CrushED

-Chapter 9-

When I enter Caden's house, I immediately notice that his house is a lot more warm and inviting than my mother's cold, sterile home.
We sit in Caden's living room, in a comfortable silence for a good one minute until he starts to speak.
"Is it bad? I mean, being at your mother's house?"
"She is just like I remembered her when I was still living with her." I explain, "Just, now that I'm older, she doesn't have as much power over me."
I hope.
Caden nods his head. "At least you're not being abused."
"Not yet." I say, making Caden's eyes widen a little.
"You know you can call me anytime you'd like, right? And not just for emergencies, but if you're feeling-"
Caden's words are cut off by a boy who runs into the living room.
"Who are you?!" The boy says.
"I should be asking you the same thing, who are-" I get cut off.
"Charlie! I told you to stay in your room!" Caden yells.
"Who is this?" I ask.
Caden sighs. "My brother. Aquarius, meet Charlie. Charlie, meet Aquarius."
I briefly shake Charlie's hand. Charlie looks around 13 years old. He resembles Caden quite a bit. He has the same light brown hair, same hazel eyes. His chin and nose also look like Caden's. His hair is just shorter, and straighter compared to Caden's nearly straight but thicker hair.
"So, Caden. Have you finally brought home a girl?" Charlie waggles his eyebrows.
"Shut up." Caden shoves Charlie.
Me and Charlie talk a little bit, with the occasional embarrassing comments about Charlie from Caden.
"My parents will be home soon, and they probably won't be happy I brought someone home." Caden says. "Do you want me to drive you home?"
I accept, and I make my way back home.
I get so tired that I fall asleep immediately.
*                                  *                                *
I wake up to something hitting my head.
"Ow!"
It takes a moment for my vision to focus, but when it does, I see my mother close up to my face, looking extremely angry.
"Why?!" My mother screams.
"Why what?" I ask, confused.
"You went out without telling me!" She yells.
"Yeah..." I say.
"Never do that again!" She yells.
"Why do you care?" I ask, still confused.
"It's nearly my wedding day!!" She fumes.
"So?"
"Never do that again, or I will whack you with more than a baseball bat." My mother stomps out the room.
Darn. I'll probably get a black eye from that.
I go to the bathroom to check my eye for cuts.
There are no cuts, but there definitely will be a black eye.
I go downstairs to eat breakfast, but there is someone else downstairs.
"Aquarius!" The small, fawn-haired woman comes up to me. She reminds me of a mouse, kind of.
She grabs both of my shoulders, and examines me for a minute, rotating my face and turning me around.
"Uh...hi?" I say, confused.
"Oh!" The small woman covers her mouth with her eyes wide open. "How silly of me! My name is Linette. I'm one of the wedding planners for your dear mother. I need you to come with me, so I can plan your outfit."
Linette drags me down a lot of halls before she pulls me into a small room that looks like a really big closet, with a mirror, chair, a rack with a bunch of sewing needles and fabrics. Linette sits me down on the chair facing the mirror, and starts putting on a lot of cosmetics, some of which I can't name. She wipes my face with a cloth many times, until my face turns red. Then she makes me stand up and tells me to try on a lot of dresses, some scratchy and some super comfortable, some long and some short. After putting on each dress I have to come out of the dressing room and show Linette. Then she makes me change back into my regular clothes, and she starts twisting my hair into lots of different directions. Finally, she puts one more coat of makeup, does something with my hair, and gives me an outfit to put on. When I'm fully dressed, she lets me look at myself in the mirror.
There is a light coat of makeup on my face, some foundation, mascara, a little bit of black eyeshadow, and some pink lip gloss. My light brown hair is in a loose bun, with some strands in the front falling out. I'm wearing a light green dress that goes just below my knees. It has a few layers, and the train of the dress is longer than the front portion, but is barely touching the floor. The straps are pretty big and are the same material of the dress. They hang on my shoulders and wrap behind my neck, and form a v-shaped neckline. The color of the dress matches my eyes, which are a darker green, but still green like the dress. There is a pair of black high heels on my feet, but on the wedding day I'll wear sneakers instead. Linette quickly wipes my face and makes me change back to my regular clothes again and lets my hair down then tells me to go take a shower. I wished I was at Caden's house instead of doing all this stupid wedding planning.