It all started with a game

Chapter 13.1

"I wish Ryder and I were that close. I mean we're twins but I think I've only seen him a total of four time in the last month and three of which you were present for."

"Three?" I could only recall two.

Her face fell like she wasn't supposed to mention that detail. "Anyway..." she sang, "pretending I didn't say that, no Ryder and I are not close. I'd give Ryder a kidney if he needed it but I am not sharing the tv remote with him."

I snickered. "I mean the tv remote is a very valuable thing."

"Right! You can't just give anyone access to that." She pulled out a second dress. "What about this one?"

I gave her the same response I had to the last forty dresses. I was not the person to ask when it came to fashion. All the dresses pretty much looked the same to me, black and elegant.

"I mean for you," she corrected. "I think it would look good on you."

I was running out of excuses to use at this point. "I don't think it would fit." I lied.

She stared between me and the dress. "Really? You think so?"

I nodded, hoping she wouldn't pull out a larger size.

She set the dress back. "We'll find you a cute one to impress Ryder with."

Goodluck with that. My odds of impressing Ryder were slim. At the moment he doesn't seem the least bit interested.

I needed to figure out what his tactic was, how he was planning to win, and work around that. I can afford to lose, my relationship with Tenshi depends on it.

I had to figure out his game plan.

"What about this one?" She pulled out a simple black dress with a single sleeve on one side and diamond embellishments on the other.

It was cute, and one of the few black dresses that had sleeves, or at least a left sleeve. I could put some foundation on my neck, for any spots that were visible. It's not like anyone is going to be touching my neck. "I like it!" I smiled softly.

She added it to the pile. "Perfect!"

"What did I miss?" Ryder made his way over to us, a lazy smile rested on his face.

He looked good in a suit, to say the least. And even better like this. His tie was left undone, the top button of his shirt undone, his hair a complete mess, his hands resting comfortably in his pockets. He was completely at ease.

"You returned just in time to watch us try on dresses." Alexia smirked.

I'm sure he was ecstatic to hear he would get to sit on a sofa and watch us try on outfits.

I had three dresses to try on, Alexia had twenty seven.

I stepped out of the dressing room, which Alexia originally wanted to share but I vetoed out of because no one has seen me naked since the incident and I would like to keep it that way, thankfully she wasn't the least bit thrown off my request not to and understood fully. "What do we think?"

The two of them looked up, Ryder's face almost indifferent while Alexia was pretty much examining me under a microscope. "It might be easier to tell without the pants on," Alexia commented.

I glanced down at my jeans which clashed drastically with the classy black dress. I bit my lip. "You know, I haven't shaved in a while and I would prefer not to scare Ryder off with my Sasquatch legs, so the pants might have to stay," I lied. I shaved yesterday.

Ryder laughed. "I really don't care."

"Well I do, so no," I joked, sticking my tongue at him like a child.