Chapter Thirteen
“I'm coming!” I shouted to the person at the other side of the door.
It couldn't have been Nathan, he was at work. Maybe it was Oliver wanting to play.
I opened the room door expecting to see a him holding a Lightning McQueen car but instead it was Sophia, Nathan's Mom.
“Hi, Sophia.” I greeted.
“Hi, Alyssa. Ready to find your perfect wedding dress?” She replied enthusiastically.
“Wait, I'm sorry, what?” I asked, my eyebrows raised with shock.
“Nathan just called me saying that I should take you wedding dress shopping. His father demanded that your wedding be this weekend so we don't have much time.” She explained.
I was still surprised so the only words I could muster were. “Wait, what?”
“I know. Nathan is already under a lot of stress, this would only elevate it. We have to leave now, we have a lot to do and not much time to do it.” Still in shock, I let her pull me to the living room, calling for Oliver.
Oliver was sitting opposite Maria and Julia, glaring at them. I guess he was still mad at Julia and he never really liked Maria anyway.
“Maria.” I heard Sophia acknowledge coldly.
“Sophia.” Maria returned.
“What are you doing here?” Sophia questioned.
“Nathan insists on marrying this...” She eyed me in disgust. “thing soon, so Steven asked me to help her prepare. I didn't know you would be here else I wouldn't have come. I don't like seeing the trash of the society.”
“Looking in the mirror must be torture them.” Sophia quipped.
Maria drew back offended while Oliver burst into laughter. Julia simply rolled her eyes at her mother. I still don't understand how Nathan and Julia have the same parents and one of them still acts like a brat. Shouldn't Julia be nicer? I mean, Sophia did raise her.
“Why are you here Julia?” I asked.
“I wanted to talk some sense into you. You might want to buy your wedding dress at some cheap store and embarrass Nathan, so I'm here to stop you.” She answered snarkily.
“Julia, be quiet.” Sophia commanded.
“She's right.” Maria stated. “From what she tells me, this urchin has no taste when it comes to clothing.”
“Last I checked, you didn't either.” Sophia returned.
What is this, battle of the moms? They shouldn't be fighting like this in front of Oliver.
“Olly, why don't you go get your jacket so you can come with me?” I suggested to him. The smart boy got the hint and left the room.
“Oliver's coming along, good. I have to teach him how to match the oddest of colors.” Julia said cheerfully.
I'm done with her attitude. Last I checked, Oliver was a boy and didn't need to know how to pick out women's clothes, no matter how helpful it is to me.
I was about to say something to her when the door opened and my worst nightmare walked in. Well, nightmares. Hailey and Rebecca sauntered in like they owned the place both in what I want to call dresses but I really can't.
“What are you doing here?” Julia shrieked at Hailey who glared in return.
“Rebecca, it's nice to see you again.” Maria said cheerfully, giving her a posh hug.
“You too, Maria.” Rebecca returned. “Are you here to help us look for Alyssa's dress?”
“Yes, she obviously needs the help.”
Meanwhile, Hailey and Julia were having a glaring contest and I was panicking inwardly. I thought I had escaped them when I started living with Nathan and here they are. How could I forget that they would be involved in the wedding?
And Oliver. I couldn't take Oliver with me now that they were here. As if God heard my prayers, Mr Jacob West walked in, stopping when he saw all the women gathered. The way everyone has easy access into the house made me think, we really need to start locking that door.
“Hello, everyone.” He greeted awkwardly.
As per usual, Hailey shot him a flirtatious look, flicking her hair back so more attention gets drawn to her boobs. I thought she was interested in Nathan so why try getting Mr West's attention.
“Alyssa, we'll be waiting downstairs, go change into something presentable.” Maria told me, opening the door. Everyone followed her out so I was left with Mr West.
“You sure have your work cut out for you today, Alyssa.” He commented.
I chuckled. “I sure do. Mr West, I have a favor to ask of you.”
“Nathan said I should take care to Oliver while you're out.” I sighed in relief, hearing what he said.
“Thank you so much, Mr West.”
“Call me Jacob.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Jacob.”
He simply smiled and went to look for Oliver. I went to change from my sweatpants to jeans and a sweater, after all, I was going to be taking them off to try dresses out. I peeked into Oliver's room to tell him goodbye before I took the elevator down.
Everyone was waiting for me in the parking lot next to an all black limousine. Maria scoffed at my choice of clothes and so did Hailey and Rebecca. We're they expecting me to wear a flashy, constricting dress like the ones they had on?
The driver of the limo came out and introduced himself. The middle-aged man was Brighton, he said that Nathan had told him to take us to and from the shops. Hailey scoffed at that, muttering an 'of course'. We all piled in, Rebecca and Maria chatting excitedly. Sophia nudged my elbow, calling my attention.
“So what type of dress do you want?” She asked.
I shrugged, not having an answer. “I guess I'll know when we get there.”
The bridal shop Sophia booked an appointment at wasn't one of those extravagant stores. Sure it was bright and flashy but not too much. I liked it, so did Sophia but everyone else frowned at it. They wanted to drag me to another store but Sophia wouldn't let them. She said that if we didn't find my dress here then we'd go to wherever they wanted us to go.
If I find the perfect dress here it wouldn't feel right to me. Someone was missing. I pulled out my phone to call Cassy but seeing that her store is close by I decided to get her myself.
I was able to sneak out of the bridal store for a while to get her. When I got back, It was only Sophia left at the shop.
“Everyone else said thet the dresses here were ‘sub par’ and went to another store.” She explained. “They're expecting us to meet them there but, to be honest, are we really?”
I laughed at that. Truth be told, the only people I would like to help me with my dress are Sophia and Cassy, everyone else that came either intimidated me or scared me to death.
The attendant took us through the store, past racks filled with wedding dresses. We picked some out as we walked by and got a private room equipped with a changing room. I had changed into the lace robe they had while the lady attending to us showed the the seven dresses we picked along the way.
I knew the dress I was going to wear wouldn't be backless or sleeveless so three of the dresses had to go. The first dress I tried on had an illusion neckline and a trumpet style skirt. It was plain to me even with the sparkly belt they added.
The other three didn't really excite me. They were all very beautiful no doubt but I still didn't like them. Maybe it was the white. I never really liked the color, it was too boring to me.
I had voiced this out to Sophia when she asked if there was a problem. Cassy had already gone to search for more dresses when I said I didn't like the last one. She had come back with six dresses. One of them were red, out of the question, three were a light blue color. The final two were peach, I chose to put them on first.
The first was unfortunately strapless. It had a sweetheart neckline, a mermaid style skirt and the bodice was lacey. It was beautiful but the I could already see scares peeking past the fabric.
I tried the final dress on and instantly loved it.