I covered my ears.
It was quickly dawning on me that the cool girls would've been rather outstanding cheerleaders, but only if you exchanged school sports with People Magazine and their favorite designer brands.
Leia had screamed her face red. It was like a touchdown in the final minute.
My poor sensitive ears.
Eventually, even the most passionate cheerleaders needed to breathe. So while the cool girls breathed, the rest of us breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do NOT do that again." Henry told the cool girls firmly.
For some reason, the cool girls didn't take offense.
"Sorry, we got excited." Krystal tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and smiled.
Oh right, the reason being that Henry was a "hot guy."
The doors of the lounge swung open again and a man in a black t-shirt walked in. The two men in black suits bowed to him in greeting - even though he was just a human. A middle-aged scruffy-looking human. All the black vested waiters bowed too. The cool girls screamed all over again, "Oh my god! It's HIM!"
I covered my ears and waited for it to be over. I'm such a tolerant alpha.
The black t-shirt man lifted a hand in greeting. He was probably the only person who was smiling at the ear-piercing screaming from the cool girls.
"It's him! It's really him!" Zara jumped at pointed in excitement like a little girl spying the Frozen parade float in Disneyland. This man could have been Elsa in the flesh.
"Oh god, I can't believe it." Leia said.
Krystal said nothing, but she took a picture.
"Ah, Young Alpha Henry. How is your lovely mother?" The middle-aged scruffy-looking human man in a black t-shirt, aka Elsa, reached out his hand to shake Henry's.
Humans always liked to shake hands. Henry shrugged, "You know, same old. What are you doing here?"
Elsa dropped his hand when it was evident Henry wasn't going to shake it.
"How could I not come?" Elsa asked, "When I heard the Young Alpha Henry had ordered my flagship store to close early and bring every available white dress, I knew you needed me. We dropped everything and sped here with police escort."
Part of me felt Elsa was either joking or prone to gross exaggeration.
"I only need your dresses." Henry answered unmoved by Elsa's story, "We don't have time. 10 minutes."
"Of course, Young Alpha." Elsa obliged, "Now, who is the lucky girl?"
He looked about the lounge as if assessing every girl. The cool girls tittered - tittered! Like the tittering girls in class this morning who couldn't sit next to Liam/EJ! My friends were showing a new side of themselves. One I wouldn't have believed existed.
"All of them." Henry told him.
"WHAT?" Elsa looked properly horrified.
"10 minutes." Henry smirked, "Have all of them in white."
"What?" Elsa spluttered, "All of them?"
And then as if suddenly understanding, he went, "Ahhhh... you had me there, Young Alpha."
Elsa laughed a little, "Yes, yes, we can have the bridesmaids ready too. But first the bride!"
The what?
"What?" Now it was Henry's turn to look nonplussed. He made quite a funny expression because one of his brows quirked up higher than the other.
It was really a funny misunderstanding, and I would be sure to tell it often, preferably in Henry's presence in the future.
So Elsa, the human man, had thought that the sudden and urgent order for white dresses was for Henry to elope or something incredibly dumb, I mean romantic like that. Maybe it was a human thing since weddings were a human thing. Anyway, Elsa had raced over with his entire white collection, some made of french lace, others encrusted with crystals. He also included a few racks of modern dresses in various materials and lengths in case Henry's bride needed something she could move quickly in. I'm not sure what kind of elopement scenario Elsa had imagined, but I almost wished Henry would really have a wedding just to see it.
I had never been to a wedding before, but I've seen them on TV and something exciting usually happens. In one show, these men in suits drove up in black cars, got out with machine guns, and shot up the entire hall. Don't worry, it was TV so nobody died. Everyone just ducked. The stained glass shattered and fell in colorful pieces all over the altar. Again, don't worry. It was TV and the glass didn't land on anybody because... actually, I had no idea. It didn't occur to me how the bullets and glass shards missed everybody when I was watching the show. Anyway, weddings sounded like terribly exciting events, and even if no one showed up with guns, I feel like just going to one in real life would be like standing in a TV set. That alone would be cool.
