I moaned quietly as I started to wake up. I could hear someone knocking and was wondering who would be at my house this early… Bolting up in bed I remembered yesterday. Yep, it wasn’t a dream. As much as I wished otherwise, I had to accept it. Hearing the knock again I glanced towards my door and then picked up my phone from beside my pillow and looked at the time. It was almost seven thirty already. I forgot to set an alarm, not good.

“I’m up Uncle Alex. I must not have set my alarm.”

“You’re good, just making sure. Breakfast is almost ready.”

“Thanks.”

I could hear Alex move back towards the stove and got myself moving as well. I should have plenty of time, so rushing too much would just mess me up. I did a few stretches to loosen my sore muscles up a little and reluctantly pulled the hoodie off. ‘I’m not giving this back. It was way too comfortable so sorry Alex.’

Looking through my clothes I had a hard time choosing what to wear. I really wanted to wear something other than a dress or skirt, yet I knew that wasn’t an option. I’m just going to have to knuckle down and get over it. Something else to add to the ever-growing list of things I needed to “get over” I guess.

“Come on Sasha. You’ve worn a Kilt before and this isn’t that much of a difference. You can do this. Granted it was only for an hour… In High School, and you wore shorts underneath.” Grumbling wasn’t going to help either.

I finally picked out a teal skirt that came to just above my knees and a black blouse. Simple and easy. Putting on a pair of black hose, (I knew that you had to roll them up first, but it was still harder to do than I thought it would be) I slipped into the skirt. I know I’ve said it before, and will probably say it many more times. This is going to take some getting used to. The hose felt like the long johns I had worn before, just a lot more ‘airy’. I could tell I was wearing something but could still feel the air on my legs as I moved around. Glancing at my only other sports bra I tried to make up my mind if I needed it or not, I went for it. Better safe than sorry. I was still really glad I had ordered some as an afterthought. I need to add a few more to the list. Putting on the blouse and tucking it in I was ready to figure out what shoes I was going to wear. I went with a pair of dark navy blue sandals with a ‘kitten’ heel.

“Hmm, they’re easier to walk in than I thought. I better not get complacent though. Just because I’m on a flat, hard surface doesn’t mean anything yet.” Opening my bedroom door I stepped into the kitchen as I started to put my hair in a loose braid. I need to learn more ways to put my hair up than a ponytail and a braid. Dan,g it. I needed to learn so much now that even thinking about it gave me a headache.

“There you are. How are you feeling this morning? Did you sleep well?”

“I slept well, thanks. A little sore but I’m good. Sorry, I forgot to set an alarm, Uncle Alex.”

“No worries little one. We still have plenty of time. Go ahead and sit down and I will bring your food.”

“Mm.” I give up. I can’t even control some of my speech patterns anymore.

While I was sitting down at the small table Alex brought a plate of scrambled eggs, ham, toast, and a bowl of fruit over. My mouth started watering at the smell alone and I could tell he seasoned the eggs just how I liked them. I couldn’t even eat half of my plate and a handful of blackberries before I felt almost stuffed. I wanted more blackberries. I love blackberries.

“Uncle Alex, Isn’t it Sunday today?”

“Yep, All day.” I rolled my eyes at that (Not even gonna comment…) and he just laughed. Jerk.

“If it’s Sunday, will there be anybody at your office?”

“I called Kennith last night and he’s good with meeting us there around nine. Sounded like he had some work to do anyway.” Alex was cleaning up and putting the dishes away so it was almost time to go.

“Oh, Ok.” at least the guys wouldn’t be around. Hopefully, that makes things easier to deal with. They were good people, and anyone who says otherwise about construction workers are idiots. All trades and industries have good and bad. That said, the crew I worked with was a bunch of goofs who liked to joke around. They were definitely one of the best crews I had worked with.

“Do you want to go fire the pickup up for me?”

“Sure.” I grabbed the keys and after opening the door I slowly and cautiously made my way down the stairs. ‘That wasn’t too bad. Different, but doable with a little more practice.’ I managed to open the door and stared for a moment. This problem hadn’t even crossed my mind. My pickup wasn’t lifted or anything like that, but it was a long way up nonetheless. Grabbing the steering I used it and the door to leverage myself up. ‘That’s not good on the steering wheel. I need to find a better way. At least I’m strong enough to do that though, and I’m not too heavy so it should be fine I think?.’ I let the glow plugs do their thing, fired the old girl up and she came to life with a satisfying grunt. I know diesels aren’t for everyone, I also know diesel is getting expensive. I still love the sound and smell though. Sorry, not sorry.

