"I hate you both so much!" Alexa whined for the fifth or so time from the back seat of Sonya's sedan.
"No you don't." Shelby chirped from the passenger seat.
"It's your own fault for not keeping on top of things!" Sonya added from behind the wheel. Alexa bit back the retort about wax and razors being difficult to come by in the woods and just settled for huffing with irritation.
An ungodly majority of her body hurt. After they had ripped the hair off Alexa's legs the pair had found more to do! It's not that Alexa was particularly unhygienic, it's just that certain things fell by the wayside when you were hyper focused on catching a deer. Whatever her justifications, they both attacked Alexa's eyebrows, her under arms, her nails, her ears, and her scalp with a fury born of love, Sonya ensured her. Personally Alexa felt it was born of a desire to punish her for the misdeeds of a past life, but that was just her. All she knew was she owed Melody two new combs and a few q-tips before the week was out.
Shelby beamed at Alexa.
"So it must feel kinda odd being the maid of honor at your age. I thought for sure it'd be Sonya." Shelby said, nodding at their driver.
"It probably should be, technically." Alexa acknowledged "I mean she's putting in all the legwork. I'm just a figurehead maid of honor."
"Fine with me!" Sonya chuckled "I get an excuse to dress you two up and I get out of the maid of honor and best man speeches at the reception. Pretty much a win/win for me!"
"I have to give a speech?" Alexa groaned. "Since when? I thought it was my job to get drunk at the bachelorette party and keep Sean out of Jazz's dressing room before the ceremony!"
"You're under age." Sonya pointed out.
"Pretty sure we'd get in trouble if we brought you to the bachelorette party." Shelby agreed.
"Not if I'm over six feet tall and have a fake ID!" Alexa countered with a pout.
"Do you have a fake ID?" Sonya asked.
"... Not if you guys aren't going to let me come I don't!" Alexa muttered.
"Seriously Alexa?" Sonya asked flatly.
"It's not so underhanded. I had one in highschool too." Shelby admitted.
"Wait...you?" Sonya asked, shocked.
"Sure! They don't let you play with the puppies at the pet store if you're under eighteen!" Shelby explained.
"There it is." Sonya muttered. Shelby grinned and giggled.
"Seriously though, Lexie acts so much like Jazz it's not even funny! You'd think the two were sisters!"
"We are in everything but the biological way." Alexa explained "She practically raised me."
"So you're not biologically related? I've been asking but these two have been kinda cagey about it all!" Shelby indicated Sonya as she spoke. Alexa cast her a curious look through the rear view mirror. Sonya answered her with a shrug.
"Since that's all tangled up in your business...we thought if anyone should share, it should be you." Sonya explained.
"Fair enough, I guess." Alexa shrugged. "Well to answer your question, we are related. Me and Jazz are cousins on our dads' sides. To make a long story short… I was taken away from my mom when I was five for reasons I really don't want to get into right now. I was in danger of going into foster care but dad's side of the family picked up the slack for me. Jazz pretty much became my big sister after that. Sonya's related to us too, on her mom's side, but she's some like a third cousin twice remodeled."
"Removed." Sonya corrected, automatically.
"Oh? You had something removed? When?" Alexa teased. She quickly dodged the playful smack Sonya tried to deliver.
"Laugh it up, Chuckles!" Sonya said with a dark smile as she parked the car. "Cause we're here!"
"Seriously, did I pee in your cornflakes or something and just not remember it?" Alexa called from the dressing room a few minutes later.
"I'm sure you look lovely!" Shelby called as Sonya tried hard to hide her smirk. The dressmaker stood nearby, just out of earshot for politeness as the girls tried on her products. So far only Sonya had made a definitive choice; a dark blue, sleeveless, knee length dress that almost seemed to shimmer when she moved. It was currently in the back being trimmed and hemmed by the experts.
The dress that Alexa had on when she exited the dressing room was...not at all like that. What Sonya had coyly slipped the clueless girl looked like something Princess Barbie would wear; all eye gouging shades of pink with no shortage of frills and bundles of lace. Sonya's grin only made Alexa scowl all the more, which earned her a snicker from Shelby. Alexa closed the door to the dressing room with a snap. This wasn't even the first dress they had given her! Thankfully she had given up on the red one before she ripped it, but it still felt like Sonya was picking on her!
"Don't you think we're being a bit hard on her?" Sonya asked as her mirth subsided.
"Eh, a little. But it's all in good fun. Besides…" she grinned and fished her phone out of its hiding place, the camera app still open. "This'll help Jazz destress after house shopping with next to no money."
"Oh you're bad!" Shelby giggled.
"Don't worry, the next one is more serious."
The next dress, Alexa discovered hucked over the dressing room's door, wasn't something that'd make her want to leave Sonya tied to a stump in bear country covered with raw meat and honey. It was steel gray, with a simple loop at the left shoulder, a bit longer than Sonya's, stopping just around Alexa's shins. She pulled it on and admired it, twisting and checking the way it looked against her skin. Before, back at camp, it might not have worked very well, her complexion hadn't exactly been what it was today. But after three years of near constant sunshine, not to mention the filling out the exercise had done to her figure, made the dress seem...well...perfect.
Quietly Alexa nudged the door open and snaked her head around the frame. The pair had been mid conversation, but had stopped when the door opened.
"Well?" Sonya asked with a smirk.
"Come on, we wanna see!" Shelby added eagerly. Like a deer tempted with a carrot (or a certain other deer tempted with a licorice rope) Alexa slowly pushed the door open the rest of the way. Shelby seemed excited but Sonya looked a bit critical.
"Hmm...I didn't really think it'd go with your eyes, but it's certainly not something to sneeze at." Sonya mused, twirling her finger once. Dutifully, Alexa turned on the spot so that Sonya could see the whole thing. It really was impressive. The whole ensemble worked with Alexa's more fit physique. It made her look pretty, bordering on unapproachable, and did quite a bit to show off her arms and that tattoo on Alexa's bicep.
"Well...we'll have to style your hair the right way, get you some heels to go with it, and maybe something to add a bit more color, but I think it looks good. Shelby?" Sonya turned to her temporary partner in crime.
"She looks amazing! Seriously, Lexie, that's the one!" Shelby agreed. Alexa visibly relaxed.
"Thank God. Glad to get this one out of the way!" She quickly stepped into the dressing room leaving the other two alone.
"Hey... Sonya, you said we'd need to get her heels to go with that, right?" Shelby asked.
"Usually I wouldn't go with that for someone her height but I think if we get a modest pair it'd work." Sonya mused.
"And...has Alexa ever worn heels before?" Shelby asked pointedly.
"I've never even seen her wearing a dress before!" Sonya said as a wicked grin slowly spread over her face. She winked at Shelby and wiggled her cell phone.
"Wow...you're evil." Shelby said, equal parts scared and impressed.
"Yeah, payback's a bitch, and this is still way more dignified than what she did to me." Sonya chuckled darkly.
"What did she-?" Shelby started to ask.
"Uh uh uh! We never speak its name! Just forget I ever mentioned it!" Sonya ended their conversation with a little shudder.
For her part, the oblivious Alexa took her time getting back into more comfortable clothes. Part of her, a rapidly growing part, was worried. She was worried about her quest, about the wedding, and what Morgan had decided to share with her. However, no part of her worried about Sonya...which proved to be a mistake a little over an hour later.