She stood in front of the mirror in the dressing room surveying what she saw. She loved this dress. She knew it was perfect for her party tonight, but there was a problem: it looked so much better on the rack than it does on her. She twisted and turned her body trying to make the bumps and imperfections lay flat and stay that way. It wasn't working. She felt ill. Suddenly there was a light tapping on the door. "Can I see?
Please?!" It was her best friend, Mary. A nice day of shopping and lunch was the itinerary. Feeling fat and ugly was what was actually happening. "Come in if you want to lose your lunch..." She unlocked the door and let her friend in. Mary stood gazing at her friend, her eyes going from her to the mirror image of her, a smile from ear to ear. "I love it! You look great!" Mary exclaimed. "Don't lie," she said. "Look at this," she said as she grabbed her mid-section, "This is disgusting and it refuses to go away!" Mary laughed at her friend, but saw in her eyes that she was more than serious; she was devastated. "You're being ridiculous! You look great and you really don't need to worry about it, but I know you will." Mary knew her friend very well and knew that this thought would not leave her head. "You know how self-conscious I am about how I look, and I am afraid, no matter how much I love this dress, it's just not going to work," and she began to take it off.
She put the dress back on the rack and she turned to Mary, "Oh well," she stated, "On to the next stop." "I think it is such a shame that you aren't getting that dress," her friend said. "I think I may know how to fix the problem, if you want to come back." She highly doubted that she would be back for the dress, and followed Mary out of the store and to her car.
"Where to next?" she asked as Mary started the car and began to drive. "I'm taking you to The Lingerie Shoppe," replied her friend. "Where?
Lingerie? It's not that kind of party, Mary," she laughed. "No, silly! They have Spanx!" She rolled this thought around in her head, and came to the conclusion that her best friend in the entire world thought she was fat. "Oh, thanks a lot!" she said sarcastically. "You'll see," Mary retorted and drove on.
As she walked into The Lingerie Shoppe she realized that this place wasn't what she thought it was. She had known about this shop for years, but thought it to be for her grandmother and the very wealthy. She immediately recognized that that wasn't the case at all. It was awesome. She thought to herself that this would be a new favorite place of hers. She turned the corner and saw the reason Mary brought her here:
Spanx. "...Don't worry, we've got your butt covered," read the packaging, but it seemed there was something for every part of your body. There is what everyone thinks of: the tummy sucker, but there are also camisoles, tights, things to smooth top and bottom, and the bra. She thought the bra looked really cool and comfortable and was definitely going to come back for it.
She always thought that in order for Spanx to work you had to be extremely uncomfortable and in great pain. One more thought she was proven wrong about. She didn't need to be "sucked in" Brenda, the owner, explained, "You just want to be smooth," and she led her to the correct article of Spanx.
As she slipped on the undergarment she was very happily surprised. It felt good and it did exactly what she needed it to do: smooth. She was ecstatic. She didn't want to take it off, so she took the tag off and put her clothes back on.
Upon purchasing her Spanx she turned to Mary and said, "Let's go get that dress!"
The party was a blast and she looked amazing. The best part was that not only did other people think she looked great, but she thought so herself.