Threads

Chapter Fifteen- Part 2

“You’re not going to try, are you?” Altair was studying her expression. “You’re thinking about that girl again.”

            She wasn’t sure if she liked him reading her that easily. “I may have been.”

            “Do you plan to just storm in and steal her from him?”

            “I’ll be more diplomatic then that.”

            “By asking him to buy her?” he snorted. “I’m not sure how well that will go over.”

            “We’ll see.”

            “We will,” agreed Altair. “Hopefully he won’t be too offended.”

            “It’s just too bad if he is.”

            “I’m coming with you.”

            “Of course you are.” She’d meant it to come out weary and sarcastic, but ended up sounding more relieved than anything. She could use all the help she could get.

Apparently being featured in “Witches”, even one small photograph and a sentence or two in the local gossip section, made the shop seem a great deal more appealing, because in the coming week they had more people in than ever before. It was a different crowd. They came in tight skirts and knee high leather boots, curled hair and lipstick, strategically ripped, acid washed jeans and belly shirts. The shop smelled of perfume and hairspray. Alice found herself growing weary of the women as they came in, since every one of them tried to act as if they’d known her forever.  They attempted to gossip about how the party had been, and asked when the next one was. Several of them asked what Ambrose was like, and one even begged her to introduce her, saying she felt they were meant to be together.  Alice had to eventually usher that one out the door with a little magical nudge when she wouldn’t leave.

“This is crazy.”

            “She certainly was,” Azura muttered, watching the woman to make sure she was really leaving.

            “Her too, but I mean the whole thing. All these women are coming in, acting so strange. I don’t know what to do with them. They all want me to be their best friend and introduce them to him, even if the last one was the only one who came straight out and said it.”

            Azura rolled her eyes. “Honestly, if I wasn’t one myself, I would think women were the silliest creatures on earth.”

            “Well those weren’t a very good example,” Alice said indignantly.

            Azura laughed. “True. That was the type that reads “Witches” religiously.”

            “Yuck.”

            The bell tinkled and Alice braced herself. She allowed herself a sigh of relief when she saw it was just Lacy and Tricia.

“Hi girls.”

            “Hey Alice, hey Azura.” Lacy greeted them, and Tricia waved as she bounced in the door behind her friend.

            “We were having coffee across the street,” Tricia told them. “Boy is there a lot of blonde women coming in here.” Alice eyed Tricia’s hair pointedly, but the girl didn’t seem to notice.

            “What do they all want?”

            “They want to be my best friend,” Alice grumbled. “It’s exhausting.”