The Wedding Daze #Wattys2016

Four

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I woke up to Jake's call again, and readied myself for a few crappy hours at the gym. I'm pretty sure that my mom was well aware of my hatred for this "sacred" place. Andy and my mother- together- were the collective embodiments of all the bullies and body-shamers I had encountered in my twenty six years of life, and worse because they added their own little "I'm only here to help" or "I'm only telling you because I love you" dialogues.

I got ready quickly, had a shot of coffee, cringed in the process and ate two bananas. The coffee instantly woke me up and I felt a surge of energy as I drove to the gym.

My mother was sitting in her car when I pulled up.

Her shades covered most of the top half of her face, I knocked on the window and she rolled it down.

"Hi, honey" she sounded quite chirpy. I noticed almost instantly that Jade Shaw had dawned on her infamous pearl necklace. I guessed we weren't gymming today.

"Where are we going?"

"To the dietician" she made it sound as if I had missed something obvious. I gave her a blank stare, what dietician? I didn't want to say it aloud, knowing that I'd get dragged into one of her boring lectures. It suddenly struck me- the liposuction topic. "A dietician. In house, it'll be great" . Ah, yes, I remember now.

"Right, let's go" I walked off, the energy was still surging through me. I turned around and walked back towards my mother's car "Where are we going?" I asked, feeling daft.

I could sense her eye-roll "Home" she rolled her window up and started reversing. I jumped into the front seat of my car and followed her black Mercedes Vision. We drove to the expensive side of LA, the houses started becoming bigger and bigger, their driveways longer than the one it preceded. I sighed as we pulled up through the wrought iron gates of my childhood home. The tree my father, Peter Shaw, had planted when I was born still stood firmly in the centre of our driveway, a circular brick structure was built around it, and it was surrounded by multicoloured flowers. I always loved looking at it. This used to be one of my favourite reading spots.

I parked my car carelessly on the side, knowing that one of the many guards would alter it and reverse park for me. My mother had already made her way inside the tall wooden double doors before I did.

"Aly" My father smiled, his dimples showing as he pulled me in for a tight embrace. He was a handsome man no doubt, with thick brown eyebrows and a beautiful moustache that made his neighbours, business partners and friends jealous. I loved my father a lot. I still firmly believe that he is the only sane family member I know. At least I have somebody. I gave him my widest smile "Ah, you've blinded me" He joked as he covered his eyes.

"I've missed you"

"Then maybe you should visit your old man more often" He nudged me with his shoulder as we walked towards the kitchen.

"Oh god, is the dietician already in there?" I asked him, suddenly dreading this whole ordeal.

"Yupp" he replied with his hands in his pockets, he pulled his eyebrows now and frowned "I know your mother's got you doing some strange things. Just do them, for me" I placed his hand on my shoulder lovingly. I nodded "And your dietician, he's quite the looker, watch out" He said, wiggling his eyebrows. It was my turn to frown, as if a looker would go for someone like me.

"Jeez, dad" I scoffed and walked into the kitchen.

I stuttered in my steps, the dieticians back was facing my way, no way. His hair was tied into a low bun, there was no black bandana this time. I could've recognised those broad shoulders from a mile away.