Anna came towards Brian with the flowergirlâs dress. He looked at the horrifying pictures from his mortifying photoshoot that they were threatening to upload and sighed. She threw the dress over his head and pushed his arms into the puffed sleeves. His mother buttoned his dress up the back. From a bag Anna pulled out the bonnet and pantaloons. âPlease noâ, he begged, ânot those!â
His mother moved towards the laptop and Anna placed the bonnet on his head without further protest and tied the pink ribbons tightly under his chin. His mother held out the frilly pantaloons for him. He hesitated in order to show some kind of resistance but had little choice but to step into the pantaloons and Anna pulled them up under his petticoats. He squirmed when he saw that she had a pair of white ankle socks with pink lace around the tops which hadnât been part of the photo shoot costume but all resistance was gone and he just looked on gloomily as she pulled them on both feet and fluffed the pink lace out. Then pink t-bar shoes with little bows on the toes were strapped onto his feet.
Anna sent a text message. His mother was just finished applying his foundation and blush when the door burst open. The bride walked in wearing her white dress. Brian was turned towards her and a basket of pink petals was pushed into his white-gloved hands. âOh heâs just adorable!â Brian cringed on hearing that she knew he was a boy. How many people knew?
The bridesmaids soon followed and were equally thrilled. âHow did you get him to wear it?â one of them tittered. His mother closed down the top of the laptop with a click. âOh he loves wearing it donât you?â she teased. Brian just clutched his basket more tightly and looked at the floor.
His mother smiled as the bridesmaids fussed over Brian. They tugged at his bonnet and smoothed his petticoats and fluffed out the lace on his pantaloons even more. With her flare for fashion she could see that Brianâs bo-peep flower girlâs dress wasnât a good match for the brideâs and bridesmaidsâ sophisticated slim dresses. Brian was also far too big and old â even if he had been a girl â to be a flower girl. Luckily she had made the dress bigger than you would for a real flower girl because her original model had been 10 years old. It was just a sample for a photoshoot. She hadnât expected it to be used in a real wedding but Brian was now being pushed out of the room by the bridesmaids and looked back in despair as he disappeared into the corridor in his bo peep flower girlâs dress.
Before he knew it they were in a car being driven to the church. The bridesmaids sat opposite him giggling at his pantaloons. âSuch a pretty bonnetâ, one of them teased knowing he must have been mortified and they sniggered some more.
Brian cringed once again when they pulled up outside the church. The large crowd waiting outside pushed into the church on seeing the car arrive. When he stepped out of the car the bridesmaids fussed over him, once again adjusting his bonnet, fluffing out his petticoats and tugging at this frills on his pantaloons and ankle socks.
The organ started up the wedding march. The big doors were thrown open and the basket of petals was once again pushed into Brianâs hands. He was nudged towards the centre aisle and one of the bridesmaids made a motion of scattering petals to show him what to do.
Another nudge and the crowd in the church turned as one and faced him. There was no going back. He couldnât believe he was standing in front of hundreds of people in a bo-peep style flower girlâs dress complete with bonnet, pantaloons, frilly socks, pink shoes and lacey white gloves. He was going to have to walk up the aisle along scattering petals and there was no way of avoiding it now. He just had to hope that people didnât know he was a boy and knew he had to do his best to look convincing as a girl.
Some of the older ladies smiled sweetly on seeing the pretty flower girl start to walk down the aisle casting the petals. Others looked puzzled. He noticed some little girls in the congregation as he flounced along, his petticoats rocking daintily. They were making faces clearly surprised by the vision approaching them.
It was only then that it dawned on him that flower girls were always much younger than he was. Not only was the outfit mortifyingly sissy but he was far too big and old for it. He became aware of the sniggering and tittering from those who saw his dress as over-the-top or wondered how the bride got such an old âgirlâ to dress in such a frilly outfit. But he had no choice but to brazen it out and walk all the way down the aisle in his frilly flouncy outfit.
The bridesmaids followed him with the bride herself behind them. Brian had to stand in front of the congregation in his flower-girlâs dress for the whole ceremony. At least his bonnet shielded him from seeing and hearing a lot of the smirking and tittering around him.
After the ceremony there was no relief. He was pushed into all the group photographs right at the front where everyone would be able to get the full benefit of his outfit from his pink bow-tipped shoes, through his frilly ankle socks, the lace frills of his pantaloons, his bulging petticoats, his puffed sleeves, frilly white gloves, crowned with his lace-trimmed bonnet.
There was even more tittering from the bride and bridesmaids when they insisted on being photographed with just the flower girl. They were (he hoped) the only other people who knew he was a boy and they made sure the photographer zoomed in on Brianâs blushing face beautifully framed by his bonnet. They got close ups taken of him on his own to make sure all of the detail of his frills and lace were captured. He wanted to protest or resist but that would only draw more attention from onlookers. He had to look like a happy flower girl, despite knowing that he was being captured on film for posterity smiling while dressed in the sissiest outfit ever.