by Amber Lynn
We managed to wake up at the same time the next morning. A few moments were possibly spent with me staring into his eyes as his fingertips danced around the edges of my face. It was really frustrating that I didn't remember us waking up the same way for centuries. It was clear how easy things could be between us when I lowered my walls, which led me to believe that my body remembered more than my mind did.
Nate smiled down at me and winked before rolling out of bed. As Nate took a shower, I popped a few cinnamon rolls in the microwave. I carried the plate out to the dining room and started chomping while I waited for him.
When he made it to the dining room he said, "Mmm, I love your cinnamon rolls. I'll have to leave you home alone more often." He grabbed one and took a bite as his eyes rolled back in his head.
"Well, when I get my new kitchen, I might just decide to make them more often. I did a little searching yesterday and found a couple apartments I might like."
"Good, I'm glad you're on board with the move. I'll set up a time for us to visit your picks when we get back. I better get going. Anne and Ettie will be expecting you at Ettie's at ten. She lives two blocks over in a light green house."
He jotted down the address on a piece of paper for me. I hadn't wandered around the neighborhood to know how many light green houses there were, but I figured I'd be able to find it. If nothing else, I'd roam around screaming Ettie's name until she found me.
"Okay, I'll head over around then. I think I'll spend the morning cleaning the house and packing everything. I want to be ready to leave first thing in the morning, since we have a big drive ahead of us," I took the empty plate to the kitchen, before heading back to see him off to work. "You know, we're becoming way too domesticated. I'm not sure I like it."
I gave him a goodbye kiss right after my words, so I didn't help my case. I should've pushed him out the door and slammed it behind him.
"I'm going to plead no comment to that statement, for fear it will put me in the doghouse." He laughed as he walked out the door and headed to the tank.
I made my way back to the kitchen and started scrubbing it down. I decided since we were going to be flying the next day, because my demands of driving home hadn't been met, I needed a light dinner that wouldn't upset my stomach. I thought some chicken noodle soup sounded like a good plan.
I had everything except the chicken broth and some veggies to add to it. Because it was my last day, I guessed I'd finally use the shopping list feature on Tabby. When I got back from Ettie's, I'd hit the send button so Katie had everything ready when I got there.
I didn't want to be alone in the store with Katie for very long. I had a feeling one of us wouldn't make it out of there alive if I had to listen to her say anything more than hello.
?I continued through the house, straightening things up for the next hour. Once the cleaning was all done, which took a little less time than I thought it would, I decided to get ready to go over to Ettie's. I took a shower and chose a shirt that said?You have read my shirt. That's enough social interaction for one day.?I was guessing it wouldn't detract either of the girls from the torture they were about to inflict, but it was the best I could do without being rude.
After I had my clothes on, I packed the rest of my things into my suitcase, leaving out an outfit for the trip. I thought about packing for Nate, but elected that it was something better left for him. Mainly, I wasn't sure I wanted to dig around in his underwear drawer. That done, I was as ready as I'd get to walk over to my wedding bonanza. ?
When I got to Ettie's, which wasn't hard to find in a sea of white houses, I was greeted by two smiling faces. "Hi, guys. I was a little surprised when Sean told me you wanted me to come over. I thought I'd be the town pariah after walking out."
"Nah, I don't really care about work disputes outside of security and I already don't get along with most of the people around here because I'm not the brainy type," Anne said.
Her outfit consisted of a short-sleeved black shirt and a pair of loose-fitting jeans. With purple eyes, I didn't think she had to do a lot of dressing up to draw attention to her, not that I thought she cared one way or another whether people noticed her.
Ettie wore a pair of black dress pants and a somewhat frilly top. The cream color of it looked shiny, like maybe it was silk. Whether it was or not, she was definitely the best dressed amongst us.
"And you know I could care less about the team after the way they treated me," Ettie added. "They still haven't found Vinnie, by the way. I can't believe the robot got the better of them."
"Well, I just want to say it's really nice of you guys, especially since this is my last day in town."
Ettie escorted us into her living room. From what I could see, the general layout of the house didn't look dissimilar from my temporary house.
"What?" they both screeched at once. "But you just got here," Anne finished, and I was surprised to see how devastated they both looked.
"Since the job kind of fell through, I think it's best for us to return home," I replied. "Sean can get a job anywhere; he really just came so we wouldn't be separated if things worked out. Sean has the ability to get along with everyone, but I tend to have issues dealing with other people, so we knew there was a good chance we'd be moving on before we really settled."
"You're amazing. I don't blame you, but it really is too bad. I still want to look through wedding dresses, though, whether you think you'll be around here for the wedding or not," Ettie said. "I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to look for my own, so I have to live vicariously through you."
"I'm not really into the girlie stuff, but it seemed like a marginally more fun way to spend the day, compared to sitting at work. Have you guys set a date yet?" Anne asked.
"No, I think we both agree we're going to have a long engagement since we're kind of unsettled right now. We don't want to rush into anything when we aren't sure exactly where we'll be after tomorrow."
Ettie fired up a laptop that she had connected to her TV, so we could all look at what she was doing without crowding around the small screen. I'd been afraid my personal space would be in jeopardy as we searched the Internet.
