“Don’t start the water works, there will be plenty of time for that later,” Sally teased her.
“Ok ladies, I need something to eat before I slide into that, if I might add, much more appropriate dress so let’s head downstairs so I can get my grub on,” Jacque announced.
“Please tell me you don’t say 'get my grub on' to Fane when you are talking about eating,” Sally pleaded.
Jacque waved her hands in the air in a whatever gesture. “He can either take me as I am, grub and all, or not.”
“Oh I’m pretty sure he wants to take you, and quite possibly as his grub,” Jen snickered.
Sally gave Jen their usual fist bump, “What would I do without you and your sexual innuendos, my sweet, nympho friend?”
“You would be square,” Jen told her, her fingers tracing the shape in the air.
“Huh, so I would,” Sally agreed thoughtfully.
The girls headed downstairs and threw together some PB and J sandwiches. They were quiet as they ate. Jacque finished first and just as she was going to head upstairs to change, her mom came into the kitchen. “You ladies need to hurry up if we are going to make it on time,” Lilly told them.
“I’ve just got to fix my hair and throw on my dress and then I’m game,” Jacque answered.
“Correction, I need to fix your hair. There is no telling what kind of mess you would put together on your head,” Sally added
“Did you decide to cooperate with your partners in crime so you wouldn’t be the world’s first living Little Red Riding Hood?” her mom asked her.
Jacque glared at Sally and Jen, giving them her best 'if I was a wolf I’d bite your ass' stare. “Yea, they won this round, but you know what they say about payback.”
Jen just laughed as she and Sally trailed her up the stairs to help her get dressed.
“Sit down, kick back and chill-out so I can fix this unruly mess you call your hair.”
“You have to do it up off her shoulders because of the chomp, chomp thing, if you know what I mean,” Jen said, her teeth snapping together.
“Gee, Jen. Thanks so much for the reminder of the fact that I’m going to be a chew toy later on tonight. I’m not nervous enough as it is or anything,” Jacque told her.
“I’m just saying,” Jen said with a roll of her eyes and shoulder shrug, "If it was me who was going to get chomped on by a hot, drool worthy, Romanian fur ball, let's just say I wouldn't make him chase me too long."
"Yeah, well knowing you, Jen, the so called fur ball wouldn't be the only one doing the chomping," Sally teased her dryly.
"No doubt, my sweet wall flower. But more to the point, it wouldn't be just my neck he would be chomping on!" Jen apparently cracked herself up with that one because she nearly fell out of her chair laughing, although the shoe Jacque threw at her head didn't help matters.
"Jacque, quit throwing shoes at Jen's head. Jen, if at all possible quite being a pervert for like 5 minutes."
"Make it 2 1/2 minutes and we have a deal," Jen volleyed back.
"Shameless," muttered Jacque, "the nyphmo is utterly, undeniably shameless."
"We all gotta be something, Jac." Jen just had to have the last word, so Jacque and Sally finally relented.
Sally pushed Jacque down into the chair by her desk and began to gather the various hair items she would need to tame the wild curls. As Jacque sat there staring off at nothing in particular, her mind was drawn back to the events of the past week. It was hard for her to believe that she'd only met Fane a week ago. She felt like she had known him forever and already couldn’t imagine life without him. In one week she'd learned she was half Canis Lupus, her father was full Canis Lupus, and also that she was the mate of the Prince of the Romanian Canis Lupus. She had been claimed by the lunatic Alpha of Coldspring and had to watch Fane fight him for bonding rights. She even thought she’d watched Fane die. If someone had told her last week that all this was going to happen she would have said something along the lines of, yeah, and George Strait is selling me his ocean front property in Arizona as well.
“OWWW!” Jacque hollered as Sally’s hair ministrations pulled her from her thoughts.
“Well what do you expect with this flaming mess on your head?” Sally asked her as she continued to pull and tug on her hair.
“Just make sure you leave me some hair up there, okay?” Jacque said, rolling her eyes.
Jen walked over to look at Sally’s handy work. “That actually looks pretty great, Sal. I like the little glitter bobby-pins you put in, very fairy tale-ish.”
“Okay, okay, let me look already,” Jacque said as she stood up and went to the mirror on her dresser. “Wow, Sally, it looks awesome. You made me look so much prettier than I really am. Sweet! Thanks, chickadee.”
Sally grabbed Jacque by the shoulders and turned her so they were face to face. “You are beautiful, big, wild hair and all. All I did was bring attention to that fact. The way Fane looks at you, you should never doubt your beauty on the inside or out,” Sally told her.
“Man Sal, why don’t I ever get pep talks like that?” Jen asked.
“If ever you are in need of a pep talk, Jen, I will gladly deliver. As it is, you are a walking ego, so most of the time you need to be brought down a notch, not up. I say that with all the love in my heart,” Sally teased her.
“Yeah, you are totally blowing me away with all your quote, unquote love. How ‘bout don’t give me so much love next time, huh?”
Jacque grabbed her dress and the jacket and began walking to the bathroom. “Ok, while ya’ll work out your love issues, I’m going to get dressed. I expect ya’ll to have kissed and made up by the time I get back.”
“Brush your teeth before you put that dress on,” Sally told her.
“Yeah and don’t put perfume on your neck, you know because of the chomp…” Jen started.
“Chomp, chomp. Yeah I got it, Jen,” Jacque interrupted.
Jacque closed the door to the bathroom and leaned against it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “I can do this,” she said out loud. It wasn't that she was scared of bonding with Fane, she wanted to be with him more than anything. No, she was just a big chicken about pain and wasn’t really looking forward to being bitten. Then she remembered what it felt like when she thought he had died. She realized that in comparison to that feeling, a bite would be a piece of cake. On that thought she was able to move forward feeling much lighter.
“Are you ok, love?” she heard Fane ask in her mind.