Red Alert

Chapter 6: Dressing

Ella's Pov

It was awkward. After yesterdays dinner things were pretty awkward at work in my opinion. Not only had I arrived early but Mr. Rhodes had to and I could tell that he was avoiding talking to me. I pretended like nothing had happened yesterday as I continued to do my chores and help people. I had also started to realize what Mr. Rhodes meant on my first day. The other employees were indeed using me to their chores. 

Unfortunately for them, I didn't do any of their jobs and they ended up getting scolded. I felt guilty but meh, it wasn't my job, to begin with. Now I only had a few things to take care of, mostly helping the customer but there were other little things too. There were a lot of customers since it was the weekend, it was good because I was being kept busy that way.

I didn't know if I had to keep wearing the ring Dylan gave me yesterday but it was so beautiful that I decided to keep it on. Wouldn't want something so precious to get lost. I had to keep checking if the ring was still on my finger and honestly I liked it a lot. I would've been very happy to have this ring if this wasn't an arranged thing.

I was just doing my normal rounds, helping the customers when my phone started to ring. I took it out of my pocket and checked the contact name. Seeing that it was my little sister, I happily picked the call up but was instead met with Lara's hard voice.

"Come to the park right now!" Lara's said before cutting the call. I could tell by her voice that she wasn't happy and that I would have to hear a lot of words.

I didn't even take a second or ask Mr. Rhodes as I ran out of the store towards the park. I wasn't going to let my sisters wait for me and waste her time. I got to the park in a bit since I was quite a fast runner but Lara didn't look like she was here yet. I waited for a few before noticing her enter the park and stand by a bush. I approached her with a smile as I put my phone in my pocket.

"Lara, hey--" I greeted my sister but my cheek was instantly met by a slap. My lips parted in shock but I could tell by the fuming look on Lara's face that she wasn't here to joke. "Lara, please listen to what I have to say," I said as I knew the main reason she was angry.

"Listen to you? Not anymore. You said you would stay away from us but what is this? You put April in a performing arts school without my permission and you want me to listen to you." Lara yelled. Luckily we were in a deserted area of the park so it was good that nobody could hear us. "You listen to me. Doing what you just did made matters worse. Why did you give April the money? Can't you just use it on yourself and live a happy life by yourself!" Lara exclaimed.

"It's her dream, Lara," I stated as Lara looked at me with an angry but soft look. "It's April's dream and she wants to achieve it. We should trust her not stop her." I said as I tried to make Lara understand.

"Dreams...do you know how painful it is when one's dreams are crushed? Becoming an actress. Do you know how hard it is to become an actress!" Lara yelled.

"I know it's difficult but it's her dream and she can do it," I said.

"You're an i***t! You're such a big idiot." Lara said as I looked ta her face noticing that by now she was full-on crying. "StoP caring for us and leave us alone. If you're so worried about us and our dreams then why?! Why did you leave us? Why did you abandon us?! Were we so bad to look after? Did our dreams, my dream mean nothing then? You promised Ella! You promised to send me to university and help me become a dancer but you left before that. You shouldn't have abandoned us if you care so much!" Lara shouted, my eyes filling with tears of regret. Lara had suffered so much because of me.

"I'm sorry..." Was all I could say.

"I also want April to achieve her dreams. All I'm thinking about is April. I want her to become an actress but I know that if she fails it's going to scar her badly. Why let her do something when I know that she's going to end up hurt? I can't let her go through that." Lara explained in short to me, tears cascading down her cheeks.

"I know. Because of me, you were unable to fulfill your dreams. Because of me, your dream got smashed but what can we do now. I'm sorry, I am but we can't April forget her dreams. She has to try even if she'll regret it later." I said trying to defend April's dream.

