Behind The Scenes

[Chapter Eight]

Chapter 8

        

"Zoe, Zoe, Zoe."

I rolled over groggily in bed as my name continually dragged me out of my dream, bringing me back into reality all too soon. Cracking my eyes open, I saw that only a hint of light was making its way through my blinds before I turned to see a fully awake Emily at the foot of my bed. "What time is it?" I groaned.

"Half past six," Emily chirped happily.

Rolling over to greet my pillows once more, I let out another groan. "Why are you up so early?" I asked, mumbling the question into the pillow. "Abbie doesn't even get up this early," I continued, lowering my voice with hopes that my daughter didn't suddenly wake up.

I rolled back over, opening my eyes slightly to see my sister shrug. "I fell asleep early last night, Abbie tired me out," she explained, but she didn't seem at all fussed about it as, even at this time in the morning, excitement and anticipation radiated off of her. "Plus," she continued happily, "I want to hear everything about yesterday."

"Couldn't you have waited a few hours?" I asked, pushing myself into a sitting position, "You know, until the sun was actually up."

She shook her head, the smile not leaving her face. "But then you'll be too busy with Abbie or homework to actually talk," she reasoned, making herself comfortable at the foot of my bed, "And I want details."

The persistence in her voice told me that, with her here, I didn't have a chance of falling back asleep. "What do you want to know?" I sighed, concealing a yawn as I wiped the sleep from my eyes.

"Well how was it?" she asked, not giving me the chance to reply as she continued with quesitons. "Was is weird meeting his family? How were they? How was the ride there? Did you have fun? What was it like having Ryan as a date?"

After the initial shock of curiosity, my lips turned up into a smile as I thought back to the day before. "It was good actually," I admitted shyly, playing with the blankets that were splayed out around my waist. The cheshire smile that spread across Emily's face at my response wordlessly begged me to continue. "It took a bit longer than I thought to actually get there, but we weren't late or anything. His family was really nice when I met them, and Ryan seemed to joke around with his brother a lot."

"Wait, that guy has a brother?" she asked, cutting me off.

I laughed. "Yeah Em, and he's seventeen." I stated teasingly, watching her face drop slightly before I continued. "Anyways, the wedding was gorgeous and his cousin seemed so in love with his wife, it was so sweet."

I went on to describe the little things, like how the ceremony had gone and what their first dance was. I told her how Ryan's family seemed really loving and caring, basically the total opposite of what ours was at the moment, and how good the food had been.

"Wow," she commented as I finished my explanation, and although she stayed quiet for a few seconds, a smirk eventually found its way onto her face. "So, did you catch the bouquet?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"No," I blushed, ducking my head so I was no longer looking directly at her.

"Oh come on Zoe, you can't tell me that nothing happened yesterday," she persisted, climbing further up the bed as she took a seat beside me. "When he showed up at the door he looked like a million bucks, and he looked totally into you." The blush on my cheeks deepened, spreading down my neck. "You've got to give me something here."

"Like what?" I asked, not having done this whole boy-gossip thing in a long time. In fact, the last time I'd really talked about a guy with my sister was when I went to her, confused and terrified, after I found out I was pregnant with Abbie.