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Forty-five minutes, a cupcake and a new pair of cleats later, Callie had managed to drag JJ into the dress shop where she was currently standing in front of the three-way mirror. She was staring at herself with a frown, her dirty softball glove still attached to her right hand, her left on the hip jutting out just enough for Callie to see the tip of a new cleat under the dress’s pleats.
“Callie, do I really have to wear this?”
Callie stared at JJ and smiled. Even though the girl was a tomboy with a capital T, she was breathtaking. Callie didn’t know much about JJ’s mom, who had taken off soon after JJ was born, leaving Jamal a single teenage dad. If Irma hadn’t found him and JJ in a grocery store, who knows where they would be. But no matter the content of JJ’s mom’s character, she must have been beautiful.
Jamal was a dead-ringer for Jackson Avery on Grey’s Anatomy. Callie always joked with him that if his basketball career ended, he could get hired as that actor’s stuntman. JJ showed traces of her dad in her eyes and gangly stature, but the huge dimples, the smooth, creamy skin, the beautiful natural curls that framed a face with a spattering of adorable freckles on her nose must have come from her mom. She could easily be a model for kid’s Gap, but Jamal kept his kid way out of the spotlight. Callie couldn’t blame him.
“You look beautiful, kid. Now, please just wear a dress this one time. For me?”
JJ’s dress was a softer coral than the bridesmaid dresses and was a mini-version of her wedding dress, complete with cap sleeves and a lace overlay. The only difference was the color.
JJ rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said, puffing a breath at the errant curl that had come loose from her ponytail. “I’ll wear it. As long as you throw me a hundred fly balls when we get home.”
“Didn’t I just pick you up from pitching practice?”
“You’re only as good as the work you put in.”
“Spoken like a true professional athlete’s daughter. You drive a hard bargain, kid, but it’s a deal.”
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Cassie looked at herself in the mirror as the seamstress was putting the final touches on her bridesmaid dress. Callie really had done a good job with them. Cassie loved how her friend had decided to let the girls pick the design of their dresses as long as they were the same color, differing shades of coral that managed to flatter all of the bridesmaids’ skin tones.
Cassie had chosen a simple strapless dress that was tight until her waist than then flowed into a high low skirt, the front ending at Cassie’s knees and the back at her calves. Kyle and Callie had chosen to get married in the Myriad Gardens in downtown Oklahoma City, so Callie figure a strapless dress would work well in what she figured would be humid conditions.
“All set,” the seamstress, Maggie, said. “You were the easy one, Cassie. Not one complaint. Can’t say that for your other friend.”
Cassie laughed. “Aria? Difficult? Noway!”
Maggie stood up from her crouched position at Cassie’s feet and stretched her arms to the sky. “Difficult as in ‘I want to wring her neck but I want to make the money off these dresses more’ difficult. How did you girlseverbecome friends?”
“Callie met her at when they danced together for the Thunder and I was Callie’s roomie. We met at OU. The rest is history. You know how romantics always say soulmates find each other, no matter how different their paths? I think it works for friends, too. Callie and Aria are my friend soulmates. We just work.”
Maggie smiled. “Well, Aria is lucky to have two laid back friend soulmates. I don’t think anyone else could tolerate her high maintenance.”
Cassie smiled and gave the seamstress a hug. “Good thing you don’t have to put up with us after Saturday. Callie and Kyle will be married and off on their outrageously extravagant honeymoon in the Bahamas and I’ll be sitting in my quiet apartment studying.”
Maggie patted Cassie on the back. “Girl, as pretty as you are you could easily get a man to keep you company.”
Cassie grimaced. “No thanks, I’ll pass.”
Maggie patted her on the back. “Sounds like there’s some history in that tone.”
“You could say that.” Cassie tried to wipe the frown off her face and forget the troubling thoughts rising to the surface. She was in a good place now. A safe place. Cassie took a deep breath. Like her shirt said - Good vibes only. Now if she could just convince her nightmares of the same thing.
“Well, you’re good to go lady,” Maggie said as she hung Cassie’s dress on a hanger and wrapped it in a plastic cover. “Good luck at the wedding. Maybe you’ll catch the bouquet.”
Grabbing the bag, Cassie pulled her sunglasses off the top of her head and covered her eyes as she opened the door of the shop with her hip and stepped into the glaring sunlight. Summer had come and gone but its stifling heat still lingered. It was mid-September and temperatures were still reaching the high nineties. Knowing Oklahoma, on the day of Callie’s wedding it would probably snow. The state’s weather was completely unpredictable.
Sometimes, Cassie missed her home state of Alaska and all its snowy glory. Citizens knew what to expect. Snow drifts higher than your head. Hockey as the sport of choice. Darkness sometimes for twenty-four hours straight. That darkness didn’t bother her. It was the darkness of a different nature that held the starring role in her dreams. Bruises she had a hard time hiding. Learning how to lie to teachers, to friends. Loneliness. Missing her mom.
Shaking her head, Cassie pulled herself out of the dark clouds swirling inside her head and opened the door to her mini Cooper. Carefully lying her dress in the backseat, Cassie hopped in the driver’s seat, plugged her phone into the aux cord and blasted her new favorite song, ‘Good Time’ by Niko Moon. Callie made fun of her for listening to it, but Cassie had caught her friend dancing to it when she didn’t think Cassie was watching. Callie’s secret was safe with her, though. After all, everyone has secrets they needed to keep.
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CHAPTER FOUR
“Aria! Hurry up! We are going to be late to the rehearsal!” Cassie sighed in exasperation. She didn’t think Aria was ever on time for anything in her life. Well, except for Thunder games. Any chance Aria had to be in the spotlight she took. She wasn’t conceited; just very secure in herself.
