AN: well...hi. I just want to take this small little bold-fonted time to apologize for abandoning you guys. I don't know if it was work, school, family, or an accumulation of all three, but I completely ditched fanfiction for a while. But, never you fear, I have returned! And I just remembered the plot twist I'm going to land on you guys (I'm talking a third installment, people) so get excited! Also, I just got accepted into the School of Education so pretty soon yours truly will be teaching high school english somewhere! Until then, enjoy this long overdue chapter.
Oh, also: this chapter may contain lemons. I haven't decided how detailed I'm going to get. Fair warning, my lovelies!
I am perched on the sill of the window that I broke into with Jules to steal food for the Lost Boys when I see Daphne and Cassius being carried away by a horse-drawn carriage. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered where they were actually going and who all would be in attendance. Immediately I thought of the ball that was held in Daphne and I's honor that was disrupted by the pirates. I heard the gunshot that should have killed me or Cass in the back of my head and jump out of my skin when a large bang accompanies it in reality.
"Sorry," Jules says with a small smile.
"No you're not."
"No, I'm not. Come play with Alice and I." He deftly picks up the stack of cards he dropped on the floor to startle me and waves me to follow him.
We played multiple games until I realized that Jules and Alice had perfected the art of cheating at cards and called it quits. We sit in the foyer on a rich carpet imported from who knows where that smells of dust and old sunshine. I lay back against the fabric and stare at the monumental chandelier that hangs above us. "I can't believe I'm still here."
"Me either," Jules says. I wait for a punchline, but there isn't one.
"I can," Alice says, lying back beside me on the carpet. "You and Cas are supposed to be together."
Jules snorts.
"I agree with Jules," I say. "Daphne and Cassius love each other."
"Daphne is learning how to love people, which is a miracle in itself, and Cassius..." Alice trails off, seemingly lost in thought.
"Cassie is a pretty good judge of character, Alice," Jules says.
"That doesn't mean he knows what he wants."
"You're drunk." Jules stares accusingly.
"You wish," Alice quips.
"I do, Alice, I do. Where does the big man hide the alcohol?"
"Nowhere you'd want to venture," Alice says as Jules makes to stand.
"You're so boring."
I close my eyes and pretend that I am outside in the sun in Kansas. I can almost hear my mother yelling at me to come inside for dinner. Except I don't know if it is my mother's voice or a stranger. I'm starting to forget what she sounds like. My head spins at the revelation and I have to take deep breaths to calm myself down.
I open my eyes and find Alice staring down at me.
"Come with me," she says solemnly.
"Are we on the dangerous hunt for alcohol, too?" I jokingly ask, but get up and start to follow her all the same.
She leads me to my room where I halt. "Alice, I don't-"
"Just get in here, Sophia."
I do as I'm told and enter the room that I've stayed in for the duration of my time in Neverland.
And there Alice is, standing in front of my bed, a bundle of white gossamer held in her slender arms. She smiles brightly.
My heart slams into my chest and then stops completely. "Alice, no."
"Please," she says, her smile still visible but her eyes pleading, "you and I both need you to try this on."
I stare in horror at the pile of fabric. "And reopen old wounds? I don't think so. I'm going to find Jules if he hasn't gotten himself killed yet." I spin on my heel and make for the door.
"You were supposed to wear this," she says. "This was supposed to be you, Sophia."
"Okay," I say, spinning back around, "but it wasn't me."
"You're going to think about what you might have looked like every day for the rest of your life if you don't do this now."
The words echo. I greet them with silence as I think about what she has just said. And I realize that she is right, that this will haunt me for the rest of my life. And maybe it will help to just try it on and see... I reach out and touch the gossamer, rub the fabric between my fingers. "I better not regret this," I tell her.
When Alice is done fidgeting around the dress on me and setting my hair just the right way, she steps back and lets me take a look at myself in the vanity mirror before me.
The dress is beautiful, of course, more beautiful than I'd ever imagined. It was simple, flowing straight down in waves of white gossamer, the back an intricate design of lace and pearl. I feel hollow wearing this, like it belongs to someone else and I have been forbid to wear it. I sit on the foot of my bed and look at the fabric before me.
"You look so pretty," Alice says quietly.
"Thank you." It is all I can think to say. I don't know what to think to say. I don't know what to think.
I hear the front door of the House open with a bang. "Incoming!" I hear Jules yell with a series of hoots and yells.
"Looks like Jules found the alcohol," Alice says as she peeks outside of my room and down the hall. "And apparently Daphne found some as well."
I stand behind Alice to see Cassius carrying Daphne down the hall toward her room.
"She's fine," is all he says.
Until he notices what I'm wearing.
At his questioning look I simply shake my head and say, "Alice made me."
"Go put your wife to bed before she becomes sick," Alice says, eyeing the unconscious red-head in his arms.
Cassius snaps out of his daze and continues to walk down the hall, disappearing into shadow.
"I'm gonna go see if she needs any help," Alice said, quickly dipping out of my room.
Leaving me to stew in my dress until she returns to help me out of it. I stand in front of the mirror once more, admiring the way the fabric moves when I move.
"It's pretty."
I whirl to see Cassius standing in the doorway.
"I wouldn't expect less from the likes of Alice, of course, but it suits you well."
"Thank you," I say because that seems to be the only thing I can say anymore.
He shifts from foot to foot and then steps further into my room. "Daphne told me she yelled at you earlier on my behalf."
"She did," I say after a moment.
"I'm sorry about that. And so is she," he adds quickly. "I didn't ask her to do that."
I shrug and say, "Daphne's always itching for a chance to be mad at me. I don't think it takes encouragement from anyone."
Cassius smiles a small smile and sits on my bed. "Caring for that hangover of hers tomorrow may be the death of me, if it makes you feel any better."
"Will you be nursing a hangover of your own?" I inquire.
"No. I couldn't have possibly carried both of us out of the carriage and to our rooms now, could I?"
I snort and join him on the bed. "Sounds like a fun night," I say.
Cassius shrugs, looking down at our feet. "Daphne got about as drunk as Jules is probably going to get and I had to talk to a bunch of boring people about boring things for hours. Certainly no more fun than playing dress-up with Alice."
Now it's my turn to look down at our feet. Cassius has ditched his shoes and his feet are merely clad in black socks under his black dress pants. My feet are bare and look pale white in comparison. "Alice can be very convincing when she wants to be," is all I say.
"Well, I'm glad." At my questioning glance he says, "Now I know what you would have looked like."
"You say it like it's a good thing," I reply quietly.
"It is, in a way. Now we have some closure."
I laugh. "Closure is the last thing you and I have, Cas."
He sighs. It is his only response. I accompany it with a sigh of my own.
"I'm sorry, Soph."
"Me, too, Cas."
"No, I mean it." He turns to face me, his golden eyes solemn. "It shouldn't have been- you shouldn't have-" He gestures to my dress in what I assume to be some form of communication on his part.
"What?" I ask.
"Things aren't how they should be," Cas said, "and I need to fix that."
And then he kisses me.
Perhaps it was the fact that we were both wearing what looked like wedding clothes, or the fact that it was late, or the fact that I was tired of trying to hide the way I feel about Cassius, but for whatever reason I don't stop him from kissing me.
In fact, I kiss him back. And he doesn't stop me either.
We both sit there, not stopping each other, falling further into this mess that may never have closure, but we don't stop.
But at least I don't have to wait for Alice to come and help me out of my dress.
AN: Okay, till next time. My boyfriend is rushing me at the library so tell me what you guys think and don't hate me too much for posting so late! I left there very little lemons, I apologize! Maybe next time! Review and tell me what you think my lovelies!