Ready? Not Really.. (Fem USUK) •IN EDITING•

Maddie

Shopping with my twin was always a nightmare.
Amelia was absolutely impossible. She didn't even look at the clothes she pushed aside on the racks and, normally, she would just pick out a few graphic shirts with superheroes and whatnot. I always had to force her to buy at least something cute with frilly sleeves and lace, most of the time after a ten minute argument consisting of threats, bribes, or both.
If I thought that was bad, I should've expected dress shopping to be hell on earth.
She stared at each dress blankly for a few moments before moving it out of the way to stare at another one for a while, and so on. Amelia didn't even bother looking at the sizes. She sighed in frustration and shook her head after a while, admitting defeat as her eyes laid on a bubblegum pink dress that fell off the shoulders. "This is so hopeless. These are all shit. Why is plus-sized stuff always utter shit, Maddie?"
"You haven't tried on anything, Ames," I reminded her, my arms crossed as I leaned against a shelf screaming 50% off all patterned sweatpants! "The best dress on the planet could be right in front of your face and you wouldn't know because you just complain."
Amelia shot a glare at me. As if I would just agree with her and give into the pity party. Geez, she had to be so difficult.
A guy that had been watching us walked over with a bounce in his step and a smile on his lip-pierced face. "Hello, ladies! Ned any help?" he asked, his voice just as cheery as his appearance.
"Yeah," Amelia said before I could kindly turn down his offer. "Okay, look here-" she squinted at his name tag. "Spencer, I need to let you in on a little secret: your plus-sized section is fuckin' trash. Got that, Spencer? Trash. I would look like a pink walrus wearing this shit." She gestured at the dress she had been pouting at. "Seriously, it looks like a little kid's cotton candy just melted and you stuck it on a clothes hanger for $49.99." I reached out to stop her but to no avail. "So, Spencer, would you mind pointing me in the direction of either the nearest plus-sized store with an actual selection, or a bathroom I can vomit in after looking at all of this garbage?"
Spencer looked horrified.
I was horrified.
I was pretty sure a cluster of old ladies nearby looking at panties had heard my sister, because they sure as hell were horrified.
Thank the stars that Spencer was actually a people person, because the look on his face soon melted into a cool smile. "I'm very sorry you feel that way, ma'am. Perhaps you'd like to full out a survey online about your negative experience?" He handed Amelia a brochure, which she snatched up angrily. "If you complete it, you get a 10% discount on any regular priced shirt. The coupon expires pretty quick, though, I'm afraid."
"You should be ashamed of yourself, Spencer," Amelia hissed before whirling around and stomping off, crumpling up the survey and chucking it into a trashcan before leaving the store.
I turned to Spencer, mortified by Amelia's sudden behaviour. "Oh my god, I am so sorry about her. She has never acted like that, like, ever."
Spencer just shrugged. "It's fine, ma'am. I'm used to angry people. You should've seen my parents when I came out. That was a sight to see." He winked at me before walking away, whistling as he scanned the prices of jeans hanging nearby.
I was furious when I got to car. Amelia was sitting with her arms crossed and face turned to the window. I got into the driver's side without a word and started the car, backing out of the parking space and onto the main road.
"Can you believe that guy?" Amelia grumbled. "What a douche."
I narrowed my eyes at the road and turned the blinker on as I navigated the car onto a different street.
"'You should fill out a survey, ma'am,'" she mimicked crudely. "Yeah, fuck that, am I right?" I saw Amelia turn to me out of my peripheral vision. "Am I right?" she repeated.
"No," I hissed. "You are not right, Amelia."
She looked confused. "What do you-"
"Amelia. You blew up on that guy just because you were angry about not liking any of the dresses you didn't even bother giving a second glance at. That was so fucking rude. He was trying to help you, but you're too ungrateful and caught up in yourself to even notice!"
Amelia blinked. "I didn't-"
"Yes, you did do that and meant to do that. God, I don't know what's gotten into you." I shook my head and rubbed my temple with my forefinger as we sat at a red light. "What is up, Ames?"
She sank down into her seat. "I dunno."
There was definitely something going on, then. I pulled into the parking lot outside of a McDonald's. After putting the car into park, I turned my full attention to Amelia. "What's wrong? We've gone to three different stores over the past few days, mind you it was your idea in the first place, and every single time you just get mad after a minute and storm out. Aren't you excited about getting something nice to wear to Alice's performance?" Amelia looked off to the side, toying with a fray on the knee of her jeans. "Amelia?"
She sighed and threw her head back, curly locks of hair tumbling out of her bun and into her face. "Yeah. Yeah! I'm so stoked for Alice. Christ, she's the love of my life, Mads- don't smile at me like that. It's just..." Amelia shrugged. "Alice looked so nice in her dresses and I just look like trash." She pulled at her shirt. "Christ, I probably weigh twice as much as her."
I frowned and looked my sister up and down. "That seriously isn't the issue, Amelia. I know you. There's more than that."
Amelia hesitated before sliding deeper down into her seat and putting her feet on the dashboard. "Okay, okay. I'm just really nervous about the dress thing because..." She trailed off and mumbled something under her breath.
"What?" I leaned closer. Amelia didn't say anything. Her head turned towards the window. "Amel-"
"Because I want to tell her I love her! Okay? Okay?" She snapped. I widened my eyes in surprise. She what?
"Seriously?" I asked dumbly. Never in a million years did I think she actually would attempt to tell Alice about her feelings all by herself, especially after she walked in on Alice and Francine... yeah.
"Mm," she hummed quietly, gnawing the inside of her cheek anxiously.
"I- Jesus, Amelia, that's amazing!" I said, hugging her tight. Amelia was stiff in my embrace. "You want to do it at her performance?"
Amelia looked embarrassed, her face heating up. She took off her glasses and wiped the lenses. "Um, yeah, kind of. I don't know if I can wait anymore after that. I'm going insane." She blew out a breath and glanced at me. "You know how awful it is to sleep next to her but not be able to touch her? It's really fucking painful, if you're wondering."
"I'm still surprised you two are doing that," I said with a breathy laugh. "I didn't think Alice would ever even consider..."
Then it hit me. I remembered how pale Alice was when she appeared after the conversation I had had with Amelia, Gil, and Ludwig. Everything made so much more sense.
Oh.
Oh.
"Consider what?" Amelia asked, frowning.
I understood everything. No way in a million years would Alice ever risk the fragile relationship between her and my sister just so that she could live out her fantasies. Alice would already be ecstatic that Amelia was being kind to her. But if she knew here was no chance of Amelia rejecting her...
I grinned. "Nothing. I'm sure Alice'll be so happy. I'm excited for you two, Amelia."
She looked confused as she shook her head. "You can be pretty weird sometimes, Mads."
"I know." I was still smiling when I drove back onto the road. "Now let's find you something pretty for the occasion."