Peter

I fumed as I sat in the bay window of the dress shop and watched Fiona try on yet another wedding dress. She was being extra fickle today for no good reason.

Actually, she did kind of have a reason. She was getting ready for her wedding. Honestly, I was happy for her. She's blown through plenty of boyfriends, so to know that she's found the one for her and is ready to settle down really warms my heart.

That's what I want in life. But with this lifestyle, it's pretty difficult. I sighed and watched as Thalia came from the back of the store with another dress in hand, grinning at the one Fiona currently had on. Truthfully, I was only here to keep an eye on Thalia. She had two more days to wear her wrappings before she would be fully healed and that was something she was very happy about. I was happy for her too. We all were.

Ever since I'd told her about our family's way of life, she'd been closer with everyone. It seemed as though the truth had made her a part of the family. Of course, I know deep down, she didn't approve of our practices, but she understood. Family was family, no matter what.

"What do you think, Pete? You've been brooding in the window for too long. Give me your opinion." I turned at the sound of Fiona's voice and saw her wearing a white mermaid-hemmed dress that hugged her curves just right before flowing out around her feet and covering them.

"I'm not brooding." I stated coldly. "And I think that one looks nice, but I saw you try one on a couple of dresses ago. It was ball gown style with a portrait back and statement sleeves. I thought that one looked really good on you."

Thalia and Fiona's two friends (whose names I didn't know or care about) blinked at me in shock. "Oh!" Fiona chirped. I know which one you're talking about! Ashley, Kelsey, come get it with me. This dress is literally crushing my ribcage with this built in corset. I can barely move." She held out her hands and her friends helped her off the pedestal and they made their way back into the thrall of dresses.

Thalia turned to me with a smile. "I didn't know you knew so much about dresses!"

"Well, when your older sister is a fashion freak, you pick up a thing or two over the years." I smirked before playing with my fingernails.

Thalia was silent for a moment before she decided to change the topic. "Can you believe your sister is getting married? This must be big for you!"

"I'm ecstatic." I said straight-faced.

Thalia furrowed her eyebrows at me. "What's wrong?"

I sighed, putting my hands down. "Honestly, I'm very happy for Fiona, but all these preparations have got me tired beyond belief!"

Thalia scoffed. "What exactly are you doing that's so tiring? You haven't moved from that bay window since we got here."

I dramatically threw my arm over my face. "Being this beautiful is tiring enough in itself."

I heard Thalia mutter something and I perked up. "What was that?" I asked cheekily.

"Nothing." She said, crossing her arms and sticking out her tongue at me immaturely.

I laughed "Whatever." I said, going back to playing with my nails.

_ _ _ _

I walked over to my car and hopped into the driver's seat before someone knocked on the window. Thalia. I rolled the window down and raised a brow at her questioningly.

"Um, can I ride with you?" She asked. "Your sister and her friends are being...characters."

I chuckled. "Well, that's kind of her only purpose."

Thalia gasped playfully and her eyes widened."Oh wow!"

Once our laughter had died down, I said, "But yeah. You can ride home with me."

She quickly hopped in without being told twice and took control of my radio, changing from the Hip-hop station to the Pop one. Kendrick Lamar's "Black Panther" was suddenly cut off, and Taylor Swift's "Gorgeous" took his place.

"Woah! I don't recall dubbing you the Dj." I told her with a smile as I followed Fiona's car out of the parking lot.

Thalia smirked in return. "That's because I dubbed myself Dj."

"But this is MY car."

"Well, that too bad." Thalia propped her feet up on the dashboard and I would've said something to her had it not been for her present in the backseat catching my eye. I'd completely forgotten that it was here! In fact, I'd completely forgotten it had existed! With all the kidnapping business that had happened, it became kind of minute.

We stopped at a stop sign and I quickly reached behind me and tossed it behind her chair so she couldn't see it. She looked at me in confusion as I sat back up straight and drove off.

"What was that all about?" She asked, starting to turn around to see what I'd just tossed aside.

"So, do you have an outfit for Fiona's wedding picked out yet?" I rushed, drawing her attention to me. I was going to give her the gift eventually, just not now. It had to be the right moment to show her that I was truly sorry.

She blinked at me in confusion, but answered my question nonetheless. "Yeah. Your sister asked me to be one of her bridesmaids and she said that the color we're wearing is peach, so she's letting me borrow one of her dresses."

"Fiona asked you to be one of her bridesmaids?" I asked skeptically.

"Um, yeah. Why?"

I shrugged. "No reason."

"Honestly, it's kind of unnerving. All of Fiona's friends are like, really pretty compared to me, you know? I'm scared I'm gonna look...dull in comparison to them."

I gave Thalia a weird look. Was she serious? She couldn't be. But when I looked over at her from the corner of my eye, I could tell she was.

Was this something she was genuinely worried about? "Thalia, are you seriously worried about something that dumb?" I asked. She scrunched her nose up at me and I could tell I worded my sentence wrong.

"Wait, I didn't mean it like that." I said quickly.

"Well, I mean, it sure sounded like you did." Thalia stated rather coldly.

"No, what I MEANT to say was..." I trailed off as I tried to gather my words. What did I mean to say? I gripped the steering wheel harder and mentally cursed my lack of know-how when it came to expressing my feelings. THIS WAS LITERALLY SO MUCH EASIER WHEN IT CAME TO OTHER GIRLS!!! What was wrong with me? "I meant to say..."

Thalia stared at me with a raised eyebrow and I bit my lip. What the hell was wrong with me? JUST SPIT IT THE FUCK OUT!!!

"I meant to say that it's pretty dumb to worry about stuff like that because, honestly, Thalia, I don't understand you." She blinked in confusion as I continued. "I mean, look at yourself Lea. You look like the literal definition of..." I motioned with my free hand as I tried to think of a word. "An angel." I stated once the word appeared in my mind. "I mean, you have these bright baby blue eyes and this gorgeous colored hair that I'm sure most of Fiona's friends would kill for." Thalia's eyes widened a little bit at my sudden compliment. "And don't even get me started on your curves." Thalia's cheeks reddened and she turned her head a bit to hide it. I smirked a little as I noticed it. "So, moral of the story, Lea, you are ten times prettier than you think and a hundred times more special, okay? Don't let anyone, yourself or otherwise, tell you different."

Thalia's eyes met mine and she smiled, and based on the way her eyes were sparkling, I could tell that she really took my words to heart.