Alec

"Fuck you!" I snapped at Alec as I pushed by him and stomped to the bathroom.

I slammed the door behind me to block out Aideen and Alec as I searched for my fucking toenail clippers. I was enraged to find that they were on the counter just like Alec said they were. I angrily sat on the side of my bath and put my foot on the closed toilet seat and went to work clipping my toenails until they were a 'safe' length.

I hated that they were pretty long like Alec said.

"Keela, how long will you be before we can go?" Aideen's now chuckling voice shouted from the kitchen.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

We were going somewhere?

"Go where?" I shouted.

"Shoppin', duh."

Shopping?

"Shoppin' for what?"

I jumped when the bathroom door was suddenly flung open. I don't know why I covered myself with my hands, I wasn't naked but if I were, Aideen would have seen everything.

"Shoppin' for what you're goin' to wear to the weddin', you're flyin' out tomorrow. Seriously Keela, get with it."

I groaned and lifted my hands to scrub my face, shopping for clothes completely slipped my mind.

"I've three hundred fifty euros for everythin', will that be enough?"

I hoped it was enough, that's all I could spare from my savings without putting myself in debt.

Aideen waved me on. "Please, I can make that stretch easily."

I gave Aideen a look. "I want to look nice Ado, not cheap."

Aideen placed her hands on her hips as she said, "We're bringin' sexy back, but on a budget."

I laughed. "You're up for the challenge then?"

Aideen laughed. "I got this, Kay."

I smiled. "I trust you."

I laughed when Alec popped his head around the door frame which made Aideen scream with fright. He chuckled and dodged her swinging hands. He put his arms around her from behind and pinned her hands to her sides.

"Did I just hear you say you have three hundred fifty euros to clothe yourself for this vacation?"

"Death sentence - not a holiday, but yes you did hear that correctly."

Alec shook his head. "No girlfriend of mine will be on a budget when she goes shopping, this is on me."

I looked to Aideen when her eyes all but fell out of her head.

"Can I be you girlfriend, please?"

I rolled my eyes while Alec laughed and said, "Sure you can. I'll always be up for a threesome with you and kitten."

In your dreams, playboy.

"Ha-ha very funny but no, I'm not takin' money from you Alec."

"Why not?" Alec asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Aideen echoed.

Really, her too?

"Because I'm not a leech. I don't need a man's money, I take care of meself."

Aideen groaned. "Give it a rest Kay. Alec wants to help you so let him help."

"Yeah, let me help."

I narrowed my eyes to the blue-eyed baby then huffed.

"He will probably want me to have sex with him as payment for the money."

Alec deadpanned, "Keela, I already told you I won't nag you into fucking me. You will take that route to me when you're good and ready."

I felt my jaw drop open just as Aideen burst out laughing. Alec chuckled also then kissed the crown of her head, released her arms and then left bathroom.

I angrily folded my arms. "Can you believe the filth that comes out of his mouth?"

Aideen smiled. "Yes I can and if you want this to work out you had better keep your mouth shut and put up with him. He is doin' you a favour after all, now hurry up so we can leave already."

I sighed as I stood up from my sitting position on the side of the bath.

"That will be me greatest accomplishment," I said.

Aideen raised her eyebrows and asked, "What will?"

"Just keepin' me mouth shut."

"Make her stop! I can't go into another store, I just can't do it."

I looked at Alec and snickered. He looked like he was about to cry and drop to the ground from tiredness. It was currently six in the evening and we had been out shopping in Dublin City Centre for the last five hours. His tux and dress shoes were the first thing bought because it was straightforward and simple. Alec hung the tux that came in the body bag looking cover up in the back of his Jeep while Keela and I hit a few shops on Grafton Street.

I bought myself all the essentials for a foreign country holiday like bathing suits, towels, sun cream, flip flops, the whole works. When Alec found us in Pennys he too got items a man would need on a holiday to a hot country. His basket was a lot lighter than mine because he literally just bought one pair of slip on shoes, four pairs of neutral coloured shorts, four white t-shirts, four coloured t-shirts, a packet of boxer briefs and a toothbrush. He said he would just make do with whatever I have with me in case he needed anything.

I don't know how much he can make do with female products but I didn't question him because I was tired myself. I was ready to go home an hour into shopping, but Aideen was in her element so I didn't even mention the word home, she probably would have hurt me if I did mention it.

"How long before we can go home?" Alec shouted to Aideen who was a few steps ahead of us.

Aideen turned and smiled. "We have everythin'. We just need to go to the hairdressers and get Keela's gruig under control."

Alec's face scrunched up in confusion.

I laughed. "What's that attractive face for?"

Alec looked to me and asked, "What does gruig mean?"

"It means hair in gaeilge... in Irish."

Alec raised his eyebrows. "You speak Irish?"

I shrugged. "I'm not fluent, I know most of what Aideen says but I still get stumped every so often."

Alec glanced to Aideen then back to me. "Aideen's fluent?"

I nodded. "Her family is fluent and so is she."

Alec smiled then looked at Aideen. "What is kitten in Irish?"

Aideen laughed and said, "Puisin."

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms across my chest as Alec laughed.

"Oh, that's fucking perfect."

I glared at him. "I don't like bein' called kitten in English let alone in Irish so don't even think about it."

"I can't call you my little puisin then?"

I wanted to laugh, his accent and the pronunciation of puisin was adorable.

"No, you can't."

"We'll see about that."

I growled making him laugh.

"Aideen, how do you say pretty girl in Irish?"

"I would go with cailin deas."

"Spell that for me please," he said then took out his phone and tapped on the screen as Aideen spelt the words.

"What are you doin'?" I asked.

"Texting my brother what pretty girl means in Irish, it will help him out when he and Bronagh are arguing."

I laughed. "You think she will melt?"

Alec looked at me and nodded. "Bronagh will think Dominic went out of his way to find out what his term of endearment for her means in her native language. It will be an instant lay for him."

My face scrunched up. "You're so nasty."

Alec laughed. "I'm just looking out for my bro."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, let’s just go get me hair done so we can get out of here."

"I second that."

Aideen waved us on so we followed her.

Alec nudged me as we walked. "We have all the materialistic things needed for this wedding, we're pretty much ready on that front. Storm is being doggie sat by Aideen, he will be thrilled about that by the way. All we need is you to be ready... are you?"

I kept looking ahead as we walk.

Was I ready to face Jason, Micah, and the rest of my crazy family?

"We will find out soon enough."