Worth It

Twenty One

I woke up around six thirty, no nightmares again. Weird.

Bucky and I trained for a few hours before having breakfast in the communal kitchen. Sam joined us and I enjoyed watching the two of them being childish.

Around one o'clock, Natasha dragged me out of my room and forced me into a car.

"Tell me again why I have to go?" I asked from the backseat.

"Because," Nat started. "He's your dad. Also, if we have to go then so do you."

"But I hate parties." I whined.

"So does Bucky but you don't see him complaining." Wanda said.

"Yes I do! Just today he was complaining about not being allowed to wear jeans to the party." I said.

It was a twenty minute drive to the mall and we had to wear disguises. Well, we wore baseball caps and sunglasses. They were surprisingly effective, I guess people just aren't that observant.

I was standing in a dressing room wearing a bubblegum pink poofy dress, I'm pretty sure they picked this one just because of how awful it is. I gave myself a once over in the mirror, my eyes landing on my arms. I don't know if I can do this.

"You'll be fine." A voice told me. I looked behind myself in the mirror and saw Pietro standing there.

"Have you been here the whole time?" I asked him.

"No, I'm not a creep." He seemed slightly offended.

"Could've fooled me." I smirked at him before he disappeared and my eyes went back to myself.

"I'm a bad bitch. I can do this." I took a deep breath and opened the door to see Nat and Wanda. I gave them a weak smile and they tried to contain their laughter.

"It's an awful dress." I said.

"It's not that bad." Wanda shrugged and Nat snorted.

"I look like someone spilled pepto bismol on a cotton ball." Wanda and Nat exploded into laughter and after a minute I had completely forgotten about all of my worries. All of the anxiety I had about my scars replaced with the joy of laughing with my friends. I know it won't last, but I don't care.

I tried on dress after dress, I even tried on a few suits, and they were still unsatisfied.

"Can't we just give up? Do this another day?" I pleaded.

"Nope." Nat replied. "We're doing it today." I groaned before sauntering back to the dressing room. I looked at the remaining dresses and grabbed an emerald green one. I felt the smooth material under my fingertips and put it on. Once I had it on, I examined my reflection, it had a low neckline and thin straps. The back was low and showed off a huge scar from the accident. I'm not ashamed of that one since it's not self-inflicted but hey, all or nothing am I right? I smooth out the dress before walking out.

"Whaddya  think?" I ask the women sitting in front of me and for once, their silent. No snarky comments, no jokes, no nothing. "Wow, that bad huh?" I smile.

"Oh my god." Natasha smiles.

"You look amazing!" Wanda gushes. I'm honestly taken off guard, I'm still not used to being complimented and I could feel my cheeks heating.

"Really? You don't think it's too revealing? What's my dad gonna think?" I asked.

"Who cares? It's your body, he doesn't get to dictate what you put on it." Nat replied and I smiled at her before looking in the smaller mirror near where Nat and Wanda were sitting.