Catching Texas

Just To See You Smile

Texas

"You girls are sisters, you're always going to have on another no matter what. You might not get along at the moment, or even in a five years, but one day you will. One day you will look back and not be sure how you survived without one another."  Mama's voice was a loud hum in my ear and the moment I recalled the words, the stark memory of the reason behind her saying them flashed behind my eyes. We'd been fighting, all three of us. It was summer, the air conditioner was out and the house was stifling. It had started with Arizona being mean to to me and Tennessee stepping in. From there it had snowballed. Mama, who was normally fairly quiet, had listened to us bicker long enough. We'd be grounded to separate rooms and weren't allowed to come out until dinner where no one was allowed to talk anyways. In the end, Mama had called all three of us into a room and lectured us on sisterly love. It had been a long talk -- two minutes or hours, I wasn't sure which. 

Hearing the words again was like a sward to the heart, remembering her emphasis on sticking together and treating one another correctly -- it created a guilt that gnawed at my insides like a tapeworm from bad Mexican food. 

I'd spent months ignoring my sister for falling in love with a man that I hardly knew but had feelings for, one that had always treated me like second best and who wasn't even close to my type. Yates was an asshole and from the months I spent wallowing in Stetson and Knox's apartment, I had enough time to realize just how lucky I was to have slipped past his radar in high school. Did it make me a bad person that I felt that way and was still allowing my sister to marry him? No. How had I come to this miraculous conclusion? Well, hangovers tended to cause one to have epiphanies. This one to be exact. I'd spent most of my day in bed mulling over the fact that I was being a bit ridiculous and that my sister was allowed to spend her life with someone that wasn't good enough for her.

I'd made up my mind the night before and as a result I was now sitting in the parking lot of the dress shop Aunt Rose had told me Tennessee was at in a pair of cut offs and a top that allowed me to wear a strapless bra. 

I was sucking it up and trying bridesmaids dresses on. 

Yay, me! Taking a deep breath and exited the truck, cautiously making my way to the door of the shop. Shrieks accompanied my arrival to the overly done bridal store and I was starting to rethink even coming inside. Sure, I loved my sister and was going to try to be there for her, but I wasn't a girl's girl. I sucked at anything remotely female related. I also had a tendency to hide from anything pink or covered in ruffles and it seemed that the herd of females rushing my way was covered in both.

Fuck. 

* * * 

"And we're going on honeymoon--" I was mentally checking out once again as I listened to the flock of girls chatter on about their significant others and wedding plans. I'd made a mistake in coming. After three hours, yes three, of listening to a debate on tulle versus taffeta, I was ready to scream. Luckily, one of Tennessee's more endurable bridesmaids suggested lunch and margaritas, and while I'd sworn off alcohol of any kind earlier, I couldn't resist the temptation of tequila and the mind numbing quality it had. 

"-- loves the little pink negligee--" sip 

"-chosen a western theme-- sip sip 

By the time CopyCat 3 was done with her breathless tirade on wedding involved stuff, Daisy (the one bridesmaid I didn't want to smother) was already pouring me a second margarita. I was too busy licking the remaining salt off the rim to notice that Blonde, Blonder and Blondest were directing a question at me.

"Who's your date to the wedding going to be, Texas?" I could hear the sneer in their voice, but couldn't care less. Of course, the idea of a wedding date had me panicking internally. I didn't know you couldn't fly solo at a shindig like that. Was it a requirement? I mean, as a Maid of Honor (a title I had begrudgingly accepted) wasn't I just going to be paired with a groomsmen anyway? I was cool with assigned partners. I wanted to blurt it out so badly, but didn't, especially when I caught the malicious look in one of the girl's eyes, I blurted out the only name that could come to mind.

"Knox." 

Knox 

My room was devoid of anything Texas related (the woman, not the state) and I was panicking. 

Where was she? 

Had she left because I was being an asshat and avoiding her? 

She wouldn't do that, would she?

I tried to convince myself that she wouldn't, but my actions hadn't exactly inspired warm and fuzzy feeling between the two of us. I rushed to Stetson's room to wake him up only to stop dead in my tracks when the door was wide open and the object of my panic was sprawled face down on the bed snoring loudly. Jealously flared and reared it's ugly head.

What the hell was going on?