the right way to keep her mind off of all the latest deets.

Was Tiffany Ramirez probably getting railed by that Trevor Anderson dude in a back alley? Maybe, and Britnee was gagging to tell everyone that, but for now, the movement of cloth under her fingertips was all that occupied her time. Not as if customers came in on Wednesday nights all that often, and even then most who did usually knew enough to know the sections before lining up in front of the counter neat and easy. Wasn't too taxing, wasn't too demanding, even if the pen nestled behind her ear was a reminder to make sure to keep that homeless lady from stealing any more stock.

Britnee sighed, and plopped down the shirt she'd been folding back onto its stack. Life was so unfair.

[Laurels]

((Shoshanna Kowalczyk: Sandbox start))

"Marya, you better not make me look like a fool."

"Don't worry, you can trust me. I have an eye for spring fashion."

"Fine. Just don't make me look like the fields of Woodstock after the festival. My body's already been trampled on enough."

Shoshanna pushed open the door to Dee's Discount Deals. Man, was she not looking forward to today. Shoshanna preferred to only go clothes shopping once per year. She preferred to wait until enough of her t-shirts had ketchup stains or moth holes or her pants were starting to split at the seam before she dared go to a clothing store. But this was one of those rare occasions where she had no choice. Her cousin Tovah was having her bat mitzvah, and her mom said they had to dress up nicely for the occasion. Shoshanna would have liked to have worn the dress she wore to Marya's bat mitzvah the year prior, but it wasn't fitting any more.

Marya was already planning to go shopping, and she decided to drag Shoshanna along. Shoshanna had to admit that her little sister was way more fashion forward than she was, especially with how little they had to spend on clothes. If Marya could make the cheap stuff look fierce, then Shoshanna could rely on that intuition. She would hate the experience, but as soon as Marya said "That one's perfect for you!" Shoshanna would rip the dress off and walk up to the register in her undergarments if it meant leaving sooner.

Dee's was at least not too far from home and within their budget. Marya shopped there more than Shoshanna, so she'd probably know where the best formal clothes in the store were.

They walked inside. Shoshanna sighed and looked around.

"Okay, where's the best clothes for temple?" she asked.

"Uh, probably over- oh, hold up," Marya said.

Marya's eyes were drawn to an accessory table. She began to move her fingers across the bracelets.

"Really?" Shoshanna asked.

"Hey, this will matter later," Marya said.

Marya picked up one turquoise beaded bracelet and put it on. Shoshanna rolled her eyes. She glanced around the store. Marya could make love to the table of half-off accessories. Shoshanna had a job to do.

There was a shop girl nearby folding shirts. Shoshanna walked up to her.

"Hey, quick question," she asked the girl. "Where's your formal clothes? Like, for church or whatever."

[Somersault]

Yeah, it still really was a shame on that whole stealing business, but Britnee wasn't paid in pity per minute, so like it seemed best just to get that right out of her mind and get right back onto folding. The rhythm of hand on fabric was regular enough, almost enough so as to distract her from the familiar sound of the door opening.

Not enough to actually distract her, though, which was what really made the whole difference in this situation. Like, 'course Britnee was able to just keep her eyes on the prize, the prize being freshly folded clothes and do that, but it wasn't as if you could train your ears to block tings out the same way, so could anyone really fault her for getting just a little bit sloppier as she heard one of the girls speak? Like, was it really so weird for her to panic, just a little bit?

Okay, okay, maybe Shoshanna wasn't all that bad. Like, wasn't as if she was bumping into that pervert dude or that other douche or whatever. Still, maybe the other girl was funny, but she was also like an entire universe away from being the kind of person that Britnee hung around, in terms of status and all, and status, hello, was like literally everything.

Like, wow, she could've just melted into a puddle right then and there if one of her actual friends were to see her here, but if Shoshanna and that other girl were just gonna go roll bye, then it'd be okay. Just another thing to thank the Lord or whatever for. A happy coincidence, something tat the other might just bring up in class. No biggie, nothing to sweat about.

Of course, that was when Shoshanna decided to up and speak to her.

"Formal clothes?" Wait, was what meant to come out as a question? Probably not, because the other girl seemed pretty sure in knowing what she was after, and as the fricking employee Britnee probably should've known where it was, and she did, but like that info was sort of buried within her. Like, past all the bio tests and that lit project from two months ago.

