𝐀𝐪𝐮𝐚 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 ✓

21

"Faye."

"What?"

"Faye." I hear again so I turn to look in the direction that the voice is coming from. Lexi stands a few feet away holding up a short, red, satin wrap dress with thin straps and I look at it scrutinizingly. "Cute," I say and take it from her offering hands, looking through the other colors and sizes of the same dress.

"So, what happened last week?" Lexi says casually without even making eye contact as if her question is as simple as asking about the weather. She continues to peruse the racks of clothing and I hesitate to answer her question.

"I can't figure out how I feel about Reece." I blurt out, knowing that if I give her this, she'll be too distracted to ask me about anything else. Her lips purse and she looks at me sympathetically.

"You better figure it out soon, because in case you forgot, you two are going to be alone in a car and sleeping in motels for a couple of days." She says humorously and I fail to see the humor in the situation.

"I'm not worried about being alone with him, we live together. I'm worried that he's not as oblivious as I hope when I get caught staring at him in nothing but a pair of grey fucking sweatpants." I snap, frustrated.

"That was a loaded answer." She snorts. "Are you referring to a situation that has already happened, or are we just thinking hypothetically?" She smirks and I glare at her mischievous brown eyes. I can't get the image out of my head, the one of Reece on the fourth coming out of his bedroom with his arm flexed above his head, busy drying his hair with a towel and causing his bare abdomen to stretch.

Reece's grey sweatpants were slung low on his narrow hips and showed off his delectable v-line leading into the tight pants that hid nothing from my wandering eyes. I had to tear my eyes away from him before I started drooling, but I'm sure it was obvious that I was shell-shocked by the way that I froze in front of him. I've seen him like that a hundred times but for some reason this time it was different.

Lexi snaps in front of my face. "Hey, quit daydreaming about Reece in grey sweatpants and help me shop for you. You need something really nice for the big day." Lexi says, referring to Reece's actual birth-day.

"Come help me out of this rubbish you forced me into! I'm not pleased in the slightest," Aurora calls from the change room, and Lexi and I both laugh before walking to help her. My phone begins to vibrate in my pocket and I take it out to look at the caller ID. My eyes widen and I look at Lexi showing her the screen. She waves me off to answer the phone with a concerned look on her face, and mouths "I'll be there in a sec". I click the green button on my phone screen and pause before bringing the device up to my ear.

"Hello?" I practically whisper.

"Hi, baby girl. I miss you." I hear the deep voice of my father say on the phone. I take a deep breath, closing my eyes.

"I miss you too dad. I wish you called more." I say quietly, happy to hear his voice but not allowing myself to let him back in again. After deciding to live with my mom, my dad decided that calling me once a year on my birthday was enough and he basically gave up on contacting me all at once.

"I know sweetheart. But I'm calling now." He says sweetly, and if I didn't know him better, I'd fall for his tone. I know that he isn't calling me to exchange pleasantries. "I have something important to ask you." There it is.

"Yeah, dad? What is it?" I sigh impatiently, wanting to get this conversation out of the way so that I can at least try to enjoy the rest of my day shopping with my friends. I hear laughing and struggling coming from the change room, and I'm guessing that whatever Lexi told Aurora to put on was much too small. She may look tiny, but she's so tall that you would be surprised.

"I'm getting married." My dad says and if I had a drink, I would be spitting it out. I shouldn't be surprised at this point, but I wasn't prepared for his call, much less this confession.

"Again?" I exclaim and he stays silent. I know that he doesn't take what I said as a joke, so I continue. "Sorry, I was just surprised. What I meant to say was, congratulations." I say half-heartedly, not exactly thrilled about the situation.

"Thank you. And yes, I'm getting married to a beautiful woman named Carissa. She wants you to be her maid of honor, so that's why I'm calling you." Maid of honor? I don't even know the woman!

"You can get to know her better this way. And you won't actually have to do the duties, just show up and be nice. This is important to me." He says sternly. I note that he doesn't say anything about the bride-to-be and I figure that she's probably very young.

"I'll be there as your daughter, but I'm not going to be in the wedding party. Take it or leave it." I hear a frustrated sigh on the other end, and I can practically see my father's face in front of me, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Fine. Watch for an invitation in the mail." He hangs up and I let out a relieved sigh. I'm proud of myself for not allowing him to force me into the same position as he did with his last few weddings. At least I knew those women beforehand. I refuse to be a stranger's maid of honor.

"How'd it go?" Lexi asks and brings me into a hug, which Aurora quickly joins. I shrug, wanting to move past the whole thing already and Lexi understands, dragging Aurora and me back to the clothing racks to find something for each of us.

Aurora decides on a loose gold tank top that she tried on earlier and Lexi tells her that she can borrow something of hers to go with it. Lexi has enough clothes but insists on buying me something, and I know better than to argue with her because I know that she'll just buy it regardless of my answer.

I find the perfect dress with help from the girls and find myself perfectly distracted until Lexi opens her mouth. "Don't think that I've forgotten what we were talking about earlier," She says so that only I can hear her and I grimace.

"I don't mean to budge in, but I couldn't help overhearing you two talking about Reece earlier." Aurora grimaces apologetically and I shrug helplessly.

"I honestly don't know what to say to you guys. I can't even make sense of anything to myself, let alone say it out loud." The two of them look at me pitifully and I roll my eyes. "None of that. No thanks."

"I think you know exactly how you feel. I think you've known for a long time, but you've been too scared to admit it. When was the last time you let yourself get close to someone the way that you are with Reece?" Lexi says matter-of-factly and I avoid her eyes.

"Why don't we go back and I can paint all of our nails and we can watch a movie?" Aurora offers sweetly and I crack a smile at her.

"As long as we talk about you guys this time. I think it's your turn to spill Ror." I say and she blushes but nods, willingly taking the spotlight away from me.