Spark Into a Flame

Joey

Our wedding dresses had finally come, so after school Alex and I went to our rooms and pulled them out of their fancy boxes. Pippa helped Alex into her little flower girl dress and I pulled on my pale pink bridesmaid dress. I thought it was really cool that I'd get to be in Dad and Pippa's wedding. I'd never been in a wedding before.

I took a look at myself in my full-length mirror. My olive-toned skin looked good against the pale pink. I did a turn, checking out how it fit around my hips and back. It needed some alterations, I thought, but overall it looked really cute. I opened the door and walked to Alex's room, where Pippa was on her knees, tying the bow around the dress.

"Such a pretty color!" Pippa beamed at her. Alex could barely stay still. She was swishing her dress around, looking down at the beautiful fabric.

"Looking good, Alex," I commented as I walked in. Pippa looked up at me and smiled.

"Oh, Joey," she said, standing up. "You look gorgeous."

She took my hands, looking around me to take it all in. I felt really pretty.

"That line looks really good on you," she said. "I think we just need to take the area around the armpits in a little and maybe a bit at the waist."

I nodded in agreement as she turned me around to look at the back.

"I bet your hair would look really good in an updo with this," she decided, gathering my dark hair up. She stood behind me in front of the mirror as we both looked at my reflection. "Your dad is gonna lose it."

I grinned as Alex hopped over, looking at her own reflection in the mirror.

"I look pretty," she declared, eyeing herself. Pippa and I both laughed.

"Yes you do," I agreed, kneeling down so I was level with her. I put my hands at her sides as we looked into the mirror. We weren't biological sisters and didn't much alike at all. Still, she was like family to me. I loved her like crazy.

"Alright," Pippa said. "We'll go to the seamstress tomorrow and she'll measure what we need to adjust. Let's take these off and put them back in the box so they don't get dirty."

"I wanna keep it on," Alex declared, determination on her face.

"Alex, remember," Pippa said gently. "This is a very special dress. We don't want it to get damaged."

"But I like it!" she said.

"I know," Pippa said. "And you look beautiful but it's time to take it off."

Pippa reached to turn her around to undo her zipper but Alex took off running down the hall. She looked at me and sighed, already exhausted.

"I'll get her," I told her. "You can try Jack's tux on him."

"Thank you," she told me gratefully. I liked that Dad and Pippa trusted me so much with the little kids. I was pretty responsible, I thought, as far as teenagers went. I quickly stripped my own dress off and tossed it on the bed, then slipped into some sweats. Then, I walked down the hall to find Alex on the floor playing with some Legos.

"Alex, let's go get that dress off and we can go to the park," I offered, hoping that would motivate her to change.

"I wanna wear my dress," she repeated. I sat on the couch where she was playing.

"You can't wear your dress to the park," I reasoned. "They're not fun to play in and you'll get it all dirty."

"I don't care," she decided.

"Well," I went on. "I can't take you until you get the dress off."

She seemed to ignore me for a few moments, still playing. I was afraid this was going to turn into a stand off. I'd learned that when it became a battle of wills, you'd already lost when you engaged. Finally, she stood up and began pulling the pink dress over her head. I stood up and helped with her zipper and then she tossed it on the floor.