Fantasy Land

Chapter 18

Shopping

Jayna

I groan as light fills my room, Gabie's annoying voice ringing in my ears.

"Good morning!" She cries happily as she draws the curtains open.

"Shouldn't you be annoying your men and not your best friend?" I grumble from my pile of pillows and blankets on my bed.

"Probably." She shrugs as she comes over and pulls all my blankets off of me. "But it's been forever since we went on a girl's trip." I glare at her as I snuggle into myself, my warmth rapidly leaving me.

"You wake me up at the asscrack of dawn just to go shopping?" I ask.

"Yep." She says popping the p. "And I have Damon's credit card." I reluctantly get out of bed, getting dressed and ready in a sluggish blur. Gabie is dragging me out of my room down the hall chatting my ear off about dress colours and material when I hear a door open. We halt when I see Callum exiting his room that's down the hall from mine. All I can think of when I see him is that damn kiss.

He is the first to break eye contact as he walks past Gabie and I, giving us a short hello as he goes by. He looks good, healthy. I guess his stomach is healing okay.

"What happened between you two?" Gabie asks, morbidly curious.

"I'll tell you later. Let's just go." I drag her along now, going to the car waiting outside the castle. Damon sits in the driver seat looking exhausted, head in his hands as he grumbles. Lest nurses a mug of coffee in the back seat. Fafnir sits in the front seat looking alert and stoic. My heart skips a beat and my stomach flutters as his eyes lock on mine. I wave shyly for whatever reason, blushing slightly.

I've been cooped up all week in my room since Callum kissed me out of the blue. I've been trying to understand why he'd have kissed me. It's probably just some wolf thing I don't understand is what I decided, but nothing I've read from the libraries books has confirmed this for me.

Gabie and I slide into the back seat. Damon pulls the car away from the castle, driving into the town not far from the castle by car. We drive for half an hour before Damon stops at what looks to be a dress shop.

"We'll see you in a couple hours." Gabie says as she pulls me from the car and into the shop. She kisses Lest and Damon's cheeks before she exits the car. We walk into the dress shop with our arms linked. "Okay, now tell me about what happened with Callum." Gabie squeals.

Two women come over to us, guiding us to a stand in the back of the shop to take our measurements. I can only assume Gabie had planned all this before the boys are probably off doing the same with their suits for this damn ball in a couple evenings. They do Gabie first, working quickly in pure silence.

"He randomly kissed me last week after he woke up." I tell her.

"What?" She gasps.

"I know!" I have to admit, I did miss this sort of stuff with Gabie. "It was so random and out of the blue. Like, sure, I was flirting with him a bit cause he's cute and all. But I wasn't expecting him to actually make a move on me. Especially after the conversation we'd been having." I sigh.

"What were you talking about?" She asks.

"Werewolves and their mates. Apparently, he's a 27-year-old virgin because wolves choose to remain pure for their mates." I roll my eyes. "He probably just said it to make me putty in his hands."

"No, it's true." Gabie confirms. "At least the purity part for their mate's thing." She walks into a change room with one of the women as the other motions for me to stand so she can take my measurements. Gabie comes out of the change room in a dress shortly after. She looks stunning in the dress. I take in the ruby colour of the dress, the high slit the skirt has showing off her one leg.

"I'm not crazy about the red on you." I tell her honestly. "And it's sexy, but maybe too sexy for an event like this." She agrees, going in to try another one on. The woman is done with me, scurrying off to gather some dresses. Gabie comes back out in a green number. It is the definition of a princess dress with a huge skirt that swallows her hips.

"I know what you're gonna say." Gabie says as I smile teasingly at her.

"You don't have the chest to pull that off." I say quickly.

"Fuck you." She glares playfully. It's been a running joke for us that Gabie clearly is lacking in mass when it comes to her breasts. She does love her body and makes jokes about it when she feels like it. Outside of that, I never mention or joke about it because it was an insecurity of hers for a long time.

"I do dig the green satin." She flips me off over her shoulder playfully as she struggles her way back to the change room. The next dress she comes out in is the one.

She comes out in a satin dress that is coloured a deep royal blue. It contrasts her red hair perfectly, bringing out the blue tones of her green eyes making them pop. The dress is floor length with a full skirt coming from her waist. The top is fitted, a thin sleeve going over her breast and around her biceps. The off-shoulder dress looks amazing on her and very complementing to her body.

"Oh, hell yes." I tell her as I take her in.

"And, it has pockets." She squeals excitedly.

"Well then, of course you have to pick that one for the sake of the pockets." She beams, looking radiant in that dress. She changes back into her clothes, coming to trade seats with me. The woman who was helping her takes the dress to the back after marking out the changes she'll make to get the dress perfectly fit to Gabie's body.

The process for me looks about the same, trying on several dresses and pointing out the pros and cons of each one. I end up settling on a purple dress. The skirt is also full reaching the floor. It is covered in layers of purple and pink mesh giving it a beautiful gradient that radiates from the waist of the dress. The top is tightly fit with the stomach mostly a deep purple with a decorative layer of the mesh over the breast piece. The top has a sweetheart neckline with mesh sleeves that dangle over my biceps. It's stunning, making me feel like a princess.

While I was finishing up it seems Lest somehow snuck into the shop. He sits beside Gabie, talking in a hushed serious voice.

"Hey Lest." I say to get their attention. He looks over at me, smiling tiredly. "How'd you sneak away from the other guys?"

"I went first for tux fittings and ran like hell when Damon wasn't looking." Lest doesn't notice the shop door open or notice Damon and Fafnir walking in. I don't feel the need to warn him as he keeps talking. "Big dummy didn't even notice."

"Oh really?" Damon says right in Lest's ear having snuck up behind him. Lest jumps in shock, trying to get away from Damon, but he has his hands on Lest's hips, holding him right where he is. "Big Dummy huh?" Damon teases. Lest is a stuttering mess now, not really knowing what to do. We all laugh as Gabie uses Damon's card to pay for our dresses and shoes before all piling back into the car to go back to the castle. Once there we all eat lunch, Gabie making fun of Lest getting caught. Damon jumps in every so often as Lest sputters trying to defend himself from the onslaught. He ends up throwing at tomato at Gabie and even Fafnir joins in on the teasing.

I notice the far-off look in Fafnir's eyes as he watches everyone joke around, as if reliving a memory. He's lived so long, as he explained to me briefly a while back. He had a life before this, but his memories are scattered and foggy in many places. Which is to be expected considering he's lived for thousands of years.

The look though, it seems like he's lived this before and is reliving the same memory, just with different people.

He catches me staring at him, locking his cat like eyes on mine and raising a questioning perfect brow. I turn my attention back to Lest, deciding to play coy. I feel something gently smack against my temple. When I look back it's a tomato that now sits on my plate. I give Fafnir a shocked and offended look. He just threw a tomato at me! He gives me a charming smirk as he throws another one, hitting my forehead.

"Rude!" I mouth to him. He shrugs and throws another one.

"You were the one staring." He mouths back. "Now you have my attention." I don't know why I blush at those words, but they light a fire in me I've never felt before.

"I'm gonna turn infor the afternoon." I announce as I stand, heart pounding in my chest as I walkout. The whole time I can feel Fafnir's eyes locked on my ass making me blushcrimson.