Page 100 of Taming Grumpy Dr. Beast

Me: Our poor baby. He’s going to need extra snuggles tonight.

Jaxon: Him? What about me?

Me: You could’ve had plenty of snuggles last night.I still wasn’t over him sending me away like that.

Jaxon: I spent the night wishing you were here.He missed me. Good.

Me: I would’ve come to you. I don’t want you to have to battle your parents alone.

Jaxon: It’s for the best. I was in a rotten mood after talking to them.

Me: And that’s different from your normal, how? {wink emoji}

Jaxon: haha funny girl

“What’s put that smile on your face?” Jess asked, making me jump.

I jumped in my seat and slammed my hand to my chest. “Oh my God. Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

She giggled. “I bet you’re talking to Jax. Tell him I said hi and that you need to go. It’s time for you to find the perfect dress.”

Me: Got to go...lots of dresses to try on. If you don’t hear from me in a few hours, send out the search party. You’ll find me lost under a sea of taffeta {laughing emoji}

Jaxon: Have fun. Can you find me when you get back? I wanted to talk to you about something.

Me: Sure.He probably wanted to go over how I should deal with or avoid his parents tonight. I had to hold myself back from telling Jaxon I finished the book this morning. Just before leaving with Jess, I'd wrapped the frame displaying the letter his grandfather wrote and planned to give it to him tonight after the charity ball.

At the last minute, I sent him one last text.Me: xoxo

It was the tame version of what I wanted to say. The way my heart wanted me to end the message was more along the lines of: Love you, miss you xoxo, but it was too soon to say those words.

I threw my phone into my purse like it was on fire, so I didn’t need to see if he responded or not. Jess led me to a large changing room. I opened the door to find a rack full of dresses inside waiting for me. My throat grew dry. How was I going to survive this? I hated trying on clothes. Without allowing me any more time to second guess what we were doing, Jess shoved me inside, shutting the door behind her.

“Hey.” Alden yelled out from the other side. “You donotgo into a dressing room without me checking it first.”

“Alden, you examined the entire store before we entered. Do you really think your sister would let anyone in after you warned her we needed to be her first andonlyappointment?”

He growled from the other side.

Wait? That woman in the store was his sister?

Turning from the door, Jess took a hanger from the rack and waved a hand. “Don’t ask. Come on. I think this green would look lovely with your eyes. I adore how they shift between a light brown and a light green.”

“They’re hazel,” I muttered, holding back the desire to launch into the biological reason for the specific coloring of both my eyes as well her own brown ones. “Why are you in here with me?” Jessamine was probably around a size sixteen, but the way she dressed her body, her size wasn’t the first thing you thought of. I didn’t think her seeing me in my underwear was the best way to start our friendship. Especially since I’d be awkwardly trying to cover my body.

“Hello Grumpy Girl! Is Jaxon rubbing off on you? Come on, let’s get started or we’ll be here all night and miss the ball.”

As if that would be a bad thing. After an audible dramatic sigh of protest, I conceded, eliciting a whoop of victory from my new friend. Cece was going to flip when she heard about this.

I shifted my body, so it was partially hidden behind the clothing rack, and slid off my shirt, keeping it plastered in front of me. “Okay. Toss it over.”

“Lily, you have nothing I haven’t already seen, and in my own mirror,” she chided gently.

“Yeah, but I think I have more than what you’ve seen. Just toss the dress to me, please.”

She walked over to me with the green dress in hand. “All bodies are beautiful, and I’m thinking that you’re going to be one hot number in any of these dresses. Fashion's something I know about Lily. The problem is that society thinks it has a handle on what beauty is and isn’t. I’d love it if I could help teach everyone how to dress their body type so they feel confident.”

Jess had shocked me yet again. She had a depth I wasn’t expecting, and I felt ashamed thinking that because of her hourglass figure, she’d judge me for the shape of my rounder body. Not that anything she’d said until now had made me feel bad about my weight.