Money Money Money

Luke and I saw each other in class yesterday, and he sat next to me again, being attentive and affectionate.  Later in the day, Maddie called me out about my class attendance.

“So… Aleah…”

“Whatever it is, I did NOT do it.”

Maddie smiled.  “I noticed that your class attendance has improved!”

I thought back to the past week.  “Hm.  So it has.”

“Would that be attributed to a certain male?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ok, let me specify.  A certain extraordinarily tall male?”

Laughing, I responded, “I guess if you put it like that, maybe it does.”

She skipped over to where I was sitting on the couch, watching an episode of Supernatural.  She grabbed my laptop and shut it.  “Hey!  I was watching that!”

“It can wait.  Talk to me.  Tell me about Mr. Tall Dark and Extremely Hot.”

I happily sighed and leaned against the arm of the couch, crossing my legs Indian-style to face her.  “His name is Luke.  He transferred here this semester.  We’re just getting to know each other.  I guess we’re kind of dating.”

“Kind of?  You know how word travels around here.  I heard that you two were making out in our hall a few nights ago!”

“People are so nosy!  And I supposed the rumors are true.  We’re dating, but it’s not exclusive or anything.”

“Have you told Zach?”

I looked down at my lap and started fidgeting with the strings on my sweat pants.  “No.  But I haven’t talked to Zach since he left, either.”  I hadn’t actually admitted that aloud to anyone, and saying so made it more real.  It made me start to tear up.

“Have you called him?”

“No, but it was so hard, him leaving.  I miss him like crazy, and want to be with him, but it just isn’t the right time.  Or that’s what he keeps telling me.  I mean, deep down, I know he’s right, but selfishly, I don’t care.”

“Maybe you should call him and tell him that.”

I frowned.  “No.  It’s better this way.  And in the meantime, I’ll just keep getting to know Luke.  Maybe he’ll surprise me and be everything I need.  For at least right now.” 

Maddie rolled her eyes.  “Ok, girl, just be careful, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”  She got on her knees and leaned over hugging me.  “You need to get ready, we leaving soon to go look at some dresses!”

Elena had set an appointment to look at some bridesmaids dresses at a shop.  Elena was meeting us there with her sister, Elle, and Sarah, Maddie, and I were all riding there together.  Sarah was showering, so I went to get ready.  I threw on a simple dress with a cardigan and flats.  Something easy to change in and out of if we tried anything on.  Sarah walked into our room, naked, while I was changing.  She was holding her breasts.  “They’re so sore!” She groaned.

“Period?”

“Yes.  I hate this time of month.  Have you started, yet?”

“Yeah, yesterday.  No wonder why we’ve all been cranky!”  We all had gotten into a little bit of a verbal altercation the day before about food.  There was some confusion.  Sarah had eaten something of Elena’s, that she was really looking forward to eating after class, but Sarah had thought it was mine and asked if it was okay.  I honestly didn’t know what she was talking about and thought it was something I had bought and forgotten about, so I told her to go for it.  The joy of us 4 living together for 2 years is that all of our periods have synced up. 

“We should start running again, together.”

“As soon as it’s over 40, and the sidewalks are clear.  You know I won’t run anywhere below that.”  Sarah and I would run together during off season and sometime during season.  Not long runs, just a couple miles to help our cardio and to stay in shape.

She was hooking her bra.  “Well, I need to.  My bra is too small.  I need to lose a bit of weight to get these babies under control.”  She turned to me smiling, showing me that her breasts were popping over the tops of her bra cups. 

I laughed.  “I told you that you could donate some to me, if we could only figure out the technology!”  Sarah was rocking 38 double DD’s, whereas I was a 34 C.  It’s not that I wanted (or needed) bigger boobs, I just always offered, to help a sister out!

Maddie called in, then, “I would take some from both of you!” Maddie, from running so much, had a body fat percentage that was in the single digits, and barely B’s.  None of us looked unhealthy by any means; we just all had different body types and sizes.  But we appreciated that about each other, and were all very comfortable in our own skin, so didn’t mind joking or talking about it.  Sarah finished getting ready and we headed out the door.

When we got to the bridal shop, we walked in to see Elena and Elle sipping on glasses of water.  “Elle!” I held out my arms and walked over to embrace her.  Knowing her family for so long, Elle was like my own little sister, being 3 years younger than Elena and I, the same age as my brother.  She bear hugged me back.  “I haven’t seen you in forever, you’ve grown so much!  You’re gorgeous!  And you look just like Elena.  Where are you going to school next year?”

