CHAPTER 8- thanks everyone still for the positive review keep them coming! Give me some suggestions even!

Alayna knocked lightly on Garrett's closed door.

"Who is it?" He called from inside.

"Alayna," She said quietly. She heard footsteps coming towards the door. The door knob turned slowly and the door creaked open. Garrett was standing there shirtless and looking tired. "I'm sorry, I know you had an awful morning…" Alayna said quietly.

"I'm sorry too, come in," Garrett stepped to the side and welcomed Alayna into his room. "I just forget sometimes that you grew up so differently than me," Garrett confessed running a hand through his hair. Alayna was trying to listen, but she was focused more on Garrett's body… and his tanned skin… his extremely toned body and arms…

"Alayna?" Garrett asked, waving a hand in front of her face. Alayna shook her head and looked at his face.

"What?" Alayna asked refocusing her attention. Garrett only smiled, sending a chill through Alayna's back. Then there was a knock on the door. Both Garrett and Alayna looked quickly to the open doorway where Elizabeth stood. She was holding a periwinkle colored satin gown.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" She said looking at Garrett then to Alayna and back. Her eyes searching for more than friends relationship between them.

"No, not at all," Alayna responded smiling. Elizabeth walked in and unfolded the gown she was holding.

"This is for you, Alayna," Elizabeth said smiling, she shook out the gown and Alayna's mouth dropped open. It was a full satin ball gown with white lace trim around the square neckline and three quarter length sleeves as well as the very bottom of the gown. It was a simple gown but very elegant.

"It's absolutely beautiful," Alayna breathed, feeling the dress in her own hands.

"Yes well, I'll help you into it later. For now, take a bath or something and just relax," Elizabeth winked and turned to leave the room. Alayna was still smiling about the dress. She'd never worn a ball gown before.

"So do you want to take a bath?" Garrett offered.

"Yes, I think I'll take you up on that offer this time," Alayna giggled. Once the thought of a hot bath set in Alayna became very excited. She needed the hot water to relax her muscles and allow her thoughts to flow smoothly.

"Well I'll get the water going and you just sit back and relax," Garrett said extending his arm towards his bed. For once Alayna was being taken care of. She smiled and gladly ran and jumped onto Garrett's bed and extended her body to stretch. About 20 minutes later, a hot bath tub was waiting for Alayna.

"I'll leave you to uh… get undressed and such…" Garrett said looking around awkwardly. For a split second Alayna didn't want him to leave. She nodded for Garrett to leave and she turned to the tub.

"I just want to jump in now," Alayna said to herself, but decided she was better off to take her clothes off first. She unbuttoned her pants first, then took her shirt off over her head to avoid taking off all the buttons. She finished undressing and stuck her toes in first.

"Holy shit," Alayna gasped, the water was so hot on her cold feet.

"You okay in there?" Garrett asked from outside.

"Just fine," Alayna called back. She slowly emerged the rest of her body in the water. Once she settled down, it felt amazing. Alayna breathed heavily, wiggling her toes in the water. She felt her muscles unwinding. She could have fallen asleep in that tub. Alayna ran a hand through her hair, water dripping from her hand onto her forehead. The drops ran down the side of her face, down her neck and back into the water. She could feel sweat forming on her forehead and her face turning red in shade from the heat. It felt good though. After awhile of course, the water began to cool off and her hands became pruned. Alayna unwillingly lifted her body out of the water and grabbed for the towel hanging on a hook next to her. She wrapped it around her body instead of getting dressed in her clothes just to get undressed again and then squeezed into her dress.

"I guess this will be my temporary outfit," Alayna commented.

GARRETT'S POV

Garrett sat in his window sill waiting for Alayna to come out. He watched the sun begin to descend towards the ocean line. The doorknob to his bathroom creaked open and Alayna came out, a single white towel wrapped around her body, the bottom only reaching right below her butt. While holding the towel up in one hand, she reached up to her hair and unpinned it. Her wavy black hair fell and she flipped her head upside down shaking out her hair. When she flipped her head back up, her hair looked wild… and insanely sexy. Garrett had to turn away and resist the urge he was feeling to get up and kiss her.

She's your best friend, this isn't how you normally feel about her, Garrett tried to tell himself.

"I'll go get my mother," Garrett said quickly, walking briskly out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He didn't even dare glance at Alayna.

ALAYNA'S POV

That was strange… Alayna's mind thought. She continued to shake her hair to dry it faster. She couldn't help but direct her thoughts towards the very recent feelings she had towards Garrett. It was as if all of a sudden once Garrett and Mary were done, Alayna's mind unwillingly began to think of him differently. In the doorway, she wanted to grab him and kiss him. She had never, ever thought about doing that in the past.

"Garrett said you were all set to get in the dress," Elizabeth said standing in the doorway, two of her maids behind her with a corset in one hand and an under dress in another.

"Yes, I think so," Alayna said clapping her hands together and nodding. She was interested to see how this was going to work, since she had never worn a corset before. Elizabeth looked excited as the maids walked around her and towards Alayna. Elizabeth shut the door behind her and the maids set up the dressing barrier. The maids took the towel away from Alayna and she was taken by surprise and used her arms to cover up. The maids giggled.

"It's okay, miss," one of them said.

"Yeah well it's not exactly something I'm used to," Alayna retorted.

"How's everything going?" Elizabeth called from the other side as the maids pulled tightly on the strings to the corset.

"How the hell am I going to survive the entire night in this?" Alayna asked gasping for air with every tug.

"You'll be fine, and I'll be there for you," Elizabeth said happily from the other side, "It really is nice to have you here, you know I only have a son and no daughters so… it's nice to be able to give someone my old dresses.

