Chapter 9: Chapter 9

As I walk around our room, I say, "That was..."

Mark makes a joke: "Weird? Unexpected? Telling?"

"No help," he says. I look at him very seriously. He raises his hands as a defense. "What do you think?" I stop staring at you as soon as I ask.

Some people would find it rude and annoying to be told, "Try on the clothes. Your sisters are here. Start getting to know your mom in a new way. Do whatever you want." In no way. It was more like, "Don't let anyone tell you what to do. Do what you want." At least, that's how I understood it. I'm no longer sure whether or not that sounds better.

"Okay, but how do I do it?" I go to the bed and lay down with him.

He gets up to go to the bathroom. "I'm not sure. You'll figure it out. Just go with your gut." "It's almost night. If you're still worried when you wake up, we'll talk again," he says with a smile before going into the bathroom.

I get dressed quickly and jump into bed. I'm almost asleep by the time he comes back out. I feel my bed move, and I hear a soft whisper. "Go to sleep, Alyanna," she says. I smile as I drift off to sleep.

Before Mark wakes up, I get ready. It's almost six. I've always been a morning person. The kitchen isn't there, so I can't go cook there. I can't go for a run because Mark will probably wake up soon. I can't think about the subject because it would make me feel even more stressed out, so I can only draw.

I look in my sketchbook and pencils in my bag. Then I put my headphones on and listen to the Twilight series again. I'm saying it again because I read them when I was a freshman and now I listen to them.

I make the books go twice as fast so I can read them in half the time. I'm on the third one now. Eclipse. I've seen this show before, so I don't really need to pay attention.

I start to draw a lot of different things. First, a flower that almost has too many colors. Then, random circles are used to make something. I don't know what it is, but I know it's something. After this "warm up," I turn the page and draw myself walking down the aisle.

Most of it is the landscape around me, and my dad and I are just shadows. I describe in detail how the flower arch over works and how many petals each flower has. How many chairs are on each side? How many clouds are just right? The groom, his best men, and the bridesmaids all wore silowets.

I'm getting bored, of course, because I've been drawing so much. Most likely, you already know what came next. Yep. Mark gave a nod.

I always jump. "I told you not to scare me, so don't!"

"When we get married," you said. But we haven't gotten married yet.

"Shut up," I say as I put away my sketchbook and go check my phone.

He makes his way to the desk. "What are you making?" He asks. He is about to start reading.

I scream, "No!" and run after the book. "This is where all of my drawings are, and I've had it since seventh grade. Don't touch."

"Okay, don't let me stop you from reading that book. Please." At least he can be funny sometimes. This is how.

"I will." I say.

Mark finally gets out of bed and asks, "Does the fitting make you feel better?"

He's not wearing a shirt. Did he never use to wear a shirt? Oh my god, did I sleep with him when he was like that?

I'm sure he looked at me. I guess it was clear since he was looking at my face. I'm smarter than you now.

"Are you judging me? " I asked. "Why can't I check out my fiance?

" answer my question."

"Yes, I was taking a look at you." I say. I gave him an answer to one of his questions, but I don't think it was the one he was looking for.

"No, I meant Alec." Huh. I've thought a lot about that in the last 5 minutes.

"I feel the same way." "Maybe a little bit better," I say, being honest and direct, if I may.

"All right, tell me what you need. He opens the door to the bathroom and says, "You should call your mom to find out when and if they're coming to the fitting." I thought he was talking about my two sisters.

Sophie is twelve, and Hannah is seven. Sophie looks just like her dad, but she acts like my mom, Liz. Hannah, on the other hand, seems to be the opposite of Sophie.

Last night, I sent my mom a few texts. She told me that Sophie is feeling better and that she and my dad would like to come to the fitting. I suggested that we go out to lunch, but I'm not sure if that's really going to happen.

I give my mom a call. "Hello?"

"I can hear what they're saying.

"Hey. I only wanted to know when the fitting would be. Have you planned for it? "I ask. I walk around the room. I feel like I'm going to lose it. I don't know for sure, but I think it might happen.

"It's not necessary to make one. Today, they won't have too much to do. Why don't we meet at eleven? " She wonders.

"That makes sense." So I have four hours to be scared.

"Okay, that's fine. "The girls are very happy." I can tell by how she talks that she is also happy.

