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Beautifully Done
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2024-12-19 13:53:09Related chapters
She's No Beauty Queen One Interesting Fact
The next morning sightseeing went about the same as the day before. It was a lot of fun checking out some exhibits at the Smithsonian, though Lily was way more into it than everyone else. But all good things come to an end and she had to get back to the real world.Her internship was unpaid for academic credit (honestly, who came up with that horrible idea in the first place?) but would be taking up most of her time. She would be working at the local aquarium’s research institute for ten weeks and had to complete a research project during that time. If it was good enough, it might end up published and she would get co-authorship credit with her mentor.Lily already knew exactly what she wanted to research, having looked into her options beforehand. She had to make the most of this internship since the spots were highly coveted so it wouldn’t do to go in unprepared.She wanted to study vampire squids. She found them fascinating and specifically wanted to see if she could discover anyt
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen It's Kind Of Complicated
Lily thrived on everything she was learning at her internship. After being told how to operate the ROVs, among other useful things, everyone was able to start their research. For her that involved watching everything Dr. Manheim already had on vampire squidsShe spent days staring at a screen watching the footage, taking notes, and talking to him about how his research on the subject was going. He seemed simultaneously pleased to talk about it and frustrated that there wasn’t more information readily available, which made sense considering how mysterious the creatures were.She was so entrenched in her internship that she didn’t even have time to worry about seeing Mark again until Friday rolled around and she remembered she had to dress up nicely before going into her internship because he would be picking her up and taking her to the courthouse immediately after she got off. She hated dressing up but it wasn’t like there was a real risk of getting her dress dirty since she was sitti
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen She Must Really Be Something
The ceremony was much shorter than Lily expected it to be. The only other wedding she had ever been to was Donovan’s and that was held at a nice venue with more than a hundred guests. She supposed it made sense.The bride and groom both smiled throughout it but Eddie’s smile seemed a bit sad. Poor sucker. As a matter of principle, she should really be on her sister’s side here but she felt for the guy.They kissed at the end of the ceremony much like a normal couple would. Lily and Mark’s job here was done since the judge filled out the marriage certificate with them as witnesses discounting the fact that Angel wanted all of them to go out to dinner to celebrate. That was the part she was most worried about.She found herself alone with him again in the car because the bride and groom had come together. She couldn’t help but blurt what was on her mind since the two of them seemed to be the only friends either Angel or Eddie had.“Do you think they’re going to be okay?”Belatedly, Lily
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen I Already Told You
Lily’s confusion about what Mark said in the car continued to bother her throughout dinner. Eddie didn’t notice anything was up with her because he was too caught up in what his new wife was saying, somehow managing to seem blissfully happy and miserable at the same time.She barely managed to keep up with their conversation as she tried to figure out what this new development meant. He said so himself he never had feelings for anyone but he basically admitted to liking her as a person if nothing else.Though she could vainly be trying to fit herself where she didn’t belong. He could be talking about someone else entirely.The chances weren’t high though. From what she could tell he didn’t have any friends aside from his boss. And there were quite a few clues from their interactions she was only now putting together that pointed to her being the mysterious person whose opinion he valued.The real question was why. Why her? What made her so special when she hadn’t even been able to rem
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen More Than He Bargained For
Edward was putting on his tie as he walked downstairs and saw Angel crouching down talking to Aria. She was already in her rather casual wedding attire looking nothing like she did in her pageant days. The understated makeup suited her and his heart skipped a beat at the sight.“You look beautiful,” he said honestly.She looked up at him and smiled. “Even though I’m wearing my glasses?”“You better not let Lily hear you say that.”Angel laughed. “Right, I forgot. The story from my birthday dinner. Force of habit, I suppose. The only compliments I got for most of my life were directly related to pageant standards.”She had said something like that to him before. It would likely take her a while to get out of that mindset. Edward would have to remember to compliment her more about other things.“I know. I was only teasing you. Shall we?” he asked.Angel nodded before kissing the top of Aria’s head. “We’ll be back before bedtime, baby. Be good for Renata.”“Okay, Mommy!” the little girl
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen She Doesn't Count