It took a while to clear the misunderstanding.
"So there is no bride?" Elsa asked.
"No." Beta Pete answered very clearly, "The dresses are to attend a friend's all-white birthday party."
Beta Pete didn't look as amused as I was about the misunderstanding, but then again, he would probably have a lot of explaining to do if it should leak out to the LNC that his Young Alpha Henry has eloped tonight.
"Okay." Elsa clapped his hands together, "Let's see what we have to work with."
By now, more than 10 minutes had passed. The caterers had been let in. I could smell delicious things.
Elsa was surprisingly quick, he would pick a couple of dresses for each girl, and pass it to one of the "waiters" who'd personally assist each girl as they took turns trying them on in the washroom.
"For you, darling, this one. And maybe this. Very flirty. It will suit you." He promised Jasmine.
"And this one, no, the other one. Good. I think you would like this one, dear." He winked at Krystal.
By now I had noticed a clear line of hierarchy among the humans. Elsa, in the black t-shirt, was the leader. The "waiters" in the white shirts and black vests took orders from him. The two fully suited-guys were just the security. I guess the higher up they were, the more dressed down. If Elsa had a boss, he would be wearing shorts and flip-flops.
And also, Elsa wasn't his real name. His real name was Gus something, and he was the designer and half the brand name. The other half was a Don something (sounded like doughnut). I think Beta Pete had asked about Don-someone, but Gus said something I didn't hear. I was still lounging on the sofa with the guys at the back of the lounge. The lights were dim here and the seats really sucked you in. It was really the kind of sofa you sat into and never get out again. It was also probably the kind of sofa that was so expensive, I'll never buy it, so I should just enjoy it while I was here.
"Don't we look lovely?" Gus nodded with no small amount of satisfaction.
My friends did look very nice. Was that why brides wore white? Or why Lorent maidens wore white? My friends had all looked sexy and sophisticated in their LBDs earlier, exactly like cool girls should, but now all in white the feeling was quite different. They looked really... I don't know. Their dresses were flowy, some of them had lace incorporated in them. They looked feminine and natural, more vulnerable, and rather beautiful. It was a refreshing look.
Alright, is that everyone?" Gus looked around. Some of the waiters were returning the extra dresses to the racks. Some of them were busy praising the girls' new looks. They immediately snapped their attention to Gus, looked around, and nodded.
"Ah, not quite." Beta Pete realized. He looked around. Henry realized too and stood up from the sofa he was at to yell over, "Sam! Get over here."
Henry was like the bossiest wolf I had ever met. I stood up and stalked over, Harvey and Fluffy at heel, "Don't boss me, Hen. I don't need a dress."
"But Zammi, you need to wear a white dress!" Jasmine worried for me.
"Yeah, who knows what that Abigail is plotting?" Leia added.
"Anyway, that Henry is paying. You should take the chance to get a fancy designer dress." Zara said, "I'm going to keep this one for my wedding."
Krystal rolled her eyes, "Please. This is Zammi we're talking about. She's already wearing one."
Unknown to Krystal, or anyone else (much less myself), my black dress was more "couture" than clothing. Gus remembered it with fondness, "Is this mine? Where did you get it?"
No, obviously it was mine unless you wore dresses.
"Please, excuse me." Gus reached out, and I had to stop my hair from cutting his hand off. He deftly lifted the fabric just at the nape of my neck with two fingers. He did so without touching me at all or looking. Just by whatever his fingertips touched along the back neckline, he could tell, "This is my runway collection. The most iconic dress that season. I knew it! The biased hemline was removed from the design for commercial production, and we removed the tulle layers to make it more practical."
Gus made a face like practical was a bad thing.
I looked down at the hemline of my skirt. It was very pretty and sort of floated around my legs.
"My god, darling. How did you get your hands on this?" Gus demanded.
I don't know. I looked at Harvey, but I was looking to the wrong beta for the answer.
