Wednesday, December 23rd. 2 days 'till Christmas...
"Maybe I should call him," Jasmine said, reaching into her purse for her phone.
Odette grabbed Jasmine's arm. "Do not call him again."
"But-"
"No. You've already called and texted him way more than you should have. If he wanted to talk to you, he would have by now."
Jasmine sighed. She hadn't heard from Aladdin since she went to his work two days ago. He still hasn't gotten back to her about Christmas. She knew he was most likely just busy. But, part of her wondered if her finding out about his job was still bothering him. Even though Jasmine didn't care how much money he had, it had clearly been a bit of a sore spot for him the last time they talked. They agreed to pretend the conversation never happened, so she was hoping they had moved past it.
And maybe they had. Maybe Aladdin hadn't returned any of her calls or texts because he was busy. Although, Jasmine had some what of a hard time believing that in the last two days he hasn't had a couple of seconds just to send her a quick text.
"All right, we're here!" Odette announced, pulling into the parking lot of Andalasia Fashions. They were picking up their custom gowns for the Christmas Eve Ball tomorrow night.
The two of them got out of the car and went inside.
"Welcome back, girls!" Giselle, the owner of Andalasia Fashions, greeted them. "Odette, it's so good to see you again." Giselle was Odette's mom's best friend.
Odette hugged Giselle. "I just saw you last week for our final fittings."
"Has it only been a week? We've been so busy making gowns for the ball this past week, it feels like months have gone by."
"We really appreciate you making them for us," Jasmine told her.
"Of course! Your gowns are paid for and all set. I'll go get them." Giselle disappeared through the door behind the check out counter. She returned a moment later with two garment bags draped over her arm. "You girls were smart to get here right when we opened this morning. With the ball being tomorrow night I imagine we're going to be swamped today."
"Thanks again," Odette said.
"My pleasure. I'll see you both at the ball."
Jasmine and Odette both gave her a little wave as they headed back out to Odette's car. They then drove over to Starbucks for coffee and breakfast. After getting their drinks and food, they found a table.
"So, how did it go last night?" Jasmine asked.
Jasmine didn't know much about the situation with Proteus; just that his sisters were fighting and he wanted the three of them spend Christmas together. And Odette was determined to make that happen.
Odette sighed. "It... went, I guess. They all fought and one of his sisters stormed off. Nothing was resolved."
"I'm sorry it didn't work out."
"Me too. There are only two days left until Christmas. We're running out of time."
"I wish I could help," Jasmine said. "But, I'm an only child, so I know nothing about sibling fights."
"Well, I've got one last hail Mary."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"It seems like Meg is the only real variable; she's the one who refuses to be around Vanessa. I think all we have to do is get her on board. So, today I'm gonna go to her work and ambush her on her lunch break. I'm gonna take her out to lunch and try to talk to her one-on-one. See if I can find a way to appeal to her."
"How do you know where she works?"
"I asked Anya. I told her what I'm trying to do, and she was more than happy to help."
Anya had given Jasmine and Odette her phone number on Sunday after the snowball fight.
"Do you think this will work?" Jasmine asked.
Odette sighed. "I have no idea."
"What about Proteus? Does he think it'll work?"
"Proteus doesn't know about it. I didn't want her thinking the two of us were ganging up on her or something; so, I'm doing this one on my own."
Jasmine's phone rang before she had a chance to respond. She pulled it out of her purse and checked the caller i.d. "It's Aladdin," she told Odette.
"Go ahead."
Jasmine answered the call. "Hello?"
"Hey," Aladdin said.
"Hi."
"I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you."
"It's all right."
"I want to see you on Christmas, I just wasn't sure how I felt about going to your house and spending it with your dad and a bunch of other people I don't know. Which sounds silly, I know."
"No, it doesn't," Jasmine told him. "I don't want you to feel uncomfortable. Maybe we could get together some other time during the day. I'm going over to Odette's mom's house in the afternoon and then she and I are going to the party afterwards. But, I'm free in the morning."
"We all go over to Anya's Christmas morning," Aladdin told her. "But, you can come, if you want."
"I wouldn't want to intrude on your family Christmas."
"It wouldn't be an intrusion. Everyone loved you and Marie's Christmas motto is, 'the more the merrier'."
"Are you sure?"
"In that case... yes."
"Really? That's great."
"Definitely. I'll see you then."
"Actually, before you go, there's one more thing," Aladdin said. "I have this Christmas Eve tradition and I was hoping you'd do it with me tomorrow night."
"I don't know.. I'm going to the ball tomorrow night."
"That's fine. It's super last minute; I should have known you had plans."
"No, I want to go with you. Maybe we can go to the ball afterwards?"
"You want me to go to the ball with you?"
"Yeah, it'll be fun. You'll share your Christmas Eve tradition with me and I'll share mine with you."
"That sounds perfect."