Angelina was relieved Miss Americana was over and done with. It had been hanging over her head for most of her life.She had known for the past three years that as soon as it was over she was going to have to marry Eddie but that had been stressful considering her rocky history with him. Even after things started getting better she wanted it out of the way so he would realize she wasn’t going anywhere and would stop acting weird.She didn’t know how long it would take to make that happen because she knew she screwed up really badly when they went to San Diego. He acted like he was fine but somehow give off a bittersweet aura at the same time ever since they sort of cleared the air.Her engagement ring had become a wedding ring but nothing else felt different. When they got home after the wedding and dinner they did the same nightly ritual they always did.Angelina was trying to take things slowly because she wasn’t sure what she felt for him and she was still dealing with the trauma o
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover
The two of them discussed poses for about five minutes before actually implementing them. This was the part Aria was excited about. It seemed she had inherited her mother’s natural talent in front of a camera because she followed the posing instructions like a pro.The good thing was that she would never have to use it for anything other than this. No headshots. No self-promotional photos. Most of the pictures taken of her would be by her family members—the way it should be.Betty exclaimed over how photogenic Aria was and remarked offhandedly that it seemed like Angelina knew her way around a camera too. She could appreciate the irony.They did family photos next and her personal favorite pose was the one where Eddie held Aria and they both kissed one of her cheeks. Looking back on them afterwards, the little girl smiled brightest in that one.She had fun having her picture taken for a little while but toddlers have short attention spans. She squirmed out of her mother’s arms wantin
Last Updated : 2024-12-19She's No Beauty Queen Legend
Thankfully, Mark showed up before Lily’s mother could guilt trip her anymore. She hurried out the door and hoped she wasn’t going from the frying pan into the fire.To think she rushed into something she had been dreading for weeks! That showed exactly how much she hated being lectured. Sometimes you had to choose the lesser of two evils and right now that was the chameleon.He was dressed casually in a pair of cargo pants and a t-shirt where chibi Deadpool and Groot from the Marvel comics were wearing onesies that looked like each other. Right now he looked like the sort of person she enjoyed hanging out with but looks could be deceiving. You can’t judge a book by its cover indeed.“Nice shirt,” Lily told him.Mark looked down as if he had forgotten what he was wearing and laughed. “Thanks. It showed up in a Facebook ad and I couldn’t resist getting it.”She hadn’t realized he was on Facebook. Not that it mattered. They weren’t friends—they were more like unfortunate acquaintances. T
Last Updated : 2024-12-19
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She's No Beauty Queen Incredibly Grateful
Lily and Mark had a small simple wedding at a garden venue. Angel convinced her to let her apply light makeup for the occasion with the rationalization that she would only be getting married once. It did make her stand out in the pictures so she supposed that was something.All of their friends and her family were there to support them. Aria was the most adorable flower girl ever and her nephew Hunter was the ring bearer. Angel was the matron of honor and Randi and Genevieve were her other bridesmaids. Mark’s best man was Eddie and two of his bowling friends rounded out the wedding party.They went on their honeymoon to Hawaii where they took another submarine tour and hiked what felt like every inch of the island of Maui. Lily was happy but exhausted by the time they got home.Despite experiencing a major life event, not much changed in terms of work or their general schedules for another year when she got pregnant with their son Damien. Her job was kind enough to let her take a year-
She's No Beauty Queen I Thought You Would Never Ask!
Lily inhaled deeply and let the smell of the salty air soak into her soul. It was impossible to worry about anything right now when she was this relaxed.“You certainly seem happy,” Mark noted with a smile as they bobbed in the water.“I am. No one ever wants to go swimming with me. Thanks, Mark. Today has been wonderful and it’s not even over yet. You spoil me too much.”“There’s nothing wrong with a little spoiling.”Lily knew it was pointless arguing with him so she let it go and closed her eyes as she floated there. The ocean was oddly tranquil today. There were hardly any waves at all, which was perfect for swimming.She wasn’t sure how long they stayed in the water like that enjoying the quiet and each other’s company but, eventually, they headed back to shore. He read a book on a towel while she took a nap and let the sun soak into her soul.When she woke up, she felt more at peace than she had in ages. Her boyfriend had planned the perfect day for her. At times like this, it w
She's No Beauty Queen That Wasn't Like Her
Lily’s ongoing struggle trying to be okay with Mark not wanting to move forward in their relationship became more difficult as time went on. On the rare occasions she tried to bring it up, he would quickly change the subject so she gave up after a while.That wasn’t like her. She was so frustrated she was ready to blow a gasket but didn’t want them to fight.So she ambled along expecting nothing knowing that was all she was going to get. It didn’t help that Angel was pregnant with her second child and very excited about the fact. She would be having a boy this time and she and Eddie had already decided to name him Eli.Aria had hoped for a sister but was still looking forward to having a baby to play with even if it was a boy. She was a good kid and Lily had no doubt she would be a great big sister.As much as she looked forward to meeting her new nephew, it got her wondering if she would ever be able to have a child of her own. Her twenty-fifth birthday passed recently and Mark still
She's No Beauty Queen An Irreplacable Existence