She blushed.  Elle was shyer than Elena or I, and didn’t like compliments.  “I’m going to Texas!  I already know I want to be a teacher, so I’m going to major in elementary education.”

“Oh, Elle!  That’s great.  You will make an amazing teacher.”  Then my attention was diverted because in walked an older, frazzled looking, gray haired lady, clapping her hands at us.  She appeared very eccentric, wearing an electric green pants suit, with a red blouse underneath.  She had a dull brown headband in her hair, barely containing her frizzy curls, and which didn’t match the outfit.  At all.  Not that the outfit matched itself.

“Ladies!  Ladies!  Let’s get started!”  I widened my eyes and looked at Sarah, trying to stifle a giggle.  She rolled her eyes and put her hand over her mouth to hide her growing grin.  “This way, young ones!” 

We filed after her, Sarah and I taking up the rear.  I snickered and said, “Where do you get something like that?”

Sarah hissed back, “She looks like a retired Christmas elf!”

I guffawed.  Maddie turned around and glared at both of us.  We just both laughed harder and louder.  Maddie cracked a smile then.  “She’ll hear you, be quiet!”

We piled into a room where several dresses were hanging on hooks on the walls.  Elena smiled proudly and said, “These are some of the dresses I liked.  But I want all of your opinions, and if you don’t like them, we can look for others.  They also are clearly not the right color, but that will be changed when you order.”

Elena’s wedding color she had decided on was lavender.  Elena had good taste in clothing, so I figured she would’ve picked out beautiful dresses that I liked, and I was right.  Elena’s wedding was going to be a formal affair.  We all agreed on the same dress, amazingly enough.  It is a floor length chiffon gown that is strapless and just falls and flows, that has an A-line skirt that hits at the natural waist.  It is light and airy and will be perfect for the summer.  It is also around $500.  Looks like I’ll be asking the parents to use the credit card.  Elena is also from a rather affluent family, however, Maddie and Sarah are from middle class families, and I know spending that kind of money on a dress that they’ll only wear once is not in their budget plans.   

As eccentric old lady was taking our measurements, Elena got onto the phone and walked out of the room.

Sarah asked the lady, “Are we able to make payments?”

“Yes, but to order you need to put 20% down.”

“And how soon do we need to order by?”  Maddie questioned.

“You’ll want to order sooner than later, as the wedding is coming up and we’ll need to make alterations as needed.  They will take 8 to 10 weeks to arrive.  Then we’ll need 4 weeks to do alterations.”  I could see Sarah and Maddie both doing math in their heads.  I pulled out my phone and looked at the calendar on it.

“We’ll want to order by the middle of April,” I stated cheerily, trying to take their minds off the price.  I glanced over at Elle, and saw her uncomfortably fiddling with her finger nails.

Elena walked back in, then.  “Since the gowns are floor length, I don’t care what shoes you all wear.  But I’m also having a sash around the dress, that has a large flower on it, and the sash will be white, so please get white shoes.”  I started trying to decide if I wanted to wear heels or not, because I would probably need a few inches of extra material put on the dress if I did.  Elena interrupted my thoughts by continuing to talk.  “Also,” she smiled, “I just called my mom, and she’s going to pay for all the dresses, so you’ll just be responsible for any accessories and shoes and day-of hair!”

Maddie spoke first, “Oh my goodness!  That’s so nice of your mom!”

I said, “Elena, your mom doesn’t have to do that.”  I wanted to say for me, but I knew the other girls probably needed this, and I didn’t want them to think I was trying to say they needed a charity case and I didn’t.

“Well, it really is my fault because I’m the one that picked out such an expensive dress.  You all shouldn’t bear the responsibility of it since I made that decision.”

I saw the stress lines on Maddie and Sarah’s face evaporate with that news.  We left shortly thereafter.  We told Elena we would see her at home later and the three of us went home.  I made a bowl of ramen noodles and crashed on the couch with my laptop.  I was going to peruse Facebook, call Luke really quickly, and then finish watching the Supernatural episode that Maddie had interrupted.  I grabbed my phone to check it before logging on to Facebook.

I had one text message, from Zach:

  

Aleah, I miss you so much.  Call me when you get time.