Author's note: Hello all! Thank you guys for your reviews. :) It makes me so happy to know you all are enjoying the story. Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days. Christmas/my mom's birthday/ and a cold equals absolutely no time to write. Haha I should be back to normal updates now that everything is calming down. XXXX means a jump in time. :)
ENJOY
*2:45 p.m. Sunday afternoon*
"I think this one would look perfect on you." Laura told Aurora holding a long sky blue dress up to her body.
It was strapless and had an empire waist. Glitter mesh covered it making it shine bright.
"I love it!" Aurora exclaimed as she took the dress from Laura and entered the changing room at David's Bridal.
"I think that one is way prettier than the darker blue one." Lydia told Aurora through the closed door.
"I liked the red one." Aurora heard Hailey say from her seat outside of the changing room.
"Oh course you did." Lydia joked. "Because you are one of the few people who can wear that color and not look like a clown."
The girls had been shopping for a good forty minutes before Aurora actually agreed on a dress that was picked out. Coming out of the dressing room, she did a small spin and waited for comments.
"I think you look beautiful." Isaac said with the most adorable little smirk on his face.
"Aw, Isaac. You are too damn cute!" Aurora told him with a smile.
"I like this one the best." Lydia added.
Laura, Erica, and Hailey nodded their approval.
"This one it is! Wow. That did not take as long as I expected. Do you all want to grab something to eat?" Aurora asked heading back into the dressing room to change out of the dress.
"Good lord yes. I'm starving!" Laura said.
"Absolutely." Lydia chirped.
A few moments later Aurora emerged from the changing room dressed in her normal clothes. The whole group walked with her up to the checkout counter.
Aurora paid for the dress and they all walked over to the food court in the mall. Isaac volunteered to take Aurora's dress out to her car so it wouldn't get damaged.
"You are such a sweetheart!" Aurora called after him as he headed out to the parking lot through the glass doors located near the food court.
"Isn't he though?" Laura asked sitting down at one of the tables.
"What should we eat?" Lydia inquired as Erica, Hailey and her joined Laura and Aurora at the table.
"It probably wouldn't hurt for you to skip a meal, Lydia. I'm sure Jackson wouldn't want you to get any chubbier." Said a short, slender girl as she walked up to their table.
She had raven black hair and emerald green eyes. If Aurora had to guess she would have peg her at eighteen or nineteen years old. The girl would have been absolutely gorgeous if it wasn't for the hateful look on her face. Aurora noticed quickly that she was accompanied by two boys roughly her age. One stood on her left, the other her right. They almost looked like bodyguards. The boy on her left was blonde with chilling blue eyes. He was probably somewhere around six feet tall and was dressed well. The boy on her right was the exact opposite of the blonde with dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes. He was a couple of inches shorter than the other boy and was dressed in a plain white shirt with tattered jeans.
"Oh Tara, what makes you think you know the first thing about what Jackson wants?" Lydia asked snidely giving the girl a sickly sweet smile.
'If that smile isn't the definition of killing someone with kindness, I don't know what is.' Aurora thought with a small smirk.
Tara, as Lydia had called her, scowled but ignored her question.
"And who's this pretty little thing?" The blonde boy interjected staring straight at Aurora.
Aurora narrowed her eyes and frowned.
"Oh, let me guess." Tara crooned turning her attention from Lydia to Aurora. "I bet this oblivious precious little thing belongs to Derek?" She asked with malice dripping off every word.
The rebellious part of Aurora wanted to say "Fuck you bitch. I don't belong to anyone." But it was a different part of Aurora who answered. A part that she wasn't quite ready to admit she had.
"That's right. I'm Derek's girl. And you are?" Aurora spat in the bitchiest tone she could produce.
Laura gave her a "who the hell are you right now?" look but her lips were curled up a little as if she was fighting a smile.
"I'm Alex's girl." Tara said almost like a threat.