"Mmm," she started, finally looking up at Shoshanna with a look of professional concentration etched onto her face. At least, she hoped it look like that. "So like, really dressy clothes, right? Take a look at those shelves in the left corner."

Pointed to it, too. The most professional, really.

If she was all that professional, maybe Shoshanna wouldn't even recognize her. Which, honestly, would kind of hurt, because Britnee would've liked to think she had done enough to at least be memorable, but that wasn't the point of this whole thing.

The whole point of this whole thing was for people to walk out none the wiser that she even worked here.

[Laurels]

The shop girl pointed in the direction of the clothes. Shoshanna glanced over to the shelves she indicated. There, she could see a wide array of knee-length dresses of various colors, prints, and cuts. Shoshanna grimaced a bit, but turned back to the girl.

"Okay, thanks," Shoshanna said.

She turned away from the shop girl and back to Marya. Marya was still looking over at the accessories.

"Marya, come on," she said.

"One moment," her sister said.

"Marya."

"Just pick something and I'll let you know what I think."

Shoshanna rolled her eyes. So the random shop girl with her pointing was more helpful than her own sister.

"Sure. Will do."

Shoshanna walked over to the racks that had formal dresses. She quickly started pushing them around. Shoshanna knew she wouldn't have issues with a fit, that was a bonus of being stupidly skinny and flat chested. She looked back at Marya, who was now hand modeling a few rings. So Marya wasn't gonna help her at all. That's cool. Shoshanna could show her.

Shoshanna immediately grabbed four dresses off the racks. One was bright orange with a black, studded belt, another was seafoam green with a scoop neck, another was black, red, and white plaid, and the last was white with a collection of pink and yellow flowers all over it. They all seemed equally weird and dumb, and were the same length and had roughly the same amount of modesty for temple, but Shoshanna decided to test them out.

She carried all four cocktail dresses over to the shop girl she spoke to moments ago.

"Pardon me, but could I get your professional opinion on these?"

[Somersault]

"Oh, you asking me!?"

Ha! Great! Definitely great, super great, especially great after Britnee had gotten the great idea of sending Shohanna over to see those great clothes so she could go out, have Britnee tell her to have a great day, and get out. Great! Simply great. So great, that Britnee was starting to panic-nah, not panic, just be even more hyped up for the great job that she possessed.

Smile, yes, that's what she was doing, bright and hopefully blindingly enough that her classmate wouldn't recognize that yes, she was the random sales bitch. That would do nobody any good. Especially Britnee. Her eyes were wide, oh yes, but hopefully in that good and pleasant way, not the deer in the headlights way as so often happened when she'd overhear Cassidy Marquez talking smack about her.

"Yeah, I'd love to help," Britnee chirped with all the graciousness she could muster. Just needed to go and look right there, pick a thing out, and just be Done. With. It. With a scrunch of her eyebrows, she quickly glanced over at the dresses the other girl was holding, and a few seconds later immediately pointed at the green one. Which was lowkey like a really ugly shade of green, but whatever. This wasn't Gucci.

"That one would look great with your hair!"

It so totally sorta maybe did. Take that, Cassidy. Who was a tacky wannabe now?

...Maybe not answering that question was best.

[Laurels]

Shoshanna nodded.

"Alright, noted. Thanks."

The shopgirl chose the green dress, so that sounded like the one to go with. At least, tentatively. Shoshanna wasn't going to waste a trip back to the store because the dress didn't fit or whatever. She still had to try it on.

Shoshanna noticed where the dressing rooms were and looked back to where Marya was. Marya was still trying jewelry on. Shoshanna rolled her eyes.

"Yo, Marya," Shoshanna shouted. "Going to the dressing room."

Shoshanna stepped away and made her way to the dressing room. She still had the other three dresses with her, so she would try them too. But for now, she needed to get in the green dress.

[Maraoone]

((Taking over for Somer.))

Great! She was going to the dressing room! Super!

A few things.

One, if a customer opts to go to the dressing room with that many items, this means they will hang around the story for a minimum of at least ten more minutes. After all, they have to put on one outfit, walk around in front of the mirror a bit, take off that outfit, put on the next outfit, wash, rinse, repeat until all items have been worn. And then it would be Britnee's job right here to fold all those clothes, which was pretty fucking fantastic! She didn't even have the decency to try on shirts like everyone else, at least those could be folded in five seconds, no, she had to go with the dresses, so she'd have to find some large table to fold them on and then straighten it and fix it and it would still come out crooked and crumpled. But, it was fine, it was fine, that wasn't the main issue at hand here.

