Author's note: Thank you once again to JK Moreland for editing my story, it is truly appreciated. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Daydreaming constantly, Grace found she still couldn't rid herself of the image of Tristan and finally picked up the phone to see if Eve wanted to go out again. Unfortunately, Eve was away on some sort of corporate team building exercise for the rest of the week. As the new awakened princess within her told her she could go out on her own and that she wouldn't be alone for long if she did, the smart and shy Grace just couldn't find the courage to do it. She knew Adam would go with her but she really didn't want to ask him, especially as she hoped to once again run into Tristan in the same bar.
Becoming increasingly more aware of her body and the curves she had seen as proof of her weight gain and therefore fat she now started to appreciate them more and shed her baggy clothes in favour of more form fitting outfits; enjoying the compliments and surreptitious looks she got from her mostly male work colleagues who had barely noticed that she was a woman before. She didn't know if it was just the modelling for Adam and his practically non-existent costumes or the night she had met Tristan and in his words been taught a lesson or even a combination of the two, but the newly found voice in the back of her mind, that she had named princess, seemed to be growing louder and influencing her reactions to everyday things.
Grace began to notice the way the men in her office treated her and the way that changed as she began to revamp her wardrobe. She became more aware of them and their varying ranges of types of masculinity in turn. As time went on Grace listened more often to the flirtatious Princess Prick Tease. The Princess lounged comfortably now in the back of her mind swilling champagne and making arbitrary remarks of a sexual nature about everyone she met. The princess it seemed wanted to experience everyone and everything, she wasn't picky, she just wanted Grace to become more courageous and make some moves of her own rather than waiting for someone else to show interest in her. Grace imagined two small figures of herself arguing with each other, one dressed as a vamp; the other as a frumpy book worm. So far the bookworm had the edge but Grace wasn't sure how long that would last if she didn't give the princess some actual freedom soon.
By the end of the week Grace was feeling confused and on edge. Not wanting to do something she might regret by giving her inner princess total free reign, Grace decided to go home for the weekend, it had been a while since she had spent time with her mother even though they were close. She left work early Friday and headed to her childhood home.
She spent the weekend being pampered and spoiled by her mother who loved having her home for a full weekend. Her parents understood that as a young single woman she needed her own time and space and didn't place a lot of demands on her time limiting it to family occasions of birthdays and holiday celebrations. Grace often felt guilty that she didn't make the effort to spend more time with them; many of her friends did not have family as nearby as she did and they made the effort to travel to them more often than Grace saw her parents.
By Sunday afternoon she had convinced herself that the whole of the last two weeks was a mere aberration; a fantasy just like the costumes she had worn. She had even managed to relegate Tristan and Princess Prick Tease back to a far corner of her mind. The new awareness and acceptance of her curvier body though stayed. Her mother had commented on how healthy and happy she looked; she had always been too thin in her mother's eyes. Was there such a thing as too thin she wondered on her drive home? She certainly wasn't fat now, just curvier; the roundness of her belly showed rather than the hollow that used to be between her hips. She found that clothes in her correct size hung on her frame differently now and though she had managed to quiet the princess she did not want to go back to the baggy formless clothes she had been wearing.
She had been shopping with her mother and bought sensible but form-fitting clothes for work including new bras and underwear that helped accentuate her newly revealed shape. In all she had had a really good weekend and put the week of fantasy from her mind. Life for Grace more or less went back to normal. She became less aware of the covert looks her work colleagues gave her as they became used to the more fashionable Grace. Eve called on her return from the corporate boot camp and reluctant to release her princess from the dark corners of her mind again so soon after relegating her there made a shopping date for later in the week with her instead of a night out on the town.
They met several days later for coffee after work and began shopping for nothing in particular, just enjoying the browsing and looking at new fashions. Grace had blown a huge chunk of her savings in the last week on new clothes that fit her properly but she admitted it was worth it. She felt good about how she looked for the first time in over a year and promised to put herself on an ultra-tight budget after the holiday season.
"Oh my god I love this dress, but I could never pull off the colour," Eve exclaimed turning and holding the dress against Grace, "You try it on. I wanna see how it looks."
"You try it on," Grace laughed looking at the garment, feeling the princess wake up in the back of her mind with interest. "It's really not my thing, where would I wear it?"
