I Just Had to Lick the Cookie, Didn't I?

You don't need to
Emerge from nothing
You don't need to
Tear away

"This is as far as I go before you have to turn around," I told Milo. He was watching me curiously as he buckled his belt absentmindedly.

"Alright then, I'll be in the bathroom. Come and get me when you've got yourself all covered up," he teased.

"Ha, ha," I responded dryly, with a hint of sarcasm. Milo smiled and took off to the bathroom, grabbing his button-up on the way.

Once the bathroom door was closed, and I was positive no one was going to come barging through the other, I pulled out a bra from my suitcase. Still hiding myself in case someone happened to come in, I put on the latter after dropping the towel. With a heavy sigh, I rose from where I had been crouched on the floor.

"Milo!" I called, walking toward the door. Just as I reached the closet---which was a good ten feet from the bathroom door---the door opened. Milo stood smiling at me. "What?" I groaned.

"It's nothing," he assured me, even though I didn't believe a word.

"Whatever, now which dress am I supposed to wear?" I asked, looking from him to the open closet. It was full of his clothes, and my dresses. All of my other things were still in my suitcase, or on the floor somewhere...

"That pain in the ass one." Ugh. Not that one...

Oh, see, you have no idea what I'm talking about. Well, when we went shopping, I tried on a million dresses. We only bought a few, the ones that looked the best---and I could stand. One of the ones that was alright when it was on, was one pain in the ass to get on. The lady in the store had to help me get dressed. Apparently there's a capacity limit of one person per dressing room unless the second person's an employee. I guess they just didn't trust Milo.

"Fine," I sighed, finding the dress and pulling it out. It wasn't really that bad. It reminded me of Thanksgiving, I guess, so it was appropriate. Or maybe it just reminded me of fall... Same difference.

"Give it to me," Milo commanded in a mock-Arnold voice. (The governor Arnold, whom Milo does not remind me of at all. What a loser.) Scoffing, I handed him the hanger that the dress was on. "Okay, how are we going to do this? I wasn't in there the last time," he inquired, removing the thin straps from the hanger.

"This is ridiculously embarrassing, and if you even think about laughing, I'll find some way of inflicting pain on you," I warned him. Milo smiled and nodded. "Okay, here I go."

My eyes were closed tight as I lifted my hands in the air. In order to get the dress on, I had to raise my arms all the way up and have the dress pulled down over my head. The lady at the place said I got dressed weird and I'd ruin the dress if I put it on any other way.

I felt the fabric come down over my head. One of Milo's cold fingers brushed over the skin on my arm, and then another finger managed to brush over my ribs.

"Sorry," he whispered, letting the rest of the dress fall down. It reached my knees, and I actually kind of liked it.

"Not a problem," I reassured him, opening my eyes and straightening the dress out. For a brief second, I looked down at the floor, and then I looked up at Milo. He was wearing black slacks that had a slight pinstripe. His striped button-up was hanging freely about him, only a few buttons actually buttoned. I could see his muscular chest, and I laughed. "Button yourself up, please."

"What? Why? You don't like my disheveled look? It's all the rage," he informed me with a shake of his head.

"Nope, you look like a slob," I told him, reaching my hand up to fix his hair. He smiled.

"I've been worse. Much, much worse." Rolling my eyes, I stepped back and turned to the closet.

"Do I have any shoes to wear with this?" I asked, searching the closet floor with my eyes.

"Oh, yea, I've got some under my bed I think." I turned and looked at him. His face was scrunched up and he was staring off into space.

"Under your bed?" I laughed. He snapped out of his little trans and smiled.

"Jennifer---Wayland's wife---left her shoes here one time and I found them while I was staying here. I was too lazy to bring the shoes to their room and I kept them here. They should match."

"Lovely. Now you, mister, need to finish getting ready." Milo raised an eyebrow. "What?" I asked jokingly.

"Nothing," he smirked. With my arms crossed, I leaned against the wall and watched him button the rest of his shirt. Once the shirt was buttoned, save for one on the bottom, Milo tucked it into his pants.

"You're such a nerd. First the school uniform, and now this!" I laughed.

"Hey, I can't help that my family's all proper and well-dressed. If I could show up in jeans and a tee-shirt, I would. However, I'd be slaughtered if I did." I smiled at him.

"It's alright, at least you don't look awkward in suits. If you did, I would so refuse to go out in public with you."

