and tears stream down her cheeks. She sits on the bed, stroking the fabric of the dress I wore to the CoTechnic picnic. “I wouldn’t forgive me if I were you, Em. I’m so sorry though. Honestly I am—”
I sit down next to her and hug her close. “Of course I forgive you, stupid. You’re my best friend forever, dummy.”
It’s true. I do forgive her with all my heart. How can I not? Lara knows that I know she’s fucked up badly enough for me to reserve the right to call her a stupid dummy to her face, and not get punched in the gut for it.
The real question is; why did she fuck up so royally and cancel on me in the first place?
I ask her as much.
“I’d rather not say.”
Why am I not surprised that I won’t be getting an answer from her? I don’t suppose I’ll get answers from everyone else either, because I had received messages today, hadn’t I? They did all say that they were un-cancelling. As far as today is concerned, it really is my wedding day once again. If it weren’t for the fact that glancing in the mirror makes me have a stroke at the sight of my puffy eyes and red face, I’d say this day was shaping up to be a pleasant one.
“That’s my fault, isn’t it?” Lara looks at me in the mirror’s reflection. She draws circles in the air in front of her eyes with her finger to indicate my own swollen eyelids.
“Yeah, this…” I too pause and indicate my whole face by way of swirling full hand motion. “This is your fault.” Well, it’s partially her fault, and everyone else’s fault who’d cancelled on me yesterday.
I’m not quite sure my thinking is back to normal yet. I still can’t wrap my head round the fact that everyone did indeed cancel on me. And what about my parents and their cancelled flight?
“Oh no!” I gasp, finally feeling something other than a blasé sort of fog filling my mind.
“What’s the matter, hun?” Lara holds my elbow as though she thinks I’m going to fall over.
“My parent’s flight from Spain was cancelled. My dad isn’t going to be here to walk me down the aisle!”
Oh no. No, no, no. I’m not doing this. I’m not going to start crying again. I’ve spent all my tears. I won’t survive if my eyes start leaking again. Suck it up, girl!
“Don’t panic, babe!” Lara yells in my face. “I’ll walk you down that damn aisle if I have to!”
And that’s it. I lose it completely.
I burst into peals of laughter and tears of hysteria slide down my face. “In that case we should definitely invite Veronica and Craig to our lesbian wedding!”
***
Lara calms my maniacal laughter by reminding me that the two of us aren’t actually getting married to each other.
“Oh yeah, I’m marrying a bloke, aren’t I?” I hum lightly to myself as Lara drives us to the wedding venue. On the way I manage to have a long phone conversation with my ever apologetic parents in Spain. I assure them that I don’t blame them at all for their flight being cancelled, and I do so by pointing out just that fact. I mean, it’s not like my parents have control over stupid airlines and their major fuck ups, now is it?
I leave out the saying of F word bit while reassuring my parents though.
When we arrive at Mortsbaton Court I’m ushered into the bridal suite amidst many apologies from the hostess. There are a dozen huge arrangements of flowers scattered around the room.
“To say we’re incredibly sorry, Miss Gillam.”
“All these flowers are for me?”
Georgina nods her head and leaves just as Tina and Stacy enter the room. They both seem to be incredibly weighed down by the large plastic boxes they’re holding. When Tina sets the boxes down on the bed and gets a good look at my face, she practically screams in horror.
“Oh dear god this is all my fault!”
It’s not entirely her fault. Just like it wasn’t entirely Lara’s fault. They were both at fault for cancelling so I’m not exactly going to give either of them any leeway in the matter. In other words, they can stew in their guilt for just a bit longer.
To make matters worse, I stick out my hands.
Tina nearly faints when she witnesses the filed, chewed mess that was my fingernails.
“Fucking hell, what did you do?” Stacy grabs Tina and steadies the