An Alpha's Inheritance

Old Friends

Taylor’s face looks shocked when she says Alisha’s name. I try to turn around to face her, but Madison stops me short with the pins she’s putting into the seam at my waist line.

“Oh, Taylor? Um, I’ll come back later.” I hear a voice behind me say. Her voice sounds like she’s not used to ceding territory. This is extremely unnatural for her.

Taylor rushes past me, saying, “Alisha, wait. It’s okay, you can stay.”

I hear them whispering near the front of the store, but I can’t make out the words. Madison finishes her pins and turns me around to face a mirror. I glance at my reflection, and briefly forget the conversation happening at the front of the store. I look honestly incredible. The purple of the dress is the perfect color to make my blue eyes pop. The gold accents of the dress are the perfect contrast to my dark hair, plus it matches grandma’s locket.

“You look amazing,” Madison whispers to me. The pessimistic side of me wants to think she’s just trying to get a sale, but I can’t help but agree with her. I love it.

Madison moves away to straighten a display, and I adjust the mirror to the side so I can watch Taylor and Alisha. I run my hand over the skirt, pretending to still be looking at the dress, but my eyes are glued to Alisha. .I’m stunned to see the woman standing there. Alisha is beautiful. She stands out, even next to Taylor in her ball gown. Where most of the people I’ve seen in the mall look casual in shorts and a t-shirt, Alisha almost glows. Her hair is pin straight with glittery highlights framing her face.

Taylor has her back to me, but I can see that she has her arms crossed in front of her, in an almost protective stance. “Please stay,” I hear her whisper. “I miss you.”

Alisha hesitates for a minute. “I miss you too, Taylor.” She looks away. “I just don’t want to make this harder on anyone.”

I can’t make out most of what Taylor is saying, but I hear, “just me and Alfred’s granddaughter.”

Both of them look at me when she says this, and I make eye contact with both of them in turn. I hope they don’t  realize I've been staring. I quickly turn around and try to make my face look friendly and curious. I have no idea what that looks like, so hopefully this works! I walk towards the front of the store, looking back and forth between Taylor and Alisha. “I’m Layla, and I am Alfred’s granddaughter. We just moved here.”

Alisha looks at me brightly, hiding whatever argument she and Taylor had been having seconds ago. “I’m Alisha,” she said. “I live over in Sunnyville, but I’ve been friends with Taylor forever! How did you two meet?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Taylor bristle when Alisha calls them friends, but she tries to hide it, quickly saying, “I ran into her on the way to Hex & Bean last night, and we got to chatting.”

Alisha gives me a cold look that I don’t understand.

“Yeah,” I say. “I just moved here with my mom and little sister, so it was so nice of Taylor to invite me out and show me around.” I can’t tell if I’m trying to downplay how much I like Taylor or play up how much of a sweetheart she is, but either way, Alisha doesn’t seem to like it.

I feel like a fool. I'm still wearing the purple ombre gown, and I just can't pull off this look. This isn't me, it's way too fancy. Alisha's outfit is totally effortless, and she looks completely comfortable, even in her sundress.

I gather up all my courage and some latent untapped acting skills. "Please stay." I say, putting a hand on her arm reassuringly. This is the opposite of what I want, but I think that saying this will give me the upper hand. "Do you have an event coming up?"

Alisha blushes a bit. "Well, yeah..." She looks down, smiling. "James' brother is getting married next weekend, and it'll be the first time I get to meet most of his extended family." She starts to look nervous, but quickly adds, "Oh, James is my partner. I know Taylor can talk your ear off, but I don't expect you to know that much from her."

Partner, what game does she think she's playing? We're teenagers. I remember what Taylor and Sammy said about Alex last night. It didn't sound like they had broken up all that long ago. No wonder Taylor is so salty on Alex's behalf. Partner just sounds so...permanent and real. Not like someone you left your long term boyfriend for recently.

"How exciting!" I say. My voice sounds shrill. I feel so fake. What am I doing? "We're getting a casual head start on homecoming. Taylor thinks this dress isn't good enough," I say, gesturing to her. "But doesn't she look gorgeous!"

Alisha looks at Taylor, appraisingly. "I do love it." She says, quietly, appraising Taylor’s outfit. "Do you remember that dress you wore to prom last year?"

Taylor nods at this. "I wore red, and you wore green. Because Sammy and Alex said pink was too girly and refused to match us."

"That was such a fun night." Alisha says. Both of them look miles away. "Before I met James..."

Taylor's face hardens when she says this. "You didn't have to leave the rest of us too." Taylor whispers. It's so quiet I can barely make out what she says.

Alisha’s face falls. She looks sad, but it doesn’t quite approach the guilt I think she should feel.

Before Alisha can say anything in response, Taylor turns around and announces, "I need to go. I need to get out of this stupid dress."

Madison pops up and follows Taylor to the dressing room. "Let me just get that zipper for you."

"I'm sorry." Alisha says to me, quietly.

"Oh," I say. "Um...it's fine. Uhh...are you okay?"

Alisha sighs before saying. "Taylor is just being unreasonable. It's not like I cheated on Alex or anything. I broke up with him as soon as I met James. And we always knew we wouldn't last forever, it's not my fault Alex won't accept that. And I just want to make things easier on him. This isn't fair."

“What happened when you met James?” I hope the question is open-ended enough that she’ll give me more information.

A big smile comes up on her face. “Oh, he’s just so perfect. He’s amazing, and kind to me, and he instantly won over my family and I just love him so much.”

I can feel my eyebrows rising on my face. "Well, um. I don't know you well, and I don't know Alex at all." Like fully, I've never met Alex, why am I so protective of him? “But it seems like this didn’t happen all that long ago. And it seems like however you handled things with Alex and James, you must have really hurt Taylor?"

I can instantly tell the jab lands deep. I don't know why it's so satisfying. I think there might be a little more to this than just a high school break up.

At that moment, Taylor breezes out of the dressing room, back in her normal clothes. "Layla, do you want a ride home? Your grandfather said your mom would be in the area today and might pick you up."

"Oh, gosh no! Just give me a second, I'll be ready to go with you." I can not face my mother right now. I rush into the dressing room, leaving Taylor and Alisha standing alone outside. Once I’m alone, I take a moment to twirl again in front of the mirror, admiring the way the skirt swishes.

"How is Alex?" It's Alisha's voice. My ears perk up. I want to know more about this boy.

"Don't bother. You've made your choices clear."

"Taylor, please, try to understand."

"LAYLA!" Taylor calls, "I'm going to wait outside, see you there in a few!"

"OKAY, be right there!" I yell back.

I slip off the dress and stroke the fabric longingly as I put it back on the hanger. It was too much dress for me anyways. I go to leave the dressing room, and run into Madison. "Hey, Madison! Is it possible for you to hold this until I can come back next week with my card? I only have a few dollars with me today." I'm surprised to hear myself making this request, but I'm thrilled when she agrees.

"But don't let it get around that I do this. And don't expect me to do this close to the Crown Frog Parade!" She laughs, but she looks dead serious.

"Thank you so much, Madison." I tell her, genuinely excited to come back for this dress. “And don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

I see her put the purple dress on a rack behind the counter, and I turn to leave.

Alisha is sitting on a bench near the back of the store with her head down in her hands. For a second, I feel sympathy for her. I think about saying something, but change my mind. If she hurt Taylor like that, if she did this to Alex, then she probably deserves it.