Dream Dresses Boutique - Final Fitting - Tuesday Morning

“What in the entire hell was she thinking?” I grumbled to myself, as I turned from side to side in front of a large ceiling to floor mirror. Trying to find at least one nice feature about this hideous bridesmaid dress was like finding Jacqueline shopping at a thrift store. Never gonna happen. I knew Daisy was going with a hot pink and leopard print theme, but this dress was fugly. 

To make matters worse, Marco and Phoebe were here to get more pictures for Daisy and Isaac’s wedding magazine spread. Watching Marco aim his camera at me preparing to take a photo, I stopped him dead in his tracks. “If you take that picture I will break your fingers.”

Marco snatched the camera away from his face and found a new subject immediately. A beaming Gwendolyn strutted out of her fitting room. “Oh my goodness, Sophia! Don’t you just love these dresses? The color, the print, the ruffles, the tulle. And look,” she began twirling around. “It even has a train.”

I looked at this grown woman oddly. She couldn’t be serious. I waited for her to tell me she was joking, but that moment never came. She was dead serious. I shuddered. “You know, Gwen. You have such a bright outlook on life, I hope I can be like you one day,” I smiled, no sarcasm included.

“Oh, how sweet,” she said, placing her hand on her chest. 

“I know you fucking lying!” Callie said as she came out. 

Island chimed in, “I tried to warn y’all.”

“Yeah, but I thought you were exaggerating,” Callie responded. 

“I wouldn’t lie about a fashion crime we're all about to voluntarily commit. I used to think brides choosing ugly dresses for the bridesmaids was a thing of the past, yet here I stand corrected.”

The four of us stood in front of the mirror, looking like a melting pot of mixed emotions. From itchy to confused, irritated and chipper. “Is Daisy really that insecure?” Callie wondered aloud. 

“No, it’s not like that!” Gwendolyn tried defending her friend. 

“How so?” Callie inquired. 

“Daisy said she wanted us to look like big cupcakes because everyone loves them,” she giggled. 

“Well that just makes everything all fine and dandy doesn’t it?” Island sarcastically remarked. 

“It sure does. We all look like princesses, but that is not even the best part! Instead of carrying bouquets, we will hold, drum roll please,” Gwen excitedly requested. 

No one obliged, but that still didn’t stop her from sprinting over to the couch that had five boxes stacked neatly next to it. She opened one and pulled out the contents putting them on with her back to us and turned around. “Ta-da! Don’t you just love it?” She squealed. And distributed a box to each of us. “Go ahead and put it on!” 

She was a little too happy about this. We all put on the newly acquired accessories and turned back around to look at ourselves in the mirror

“Oh, hell naw. The dress is one thing, but the lace gloves and mini umbrellas!” Callie shook her head violently. “Nope, I didn’t sign up for this.”

“It’s actually called a parasol,” Gwendolyn corrected. 

I stared in disbelief and looked over to Island, “Did you and Leslie know about this?”

Island’s eyes were still on the atrocity that we all wore. “If I knew about this, do you think I’d be a bridesmaid? I don’t care if Isaac is my brother. I would’ve gladly sat with my parents during the ceremony.”

“Marco came up behind us ready to take another photo, “If you value your eyesight, walk away.” Callie threatened. 

“You ladies are feisty, but I like it,” he said with intrigue and went on his way. 

We all went to go take our seats on the large white couch waiting for Daisy to come out. “Where is Leslie? She should’ve been here by now,” I said. 

“I know. She texted saying she was about five minutes away, but that was twenty minutes ago.” Island mentioned with concern. 

“Umm, Houston, we have a problem,” Callie announced from behind us. 

We turned around. “What?” I asked, irritated by all the sounds these dresses were making and the difficulty to simply turn around on this couch. 

When I looked at what Callie was looking at I gasped. “Oh no. That cannot be good. Can it?”

Island shrugged, “Probably not, but I’m totally here for it.”

We were looking outside the boutique window watching Leslie and Isaac talking. They both looked like two love sick teenagers. One could only guess what they were talking about. 

“Maria. Where are you? Daisy’s having trouble with the zipper.” Jacqueline shouted. She was in the fitting room, but the more she talked the clearer her voice sounded, meaning she was coming out to where we were. And there was a possibility she would see Leslie and Isaac too. 

“Stand up and open your umbrellas!” Callie whispered in a demanding tone. 

“It's a parasol!” Gwen corrected again. 

“Whatever. Just do it. Now!”

We all stood and played up the parts of happy bridesmaids and swinging our parasols to add to the distraction we were trying to create. “How do we look, Jacqueline?” I asked sweetly. 

She paused, looking each of us up and down and simply responded “It’ll do.” And moved on in search of the owner. “Maria, we need you!”

Maria met up with Jacqueline and they went back into the dressing room. I rolled my eyes and plopped back on the couch. “That was close.”