"No wonder she didn't want to change her dress." Krystal whispered to the other girls, "Her's is the original."
"It's probably worth a million dollars or something." Leia said.
I highly doubt clothing could cost that much! At any rate, I'm sure my wardrobe budget didn't have a million dollars.
"Oh, I simply must take a picture. May we, darling?" Gus asked me, "Donato isn't going to believe it. The Alpha Princess is wearing MY dress."
Stop calling it your dress! My hair flared a little, but Gus leaned in and took the selfie with me. Harvey appeared beside him and held out his hand for the phone. Gus handed it over. For a moment, I thought Harvey was going to delete the picture, but he only looked at it and then returned the phone to Gus with a cold nod.
"Thank you." Gus looked very properly grateful.
"Can we put her in a white dress now?" Henry grumbled, "That's why I hate it when you come. You take forever."
"One cannot rush art, Young Alpha." Gus said. His tone was placating but Henry growled.
The lounge doors were swung open by red ants yet again, but this time, it was Ki who stepped in. Ki was his dark blue suit and usual smile perfectly in place like a breath of fresh air.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one glad to see him.
"Oh my god. It's Beta Ki." Gus gasped.
"Good evening, goddess. Alpha Henry." Ki politely made his bow in greeting.
"Hey, Ki. You're just in time." Henry just had to boss EVERYONE, "Sam needs to pick a dress."
"The guests are waiting at your leisure in the Gold Lounge, Alpha." Beta Pete reported.
"Beta Ki!" Gus spread his arms out to embrace Ki, and to my utter surprise, Ki reached over and patted the human's back, "Hello, Graziano. How are you?"
Right, so his name was Graziano, not Gus-sanio, not Gus, not Elsa. I liked Elsa better though.
"I'm fine, fine and dandy." Elsa answered amiably, "Your Alpha Princess - she's beautiful. Tell me how I can put her on my runway. And MY DRESS! Why is MY DRESS here?"
"If you move your atelier to Gate City, we can talk about runways." Ki smiled his capisce smile.
"I will never move." Elsa declared wholeheartedly.
"Good." Ki answered easily, "Because my goddess does not walk runways."
"And MY dress?" Elsa pressed on, completely undeterred by the steel lining in Ki's otherwise gentle smile.
"I dare not tell you, Grazanio. You would cry." Ki said in all Lorent fashion. Naturally, Elsa must know, "Tell me! I have to know!"
"The truth is, I got it at an auction." Ki admitted quite readily, "14 pieces in all, three are yours. Two are friends'. Another one from He That Shall Not Be Named. The rest were just limited editions, but they were my goddess' size and suited her."
"HIM?" Elsa looked thoroughly scandalized, "I cannot believe you would buy HIS dress!"
"HIS was the most expensive." Ki smiled his killion dollar smile.
"More expensive than MY dress? Than THIS?" Elsa gestured up and down my dress.
Ki smiled and nodded, "I'm afraid so."
"You wound me, Beta!" Elsa accused dramatically. If Elsa was a wolf, I think he would be a Lorent one.
Ki shrugged, "It was at an estate sale, and I got them for a steal."
"I feel faint." Elsa had to sit down. He sank into the nearest sofa.
Ki shifted through one of the racks and picked out a dress, "Would this one do, goddess?"
I nodded and took it from him. I didn't even look at the dress. Honestly, I didn't have to. If Ki picked it, it would fit. And I had enough of Lorent-style conversations about dresses belonging to men and designers who shall not be named.
Fluffy followed me into the washroom so I had to stop and point him out, "Don't follow me!"
"But I'm your date, Pretty Alpha." Fluffy smiled.
Yeah right. What date would follow you into the washroom? But then I remembered how EJ was bouncing around just now. Both Fluffy and EJ were on duty! This was when I realized that what Fluffy really meant was "But I'm your BODYGUARD."
Sometimes I wish people around me would just say what they mean.
I beelined to the nearest cubicle, "Wait here, Fluffy."
"Your wish is my command, pretty alpha." Fluffy smiled.