Two, there was only, like, a 60% chance she'd be satisfied with one of those items, so that meant there was a 40% chance she'd hang around the store even more, giving her more time to recognize that Ms. Britnee Danielle Joyner did indeed spend a significant fraction of her life as a worker at the well-known fashion mecca Dee's Discount Deals. But, like, look at Shoshanna. Look at her. If she was the type of girl willing to step out into the world with a ketchup-stained shirt and ripped pants, like... Britnee wasn't one to judge (except she totally was), but, like, she didn't seem like the type of girl that would need more than one pass in front of the mirror to find something that would meet her exceptionally high standards. Which was unironically, actually super.

But then there's thing number three: Shoshanna's little friend, sister probably, right there. Well, thing was a harsh descriptor, she seemed like a pretty alright decent member of society. Her shirt wasn't stained, at least. In fact, her shirt looked pretty styling TBH, aaaaaand that was the issue, the thing, right there. The girl knew a thing or two about clothes. Britnee knew that look the girl was giving the bracelets. It was the same look she would give any surprisingly good finds in run-down thrift stores like this, and while it was usually nice and all that Dee's had such a great inventory, that look meant that Marya would spend, like, at least half an hour here. Britnee Joyner, suffering from success.

There were two options here. She could, one, just ignore her and let her systematically look through every single aisle and table and clothing rack in the store. Pros: less interaction required, hopefully, and she'd have more time to finally get these clothes folded. Con: it would give Shoshanna all the time in the world to fucking crater Britnee's reputation right then and there. Or, two, she could help her find what she needed, and send her and her sister on her way. Pro: they would be out of here, moving on with their lives, and this whole thing would just fade into the distance, and Britnee could finally get on with her life without being so stressed. Stress made her break out, which was, on its own, pretty stressful, and that was a vicious cycle she'd very much like not to be involved in. Con: more interaction, it would make Britnee more memorable, and maybe, just maybe, they'd be able to jog their memories and be like 'That's who we saw working at Dee's Discount Deals.' High risk, high reward.

Eh, Britnee was feeling a little risky. They were the only people in the store anyways. If Britnee got them out, she'd be able to browse Twitter without anyone getting on her ass. She was in the mood for some tea ATM.

Little head tilt, wide grin, sugar-sweet pitch. She walked over to Shoshanna's sister.

"Hiiiii. Are we all good here? Finding what we need?"

[Laurels]

Shoshanna closed the curtain to the dressing room. She hung the dresses on the hook and sighed. Well, time to get started. She turned her back to the full length mirror and lifted her shirt off over her head. She tossed it onto the floor, then began to kick her sneakers off. Shoshanna unbuttoned and shimmied out of her jeans. She'd have to do this quickly. She always had that fear of someone opening the curtain and exposing an underwear-clad Shoshanna to everyone in the store. It never happened, but Shoshanna always figured that if it was to happen to someone, it'd be her.

She grabbed the green dress and took it off the hanger. After unzipping the back, she threw the dress over her head and shimmied into it. She adjusted it by the collar, then tried to zip it up from behind. Shoshanna had pretty flexible arms, so she was sure she could do it. After she tried it on, she turned around and looked at herself in the mirror.

She glanced up and down.

"I look like a wood nymph..."

Shoshanna rolled her eyes. Whatever. That was just her opinion. She just needed to know if others would think she looked halfway tolerable.

She opened the curtain and stepped out.

Across the way, Marya was interrupted by the shop girl who was helping her sister. Marya was looking at a ring shaped like a dolphin and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just hear to help my-"

She glanced past the shop girl and saw Shoshanna stepping out of the dressing room in a green dres.

"Shosh, you chose something?"

"No, just trying number one? Thoughts?"

[Maraoone]

Oh.

Uh.

Hm.

Well, Shoshanna certainly gave off a sort of natural beauty here. Stout, but otherworldly. Serene, peaceful, humble. Sort of like she's in harmony with her surroundings, like she- OK she looked like a forest dwarf, Pan is SHAKING out here, Mother Nature found DEAD in a DITCH.