"If they had it in another colour I would." Eve held the colour up against herself and the freckles discreetly hidden beneath makeup and scattered across her shoulders seemed to gather a life of their own when the bright orange fabric was held against her.
"No one suits that colour," Grace continued laughing.
"You were wearing this colour the other night when you came to get your car, Tristan liked it a lot." Eve wheedled and the princess fully woke up in Grace's mind at the mention of his name.
"I doubt he even remembers that I exist, I only met him that one time briefly. It's not like we exchanged phone numbers or anything," Grace surprised herself with the hint of regret that had crept into her voice.
"He'd know you exist in this dress," Eve tempted her one more time.
"Fine," Grace grumbled, "If only to prove that no one suits that colour."
Grace could feel the princess breaking free of the chains she had put her in as the donned the flimsy material. The pieces that went over her shoulder as straps flared out only slightly to cover half of her breasts and were held together by fine silver chains. The strips of material continued down past her exposed navel to a buckle of sorts that gathered the fabric just above the mound that denoted her femininity. The material that draped her sides hugged over her hips and thighs in a short skirt. She turned, looking at herself in the mirror on the other wall admiring the view from behind where the same fabric draped her shoulders and sides held together by fine silver chains and gathering just above the crevice of her ass.
Impatient as always Eve barged into the dressing room, dragging her out into the small corridor, "Oh my god!" She exclaimed. "It was made for you. We are so going out tonight with you in that dress."
Having let the princess free, Grace barely thought about it before she said, "Do you really think so?"
"Of course, silly. Quick, change, I know where you can get the perfect shoes, then we seriously have to shop for me!" Eve giggled and pushed her back into the changing room.
"It's getting a bit late don't you think for going out tonight?" They had shopped for hours and stopped for something to eat. It was nine when Grace looked at her watch after having wrested control back from the princess as she now called the more flirtatious, exhibitionist side of her personality. She rarely went out on a night where she knew she had to get up for work the next day.
"Are you kidding? Nothing fun ever happens until after ten," Eve explained, acting as if Grace was a simpleton. "I'll follow you home so you can pick up some stuff for tomorrow and get changed then we can go back to my place and leave from there it's closer to the hot spots anyway."
While Grace had second thoughts the princess eagerly agreed and by ten thirty they were walking into the bar where Grace had met Tristan. Grace's eyes travelled around the room, saddened that the enigmatic man that haunted her dreams seemed not to be there. They grabbed stools at the bar and ordered drinks but it was barely minutes before they were joined by a group of Eve's admirers and she was whisked off to the dance floor. Grace let the princess side of her nature out to play and flirted outrageously with everyone including the bartender who seemed to recognise her. In the back of her mind she sized up the men who flirted with her wondering if any of them was a no bullshit kind of guy who would teach her a lesson as Tristan had.
While Grace often appeared to have two left feet as she shyly danced trying not to gain any attention, the princess loved to dance and Grace found herself on the dance floor as often as Eve, leaving her phone and purse with the bartender who knew Eve as a regular. Princess Grace was having such a good time holding court with would-be partners that she totally lost track of the time and it was almost three when she grabbed her phone from behind the bar and checked it. She groaned, looking around and noticing the thinning crowd.
"Everything, okay?" The bartender had stayed close after giving her purse and phone to her and heard the groan.
"It's late," she laughed, "How did it get so late?"
"Time stands still for no man or woman," he looked her up and down appreciatively, "And that dress proves you're all woman."
"Too bad the person I hoped would appreciate it like that isn't here tonight," Princess Grace leaned over the bar showing the view of her breasts to him.
"Too bad for Tristan," the bartender agreed. Grace raised her eyebrows at the mention of his name when she was sure she hadn't said it herself. He laughed, "Do you know how many girls in here take his aloofness as a challenge?"
"Oh," Grace said unable to hide the disappointment from her voice.
"You're ahead of the game, he lets them come to him usually," he smiled a lazy smile that made her think of Tristan's arrogant smirk and she looked confused by what he had said. "He approached you not the other way around, right?" Grace nodded. "And he asks Eve about you when he sees her, I imagine he will be disappointed to have missed that dress and the fact that you came hoping to run into him again."