"Well it does feel nice to have a beautiful dress to wear so thank you, Elizabeth," Alayna responded just as the maids were finishing the corset. The under dress slipped on like a glove, then the small hoop skirt that wasn't huge.

"Now time for the most beautiful part of this outfit," One of the maids said. She lifted the dress over Alayna's head and it fell around her body with ease. The maids did the laces up tight on her body and turned Alayna around.

"Oh look how beautiful she is!"

"Oh I know she's gorgeous, let's do her hair now!" The maids said looking Alayna up and down and playing with her damp hair. Alayna liked it, she felt important for once. Elizabeth came around the barrier at the sound of the maids.

"Oh Alayna, you look absolutely gorgeous, far more beautiful than when I wore that gown," Elizabeth said, her eyes shining with delight. "Now, Trudy and Sarah, I want her hair to be curly and I want half of it up in a messy bun and the other half hanging down, you know what I mean?" Elizabeth began explaining, taking the top layer of Alayna's damp hair and bringing it to the back in a bun. Alayna only giggled. She liked the way this was sounding. The maids were nodding in excitement.

The maids got right to work using hot irons to curl her hair once it was dry. They worked quickly, one maid pulling half her hair up into the messy bun and the other curling the bottom. Elizabeth watched the entire time just smiling. This had to be the happiest Alayna had seen Elizabeth since she's known the Turner family. When the maids were halfway through with her hair, Elizabeth put makeup on Alayna. Just some light minerals to "smooth her complexion." When Alayna was completely finished Elizabeth handed her a mirror. Alayna was speechless. She had never felt more beautiful in her life, without a speck of dirt or sweat on her face.

"Just wait until your father sees you, better yet wait until Garrett sees you," Elizabeth said softly.

"Garrett?" Alayna asked sort of unsure. Elizabeth winked and smiled.

"He's always happy when he mentions you or whenever he's around you," Elizabeth confessed. Alayna only nodded, these thoughts were too overwhelming. For now, Alayna just wanted to have fun.

"I guess we should give Garrett his room back so he can get dressed," Alayna reasoned.

"Already did…" Alayna turned to see Garrett standing in a full formal black suit. His hair was neat and had been brushed. Alayna was stunned, and that chilled feeling came back that she got when he smiled at her. It was that butterfly feeling that women often talk about. He seemed stunned at the sight of Alayna as well. He smiled as he looked her up and down, then meeting eyes with her.

"Alayna, you look… beautiful," He breathed. Elizabeth looked between them with her eyebrows raised. Then Will stepped into the doorway behind his son. Garrett looked like a spitting image of his father almost. Will was also dressed and ready to go.

"Let me go throw on my dress!" Elizabeth said getting up and moving past her son and husband, and Will looked at her with solemn eyes.

"We'll meet you two in the cab then," Will said and left the doorway as well. Garrett smiled and walked into the room holding his hands in front of him.

"You look uh… handsome?" Alayna said sort of stumbling. She didn't really know any other adjective to describe it. Garrett laughed and nodded.

"Thanks but you really look… so beautiful," Garrett said. He took a step closer to her and took one of her loose curls in his hand and played with it, pulling it and watching it spring back to its place. "I've never seen your hair this curly," he commented, continuing to play with the same piece.

"Well it won't be if you keep tugging it!" Alayna giggled. Garrett's hand moved away from her loose curls and up towards her face. He caressed her face, brushing his thumb up around her cheekbone. This sent major chills through Alayna. He was looking Alayna deep in the eyes.

"We need to go," Alayna said, breaking the moment and moving out of his grasp. Garrett shook his head out of his little trance and nodded.

"Right, let's go," He said smiling. They both left the room smiling and laughing about some silly joke. For the time, Alayna was able to forget about these odd moments. Elizabeth came out in a maroon satin gown with a V-Neck shape and three quarter length sleeves with a lot of material coming off of them. She was putting long earrings in as she followed them down.

"Whoa, Mother you look lovely," Garrett commented as Alayna nodded fiercely in agreement.

"Thank you," Elizabeth said smiling. Jack, Angelica and Will were waiting in the cab when the other three exited the house. It was going to be a tight squeeze in that cab.

"Jack, Angelica, I thought you were going?" Alayna asked her parents, questioning their sanity.

"I had a word with the Commodore," Elizabeth said from behind, "I don't think he'll be much of a problem, I have a way with words," Elizabeth said slyly. On one side of the cab sat Angelica, Elizabeth and Alayna and on the other side were the men.

"So… everybody excited?" Alayna asked happily. Everyone just nodded and whispered "yes" or "mhmm."

"AYE!" Jack yelled over everyone. Garrett and Will jumped slightly in their seats while Angelica and Elizabeth rolled their eyes. Alayna simply laughed.

"Mate, uhh… Garrett is it? Right, you're going to be keeping a close eye on her tonight, aye?" Jack whispered to Garrett, but loud enough for basically everyone to hear.

"Yes sir… I mean Jack," Garrett said nodding. Jack nodded and looked around bored. Somehow Jack ended up in the middle seat and kept leaning over to look out the window. The ride was about 15 minutes long as the horses moved at a slow trot. It was relatively quiet, except for a the few "nice weather" comments. It wasn't until they were halfway there that Alayna noticed Jack wearing a formal suit, somewhat like Will's. Angelica was also wearing a dark blue satin gown that had a scoop neck and of course three quarter length sleeves but no material coming off. Instead the ends were bunched. The bottom of the skirt was also bunched, and Angelica looked beautiful. Jack couldn't keep his eyes off her.

Alayna could hear laughing, talking and music in the distance. She leaned out the window and saw the Fort, lined with lantern lights and colorful ribbons. She could see men and women dancing through the pillars and the edges lined with tables of food.

"Whoa," Alayna gasped. It looked beautiful, and fun, she couldn't wait to get out of that cab and begin dancing…