Invisible To You (A Bruce Banner Love Story)

Chapter Eight - Gala? Gala.

        I woke up to a teenager jumping on my bed next to me, and her younger sister poking me in the face. "Wha....? What are you both doing?" I ask, sitting up. Lil lands on her butt next to me.

        "Pepper told us to wake you up." She says simply, and when I look at the door, I see a smiling Pepper, and a laughing Nat. I playfully glare at them.

        "And why do I need to be woken up? I didn't think we had plans today." I say, yawning and stretching my arms over my head. Pepper rolled her eyes, and Nat raised an eyebrow.

        "Seriously?"  Pepper asks. I frown.

        "I know it's not Tony's birthday.... or yours..." I murmur. "And it's not a holiday..." My eyebrows wrinkle together. What was important today? Pepper sighs.

        "The Gala?" Pepper asks in a monotone voice. Oh. That. I wasn't the best at remembering things.

        "Right. I totally knew that." I say. Pepper rolls her eyes again, and I get out of my nice warm bed and head to the closet.

        "Where are you going? The dresses are in my room." Pepper says.

        "It's," I look at the clock. "Ten in the morning. I am not starting to get ready for the gala right now. I'm not as crazy as you are." I say. I open the door, and Lil shuts it. I look at her, raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms over my chest. "Excuse me?" I ask her.

        "Sorry. Pepper told me too." She says.

        "I did." Pepper says, walking over and grabbing my arm. "You never take these things seriously enough, and you've got an actual date this time. You aren't just going with Tony to keep him company."

        "I don't want to...." I trail off, and like a little kid, I dig my feet into the floor. Pepper tries to drag me, and actually makes it a few feet. Maybe she had gotten her skinny self to lift weights or something.

        "Come on." She grunts out. "Or I'll tell everyone what happened two years ago at your birthday bash." I froze and looked up at her.

        "You wouldn't." I say, and she smirks, knowing she's won.

        "I would."

        I scramble to my feet and start towards the door. "You said we were getting ready in your room, yeah?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

        "Ow....ow.....OW! PEPPER!"

        "Don't move or I'll have to start over." She says.

        "You poked my eye!" I say, blinking the tear away so I wouldn't mess up my makeup. She had been working on it for a while. About a half hour too long. We had been in Pepper's room all day. Seriously. Pepper had even made Tony bring lunch up. In my opinion, they were taking this way too seriously. At least Lil and Em had calmed down. Lil had settled on Pepper and Tony's bed to watch Sherlock, and Em was on the floor coloring.

        "Because you moved! If you would just sit still, we could have this over with." She grumbles, coming at me with the eyeliner again.

        "You know, watching you two is more entertaining than the show." Nat says from her chair. She had finished getting ready an hour ago, letting Pepper and I battle it out.

        "You could help me." Pepper says. "Could you curl her hair?

        "What?" I ask. "I like the waves. And I don't really want a hot iron next to my head." I say, leaning a little away from where Nat was plugging in the curling iron. Nat rolls her eyes.