"Alex? As in the guy that works with Derek?" Aurora asked a shiver running down her spine. It was bad enough she had to deal with Alex being a weirdo, she really didn't want to deal with his bitchy girlfriend too.
"Is that what Derek told you?" Tara laughed.
"What? They don't work together?" Aurora inquired feeling a little embarrassed.
"Back off Tara." Hailey jumped in.
She had been sitting in her seat quietly staring daggers at the blonde boy to Tara's left when she took offense to her allegation.
"Calm down Hails. Don't you think it's only fair that the adorable little human knows the truth?" The blonde boy asked giving Hailey a charismatic grin.
"Don't call me that, Randal." Hailey chastised. Her eyes flashed an even brighter golden brown than usual.
"Human? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Aurora asked ignoring the confrontation unfolding before her. She was extremely confused.
Laura, Lydia, Hailey and Erica all shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
"Why don't you explain Lydia? Human to human." The brown haired boy suddenly said.
His voice was low and precise. Aurora couldn't help but be irked by his presence.
"That's enough Arthur." Aurora heard Isaac growl.
He had returned from putting her dress in the car and was now standing face to face with the brown haired boy. They both looked like they were going to start throwing punches any minute.
"Easy Isaac. You don't want to get hurt trying to earn ass kissing points by defending Derek's mate." Randal laughed as Tara pulled Arthur back.
"Okay, I think I get it now." Aurora stated.
All eyes turned to her.
"Y'all are aliens." She teased gesturing to Randal, Arthur, and Tara. "That would explain the ridiculously awkward terms, the reason you keep calling me "human," and it would definitely make sense in Alex's case because he's freaking creepy."
Tara gave Aurora a murderous look.
For a split second Aurora could have sworn her eyes flashed light blue.
"Watch your tongue." Tara threatened taking a step forward.
"Tara. Don't you dare." Laura seethed jumping up from the table.
Erica and Hailey copied her, walking over to stand by her side. Lydia had grabbed Aurora's hand and pulled her out of her seat to stand near Isaac who put a protective arm around both of them.
"How about we don't cause a huge scene in the middle of the food court?" Randal asked in a low tone looking around to see at least a dozen people looking over at what was transpiring.
"Yeah, Tara. For once in his life Randy has a good idea." Hailey said sarcastically.
"I miss you too baby." Randal teased making Hailey roll her eyes.
"This isn't over Hale." Tara growled deciding to back off because of all the unwanted attention their quarrel was receiving.
"Whatever you say." Laura said sarcastically as Randal, Arthur, and Tara walked away.
They three of them disappeared into the main part of the mall when Aurora decided she wanted answers.
"Three things." She said as they all took their seats around the table once more, Isaac taking the empty chair between Hailey and Lydia. "One, human? What the fuck. Two? Derek and Alex don't work together? Three, mate?"
There was silence.
After a while Isaac looked down at the table. Erica and Hailey were eyeing Laura for guidance. And in typical Lydia fashion the strawberry blonde was acting as if she was oblivious, giving Aurora an "I have no idea what you are talking about" look.
"I'm not quite sure what the hell those idiots were talking about." Laura said finally.
"Arthur said Lydia and I were human. Implying that you guys are what? Flying squirrels?" Aurora joked.
"Honestly, I have no idea." Laura laughed uncomfortably. "Crazy follows crazy. And Alex is the ringleader."
"Oh my God. Tell me about it. Good to know he hangs out with his own kind." Aurora teased.
"Derek and Alex used to work together. But Alex ended up quitting because he and Derek loath each other." Laura told Aurora obviously trying to switch subjects.
"Why do they hate each other so much?" Aurora asked curiously. "Aside from the fact that Alex is lunatic."
"Their personalities clash. You know when you meet someone and you just can't stand them, but you don't really have a reason why? That's Derek and Alex. Plus, they both… like to be the one in charge so to speak..." Laura said trying to find the right words. "Both of them wanting to be the authority figure was causing trouble at the shop."