Britnee highkey hoped that, like, the wide-ass grin on her face came off as her admiring Shoshanna's beauty rather than what it really was, her trying desperately not to laugh. Like, the dress was basically hugging her skin, and the color, God, the color of it. And, like, matched with the brown hair of it, she looked like a fucking tree.

But, like, best not to say anything about it. She wanted to ask what this dress was for, so she could show up, discreetly take pictures, post and roast on the group chat, but then that would entail more small talk, more conversation, and then Shoshanna would be like 'Heyyyy I know where you're from' and Britnee would never smile again.

The grin stayed on her face, hopefully returned to the tilted 'Hi how are we all doing here today' aura that was a prerequisite for interacting with customers.

"Sis, that's a great look on you! You look lovely in it. It matches with your hair so well, and it fits perfectly. What's the occasion?"

Okay she couldn't resist. The group chat had gone long enough without a roast, things were getting boring. Some risks were necessary.

[Laurels]

"You look like if a Strawberry Shortcake doll got dug out of a landfill and chucked into a nearby park," Marya told Shoshanna.

Shoshanna paused, taking in her sister's words. Really, what did she expect from her? She wasn't fashionable, and why did she think bright colors were the right thing for a bat mitzvah anyways?

"Yeah, screw this," Shoshanna said. "What do you have in black and or black and white?"

"Can you wear black to a bat mitzvah?" Marya said.

"I'm fine as long as I cover my shoulder," Shoshanna replied.

Shoshanna looked back to the shop girl.

"Basically, it's for a Jewish coming-of-age for our cousin who's supposedly going to be a woman after this even though she still can't light a match without panicking about burning her fingertips. Got any recs?"

[Maraoone]

Britnee's smile twitched a bit as Shoshanna's sister tuned in, dashing Britnee's hopes of a quick exit for the forest nymph in front of her. Muscle fatigue, perhaps. They weren't the first people Britnee had had to smile at without meaning it. In the world of retail, smiles were meant more to appease, calm, welcome, than to express any joy or satisfaction, as those emotions were nowhere to be found as a minimum-mage worker. In Dee's Discount Deals, your smile was not your smile, but theirs to observe and be reassured by.

Her lips stretched wider, muscles holding on for dear life to maintain that sense of 'You are always welcome to shop here,' even though she wanted to accuse them of shoplifting so the security guard would promptly escort them out. The idea was tempting but it would cause too much of a scene, and then fucking Cassidy would have more reason to talk shit. And would she allow Cassidy to have one over her? Never.

She came out of her thoughts just in time to hear Shoshanna's answer, replied to it with a small nod.

"I thought bar mitzvahs were for boys?"

On second thought, was that an insensitive question to ask? Dumb or offensive, or neither? A common mistake, hopefully?

She waved her hand away.

"Ah, never mind me, sis. If you're looking for something in black, I..."

The red tartan cocktail dress Shoshanna had pulled out earlier looked tempting, if only for the fact that it was right there in the dressing room and she wouldn't have to put any actual effort into finding another dress. Buuuuut, tartan was a Choice, and her sister right there had discerning eyes that would probably judge the dress to not meet her standard. And also the sleeves. Shoshanna had said something about covering her shoulders.

God she hated having to think sometimes.

They were going to a religious occasion though, no? Something modest? She had an idea in mind.

"You know, we do have this cute little item in the back. Follow me!"

She made a beckoning gesture at them, tilted smile stuck on her face. She then walked towards the furthermost rack of clothes, reaching into the middle. She pulled out a monochrome black dress, frilled, with a knee-length skirt and short sleeves, complete with a little ribbon thing around the neck. Kinda retro-style, vintage, 50's style. It had caught Britnee's eye the day before, she lowkey wanted it for herself. But, she wasn't too married to the idea of wearing it, this fashion mecca had other gems lying within the backrooms. Anything to get them out of her way.

"If you're looking for something in black that's a bit more formal, we have this! A bit small though, but I think it's worth a try, right?"

Please.

[Laurels]

((Sorry for the horrific delay.))

"Bar mitzvahs are for boys," Shoshanna explained. "Bat mitzvahs are for girls. One letter difference, but the same kind of ceremony."

The girl led Shoshanna over to a dress rack. She held up a particular dress for Shoshanna. Shoshanna barely looked it over and grabbed it from her.

"I'll try it. Marya, come with me."