I eased my way back to the ground from the driver’s seat and made my way back inside. Going upstairs seemed to be easier than going down. I made my way over to the couch and looked through my new phone. I should have checked it out earlier. I noticed that my contacts list had more than just Alex’s number in it. My mom and dad along with both my brother and sister were there. ‘Looks like even my nephews and niece are there as well. One step forward and two steps back Jacobus.’ My siblings probably knew what was going on by now, although I doubted neither of my nephews or my niece knew much about Sasha. I think they knew I would go visit her whenever I got the chance, and I thought of her like another niece, that was about it.

“I went ahead and sent your number to my family so they know if you call. Don’t be afraid to call them if you need anything.” There is definitely an innuendo there. He probably means if I have something that would be too embarrassing to ask a man. Way to be on top of it, Alex. Good call.

“Ok Uncle Alex. I will keep that in mind. Thank you.”

“Right, are you ready? Need anything else or to use the bathroom?”

“I better do that. Be right back” That could have been a close call. Better to try to get it out of the way here than at the mall or something. While I washed my hands at least one question was answered. One that I really didn’t want to know the answer to at that. Yes, using the bathroom in a skirt and hose sucked.

Leaving that little adventure and the house behind, Alex helped me into the passenger side back seat (it seems someone did a little research last night and found I was still too ‘small’ to ride in the front. Great.) and made sure I buckled up. We pulled out of the drive and around an hour later we arrived at the construction company’s office/shop. Oh no. There are way too many vehicles here. This is bad.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Uncle Alex, are there usually this many cars here?” I had to check to make sure I remembered right.

“No, not on a Sunday at least. I wonder what’s going on?”

Finding a parking spot, Alex jumped out and walked around to help me down. Should I try to stay in the pickup? Would Alex be Ok with that?

“It looks like Kennith is waiting. How about I introduce you to him?” Survey says… Nope. I’m screwed.

“Ok.” That’s all I could say. Hold it together, you’re good. It’s only Kennith… and the whole crew.

Crap.

“Hey, Alex. Sorry to hear about your friends. I take it this is Sasha?” Kennith greeted us as we walked up. He has been a really good boss for the last couple of years. He’s the type who doesn’t take any crap but is really laid back as long as things are getting done to his standards. Very high standards mind you.

“Morning Kennith. Yep, this is Sasha. Sasha this is Kennith. He’s a good guy so you don’t need to be shy around him.” I was trying to hide behind Alex and not stand out, but he just reached around and placed his hand on my back to guide me forward. Jerk! I’m not being shy, I’m trying not to be seen. There’s a difference.

“Good morning Sasha. It’s nice to meet you. Alex talks about you so much that the other guys are jealous and wanted to meet you. You would think you were his daughter, especially with that red hair.” Kennith laughed as he crouched down so he was more on eye level with me and stuck out his hand. Though he isn’t as big as Alex is at about six foot two, with shoulders that might even be wider, He still dwarfs me at five foot something.

“Nice to meet you, Kennith. My name is Sasha.” I tentatively took the proffered hand and he gently squeezed mine with a giant grin on his face.

“So polite. Just call me Ken little lady.” Looking up at Alex he started laughing. “I can definitely tell you didn’t raise her Alex. You couldn’t be polite if your life depended on it!” As Ken finished speaking I could hear laughter coming from behind him. Sounds like the crew was here. To make things worse I started blushing again so I lowered my head to try to hide it.

“Shut it old man! I don’t want to hear something like that coming from you.” Alex even had a little growl in his words making everyone laugh even harder. They were all just playing around though.

Ken just patted my shoulder with that same grin on his face and stood up.

“Alright, alright. Calm down guy’s, your ugly mugs are scaring the little lady.” Please, Ken, stop calling me little lady…

“Ya boss. We hear you.” That was Eric. He was always laughing about something and another chatterbox.

“If you ever need blackmail material on Alex all you need to do is ask Sasha!”

“Shut it, Frank. You don’t need to be telling her stuff like that” Alex snapped back. “Not like you guys have anything on me I would be worried about in the first place. They all know you Sasha, but you should go ahead and introduce yourself anyway.”

“Umm, I-It’s nice to meet you. My name is Sasha…” Can someone please explain why I’m stuttering like someone in a light novel and speaking so softly? I would really like to know. Anyone? On top of all that, what should I say my last name is? Do I stay with Drakoen, or should I use Athervon now? What’s one more question against a mountain of questions?

“Ah, It’s alright Sasha. We can talk about that later. There’s no hurry so don’t think too much about it for now” Alex put his hand on my shoulder again and gave me a soft smile.

That brought the mood crashing around us. Sorry guys, that wasn’t on purpose.