"See you later, mom," and I cut the line.

Mark gets out of the toilet. He asks, "Did you call her?"

"Yes, she said to meet at 11." Did he just get out of the shower? He might have just come back from the bathroom. "Good," he says as he looks through the bag.

I feel like asking how long the shower was. I said, "You weren't that slow." I didn't expect it to. But no going back now.

"Yeah. I don't have as much hair as you do, and I don't use conditioner every day." He goes back to the bathroom to get dressed.

"Oh." I'm quiet. "I'm so fed up, and if I don't do something, I'll go crazy."

"Turn on the TV," Mark says while brushing his teeth.

I turn on the TV and listen to him. "No, Titanic," he says. "Not The Sound of Music." I don't want to see a musical. "Ooh, Die Hard." I like this one.

"What?

"Now that I'm dressed and my teeth are brushed, Mark asks.

"You heard me. Die Hard is on. I put down the remote and stretched out on the bed. "I like it a lot, and it's just getting started."

"What do you like so much about it?

"I pause the movie so I can quickly skip over the commercials.

"I used to watch them with my dad. When I turn back to the TV, the movie is almost ready to start again.

Mark decides to start talking again. "My dad and I have never watched it together," he says. Only by myself. My mom would never let me or her only child, who she raised, watch something like this.

When his mom comes up, I sigh. I had that dream again last night. I tried as hard as I could not to wake Mark up. I look at him with a small smile on my face and say, "Well, you're going to watch it with me now." While he gives it back, we watch the movie.

Mark asks for the tenth time, "Tell me again why he's back at the big office building." So many times, I had to stop the movie to answer his questions that it's not even funny.

I stopped what I was doing because... I didn't want him to miss anything...well, I didn't want to miss anything. You should start at the Nakatomi Plaza. Second, his wife works there, and her boss invited him to the Christmas party.

I turn on the TV again. "How many are there again?"

"Five. The first three were written in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the last two were written in the 2000s. I went back to watching TV.

"I don't know why this movie is about Christmas."

"Because it happens at a Christmas party on Christmas Eve," she said. I grit my teeth as I finish the sentence.

"Yes, but," I say as I turn on the TV one more time.

I told him to stop and got off the bed. "Oh, my God!" I'll kill you if you ask me one more question. Find out by watching the movie. "I sit down again, and the movie starts over.

"Okay," I hear, but I can hardly make it out.

I look at the movie and say, "If you say one more word, I'll tape your mouth shut." I hear nothing. "Thank you."

"Well, that was a good movie," says Mark.

"You should know how many questions you asked." I'm still mad about that, but it did keep me busy for a while. Now I only have 45 minutes before I have to meet them.

"Get ready," says Mark. He pulls out his phone and checks it.

"Yes, I am," I say. "It took so long because of you." I had to stop it every time you asked a question."

"It didn't need to be done. Mark stops watching TV. "I never asked."

"Yes I did. I wanted to make sure you didn't miss anything." He gives me a raised eyebrow. "Okay, I didn't want to miss anything."

"Was that really something you watched when you were 11?

" Mark looks at his phone and asks.

"Yes. "What's all the fuss about?" As I brush my hair, I ask.

"Rated R" is written here. He is looking in that direction.

"No, that's not it." I take his phone away. I close the app when I see the rating.

I see what's behind it. "Where did you get this?" I ask him to give me back his phone and bring up the screen saver.

"It's our fake engagement picture. I thought that people would understand it better if they could see it. Not that I would actually let anyone look at my phone." He shuts off his phone. "This is the screen that locks. the same."

"I'd better do that. John doesn't belong in my case. Also, one of them should be changed to a picture of us both."

"What else is there?" He asks. "We haven't really put together the whole picture."

"Sure, we'll take one. Now if you want." I'm nervous all of a sudden.

"Sure, you can come." What are we going to do in them? "Well, we could smile," they said.

I nod. Most of the time, the picture looks fake. "Well, if you don't want to, we don't have to do this, but..." I stop.

"Yes?" He asks. "What were you thinking?"

"Kiss me on the cheek?" I say unsure.

He takes a moment to think. "Sure. That would make a lot of sense. I agree that we should all stand up. Maybe you're holding my waist and I'm holding your shoulder.

"Sure." I'm not sure why, but that seemed too specific.