Shoshanna made her way over to the dressing room. She wanted to get this over with. Marya was stupid and Shoshanna was trying way too hard for something she'd barely pay attention to the day of. As long as the dress didn't make her look like a poorly made sausage, it'd work for her.

But still, she better at least like how she looked in it for when her Aunt flooded Facebook with pics from the event.

[Maraoone]

"Ah."

Britnee nodded along as the two receded behind the wall, towards the dressing room, cheek muscles holding strong still, pulling up the sides of her lips, pulling overtime. Hm. Was that possible? Was it possible to work out your face muscles? Was it possible to get them ripped? Was that how smile lines formed? Oh god. Is that why her forty-something boss looked like that? Is that what happened when you spent decades working retail, smiling at people day after day after day?

Eh. Not her problem then, if that was the case. Fuck if she knew what she was gonna do in life, but, no disrespect to Margaret, she was a great boss, wonderful boss, even said she was considering giving her a wage a dollar above minimum by next year, fantastic lady, but she didn't see herself following the same career route. She had other plans. She was meant for different things.

The smile dropped as soon as the sisters walked out of view, her face muscles almost sighing in relief. She'd take a few minutes to test the dress, walk around with it, turn around, the whole dance and shit, and so Britnee had a few options to spend her time. She could finish folding clothes, cleaning up the mess Shoshanna had left behind.

Or she could open her phone, finally get the deets on the whole Tiffany/Trevor sitch, find out what led her fellow classmates to make such poor life decisions. But, again, she only had a couple minutes, what'd probably happen is that she'd get her Facebook opened, find the first pertinent post, open the comments, and then Shoshanna would walk out asking for another dress as if it mattered to here, as if she had even a semblance of any fashion sense or color coordination or general eye-seeing skills, and then Britnee would be completely blue-balled once again.

Or, or, she could be a bit proactive, look for another actually decent dress that she'd been eyeing for a while to give to Shoshanna to get her out of the shop, even if she had been eyeing that blue mid-sleeved dress for a night out, it'd only cause her a night or two of grief and mourning, again, there were other gems- there were other acceptable items here in Dee's. Yeah, that'd be smart, it'd get Shoshanna to walk out, and then Britnee could finally clock out and spend the rest of her night watching reruns of I Love New York or something, she was feeling a bit retro tonight, even she tired of watching montages of Carter and Filomena from season 55 fighting kissing fighting kissing. Yeah, she could finally free herself from proletariat hell (until she didn't, until she clocked in the next day), that was a good plan.

Oooooor Shoshanna and her sister could walk out right now, and Britnee could come to the realization that she'd wasted her few minutes of free time planning but not really doing anything. Yeah. That could happen. Par for the course for the night.

[Laurels]

Shoshanna and Marya stepped into the dressing room as Shoshanna began to put the dress on.

"Really?" Marya asked. "You're gonna go with it?"

"Why, got a problem?"

"No. It just doesn't seem your style."

"And that would be?"

"Garbage."

Shoshanna would snark back, but Marya was right. Shoshanna barely cared for fashion or styling. She wasn't an idiot and knew that there would be times she'd have to dress nicely and make herself look nice. That would mean making a passable attempt at coming the haunted house cob web she called her hair and having Marya put minimal makeup on her.

Shoshanna was finally zipped into the dress and looked it over in the mirror. It was a sleek black dress with short sleeves, a little bow near the collar, and was long enough that her uncle wouldn't give her shit about it. She turned to the side.

"God, I am seriously Angela from Sleepaway Camp. Flat as a board and in need of a screw," Shoshanna commented.

"Well I'm not helping with that part," Marya said. "But hey, if you were taller, you'd probably be able to be a model."

"Sure. Can you imagine me on the cover of Vogue?"

"Yes."

"Wait, why?"

"Cause of your future career in TV."

Shoshanna chuckled.

"Wow, you actually believe in me."

"Of course. Someone has to," Marya said. "But anyways, you like it?"

Shoshanna paused.

"I need another opinion."

She stepped over and swung the curtain open. She saw the shop girl.

"Hey," she called out. "Yay or nay?"

[Maraoone]

"Yay!"

Oop. Too enthusiastic. Like she was opening a gift or something. Like she was excited for her to leave. Which she was. Tick tock time is running, store shutters were about to go down. But yeah, the tone. Too preppy. Weird shit. Try again.

"Yeah, I mean. You look fantastic, sis! That all you looking for?"

Please say yes please say yes please say yes.