Chapter 56: House Guests

*AMY'S POV*

"Mmm, good morning...something smells delicious..." Zoey asks when she comes downstairs.  

"Mornin'," I greet her, "Egg, turkey sausage, and cheese bake.  It's just about done...is everyone else up?"

"Terry's slowly rousing, Mac is on his way down, and that AJ guy was still sawing logs when I came downstairs," Zoey replies.

I growl and get a look of disgust on my face, which of course makes Zoey look at me strangely.

"Okay, what is it?" She asks.

I try to blow it off and shrug, "Nothing, just...something about that guy rubs me the wrong way."

"Hmm, ok...I didn't get to meet him last night..what's he like?" She asks.

I can't help but roll my eyes, "Irritating."

She raises her eyebrows, "Ok...hmm...T says he's one of his best friends...there must me something good about him."

I get out the casserole and put it on a serving plate before setting breakfast on the counter, "I seriously doubt it."

She's laughing at me as she takes her food to the dining room.  Hmph.  Well, I can't help it if this guy is a pain in the ass...of course...I suppose I could be hospitable.  I grab a plate for myself and am heading to the dining room when - speak of the Devil - AJ walks in....

In his underwear...

"Uh, did you forget something?" I ask him.

He looks around oblivious before replying, "Good morning?"

I roll my eyes, already annoying, this early in the morning.  What an overachiever.

He's reaching out for a plate of food before I stop him.

"Are you seriously going to eat breakfast like that?"

More cluelessness.  I can't tell if he's really this dense or just doesn't care...both of which upstanding personality traits in my book, "Like what?" he asks.

"In your underwear...hel-lo."

He looks down and back up at me without even a lick of shame, "That was the idea..."

"Ok, how about at least putting on a shirt first...at least," I instruct him.

An annoying sneer comes across his face, "Why Amy, does my current state of undress make you uncomfortable?"

I'm just going to keep looking up at the ceiling...my eyes continuously find their way up there when talking with him anyway, "No, Andrew, just...you know what, never mind..."

I walk away and head to the dining room, expecting him to follow me.

I sit down at the table, exasperated already.  Zoey's almost done.

"What's wrong with you?" She asks, noticing my irritation.

"AJ, once again...I swear, two encounters with him and he just keeps getting better...do you know he was going to come in her and eat breakfast with us in his underwear?  Ewww." I blurt out.

Zoey makes a face, "Ew...well, the guys walk around with not much more on all the time..."
"Yeah, but that's different...we know them..." I tell her.

Zoey shrugs, "I guess."

She finishes up and as she gets up to clear her plate, AJ walks in, fully clothed, thank goodness.

"I hope my breakfast attire suits you for breakfast, Ms. Amy." He jokes.

I am so not in the mood.

Zoey is stifling laughter.

"Har, ha, har.  You're sooo funny."

He just grins and sits down, obviously pleased with himself.

Wanting to change the subject, Zoey introduces herself, "So this is the infamous AJ...Terry has told me so much about you."

He laughs out loud, "Oh shit...yeah, I'm the bad influence!"

Zoey laughs, "Yeah, he said every bit of trouble he ever got into was your fault."

I continue eating my breakfast as they talk, trying to get myself in a better mood.  We have a week before the wedding, Z's bachelorette party to plan, our workout routine to get into, and I don't have time to get bogged down by an annoying house guest.

I am so wrapped up in thought that I don't realize Zoey has left the table.  I hear Mac and Terry coming downstairs, but it's just AJ and me for right now.

"I have to say, this is really good..." AJ tells me.

Okay, he's trying to be cordial, "Thank you."

"Yeah, no problem...that's one thing I love about curvy women, they know how to cook."  There's that shit-eating grin again.

Ugh.  We are so never going to get along.

*ZOEY'S POV*

As much as I would have loved to stay at home and listen to AJ and Amy spat, we have to go work out, which I have been dreading ever since I got engaged.  I know I need to slim down and tone up, but I am not good at it.

My case in point.  Not to mention, Amy isn't any better.

After falling at least half a dozen times, we finally figure out how to slow the treadmill down to where we don't fall on our faces every five minutes.

"How long are we supposed to do this?" I ask Amy.

"Until we feel the burn, I guess," she replies.

"Well, that was when I stepped up on the damn thing," I say.

She laughs, "Yeah, they say we're supposed to be able to hold conversations while working out..."

"In order to do that, I'm going to have to stop jogging, go sit down, and wait to catch my breath."

We work out in silence the rest of the time, mostly because both of us are panting so hard we can't do anything but try to breathe.

By the time our workout is over, it's night time, which means we got nothing else accomplished.

***THE NEXT DAY***

*AMY'S POV*

As difficult as the first day of our exercise plan was, the second day was easier.  No falling on our faces and we weren't so out of breath that we couldn't hold a decent conversation.

Once we're done, we decide to go for a dress fitting and bridesmaids dress shopping!

"So what are you wanting for us?" I ask her.

"You know what I have always wanted.  I just want you all to wear a black dress.  I don't care if it's long, short, whatever." Zoey says.

Hmm, well, one would think that would be easy.

Zoey tries on her dress and she looks just as beautiful in it as she did before, even though she's not convinced.

I only look a short time when I see this flowy black dress and I know it's the perfect one for me.

I call Rebecca and she says she has already bought her dress.  Then I call Kelsey and she needs to go buy one.  While I'm talking to her, she sounds weird.

"Is everything okay?" I ask her.
"Oh, sure, I'm just...tired..." Kelsey replies.

"Uh-huh.  Well, whenever you're ready to talk about it, call me." I tell her.  I can always tell when something is bothering her.  I hope everything with Eddie is going okay.