Page 51 of Girl Like Me

“You’re a good friend B. If you ever need anything -short of killing your uncle- don’t forget that I’m here for you. If you want to kill anyone else I’m down to help and dispose of the body. I may have a few ideas up my sleeve.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say standing. “You’re one of the good ones.”

“Don’t go around telling people that,” he jokes with a laugh.

I head back out to my car and wave to Mossy on my way out. Once I’m buckled in I hook my phone up to the Bluetooth and decide to call Carson as I drive. Just as Mercer said, he was super excited and I can’t wait for him to help me get ready. I don’t know how Shandra is going to take the news but I honestly don’t care. By the sound of it, the old Bristol was a way to get her to love and accept me. Now it’s her turn to accept me and if she doesn’t like it then that’s her loss.

Saturday rolls around and much to my surprise when I told my mum that Carson was coming to do my hair and makeup, she didn’t flip out. She was almost relieved and had told me that she didn’t think I was going, so she had cancelled my appointments.

At the sound of the doorbell I head down stairs and see Carson standing in the foyer with my father talking animatedly. They must have heard me coming because they both stop their conversation and smile when they see me. I was ordered to shower but not wet my hair, shave and moisturise before Carson got here.

“Here is the girl of the hour!” Carson exclaims with a flourish. “Where is the magic going to happen?” Carson asks.

“I'll leave you guys to it and I will see you in a few hours when it’s time for pictures.” My dad says and excuses himself back to his office.

Carson follows me up the stairs and into my room where he starts to set up his stuff and rearrange my room.

“Alright girly, let's get started. Now show me your dress and let’s go over hairstyle ideas.”

I walk over to the dress bags hanging in my walk-in closet and pull out my dress. He gasps and a hand goes to his chest as he whispers, “It's perfect.”

“I was thinking of having a loose braid at the side pulled into a loose bun.”

“That sounds perfect, let's get started.”

I hop in the chair and Carson gets to work. He talks about how honored he is that I asked him to do this and how much he’s always wanted a daughter. Not that he doesn’t love Mercer with all of his heart, but he wanted a girl to fawn over and do all this fun stuff with. I ask why he didn’t have any more kids and he said that Mercer deserved all their love and attention after his childhood. And now he’s just going to wait for grandchildren. I laugh when he wiggles his eyebrows at me and tell him that I’m way too young to even be thinking about children. I also have no idea how that would even work. I don’t want to have five kids so they could all have one each, or would it be like Russian roulette and whoever has the fastest swimmers wins? I’m not sure if I’m being honest with myself.

I quickly shake off those thoughts, kids are in the distant future and not something I have to stress over right now. I have to focus on the here and now.

“You know, Phillip and I were worried about how an unconventional relationship would work. We know from experience people can be cruel and how the boys would all react to that kind of bias but the longer they know you the more we have seen them come out of their shells and blossom. I can’t begin to tell you how difficult it’s going to be out in the big world, but what you kids have is something special and I’m so grateful I’m part of your lives.”

Carson starts to cry, “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to cry but my boy is growing into a man and I’m realising he won’t need me as much anymore.”

“He will always need you. He might be tough on the exterior but inside he’s still that broken little boy. You and Phillip have done an amazing job at raising him. Even if he doesn’t say it much, he loves you guys more than words can express.”

“Let’s stop with the mushy talk, you can’t ruin your makeup once it’s on. Let’s talk about your plans for the future,” he says, pulling his make-up trolley closer.

“Honestly, without my memories I don’t know what I’m going to do. The old me wanted to be a lawyer but I think I would like to help kids. Maybe create a space where they can come and be children and not have to worry about their home life.”

“Then do that, I have a feeling even if you got your memories back that the old you is long gone. You only get one life, so enjoy it. I wanted the boys to travel the world before jumping straight into life. We spend too many years at school to just turn around and jump back into more school.”

“I would like to travel, to see the world before settling down. Enjoy life before deciding what to do once I’m grown.”

“Convince Mercer, those boys are so dead set on being together all the time and keeping up with Rory’s trust fund. I’ve tried to tell them to accept his offers. I’m not one to take handouts but Rory genuinely doesn’t want to live the life his parents did, he wants to be free. So why not use the money to be free.”

“I’ll see what I can do, I will never stop them from whatever their plans are.”

“I know you wouldn’t”

We talk some more and Carson works on my makeup and lashes. As soon as he’s finished he tells me to go and get my dress on.

Staring at my reflection in the mirror I feel like a princess. I hope the guys like my dress, it makes me feel beautiful and like me, the real me, not Bristol.

I open the bathroom door and step back out into my bedroom and Carson smiles, barely holding back the tears.

“Phillip just messaged and the boys are here. Wait here for a few minutes, I want to get photos as you come down the stairs.”

I nod and he rushes out of the door. I find my phone sitting on my bed and check my messages.

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