Island went over to the window and tapped on it to get the couple’s attention. Leslie jumped out of her trance and hurried into the boutique leaving Isaac in his same spot. Isaac started laughing so hard he held his stomach. Island stuck her tongue out and her middle fingers up at her brother when he saw what she was wearing, which only made him laugh harder. He then pulled out his phone to video call their brothers. Next thing we knew, Island ran out of the shop in her dress with her parasol in her lace covered hands chasing her brother down the street, threatening to beat him up. 

“Did that really just happen?” Callie asked. 

“She’s the only girl. She was born to keep up with them,” Leslie answered. 

“Hmm,” Callie shrugged and came to sit next to me.

“I see we have new things added to the dresses,” Leslie said.

“Yes, isn’t it just adorable?” Gwendolyn curtsied. 

Leslie only smiled. “Well I guess I should go put my dress on.”

Just as she was about to go back, Jacqueline came out again. “Don’t bother.”

Leslie froze with fear that she’d been caught, truth be told we were too. 

“Why is that?” She asked nervously. 

“Because Daisy isn’t feeling well this morning so we’re going to come back later.”

“Oh, okay.” She said with a sense of relief. “I hope she gets better soon.”

“Me too. Leslie, be a dear and come help me with Daisy,” Jacqueline requested

“Yes ma’am,” Leslie answered dutifully and went to the back with her. 

“That sucks. Morning sickness was the one of the many things I don’t miss about being pregnant,” I said sincerely. 

“Or maybe it’s because we turnt up last night at that King Red concert,” Gwen gloated. 

Callie and I turned our heads in her direction as soon as we heard the words slip from her mouth. 

“Pregnant girls can’t turn up. Right?” Callie asked, looking to me for confirmation. 

“Not at a King Red concert. And I know for a fact that nobody just goes to a King Red concert and doesn’t get at least one drink.” 

My sister and I both eyed Gwen, who was trying to shrink into her dress with fear in her eyes.

**********************

Bianca & Harrison’s House - Backyard - Tuesday Night

“Everything is a mess, Bianca.” I whined. 

“How so?” She stared at me from the other side of the fire pit. 

“Well Montell’s here, in Laurel Springs.”

“Behind bars.”

“Gunnar used me.”

“And you checked his ass!”

“The girls want to move here, but I want to move somewhere far away.”

“You can’t keep running.”

“And this bridesmaids mission is starting to get out of control.”

“You have a few more days to go.”

“Must you be so positive about everything?” I snapped. 

Unbothered by my attitude, Bianca shrugged. “Somebody has to. Look, Sophia, I’m gonna keep it real with you. You ignored so many things and it piled up. Now you need to handle it. You can’t keep creating distractions, you're going to have to face your fears. It's time.”

“But it’s too much. Why didn’t anyone warn me about the dangers of adulting? All I want to do is make music, make sure the girls are safe, eat whatever I want without weight gain, and have a personal assistant handle all the rest of the hard stuff.” I whined. 

“Trust me, you can handle being an adult. You're a great mom. You haven’t been homeless since you left Laurel Springs. You can defend yourself. You haven’t let your circumstances stop you from chasing your dreams. And even with twins you still can manage to put up with Callie’s antics. But you have to remember that we have to keep growing and improving in order to be our best selves.

And a word of advice, ask for help. You have a lot of people who would give their last to help you even those you’ve written off.”

I rolled my eyes, knowing who she was referring to. “Why would you try to set a double date for us when you knew he was with Ally?”

“He begged us. Now I know the motive behind it, but I know it all wasn’t an act. I think he still cares about you.”

I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t matter. His intention wasn’t genuine. His job was the only reason he was able to speak to me after all these years. I wish I could just punch the shit out of him, but I already know it won’t make me feel better.”

“Because you still care about him.”

“Unfortunately,” I sighed, crossing my arms and poured  like a little girl. “Bianca, when I gave him that ultimatum, I thought he would stay or we’d come up with a plan to make things work, but he left and never looked back. Everything he did made me feel like he wanted me and the girls in his life, but he would fall off the face of the earth and then randomly come back.”

“Did you ask him why he wasn’t keeping in touch on a regular basis?”

I nodded, “Every time, but he’d just say school or family stuff kept him busy. Even though I didn’t fully believe him, I couldn’t question him like I wanted because we weren’t a couple. That was the reason I made him make a choice. I thought it would force him to tell me the truth and he decided to go. I  know he was hiding something, I just couldn’t figure it out.”

Before Sophia could say something, probably in defense of Gunnar, Leslie ran across the lawn of the backyard to get to the pit where we were, carrying four wine glasses. Callie trailed behind her with a casual gait, holding two bottles of wine. 

“OMG, guess what?!” Callie asked excitedly, handing each of us a glass and took a seat next to Bianca.  

Bianca laughed. “It must be really good news if you brought wine. I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time. What is it?”

“I can’t tell you until Callie gets here.”

We all glanced over at our youngest sister who was still moseying along. “Would you hurry up?” I demanded “Les, is about to burst into flames if you don’t get here in the next 5 seconds.”

Callie huffed audibly, “I’m coming.” Adding a little pep to her step, she finally joined us. “Now can you tell us what’s going on?” She directed her question to Leslie. 