"There can only be one alpha male." Aurora joked.
Isaac snorted in laughter.
"You have no idea how right you are Aurora." Laura giggled
"And the whole mate thing?" Aurora inquired.
"Mate, it's the equivalent to boyfriend or girlfriend." Isaac explained.
Laura nodded her encouragement which gave him confidence to continue.
"Yeah, it's just another way of saying significant other." Isaac told Aurora with a smile.
"Oh. I've just never heard anyone use that term before." Aurora said with a shrug.
"Can we stop talking about those losers and get something to eat?" Lydia asked impatiently.
"Please!" Hailey chimed in.
"One more thing." Aurora said making eye contact with Hailey. "Why did Randal call you baby?" She asked coyly.
"Because he was trying to make me puke." Hailey teased evading the question.
Aurora raised an eyebrow.
"Oh fine. He was my boyfriend." Hailey huffed. "When I was young. And stupid."
"Whoa whoa whoa. You used to hang out in crazy ville?" Aurora teased.
"Shut up." Hailey joked getting up to buy food.
Aurora giggled joining everyone as they made their way over to Panda Express.
She decided to let the creepy comments that Tara, Randal, and Arthur had made go. Aurora could tell that they had fallen out of the crazy tree and hit every crazy branch on the way down.
But still, there was just something not right about the whole encounter. Aurora was determined to just overlook what had happened even though her gut told her there was way more going on.
XXXX
When Aurora got home she went straight up to her room to put her dress away. Hanging it in the closet she decided to call Derek and tell him about her day. Even though she was sure either Laura, Isaac, Lydia, Erica or Hailey had probably already given him the down low she just wanted to talk to her boyfriend. Aurora pulled her phone out of her purse and scrolled through her contacts until she came to Derek's number. Sitting on her bed she hit send and waited for him to pick up.
"Hey princess." Derek answered fondly.
"Hey handsome!" Aurora cooed.
Derek: I heard you found a dress.
Aurora: I did. Who told you? Lydia? Isaac?
"All of the above." Derek chuckled
"Figured." Aurora smiled.
Derek: Laura said it's perfect. I can't wait to see you in it.
Aurora: I can't wait to see you in a suit Mountain Man.
"I also heard that you met Alex's crazy girlfriend." Derek said darkly.
"Everything is fine. Your sister was prepared to go to war for me." Aurora teased. "It must run in the family."
"My sister knows that if anything were to happen to you I wouldn't be able to recover." Derek said sadly.
"Der. Nothing is going to happen to me! You aren't going to lose me." Aurora told him.
Her voice was completely serious.
"Promise me?" Derek asked.
Aurora nearly cried hearing the strain in his voice.
"I promise Derek. I'm yours." She reassured him.
Derek let out a sigh of relief.
"And I'm yours, princess." He said and Aurora knew he was smiling.
"Aurora! Are you home sweetheart?" Mrs. Montgomery called from the stairs.
Aurora: Hey, I have to go. My mom is calling me. I'll talk to you soon.
Derek: Bye gorgeous.
Aurora: Later babe!
"I'm here momma!" Aurora shouted hanging up her cell.
"Did you find a dress?" Her mom asked opening her bedroom door.
"Yes ma'am." Aurora told her getting up to get the dress from her closet.
"Oh! That is perfect. You are going to look amazing in that." Mrs. Montgomery gushed as Aurora held the dress up to her body.
"Thanks momma." Aurora blushed.
"Do you have a date for the dance?" Mrs. Montgomery asked sitting at the foot of Aurora's bed.
'Yeah, this gorgeous guy who I met in the woods. Oh, and he's two years older than me.' Aurora thought sarcastically.
"No ma'am. It's alright though. I've got Lizzie. Third wheel for the win!" Aurora joked.
She hated lying to her mom.
"Oh, I'm sorry darling. I'm sure you will have a great time with Elizabeth though." Mrs. Montgomery smiled.
"I know I will." Aurora smiled back.