"I'm sure you guys will be settled in no time. Do you have any favorite designers?" she asked, and I refrained from laughing in her face. There was no way a person who'd known me for even a second would ask me something that silly.
"No, I'm not even sure I could name a designer if my life depended on it." I didn't bring up my friend who could name every designer she deemed worthy of knowing.
"Do you have a theme picked out yet?" Anne asked.
"No theme, no specific date, at this point we're really lucky there's even a groom involved. All I know is I want a simple wedding that doesn't cost a lot."
"Okay, let's just search wedding dresses and see what comes up." Ettie performed the search and navigated to one of the first sites that came up. "I'll state the obvious and say we should click on bridal gowns. Do you like any of the styles in the list?"
"I guess classic and traditional would probably be my style," I said, knowing for sure that the chic and modern and the glamorous and dramatic dresses would probably scare me right out of any wedding commitment. "I've seen prices on wedding dresses before and I definitely don't want to spend more than five hundred dollars. I'd actually prefer it to be closer to two hundred."
"Okay, let's see if we can find anything in that range," Ettie said. She clicked on the classic and traditional link and then organized the results from lowest to highest price.
I saw a lot of sales, so the prices weren't that bad. When Frannie started searching, which I was fairly certain she'd already done, chances were good she'd sort the results the exact opposite way, and hit up the glamorous and dramatic section before looking anywhere else.
"I know I don't want a one-shoulder type dress. I've never really liked how they look. I also don't want anything too lacy or frilly." It was funny that once I actually saw the dresses, I had a lot of opinions on the matter.
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"Are you thinking full-length or tea-length?" Anne asked, studying the screen in front of us.
"Definitely full-length. I may decide to wear tennis shoes that day, so I don't want my feet visible."
We scrolled through a few pages and nothing really moved me. While we scanned each dress, the others were picking out ones they thought would look good on me and opening the links in other windows, so we could come back to their short list later.
As we continued to scroll, I finally perked up when a dress jumped out at me. "Can you add that halter to the list?" I asked.
"I suppose, since this is a dress for you, after all, and that one is pretty cute. I would've probably added it anyway," Ettie replied.
In the end they'd each added three dresses and I found two more I could live with. I thought it important to have the same number as Ettie and Anne. One of my other dresses was an off the shoulder and the other was a strapless number.
"Okay, now that we have a list of possibilities, I say we live dangerously and take a look at the dramatic dresses for fun," Anne suggested.
"If you guys want to, that's fine. I'm pretty sure that if I was picking a dress today, I already have my mind made up on which one it'd be," I replied.
"I bet it's the strapless one, isn't it? I love the lace up back," Ettie said, bringing up that window so we could get another look at the dress.
"You're right. I didn't think I'd like something so girlie, but I can see myself in that dress."
It was a sad, but true statement. The dress definitely beat the naked look I'd evidently used in the past. If I wanted to get technical, all the dresses did.
We looked at the glam and dram dresses, as I started calling them. Almost immediately the price point was beyond what I wanted and the dresses themselves were more extravagant than I could handle.
We decided to glance through the other categories, just to make sure I didn't miss my perfect dress. I found the dress that I'd already picked in the chic and modern category, so evidently I wouldn't look dated, if I were to decide to buy it at some point.
It'd been hours since we'd started our little fun and I called a halt to it as they began talking about looking at other sites. "Really guys, I think that one is the one. I'm not expecting the wedding to be for a while, but I'll discuss getting the dress with Sean, since it's on sale."
"Okay, fine, no more dresses," Ettie said. I felt bad about bringing their fun to an end, but there was only so much I could take.
"I still can't believe you're leaving tomorrow," Anne said. "We didn't even get a chance to watch any hockey together."
"I know, but maybe you can fly out and watch a game in person sometime. I will say that I do prefer the games on TV because crowds tend to disturb me and I can't stand to be around people cheering for the other team, but if you make the trip, I'll make an exception."
"I totally understand not wanting to be around the other team's fans. I've gotten in a few fights at basketball games, so it's probably best not to let me out in public," she replied.
"I really don't know what I'm going to do in the office without you," Ettie said. "I really did hope with us working together I'd be allowed to show my face. With you leaving, I think it's probably time for me to look elsewhere for employment. Josh evidently is never going to let our break up go and everyone else is on his side."
I couldn't believe it, but I was going to miss both of them. I never understood why Frannie and I got along; meanwhile, being friends with Ettie and Anne made sense.
"I'm surprised you've been able to stay this long. I know if things didn't clear up after a week, I would've been out of there." I couldn't fathom how she'd lasted so long.
"I know I should have left, but I do really like what I'm doing. Vinnie going AWOL made me wake up a little bit. I'd always gone along with the rest of the team, but the robot running away debacle makes one have to think whether they really know what's best."
"Well, I do wish you guys both the best of luck in the future, but I really do need to head out. I have to make dinner and make sure Sean gets all his stuff together, so he's ready to leave in the morning." I stood up and stretched my legs.
"It's been fun while we had you around," Anne said. "Good luck with the wedding plans."
"Yeah, please send us pictures whenever the event occurs. You may have to hunt me down," Ettie added.
We finished saying goodbye and I headed back to the house to grab some money and hit send on the grocery list. I hoped Katie had determined me as a persona non grata, so I wasn't stuck talking to her the rest of the day.