Leslie clapped her hands and opened one of the bottles and began pouring each of us a drink. “Okay, so you know how I was already going to be late to the fitting? Well, I was on my way inside when Isaac stopped me. I was going to do everything in my power to avoid him, but I thought it was best if I stayed to get closure. So we’re talking and then he tells me he still loves me. And I told him that I still loved him too!” She squealed. 

My sisters had an amused look on their faces while I was unimpressed and upset. “What is it with these Laurel Springs guys? They think they can have their cake and eat it too.” I downed my glass of wine. 

“Congratulations?” Callie sounded unsure how to respond. 

“So, does that mean he is going to break things off with Daisy?” Bianca asked gently?

Leslie’s smile dropped from her face, as if reality sunk in. Her eyes were welling up, “I’m so stupid,” she cried with tears falling from her soft brown eyes.”

“Oh, no. Don’t cry. That wasn’t my intention. I just thought since he told you how he felt he was going to stop this foolishness and be with you after all,” Bianca tried cheering Leslie up, but failed and made her cry even harder. 

I was growing more agitated by the second. A normal Sophia would’ve found optimism in this moment and babied my sister, but all I wanted was some space and air that wasn’t in Laurel Springs. “Okay, Leslie. Here’s the deal. We can help you get your man back but we can’t have the tears. Because what we’re about to tell you will change the entire game.” I poured myself some more wine. 

Callie spoke up. “When you went to the back to help Daisy change out of her dress because she was sick. We got some news about Daisy.”

“What is it?” She asked, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. 

“She wasn’t having morning sickness when we saw her. She had a hangover,” Callie answered. 

In the middle of sipping her wine, Bianca choked and  coughed out the question, “Say what now?”

“You heard her correctly.” I answered. 

“But that can’t be. She’s pregnant. She can’t drink.” Leslie said in defense. 

“Sophia mentioned that morning sickness was one of the worst side effects of pregnancy and Gwen let it slip that they were at a King Red concert last night.”

“Hold up. King Red? He’s the king of getting wasted by any means necessary.” Leslie commented. 

“Right. So I used some of my special tactics, to get her to spill the beans,” Callie smiled wickedly. 

“And,” Leslie demanded. 

“Daisy is not pregnant. She never was.”

Leslie looked over at me, “Is this true?”

I nodded the affirmative. 

“But she went to the doctor.”

“Yeah, to get a pregnancy test, not a drug test. They don’t monitor you as closely as when you’re coming in for a regular pregnancy test. At least that’s what Penelope told me.” Callie shrugged. 

We looked at her strangely. “Is there something you need to tell us?” Bianca asked. 

“You can chill out with that. I was just asking Penelope some questions under the guise of my period coming late and what the procedure was to take a pregnancy test at her doctor’s office. So rest assured, there’s no bun in this oven,” and took a healthy gulp to confirm her declaration. 

“So how did she get a positive result?” Bianca asked. 

“Here’s where it gets nasty. Gwen’s sister is pregnant.”

“So you mean to tell me,” Bianca couldn’t finish the sentence. 

Callie and I nodded. Bianca covered her mouth and made a gagging noise. 

“That’s disgusting. Daisy carried urine around with her? She’s on a whole new level of psychotic,” Leslie shook her head. 

“That’s not the worst part,” Callie continued. “Remember how Isaac kept telling you that he doesn’t remember the night that he and Daisy slept together?”

Leslie shut her eyes tight and sighed aloud. “Please don’t tell me she drugged and raped him.”

“You got the drugged part right. Daisy didn’t sleep with Isaac at all. She just added something to his drink and then when he passed out she went back out to party with Gwen and came back to bed with him and set up a scene like they had sex the night before,” Callie reported. 

Leslie got up and started pacing. “So you mean to tell me that this conniving, evil witch who already had Isaac added a fake baby in the mix to ensure she kept him? Is that what you’re telling me?” She asked us.

“Pretty much,” Callie answered, drinking her wine. 

“That b—” the word wouldn’t come out her mouth, but we knew she wanted to say it. 

“Go ahead and say it. I promise you’ll feel a whole lot better,” I grinned. 

“She has a point. Let it out,” Callie encouraged. 

Leslie still fought the urge to use foul language. “If it helps, no one will hear you from here. We’re pretty far from the house.” Bianca told her. 

As if she couldn’t hold it anymore, Leslie screamed at the top of her lungs. “THAT BITCH!” Her breathing was hard and the pent up frustration was finally being released. “Not only did she and her mother ruin my life, they're trying to lock Izzy down so he couldn’t back out of the contract.” She turned to us quickly, “Does Island know?”

“No, if she did, she’d probably be in jail. We decided to leave the ball in your court and let you know first.” I told her. 

“In that case, I’m taking my life back.” She turned and headed for the house. 

“Where are you going?” I shouted.

“To tell Isaac, what’s been going on,” she answered without looking back.

“Hold up, I’m going with you. I'll drive.” Callie jumped up from her seat to catch up with Leslie. 

“Us too,” Bianca shouted, Chugged down her wine and then slammed the glass down. “Come on,” she ordered me. 

I sighed and did what I was told. 

“Fine.”