"What do you know?!" Lara shouted this time running her hand through her hair. "Why did you come? Why did you come looking for us? Can't you stop disturbing our lives? You already destroyed everything. Isn't it enough, do you want to ruin our lives even more? Just like your father ruined my mother's life, must you do the same? Why did you appear? Why are you making me say these type of things to you? I don't want to hurt you but you're making use these vicious words." Lara said loudly enough for me to get an idea. That hurt, those words hurt a lot but I understood Lara's point of view. "Stay away from us," Lara spoke before bumping my shoulder and walking past me.

I couldn't stop the tears as I started heading back towards the mall. I didn't care how many people saw me as I wiped the constant tears. As I entered the mall and climbed the stairs I stopped to wipe my eyes. I made sure that it didn't look too obvious as I waited for a few minutes for my eyes to dry before entering the store. I took a deep breath and walked over to help a customer.

"Ella, Mr. Rhodes is calling you." One of my coworkers told me as she patted me on the shoulder and walked away. I was a bit confused but walked over to where Mr. Rhodes was standing.

"You called me," I said standing upright.

"Yes. My sister was wondering if you're free right now" Dylan said as I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion.

"I don't want to be rude but I do kind of have work," I replied to his question.

"You can take the rest of the day off. " Dylan spoke looking anywhere but at me.

"Why?" I asked, wondering what was going on.

"Jennie wants to take you shopping for the...engagement party," Dylan said sounding disgusted at the last part. "She's coming over right now. You should get ready or whatever it is you have to do. Go and wait by the entrance." He said before walking away. 

Shop? For an engagement dress, really? I didn't have that much money and because of the Rhodes family status, I can already guess the places Jennie is going to take me. Besides I wasn't a very good shopper. I usually went for the cheapest thing available instead of how good it looks. I'm just the tiniest bit of stingy but it's only because...yeah I have no justification. I'm merely not a good shopper and my choices are not very good either. I guess it's a good thing that Jennie's going to be there.

I went and picked up my bag as I headed down in the elevator. I stood near the main entrance and waited by staring at random things. I subconsciously moved my hand up to observe the ring, my eyes getting hypnotized. This was happening and it was real, I just had yet to accept it. 

"Hey, Ella! Get in!" A voice called as I snapped back from my thoughts. I looked at the road and saw Jennie waving at me from inside a luxurious black car. I smiled as I made my way over and got inside. "Ella! I missed you!" Jennie exclaimed as she pulled me in a tight hug.

"We just met yesterday," I said a smile making its way onto my face.

"Yeah but I already love you so much," Jennie said as she released me from the hug. "I mean we're going to be sister in law's very soon, so might as well get friendly" She added as I gave a small smile. She was beyond kind and loving but I don't think she understood the fact that her brother and I weren't ready for this.

"So...where are we going?" I asked her as I looked out of the window.

"We're going shopping for your engagement dress. It's going to be a huge party and there are going to be lots of people from my father's business there. We want you to look the absolute best. You need to look stunning for the party and you need to look even more stunning on the wedding. It's not going to be easy to pick a dress but let's see." Jennie explained as if she was very talented in this sort of thing. I was surprised at how much she knew and cared.

"Uh...lot's of people, you say?" I asked feeling my confidence flushing away. She said that there were going to be lots of people from her father's business, so most of them must be of high profile and rich. I was far away from being rich and elegant which scared me. What if I make a fool of myself and what if because of that, the Rhodes family has to share my humiliation. I was beyond clumsy so tripping should be expected of me.

"There's no need for you to worry. Dylan will be with you." Jennie said. As if that's going to make things any better, in fact, it will make things worse. I simply nodded as she took out her phone. "Let's take a picture," Jennie said as she turned on the camera and posed. I smiled as leaned in a bit as she clicked the snap button.

"You look very nice today by the way." I complimented her. I had just noticed the colorful floral dress she was wearing along with the four-inch heels.

"Thank you. You look nice too but you need to liven a bit more." Jennie suggested.

"How old are you by the way?" I asked her.

"I'm sixteen." She answered.

"You know you look very smart for your age and you are," I told her as I was reminded about April. She was the same as Jennie and they both looked super friendly. "I have a sister your age, you know. You remind me a lot of her." I said as Jennie smiled.