Patience wasn’t Lily’s strong suit. Mark hoped Donovan got back to her quickly because he didn’t want to prolong this more than necessary. Mark didn’t want to ruin the surprise either though. If she knew what he was planning in advance, she might get suspicious.Thankfully, Donovan’s family was available two weeks from then. And so were two spots for what Mark was planning to take Lily to do. He booked the tickets immediately so now all he could do was wait.He already knew his girlfriend would accept his proposal but he was still anxious. Who wouldn’t be asking such a loaded question to the person that mattered to them most?At least she didn’t seem to have caught on yet. She chatted normally on their longer-than-expected drive down to L.A. due to traffic. They didn’t arrive until nearly 2 AM so it was a good thing Eileen told them where the spare key was kept in advance so they could let themselves in.An air mattress had already been set up for them. All they had to do was flop ont
She's No Beauty Queen Alright Then, Be Mysterious
Talking to Angelina about her seizure frequency being pregnant only made Mark feel worse because he knew Lily wanted multiple kids. She would be putting herself at risk more than once and he wasn’t sure he would be able to live with the anxiety. As it was, he wasn’t sure how Edward was able to do it.Maybe that was who he needed to talk to in order to ease his fears. Someone who had been in the position he would potentially find himself in twice.Mark knew that it wasn’t fair to leave Lily hanging forever. He wanted to spend his life with her, he truly did, but he needed to get his fears under control first.“How do you handle knowing your wife could have a seizure any time?” he blurted when he and Edward were in the car on their way to a meeting the day after his conversation with Angelina.He didn’t seem terribly surprised by the question. It seemed that she had told him what they talked about yesterday. “I don’t know. I guess I’m used to it by now. She did have one within five minu
She's No Beauty Queen Her Heart On Her Sleeve
They exchanged numbers and Angelina excused herself to get back to work. She should be able to focus now that she had gotten a bit of a break. It was nice knowing that at least one of her former associates was doing well these days. She hoped they were all able to find things that made them happy the way she had.Mark didn’t even look up when she came back in. He was that focused on his work. She wasn’t able to catch his attention at all until she called his name three times after finishing what she needed.“Sorry, I was in the zone. Are you ready to go?” he asked sheepishly.“Yeah. Thanks for sticking around.”Angelina felt a bit guilty to be inconveniencing him like this but at least he already knew Eddie was a worrywart when it came to her. That was why he wasn’t letting her drive on her own.He didn’t say anything until they were nearly back at her house. “Hey…um…do you always have seizures when you’re pregnant?”That was completely out of the blue. Why would he ask about that?“T
She's No Beauty Queen Small World, Isn't It?
Over time, Taylored’s customer base did grow, if not as quickly as the owners wanted it to. Genevieve and Lita got a huge order to make costumes for a local theater company’s production of The Music Man and that kept them pretty busy for a while but that wasn’t the only big thing happening.After a few months of actively trying, Angelina found herself pregnant again. It was a much happier experience this time and everyone was excited about it. Particularly Aria. She was thrilled at the prospect of having a little brother or sister because a lot of her friends had them.She asked a million and one questions about what she dubbed “our baby.” It was adorable.Though her emotional state was much better, things weren’t too different physically than they had been with Aria because she had to change her medication again and that took getting used to. At least she was planning on it in advance this time and did it before getting pregnant rather than after.She was fairly miserable but hated b
She's No Beauty Queen Me Too
Angelina had been rather busy preparing herself for the grand opening of their shop Taylored and didn’t notice her twin’s distress. Lita’s son was named Taylor so it was a sort of play on his name and the fact that they were tailors on top of designing custom clothes.By the time Genevieve graduated, everything was just about ready to go. Their grand opening was the week after and they had already gotten an impressive amount of advertising done so there should be a decent turnout. It didn’t hurt that they had a great location where they should get a lot of traffic.Having a real estate mogul for a husband could be surprisingly helpful. Before this, she never thought she would utilize his skills for finding great locations.Angelina went to the grand opening for a while since Aria was playing with Emma. Preschool was out for the summer and she missed her friends already. She was such a social little thing.She thought it went pretty well, all things considered. A lot of people came in
She's No Beauty Queen You Know I Thrive On Chaos
Genevieve caught a real break when Angel met Lita. She never would have suggested going into business otherwise but the three of them got on like a house on fire.Lily had been surprised to say the least and asked her twin about it. She smiled softly as she explained that all she ever wanted was to make a difference for people like her and this gave her the chance to do so without taking her away from her family for long stretches of time unlike her original dream.She certainly seemed excited about it. Talking about her potential business venture made her much more enthusiastic than usual. It was cute.Angel had made her own friends too in the various clubs and classes she had joined trying to figure out what she wanted to do so she joined Lily’s friends maybe once a month these days. Lily was happy for her. She deserved to have a life of her own after living someone else’s dreams for so long.Lily looked forward to seeing where this clothing business went. She had already commission
