First things first, I am terribly sorry on the months wait for this chapter. A lot of it has been life and a good chunk had been figuring out the chapter. I can make excuse after excuse here on why the chapter has been delayed for the past 2 and a half months, but they're just that excuses. I am sorry. And I do promise the next chapter won't be such a long wait as I do enjoy writing this one.
Enjoy!
"Zoe you look…" Wade was saying when Zoe gave him a death glare making him shut up at once.
"Don't even finish that sentence Wade Kinsella," she huffed out. She'd stomp her foot if she thought for a second he could see it, but the skirt of the dress touched the floor.
"What?" He asked with a chuckle. "All I was gonna say is how pretty you look," he smirked, challenging her.
"Yeah more like pretty ugly," she sighed rolling her eyes.
Leave it to her mom to find the ugliest dress in one of the ugliest shades of pink ever made to fall in love with for Zoe to wear at the wedding. She could deal with the color, the rest of it, not so much and that is where Jackie came in at.
"If anyone can do wonders with that dress, it'll be Ma," Wade shrugged. He's seen some of the stuff his mom has done in the past for plenty of the residents of Bluebell; Zoe's dress should be nothing, all that needed to be done, was well, a bit of everything.
"The only wonder that will work on this dress is a fire," Zoe retorted, looking down at the dress, the sparkles mixed with lace and feathers, not to mention the pink boa that she refused to wear and left in the box.
"You won't hear any argument from me about that," Wade chuckled, walking to the kitchen seeing his mom return with her sewing kit.
"It's not as bad as you two are making it out to be," Jackie told the two kids. Being a seamstress, she's seen her fair share of disasters. "We just need to do something with well all of it," she said, finding where she wanted to start working at. "Wade, you have a room that needs to be cleaned, and once you're done there your dad could use your help in the shed," she informed her youngest. Earl's Saturday plans had involved cleaning up the shed, but an emergency had seen him at work covering for a co-worker.
"On it," Wade sighed, grabbing a bottle of juice and heading up to his room to get started.
"Alright Zoe, let's see what we can do with this," Jackie sighed, looking over the feathers that had no right to be on there. "Hold still so I don't poke you," she warned the young girl. Zoe nodded, the thought of ruining the dress with blood, as wonderful as that sounded to her, she didn't want to get poked by a needle.
Once Jackie had everything she needed to take the dress in, she let Zoe change out of the dress. She really hoped she could work a lot of magic when it came to the dress, she wasn't sure what Candice was thinking when she bought the dress for Zoe to wear in her parent's wedding. The dress was over the top and trying to dang hard for her liking and by the look on Zoe's face when she showed up, the young girl despised the dress and with extra little things added in, she didn't blame Zoe for wanting a totally different dress.
"Is it okay if I go help Wade?" Zoe asked, handing the dress to Jackie after changing back into her normal clothes.
"If you really want to spend your afternoon cleaning," Jackie chuckled; Zoe nodded her head. She didn't mind giving Wade a hand, and his room wasn't ever that big of a mess. "I'll call you when I need you," she informed Zoe.
"How'd you escape that wonderfully…"
"You mean horrific dress?" She asked Wade, cutting off whatever he was about to say.
"Your words," he said, tossing some clothes in his dresser off the floor.
"Wade, are you even sure those were clean?" She asked him, not wanting to take the risk of seeing for herself.
"They smelt clean," Wade shrugged.
"Boys are gross," Zoe commented, sitting on his bed. There was no way that she was going to be touching his clothes not knowing if they're clean or dirty.
"You could help instead of being all harsh," Wade teased, tossing a shirt at her.
"Wade!" Zoe screeched, throwing the shirt back at him. "Gross!"
"Relax," Wade laughed, tossing the shirt into a drawer. "It's clean, that one was in the basket of clothes ma washed," he explained between his chuckles.
"Still. Not. Funny!" She huffed out.
"Relax." Wade shook his head, tossing the rest of his clean clothes into his dresser, not really caring what drawer any of it went in, or if they stay folded. "Are you going to come help with the shed?" Wade asked her, placing the basket in his closet, shutting the closet door.
"It can't be worse than placing dirty clothes in with clean ones," she retorted, getting up and leading the way downstairs and out the back door to where the shed stood in the backyard.
"You'd be surprised; dad can be quite the hoarder, not to mention that Ma has kept all our baby stuff wanting to be ready for when she gets grandkids, even if it's like a lifetime away from now," Wade told her, rolling his eyes at his mom's explanation on keeping every single baby item she's ever owned.
"In the shed? Wouldn't she want that in the attic or something?" Zoe asked, walking into the shed, taking in all the boxes scattered about.
