Stepdad

FIFTY-TWO

Allie was in the middle of washing dishes when she heard a knock at her door that made her nearly jump out of her skin. She turned off the water and dried her hands on a towel before she stepped over to the front door to reveal Rena standing there with obvious excitement in her eyes.

At first Rena didn't say a word, she stood there with two bags in her hand, looking as if she would explode if Allie didn't let her inside. Allie had no idea what she was about to get into but she stepped aside to allow Rena to come in and closed the door behind her.

"What's this about? Why do you look absolutely tickled to be here? Why are you here?" It wasn't as if Allie didn't want her there, she just didn't remember them making any plans that would cause Rena to not be able to contain herself.

"I'm here to get you ready for something magical." Allie watched as Rena dropped the bags onto her kitchen table to reveal that one was filled with makeup and hair products, the other filled with different outfit choices.

"I can't say I'm not scared to death. Rena, you know I hate playing dress up. I'm not a Barbie doll." Allie groaned out as she tried to turn to walk away, not wanting to be dragged into whatever this was against her will.

Rena was quick to grab her by the arm though and pulled her back toward the table before she pulled out a chair and forced Allie to sit down in it. "Trust me, it will be worth it. I promise." Rena couldn't tell her why she was doing this so she had to convince Allie to do this somehow.

Allie quickly realized that she wasn't getting out of this so she sucked it up and decided to just let Rena get on with it since she knew there was no stopping her once she had that twinkle in her eyes about something. "Where's Ryker?"

Allie seemed genuinely surprised by her question and was about to turn her head to look back at her but Rena turned her head back forward so she could start fixing her hair. "He's at daycare. I was about to head into work. Why?"

Rena began running a brush through Allie's hair to make sure she got out all of the tangles. "You're gonna have to call in sick today." Rena explained as she began running her fingers through Allie's black hair to braid it.

Allie was dumbfounded, a look of pure disbelief on her face over Rena's suggestion. Rena wanted her to call in sick? In this economy? Absolutely not, she had bills to pay and a child to take care of. She wasn't going to skip work just to play Barbies fashion show with her. "Why the hell would I do that?"

She could hear Rena laughing and even though Allie hated every minute of what Rena was currently doing to her, Allie always liked the feeling of her hair being braided. It reminded her of her grandmother braiding her hair when she was a little kid.

"Honestly, Allie. Why are you still working? Colson already told you that you didn't have to." Allie's eyes rolled back as soon as those words left her best friends lips. She was well aware of her boyfriends advances and his finances, she just didn't care.

"And I'll tell you the same thing I told him, he can take his wallet and shove it." Allie loved Colson and would normally be open to most of his suggestions but that was where she drew the line. She wanted to work and pay her own bills.

She could hear Rena laughing harder as she finished braiding her hair and Allie could just feel the smirk on her face from the sound of it. "Im not sure if you're the smartest or the dumbest girl alive, but I respect it. Either way, you're calling out of work today."

Allie spun around in the chair and looked up into Rena's eyes with a small glare. "No, I'm not." Allie spoke in a firm tone as Rena began putting primer on Allie's face. "Not unless you tell me what's going on." Allie was trying to talk and avoid Rena getting the primer into her mouth at the same time.

Rena stopped what she was doing and looked directly into Allie's eyes with a bright smile on her lips as if she were talking to a pouting child. "I can't tell you what's going on, but you're going to call out anyway." Rena spoke in a soft and calm tone.

Allie couldn't believe the audacity that this girl had, but it was one of the things that made her instantly connect with Rena in the first place. She loved her for it. "You're acting super sus right now. This has something to do with him doesn't it?" Allie squinted as she spoke these words, her eyes staying locked on Rena's.

Allie wasn't stupid, she knew Rena was up to something and it usually involved Colson in some shape or form. But with Colson, the possibilities of what's going on could be fucking endless so there was no real way of figuring it out. "It might have something to do with him. You know if you go into work, he's just going to come and get you."

Allie scoffed, her eyes rolling back once more at the mere thought of it. She wouldn't put it past him, he was a big baby when it came to getting his way sometimes. She could picture him kidnapping her from her job.

Allie opened her mouth to argue with Rena but she quickly closed it and let out a deep sigh through her nose. She figured calling out would save her quite a bit of embarrassment in the long run so she reached out to pick her phone up from the table.

She began sending her boss a text that she wouldn't be in today, giving him an excuse of having to pick up Ryker from Daycare. "You both annoy the shit out of me. Especially when you're working together. The hell happened to girl code?" Allie spoke while Rena was applying makeup to her face.

"There's nothing in the girl code that says I can't help my best friends boyfriend with his master plan." Allie stifled a laugh over the idea of Colson having a master plan. Allie went to open the front camera on her phone to see exactly what Rena was doing to her face.

"Please go as natural as possible this time. If you make me look like weird Barbie, I just might banish you from my apartment." Allie spoke in an amused tone as she watched what Rena was doing through the camera.

"When you say natural, are we talking Kardashian or Pennywise?" Allie could clearly tell that Rena was joking and just trying to push her buttons. Allie lifted her eyes from the camera to Rena's, another glare getting thrown her way.

"Bare skin. I changed my mind." Allie looked back down at her phone when it began ringing, Colson's name popping up on the screen. "Should I answer it or send him to voicemail?" Allie asked as her finger hovered over the button.

"Answer it. He might lose his mind and show up at your job if you send him to voicemail." Allie couldn't help but laugh as she hit the button to answer the call before she put the phone on speaker.

"Good morning, you're clearly wide awake and full of ideas at 8 in the morning." Allie spoke to Colson in an amused tone as she held the phone down in her lap so Rena could finish what she was doing.

She could hear the sound of his laughter echo through the phone and a small genuine smile came to her lips. "What can I say? When I have something I really wanna do, I can't stop thinking about it until I do it."

Allie was even more confused now than she was when she opened the door for Rena. "Colson, I barely know what year it is when I wake up early in the morning. Have you even slept?"

"Nope. Not even a little bit." Colson was quick to respond and Allie immediately knew that whatever he was planning was a big deal to him so she was gonna cut the jokes and be serious. "You almost done getting ready?"

Allie didn't know how to answer a question like that when Rena was the one getting her ready. "We could be here anywhere between 20 minutes to 2 hours. Who knows?" Allie knew how much of a perfectionist that Rena was when it came to a project.

She could hear Colson laughing again and she was glad at least one of them was amused by it. "Text me when you're done and you're about to leave, okay? I love you." Hearing him say he loved her always made Allie smile no matter what kind of mood she was in.

"Okay, I will. I love you too." Allie breathed out with a small smile on her lips before she hung up the phone and placed it back down on the table, deciding to be a statue so Rena would hurry up and let her out of this chair.

Allie had no idea what was about to happen, but entire life was about to change in a single day.