Of Monsters and Humanity: The Genesis

Chapter 12 - Terra

Sixty days before....

She yanked, and I screamed into the pillow that I was holding. I was glad that she didn't count down or else my whole body would become anxiety in it's purest form.

"This would be much more satisfying if you didn't shave your legs," Flora Mae sighed as she stuck a new waxing strip, warm and wet, onto a new part of my leg. "We are almost done, you big baby," she promised, glueing another strip on the same side on the opposite leg.

"Is this even nec-essary?" I hissed, the urge to kick her in the face overwhelming me. "My dress is long and will cover my legs anyway."

"Well, what if it comes off later in the night...?" she purred, wiggling her eyebrows.

I glared at her. "Then I will put it away and go to bed," I countered flatly. "I'm not sleeping with Damian," I stated and laid back on the pillows of my bed. As soon as I laid back, though, I regretted it. The curlers in my hair scrunched under the weight of my head and I remembered to lay with my back to the pillows even though my neck was getting sore because my head was growing heavy.

"Mhmm.... Okay," she answered, her smile growing and her brows raised, completely unconvinced.

"I am so nervous right now," I cried, yanking my legs away from her and covering them with a soft white blanket. "Please don't make me think about something like that. I don't want to mess this night up."

Her joking demeanor softened and she pressed her lips down into a sweet smile. "You won't," she said. "It will be great and Damian will be lucky to have you on his arm."

I smiled. "You think so?"

She snorted. "If we can finish you in the next hour," she joked, laughing. "He said he was coming at five, right?"

I picked up my phone to double check. Unfortunately, he didn't leave me any other messages after "I'll be there at five." It wasn't very comforting. Maybe if he had texted me saying that he was super excited to see me or sent me a picture of his suit, I might have felt better. In fact, I had no idea what color tie he was going to wear. I suppose I was playing it safe by wearing all black, but it was all still discomforting.

"Yeah," I sighed and set my phone on my dresser.

"And Grandma knows what's going on?" she asked, getting off of the bed and standing next to me.

My face reddened. "Yeah."

"She isn't happy with you?" she guessed, finding her makeup bag next to my window and walking into the bathroom.

"Ding, ding, ding," I sighed unenthusiastically and followed her.

"Sit on this chair," she instructed, gesturing to my desk chair that she rolled into the well-lit bathroom. I did as she commanded as she asked, "But she's still letting you go?"

I found a bottle of lotion sitting on the edge of the tub and started rubbing it on my legs, soothing the skin and hoping that their redness would not show through the dress. "Yes. I mean, no, but...." I sighed. "I told her that I was an adult and it was important," I said. "I wanted to prove it to her so I gave her the invitation. That's when my grandpa came in the room and implied that I could just be going off to a strip club or someone's nasty apartment to do drugs. That didn't really make her any calmer, so she freaked out. I told her to actually read the letter, and when she did and saw the wax seal and fancy writing, she seemed to simmer into a state of calm panic."

"Per usual," Flora Mae noted and started digging through the large black bag.

"Just wait til she sees the amount I paid for the dress," I said quietly.