"I don't know; I don't exactly go around questioning their motives," he replied. "Okay, all that really needs to be done is all the stuff in the middle of the way needs to be put away. Under no circumstances toss anything in the trash, got it?" He questioned her.
"Even if it's ya know garbage?" She asked, picking up an empty wrapper for some sort of part.
"That goes in the green box behind you," he told her.
"Yeah," she said, placing the plastic wrapper in the green box like Wade instructed her to do. "I'm going to see if your mom is ready with my dress," she told him, backing out of the shed.
"Wanna head to the Jammer for milkshakes once I'm done here?" He asked Zoe. It wouldn't take him any time at all with Zoe not in his way.
"Sure," she nodded, heading in to see if Jackie needed her.
"Two chocolate shakes," Wally said, placing the milkshakes on the table, one in front of Zoe and the other in front of Wade.
"Thanks Wally," Zoe smiled, pulling her glass closer.
"It's my job," he chuckled. "Though you're welcome, young lady," he said, walking off.
"Has Lemon roped you into matching pirate wear for Planksgiving next week?" Wade asked, taking a drink of his milkshake through the straw.
"She tried," Zoe nodded. "But uh, my mom wants us to do a family pirate costume thing," she said rolling her eyes.
"Let me guess; she's making you wear some over-the-top dress," Wade guessed, laughing at the dramatic eyeroll Zoe made.
"How'd you know?" Zoe fake asked him. "All I want is a sword, but that was too much to ask for," she grumbled. It didn't matter how times she told her mom about female pirates and the success rate and all the other information she could find on female pirates, because there had been quite a few of them throughout history.
"I've got an extra sword," Wade chuckled. "It's all yours if you want it," he offered her.
"Yes!" She exclaimed, a little too loudly. "Thank you," she told him softly.
"What are friends for?" He asked with a smirk. "But uh are you gonna be able to hide the sword from your mom?" He questioned.
"That's the easy part," Zoe told him. "You've seen the dresses the Belles wear; it's very much the same thing," she explained to him.
"Under the dress than," Wade chuckled.
"For the most part," she nodded in agreement. "Lemon was saying something about a treasure hunt. I've heard the stories, from school, from Lemon and from my dad, but is there really a hidden treasure?" She asked him.
"No, if there is we haven't exactly found it. And it's not about the treasure, just the fun you have with friends, at least that's what everyone says," he shrugged. "Lemon talked you into joining the madness she makes over the treasure hunt, huh?" He chuckled.
"She didn't give me a choice in the matter," Zoe sighed. "I would much rather enjoy the rest of the activities then chase down a treasure chest that doesn't actually exist," she told him.
"Leave that to me," Wade nodded. Zoe rose her eyebrows at him, questioning him how he could help her with this. "It's called splitting up; Lemon can't refuse a plan that doubles the effort of finding her forsaken treasure," he explained.
"And instead we enjoy the day without her bossing us around," Zoe comment, getting Wade to nod. "Smart."
"Years of practice," he chuckled. Zoe kicked him under the table. "What the heck was that for?" He grumbled, rubbing his shin. Zoe nodded behind him. He never had the time to look behind him as Lemon appeared at their table, George in tow.
"Good, you two are here," Lemon said, making Zoe scoot further into the booth.
"What is the meaning of this?" Wade asked, making room for George to join them and not stand at the table.
"Lemon's game plan for Planksgiving," George muttered. "Comes with a play by play book and everything," he faked enthused.
"George Tucker," Lemon berated. "I know we're old enough to understand that there isn't a real treasure chest hidden, but humor me," she sighed. "Our dear friend, Zoe, here hasn't participated in our yearly treasure hunt on a holiday she's never heard of before, she needs the full experience."
"Dear Zoe is sitting right next to you, and she can speak for herself, if anyone at this table should know that, it's me," Wade said to the table, but mostly Lemon. He wanted her to know that Zoe could speak for herself, on whether or not she wanted to do some lame treasure hunt, which he knew she didn't want to do.
"Why do it if you know we're not going to find anything?" Zoe asked, daring to take a look at the game plan that Lemon had came up with. She didn't want two of her friends to get into any sort of argument over a treasure hunt that might be fun; she wouldn't know if she didn't join in.
"Memories, for fun," Lemon shrugged. "What do you say?" She asked, looking around at the other three friends.
"We should do something a little different this year," Wade suggested.
"Like?" George asked, wanting to do something other than look for a treasure that really didn't exist.
"Like we break up into teams and see who can win most the games," he shared.
"But not the whole girls vs boys thing either; that's lame," Zoe retorted. They didn't need to see who was better in that regard.