"Like you'd have a choice," he mumbled jokingly. I rolled my eyes and turned around to look in his closet.

"Do you have a tie, or are you not going to wear one?" I asked, looking over my shoulder. Milo smiled with his perfect bright white teeth.

"I've got one, it's hanging with my jacket. Why?" he asked suspiciously, coming to my side.

"No reason...I just wondered. And you look like a nerd with your shirt buttoned all the way up with no tie," I told him evilly, shrugging and focusing back on the clothes in the closet.

"Hey! That wasn't very nice," Milo pouted. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Then go put your tie on and then I won't be able to make fun of you anymore."

"Fine," he huffed. " I will." Childishly---and completely kidding---Milo stormed off to the bathroom. To get a better view, I took a step back and looked through the crack in the half-closed door. Milo had the tie around his neck and was pulling the knot up to tighten it. Damn he's fast.

With a huge grin, he came out of the bathroom. His chest was stuck up in the air, and he walked awkwardly. I couldn't help but laugh.

"I did it!" he yelled.

"Yes, you did. Good job!" I cooed, scampering towards him and grabbing his cheeks. I felt like one of those annoying great aunts...

"Ow," he whined and pulled my hands from his face.

"Like that hurt," I scoffed. Milo chuckled and let me go. He turned around and quickly went back into the bathroom, coming back with his suit jacket.

"Hold this," he commanded, handing me the jacket. He continued over to the bed and knelt down. His arm disappeared in the darkness under the bed and when it emerged, he had a pair of ivory flats. "These should fit you," he told me, slightly nervous.

"What's wrong?" I asked him curiously, taking the shoes from him when he got back in front of me. He took back his jacket and slipped it on in a hurry. I dropped the shoes to the floor and slipped them on.

"I'm uneasy about this," he admitted, looking me right in the eyes. "I don't want you to...get ripped to pieces. Surely my uncle explained that these people are vicious. They'll judge everything about you, and some of them have enough guts to say it to your face." Milo took a deep breath and grabbed my hand. "Let's walk and talk, we've got about ten minutes to get down there before I'm decapitated by my mother."

We left the room and began our journey down the hall. Milo's hand was holding mine, and for the first time our fingers were intertwined. Something was bothering me though.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Yea, go ahead," Milo answered, bringing me closer.

"If...well...your mom's basically a bitch, why do you listen to her? And, if you're twenty-one and all, and legally an adult, why would you listen to your parents when they told you to marry me?" I could have went on and kept asking the million and one questions I had, but that was enough for now.

Milo sighed.

"You're going to think I'm pathetic."

"Pfft. You, the amazing Maelogan? If I called you pathetic, I'd be in some serious denial."

Milo grunted.

"Don't flatter me... Well, I listen to them because no matter how much they may resent things that I've done, I still love them. I still respect them. Legally I'm an adult, but the truth is what my father told me about this arrangement is true. He may have done it all for the wrong reasons, but that doesn't change the fact that without you, without this, I'd be alone for the rest of my life."

"Oh," was all I could say.

So, Milo just admitted that his family resents him. And that he's willingly going along with this arranged marriage thing. Technically, I have a feeling I could blame him for it, but I won't. To be completely honest, I'd rather unwillingly marry someone that I'm friends with than live alone with crazy pets for the rest of my life.

"See, I'm pathetic. I'm desperate for them to forgive me, even though I know they won't," he sighed heavily.

"It's okay, we don't need them. We'll turn into criminals and move to Mexico. Then, we can just hide out with our stacks of cash and have millions of kids, like those folks down in Georgia."

Milo burst out laughing as we descended down the first set of stairs.

"Sounds good to me..." he laughed. When I realized that he was probably referring to the whole 'millions of kids' statement, I smacked him on the arm. "What, you're the one that said if I played the piano you'd---"

"Don't finish that statement if you know what's best for you and certain areas of your body." Milo and I both laughed.

It took a few more minutes for us to reach the bottom floor. The twenty seconds it took to reach the living room were like death. Even worse, the room was full. Full, packed, crowded, whatever the hell you want to call it. There were a ton of people in there, and every single one of them turned to look at us when Milo sneezed.

"God bless you," I told him, turning to meet his eyes and glare at him with a fake smile.

After this horrifying Thanksgiving was over, I was going to beat the crap out of Mister Maelogan Madden Boone.