"Thank you! This means that you're already accepting me as your sister, right?" Jennie asked as she turned to me.

"Right," I said, smiling.

"Oh! We're here come on!" Jennie exclaimed as the car came to a stop. Before I could even say anything Jennie pulled me by mya rm out fo the car. She looped her arm with mine as she turned to me. "Are you ready for this?" She asked me as I looked at the shop in front of us.

"I'm ready," I stated as she grinned and pulled me along. We entered the shop as the bell on the door instantly rang. I was left in awe as I stared at the interior of the shop. Dresses of different styles were hanging all around the corners of the shop. Fancy and formal looking dresses that I could never even think of wearing much less buying.

"Ella! This way!" Jennie said as she unlooped her arms and gestured for me to follow her. We walked through a doorway towards another room where a woman stood. "I'm here for my 5 o'clock appointment with Miss. Hale. We're here for the engagement dressing." Jennie spoke to the woman as she nodded and went through a door on the back. When she came back she wasn't alone but another woman came with her.

"Jennie dear, it's so great to see you!" The woman said opening her arms as she embraced Jennie, who returned the hug.

"It's great to see you too, Aunt Karen," Jennie said as she pulled away from the hug and turned to me. "Ella this is Karen Hale, she's been our family friend since I was five and Aunt Karen, this is Ella, your mannequin for today." Jennie introduced us both to each other.

"It's nice to meet you, Ella," Karen said as she held a hand out for me to shake.

"You too," I replied shaking hands with her.

"So, let's get to work. Ella needs a dress for her engagement party tomorrow and we need something that will stick out from all the other guest" Jennie said to Karen, who nodded.

"Engagement dress?" Karen said as she put on a thoughtful look. She kept her eyes on me as she started circling me. "You have a perfect body, nice curves, long legs...I think I have a few options here, come on." Karen said gesturing for us to follow. I felt a small blush heat up my cheeks at the way Karen had complimented my body.

"Are you ready to try a few dresses, Ella?" Jennie nudged me as I smiled. We walked over to the other room as Karen started going through various dresses.

"Try all of these," Karen said pointing towards a rack of dresses. There were many different dresses, all in different colors. I couldn't help but mentally slap myself as I looked at all the dresses Karen was asking me to try. This was going to take some time.

••••••••••

Two hours had passed by and I still hadn't found the perfect dress according to Jennie. I had tried out all the possible dresses. Pink, Blue, Green, Yellow, White, Gold, Black, I had a dress in every color. Every possible color there was, every possible shade of color there was, I had tried almost every single one of them. Karen would adjust the dress and ask Jennie who would simply shake her head.

I was asked of my opinion too but I hadn't ever experienced something like this, so I had no idea which dress was good and which wasn't. I decided to leave it up to Karen and Jennie as I simply tried on the dresses. I was finally done trying all the dresses in the rack and Jennie liked none of them. In my opinion, they were all fabulous but Jennie would answer by saying they were either too old or either or too less.

"What now?" Jennie asked, the exhaustion clear in her voice.

"I don't know---wait. Why didn't I think about this before?" Karen said as her face lightened up. She ran out of the room and came back a few minutes later carrying a dress in her arms. "Try this!" She said handing me the dress as I went to the dressing room. I got dressed and stepped out showing the dress to Karen and Jennie.

"Oh, wow!" Jennie exclaimed as she stood up. "It fits perfectly. This is simply perfect. Why didn't you just show this to us sooner?" She said as she kept staring at the dress.

"It's a new model so we weren't sure if it was ready or not but seeing it now...we will have to get more of these in stock," Karen said as she clapped her hand. I headed back into the dressing room and changed back into my casual clothes. "I'll pack this up for you," Karen said as she took the dress from my hands. Jennie and I headed to the payment counter as Karen put the dress neatly in a shopping bag and handed it to me.

"How much will that be?" Jennie asked her.