"I agree," George nodded. "I'll team up with Lemon and you two can be a team," he suggested.
"Works for me," Wade nodded, winking at Zoe.
"We'll meet by the pirate ship say noon?" Lemon asked, getting nods from around the table. "Good, I'm going to go inform Crickett and AB of the changes," she said, dragging George off with her.
"That was easier done than said," Wade laughed.
"Ya think?" Zoe laughed, finishing off her now melted milkshake. "I should probably see if your mom has made any headway with my stupid dress," Zoe sighed.
"Hey, Zo, why didn't you tell your mom how much you didn't like the dress before she bought it?" He asked, following her outside into the warm November afternoon.
"I tried; I really did," Zoe told him as they walked back to his place. "But she wasn't listening to what I wanted, it's her day and all about her," Zoe said, rolling her eyes. "I wanted a plain pink dress, but that wasn't good enough."
"Parents right?" He asked, nudging her with his elbow.
"Not really," she sighed. "My dad gets me. He's the one that suggested I bring the dress to your mom, promised I would have a totally different dress when she was done." She was really hoping that her dad was right about Jackie making the dress look like a different one altogether.
"Moment of truth," Wade told her, pulling the house door open, letting Zoe go in first.
For Zoe, it was a miracle that Jackie had been able to do something with her dress and make it look like one she would buy off the hanger at any store. The random groupings of feathers were now sorted out on the top of the dress, the lace cascading down the skirt and the sparkles lay underneath the lace. And as for the boa that she wanted no part in wearing, it went around the waist of the dress in a cute little belt. It was far better than when she showed up to the Kinsella house. So much better, in fact, that she really loved the dress.
"Jackie, thank you so much!" Zoe exclaimed, giving the older woman a hug.
"You're welcome," Jackie smiled, easily hugging Zoe back. "Don't worry about your parents, I did show your mom, and I made her see that this was better than the original," Jackie assured her.
"Thank you for that, I feel like that's more of a miracle than fixing the dress," Zoe smiled.
"Why don't you try it on, and we'll see if it's a perfect fit, huh?" Jackie asked her. Zoe nodded, taking the dress and going to the bathroom to try the dress on.
"There is no way that I can do this, Wade," Zoe frustratedly told her partner for the Planksgiving events, seeing the very small plank that sat across a swimming pool. She might have been able to walk across it if she could see, but with the puffy red dress, and a blindfold to boot, she wouldn't be able to cross it. She had already seen Lemon fail to cross; AB had made it across. All she had to do was making it across, and they would win.
"I know you can do this, Zo," Wade said picking Zoe's spirits up. "And if you fail it's not a big deal; we'll find another tie breaker," he assured her. "You're not scared of the water are you?" He teased.
"What? Are you crazy? I do not have a fear of water. I am an excellent swimmer; I'll have you know," she huffed out.
"Than what has you freaking out?" Wade questioned her.
"Well I guess, nothing," she frowned. She didn't care about the water, nor the height as it wasn't all that high either. It came down to the fact that she had to be blindfolded.
"Then you got this, no problem," Wade told her. He wished that he could trade places with her, but he had done the cannonball dodge, where you use black rubber balls made to look like cannonballs in a game of dodgeball. They were able to have a small game where it had been Wade vs George vs Crickett. To the shock of the guys, Crickett had won the round in rapid speed, giving her and Ab's team the point they needed to come from behind and tie it all up in walk the plank if Zoe failed to cross the plank.
"Maybe," Zoe sighed, climbing up the small ladder.
She took a deep breath, putting the blindfold over her eyes, seeing nothing but pitch dark. With each small step she took to cross the plank; she could hear Wade yelling encouragement at her, along with telling her if she was going to step off the plank at any given time.
"Folks that's what you call team work," Wade bragged, once Zoe finished walking the plank, effectively winning the contest between friends.
"Except we never agreed on what the winners actually win," Lemon retorted, seeing Zoe heading their way.
"I did it!" She exclaimed, jumping on Wade for a hug.
"With my help," Wade chuckled, spinning them around. Zoe rolled her eyes, landing back on her feet.
"We have to do this again next year," George commented, as they walked back to where their parents were at, now that it's close to time to eat.
"With an actually trophy next time," Wade pointed out. "Because we got ripped off," he grumbled.
"Man up," Zoe stated, lightly punching his arm. "We don't need a trophy to know that we're the team to beat next year," she smirked.
"Who said we're keeping the same teams next year?" Lemon asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You four can change it up, but why mess with perfection?" Wade smirked, pulling Zoe into his side. Zoe nodded agreeing with Wade. And they did need to show their friends that they could win two years in a row, and you know show that their win wasn't some fluke.