“Make sure it’s cute… Stella will not want you to showing up in anything that isn’t cute,” the voice on the other end of the phone said,
“I know, I know,” Eve replied, “I’m looking for something in the mall right now,”
“I can’t believe you didn’t have anything,” the voice commented,
“I do have stuff!” Eve assured, “it’s… just old stuff, it won’t fit me anymore,”
“I doubt it,” the voice said, “you haven’t grow at all since you were like 14,”
“Hey!” Eve said, clearly quite offended, “you don’t have to be such a dick about it,” she said, crossing her arms.
As she was window shopping, a certain smaller shop caught her eye.
“I gotta go, Eve,” the voice said, “but I’ll see you tomorrow, at the party,” she finished, but then quickly added, “don’t be too late… or early like last time. Stella was sooo pissed when you arrived early,”
“Alright alright, got it Astrid,” Eve said, ready to hang out, “say hi to Phoenix for me,”
“Sure,” Astrid said, “she’s gonna be there tomorrow, you can say hi yourself. I don’t wanna talk to her,”
“Oh, right…” Eve said, awkwardly,
“See ya!” Astrid said, hanging up the call before Eve even had the chance to say goodbye.
Astrid had always been the social and likeable one, always talking… usually about herself. She was definitely a little self-absorbed.
Eve on the other hand, was a very shy person. Like Astrid liked to comment on very frequently, she was a lot smaller than other girls. She was definitely insecure about it, but she wouldn’t tell anyone about it. Not that she had anyone to tell about it. All her friends were kind of bitchy, and all the people she actually liked talking to didn’t find her interesting enough. If it weren’t for their long history, Eve doubted she’d ever be friends with Astrid. Then again, they only really met through Astrid’s slightly older sister, Phoenix.
Eve sighed, placing her phone back into her pocket. She was definitely intrigued by this particular shop, something about it stood out to her. She slowly approached the door, seeing the items in the window didn’t strike her as anything ‘swim-wear’ related, but what could it hurt. She could just browse.
As she walked in, it didn’t even seem like anyone was inside. She heard a classic bell ring above her head as she walked in. No one was behind the counter. As she looked over the counter, she could see a faint blue light emanating from the back room.
She assumed someone was back there, and was tempted to call out just to speak to them… but then something caught her eye.
What was possibly the most beautiful bikini top and bottom, coloured an amazing shimmering gold and white. Something about it, it was just the most stunning piece of clothing Eve had ever seen, she couldn’t take her eyes off of it.
Of course, it was probably incredibly expensive… but maybe whoever was working there would allow her to just try it on… maybe. She took it off of it’s stand and held it in her hands, admiring it’s beauty.
Suddenly, from out of the door behind the counter entered a young woman with tied up ginger hair and wearing a typical shop-keeper apron and shirt. She looked a little rushed around… maybe it was a bad time.
“Oh, you sure you really wanna take that?” The young woman asked Eve directly, leaning herself over the counter,
“Uhm… y-yeah, I thought it might look cute,” she says, once again lifting it to admire it, “I got invited to a party tomorrow night and I wanted to find a top that would actually make me look… good for once. I’m not really known for my looks, I guess,”
“Oh trust me, that bikini is gonna help with that,” the young woman said, looking down at the top, then at Eve, then whipping her head back to the storeroom, clearly needing to get back there. Eve could see the blue light getting more intense,
“S-so… could I try it on, just to see if it’ll fit?” Eve asked,
Without looking back at Eve, the woman said, “oh it’ll fit,” still on edge. She turned her head back to look at Eve, “listen, that bikini is gonna change you, alright,”
“W-what…”
“It’ll make… you… uhm…” she seemed to be jumping around a way to describe it as vaguely as possible, “you’ll feel more confident with it,”
“Really!?” Eve said, amazed,
“Yeah… but it’s not all good,”
“I-I…” Eve said, looking down at it. Something about it made her want. Made her need it, “c-can I buy it?” She asked with hesitation,
“Are you sure?” the woman said, the blue light seemingly getting more intense,
“Yes,” Eve said, “definitely!”
“A-alright…” the woman said, clearly not confident in her decision, she turned her whole body, leaning completely on the counter to look at Eve, “listen, I’ll give you the set, but you gotta make sure you bring it back after the party is over,” she said,
“W-wait… really?”
“Yeah, it’s important that it comes back here because I’m not entirely sure everything it can do, that’s what the owner knows,”
“S-so… you’re paying for it,”
“I guess so…” the woman said, trying to move the conversation as quickly as she could, “let’s just say you’re borrowing it, but if it causes any issues, that’s on me.”
Eve was speechless, she didn’t know what to say,
“You can just say thank you, I need to close the shop,” the woman replied, almost as if she knew what Eve was struggling with,
“Th-thank you… ma’am,”
“Please, just Alex,,”
“Okay, thank you Ms. Alex!” Eve finished,
“No problem,” Alex said, “now I need to shut quickly, come back in a couple days!”
“O-okay!” Eve said, looking back at her new top in her arms. She looked up at Alex as she gestured to the door. Eve didn’t want to waste any more of her time, so she went to the door at a reasonable pace.
She opened the door and stepped out, looking back in and seeing Alex quickly disappear into storage room. But just before the door shut, Alex popped her head back and yelled,
“Hope the party goes well… and keep the set to yourself!” As she finished, the door shut suddenly, and the OPEN sign quickly flipped over to read CLOSED.
Alex wasn’t anywhere near the door, but honestly, Eve wasn’t focussed on that fact at all. She was just happy she had a perfect bikini for the party!
She placed it neatly into her bag, and glanced around at the other shops… nothing had her wanting to do anything else, so she smiled and decided to start her walk home!
— — —
Alexandria sighed, she quickly made her way back into the storeroom, looking at the glowing blue runes on the ground, preparing for the Shop-Keeper to appear at any moment.
Alexandria knew exactly what that Bikini set was. An ancient set of Greek Garments enchanted by Aphrodite herself. What Alexandria didn’t know is what happens when it’s misused…