Under Chateau Lights | Complete

7 | I Will

The next morning, I am sitting on an extremely uncomfortable pristine white couch in Mother's favourite dress shop with my sisters, Elodie and Celeste, while Meabh tries on dress after dress after dress. I swear these things are crafted purposefully to take longer than they need to, and I don't drink champagne, so I am sipping water out of a champagne glass and wishing the couch wasn't made of concrete or something.

I think Meabh looks good in everything she tries on, but Celeste is much more critical. Unfortunately, the current one is a sparkly deep blue that even I can tell completely clashes with her fair skin and deep auburn hair. We do not like to see it.

"I think we need to try a different colour?" I offer the suggestion like a question, hoping not to offend Meabh. We don't know each other well enough yet, though she can stand to be around Pierre, so I'm probably not that different. "I think the cut's so nice on you, though." Compliments usually work to soften the blow, I think.

Meabh sinks down onto the large round ottoman in front of us and slumps forward so the seamstress cannot hear her whisper. "I think I might need a different dress maker; this stuff all looks like I'm going to work."

All eyes turn to Celeste. Elodie and I because we are expecting her to know what we should do, and Meabh because El and I did, I think.

"Well, I think we need to go with a medium tone," she says, standing up to peruse the rack of options the seamstress had laid out. "Or we could go with a lighter dress and a darker jacket. Sometimes that looks good."

She is still talking to herself when Meabh gets up and makes her way to the rack, rifling through the pile of dresses to tell Celeste what she likes and dislikes.

I'm still watching them when a sharp jab in my left rib makes me jump. Elodie lands on the other end of my death glare when I turn to see the culprit of my pain. Her face is full-on conspiracy. Whose tea is she about to spill?

We just stare at each other for a few seconds too long.

Finally, she shakes her head a little and raises her eyebrow like I'm supposed to know what's going on. The lights flicker overhead and a small stream of sunshine hits the corner of my vision after sneaking through the blinds. The furnace roars to life and the draft from the ceiling is so cold at first it sends a shiver through me.

"Oh my gosh, fine," she says finally. "Spill. How could you not tell me about Christian? My sister is dating Christian Xie and didn't even tell me."

"Mom got to you already?"

"She got to everyone already, Jules. But that's not what I asked."

"I didn't tell you because there's nothing to tell. We aren't even dating, El."

She rolls her eyes and sips some water out of her champagne glass. "If you aren't even dating then why is Mom telling everyone you are?"

I sigh, looking over at Meabh and Celeste holding dresses up to decide which one would look best. No sense trying to duck Elodie with those two so wrapped up in something I had no contribution to. Deep breath.

"Well, Mom is telling everyone I'm dating Christian because he told her we were dating. But he only told her that because she saw it in the papers or wherever she gets her news. And she only saw it there because there was a gaggle of girls outside the stadium -- one of which seems to have known Christian if you know what I mean -- so he asked me to pretend to be his girlfriend just to get out of there."

I pause for a deep breath. Elodie's knuckles are turning white from gripping her glass and her eyes are boring into mine like I'm about to spill the biggest news of the season.