The Popstar & Me

Bonus Chapter 40 - In Full Bloomingdale's

Chapter 40

I can't believe I'm at Bloomingdale's with Fang Yao!

I don't know whether I should be starstruck or dying of embarrassment to be bringing him to a department store! It's easy to forget that I'm out with a movie star here in Manhattan. Here, you can easily find yourself sharing a subway train with Timothée Chalamet or brushing elbows at Madame Paulette with Meryl Streep.

But as a native New Yorker, I've never had a pop star hold my purse while I picked out outfits at Bloomingdale's before. I am almost ashamed to lead Fang up the rickety wood escalators at Bloomingdale's. I wondered if I should blabber on and tell him about the history of these escalators, how they were the first of their kind, installed in 1886.

But once again, I wonder if I should brag about our young country, where old meant a hundred years as opposed to a country where old is measured in thousands of years. In Shanghai, everything was brand spanking new. The department store surfaces glistened with shining glass and furious air conditioning that greets you by blowing your contacts straight out of your eyes.

Here, there are no ladies wearing qipaos to greet us with the cacophonies of "huanying guanglin." No, in New York, you're lucky if the homeless guy sleeping next to the main entrance greets you with a sneer while jerking off underneath his brown paper bag-blanket.

"I think this one is perfect," Lauren squeals as she makes a mad dash for the first red sequined dress we see when we get off the elevator.

"Perfect for you, you mean," I moan and shake my head. Okay, maybe an hour ago, downtown, I would have considered a dress in a shade that even Christian Louboutin would consider too red. But now, as I'm standing next to Fang, I suddenly feel embarrassed that my best friend is dressing me up like I'm cosplaying Dorothy's ruby slippers.

Also, isn't it taboo to wear a bright red dress on a date in China? Isn't that like showing up to a first date in New York wearing a white Vera Wang number and a cathedral-length veil? I don't know what the rules are! I wish Teddie were here so he and his team could immediately set fire to that dress to get out of Fang's sight.

"I'll try it on then. See you later!" Lauren giggles and heads to the dressing room. After Lauren disappears to the fitting room, I breathe a sigh of relief. Knowing Lauren, she will want to try on half the store before settling on a dress. Fang finds himself a place to sit on some stained pleather couches and tells me to take my time. He leans back into the chair like he is planning to be there for a while. I guess he knows a thing or two about women's shopping habits.

"I'm so sorry, Fang. I know you have somewhere you need to be," I blurt out as I inch toward the nearest disheveled rack of discount dresses. "This will only take a second."

"I have nowhere I need to go," Fang assures me with a wave of his hand. "This is where I need to be, here with you."

I blush, and I sincerely wish we were somewhere more classy than the discount prom dress section where the neglected carpet crunched with loose sequins and bits of feathers. I browse through the racks for what feels like forever until I finally find myself a little black dress. There, you can't go wrong with that!

"Why don't you try it on?" Fang asks as I shuffle past him, holding the dress under my armpit. He notices how embarrassed I'm about this black polyester cocoon. Yes, I don't usually shop in stores that direct order from Paris. I'm more of the sales rack at Forever21 type of girl. I'm not trying to make this even more awkward than it has to be, but I imagine that I must have an expression of shame on my face like a cheerleader on a low-carb diet caught with a cheat meal from McDonald's. "You spent so much time looking for it. I want to see it on you."