"30,000$," Karen said as I had to hide the immense shock I was feeling. I had no choice now, I had tried on a bunch of dresses and finally chosen this one. If I would leave without anything then I'd be embarrassing myself as well as Jennie. I opened my purse and I started to gather the cash but before I could even take a note out, Jennie put her hand on mine, stopping me.

"We'll pay with the credit card," Jennie said as she handed Karen a black card.

"What? No! Let me pay." I insisted.

"Why would I let you do that? Besides, it's not like I'm paying. I managed to coax to my brother into giving me his card. You're his fiancé, after all, he should pay for you." Jennie said as I felt myself blush at her words. Fiancé, such a meaningful word for someone. I know that this marriage doesn't mean much but I'm kind of starting to think of it positively. Maybe it'll work out, maybe I'll be happy.

"Hold up...she's marrying Dylan?!" Karen almost yelled.

"Yeah..." Jennie answered with scrunched eyebrows of confusion. "Didn't you get the invitation card?" She asked.

"I did but I thought it was just another one your father's business gathering. Oh my god! I can't believe Dylan's getting married. I still remember him being the aloof five years old who thought gummy worms were real worms. He's grown up so fast." Karen said with tears in her eyes. "You take good care of him now. He might be a bit hard to handle at first but the kid has the softest heart." Karen added as she looked at me. I smiled and nodded as Jennie waved before we exited the shop.

"That took forever!" Jennie complained. "I didn't think it was going to be so hard to choose a dress. Are you hungry? I'm very hungry, let's go eat something." She said as she pulled me along.

We headed towards Burger King as I placed the orders and Jennie occupied a seat for us. I was surprised that Jennie suggested we go to Burger King because I thought she ate fancy food at a fancy restaurant. After our orders came in, I grabbed the trays and joined Jennie. 

"You're wondering why are we at Burger King, right?" Jennie asked out fo nowhere as I didn't say anything. "My family might be rich but my brother and I have always gone to public schools. I don't know how my brother did things but for me, it's very hard. When you're rich, it's hard to tell who are your real friends and who are the ones after your money. I found friends, real ones and they taught me about the world without money. You know my first time having fast food was just last year." She explained as I felt bad for her. Looks like even rich people have personal problems.

"So, you like fast food?" I asked her, taking a bite of my burger.

"Yeah, I love it. Just don't tell my parents, they don't have a clue." She replied.

"I promise." I smiled.

"Are you alright with this?" Jennie suddenly asked as I turned to her with a confused expression. I know I've been acting quite confused lately but it's only because everything is so confusing. "The marriage. Are you alright with it?" She asked a serious expression on her face now.

"Yeah, it's fine," I stated.

"You're lying and I know it. You and Dylan had no choice, right?" She asked as I nodded to answer her. "Even if you don't want this, please be nice to Dylan," Jennie said as she looked up at me.

"Of course. I will be the best wife ever." I assured her with a fake smile but just thinking about this made me want to cry. Being with Jennie reminded me about April and April reminded me about Lara, Hayden, and Jayden. "The question is will your brother accept this," I said looking down at the ring on my finger. 

"I'm not going to lie to you...Dylan hasn't accepted any of this yet. He had a fight with father about this just last night but father's mind is set and there's no changing it. You and Dylan both don't like or love each other but maybe you will...in time. Wow, I sound like a grandma." Jennie spoke as if she was some sort of counselor.

"That's quite some heavy talk for a sixteen-year-old," I said as we both broke out laughing. 

I didn't know anything about Dylan but I think I'm getting to know Jennie and I like her. I would be happy to have her as my sister-in-law and I'm glad she brought me out today. Jennie bringing me out, helped me forget the events that took place with Lara in the morning. Lara's words still stung and hurt but I understood my sister more than anyone. I had to listen to Lara because she was the one who suffered most when I left. 

Honestly, now that I think about it, spending time with Jennie makes me want to spend time with my siblings. Jennie is a great company and her quirkiness just makes everything so much better. I'm glad I have someone like Jennie with me right now