“It’s alright Uncle Alex. Sorry, everyone. I didn’t mean to stop your fun.”

“It’s alright little lady. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Ken looked at Alex with a raised eyebrow.

“Told you she was smart.” Alex was actually bragging a little. That’s different. I never used to brag about stuff. I would just let my actions speak for me. Wait, Ken did say that Alex talked about me a lot didn’t he? Crap, JACOBUS!

“Perceptive for a ten-year-old as well.”

“Yep.”

Something has to be wrong with my brain. For some reason, I could not for the life of me figure out how they got that I was smart and perceptive after that. Wouldn’t almost anyone be able to figure out that something happened when sixteen grown men were laughing one second and were silent and solemn the next? How did I get sixteen? There were fourteen people on my crew, fifteen with me. Add Ken and you get sixteen. I didn’t even need to look to know that the whole crew showed up. I could tell by the voices around me. One of the things my Sensei would have me do was play a sort of “game” where we would compare the different things about people and places. You start to pick up on little things like the tells and habits of those around you if you do it enough. You just have to train yourself to notice.

We started walking inside after that and the mood thankfully lightened. It wasn’t as boisterous as before, although they did start cracking a few jokes at each other again. As I said, they were total goofballs. Right before we got up to the counter is when I heard it. Please tell me that’s not what I think it is. I really can’t handle this if it is.

“Hello, Alex, who is this little cutie?” My first doom flag has arrived. Kennith’s wife was a hyperactive fifty-something woman who still loved anything “cute” and I knew my new self would be right up her alley. You could compare her and Valeria on many points from what I could see and remember. They both believed women should be “elegant” and hold themselves in high regard. I don’t think I had ever seen Rebecca in anything but dresses and heels with her hair neatly done up. She was still a beautiful woman and you could tell she took a lot of time taking care of herself. We all joked that there had to be more to Kennith than what you could see because he had somehow convinced her to marry him.

“Hi, Rebecca. This is Sasha. We just got home the other night and she’s still trying to settle in.” Alex was probably trying to run interference with that but it seemed to backfire. Crap.

“Oh dear, Kennith told me everything.” Rebecca quickly came over, crouched down, and hugged me. I stiffened in her embrace but she only tightened her grip on me. Looking around for help I saw Kennith and Alex both shaking their heads in exasperation. I guess I’m not getting any help from the peanut gallery. What do I do? She’s a caring lady who is like a second mother to all of us in a way, so I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but this is too much right now.

As if sensing my feelings she pulled back a little with a soft smile. “Come over here, dear. Let the boys do what they need to and we can chat while I redo your hair for you. I know Alex usually has his in a braid but he’s not used to having such long beautiful hair as you do.”

“Umm, thank you, but Alex didn’t do my hair, Mrs. Rebecca.” I knew their last name, but no one had said it yet so it would be weird if I knew it.

“Please just call me Becca. You don’t have to be so polite around me.”

“Mm. Ok, Becca.”

While Alex finished up the paperwork and joked with the guys Rebecca chatted away about her kids and other tidbits while she put my hair into an intricate braid that reminded me of the braids that one actress always had in that show about Vikings. The sides were done in three braids each that met in the back with one large loose braid from the top of my head. It amazed me how quickly she did it too. It only took her about fifteen minutes even with her pulling rank and having Kennith fetch her purse so she could get some more hair ties. Looking in the mirror in the women’s bathroom I was in awe. I’m not gonna lie, it looked awesome. I really wanted to learn how to do that. If I could, that would be my go-to hairstyle from now on.

“You did a good job when you braided your hair, Sasha, you didn’t quite get the end though and it was a little off-center. I bet your mom helped you most of the time didn’t she?”

“Yes, she did. About, all I can do is a ponytail. I like my hair braided though so I wanted to try.” I did like my hair braided and did it myself all the time, the problem came from having so much of it.

“Well. If you ever need help all you need to do is ask. Alex is a good guy and very smart, but there are going to be many things he can’t do. He has my number so make sure you call me.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem dear. Here you go. I think the boys are done as well.” We walked over to everyone else and said our goodbyes. I noticed Rebecca took Alex to the side and probably gave him an earful about making sure to call her if we needed anything. She really was a caring person.

Alex helped me get into the pickup again and we pulled out of the parking lot to a lot of people waving at us. I was a little shocked at that. I seriously never realized that I could consider the guys I worked with as friends. I need to take this to heart and try to learn from it. Maybe get Alex to invite them over for a barbecue sometime as well. It would be good for him to have some people to hang out with and get some guy time, especially since he was an exact copy. It’s getting harder and harder to think of him like that.