said, “Say Yes to the Dress.”
“Well?” Jessica shouts, jumping me in to full maid-of-honour mode.
“You could call off the whole wedding,” I joke and give her a playful nudge.
Jessica narrows her eyes at me and crosses her arms over her well-endowed chest, “This is a big deal Megan. Everything needs to be perfect. This isn’t supposed to be happening right now!” She lets out an exasperated sigh and throws herself back on my bed.
“Jessica, please. How could you not look amazing in anything you put on?” I say and pat her leg for encouragement, “Besides, Michael wouldn’t care if you walked down the aisle in a paper bag. He would still marry you.”
Jessica sits up and taps her finger on her lips, "You’re right. I do look fabulous in just about everything.” She gives me a tiny hug before her gaze darts across the room, “Where’s the checklist?”
My panic button goes off. I haven’t seen the checklist since I left my house last night to meet Ben. I fumble my words; until Jessica catches on that I don’t know where it is. She gets up and starts whizzing around my room in search of her infamous checklist. I too, begin searching, until I happily catch a glimpse of it crumpled up on my suitcase in the corner of my room. When I reach down to pull it up, I hear Jessica’s voice perk up, “Whose hat is this?”
Oh no.
I slowly raise my head up and face Jessica with a nervous smile. In a desperate attempt to distract her, I wave the checklist out in the open. But Jessica isn’t easily fooled. She pops out her hips, holding Ben’s baseball cap by her skinny index finger. I walk over to her and snatch his hat, trading her off by shoving the checklist at her.
“Well?” she laughs with a devilish grin, “Whose hat is it?”
“It’s nobody’s” I shout and storm over to my suitcase. I zip it shut and stuff Ben’s hat into the drawer on my nightstand.
“It’s Marco’s isn’t it?” Jessica whines and forces her hands to his hips.
“You caught me.” I lie and roll my luggage out of my bedroom. Jessica follows me, not letting me get away that easily.
“You know I am trying to set you up with my cousin Steven. How many times have I told you?” Jessica scolds, “He is all excited about getting to know you in Costa Rica. You can’t be sleeping with Marco again if I introduce you.”
Oh great. I totally forgot about Jessica’s grand plans to set me up with her recently divorced, thirty-year old cousin Steven the doctor.
“I’m not sleeping with him.” I reassure her.
“Then what’s his hat doing here? In your bedroom?” Jessica persists by pressing her hand against my front door and blocking our exit.
“He came to talk. That’s all.” I lie as my heart races. I tilt my head to the side and hope I have satisfied her unnecessary inquisition.
"I sure hope so.” Jessica says giving me the stink eye.
“Can we please go?” I sigh and push her out of the way.
Jessica purses her lips together and places her moment of judgment. She removes her hand from my door and says, “Alright, but you better not be lying to me.”
I yank the door open and silently curse Ben for leaving his hat here.
Chapter 3
The airport couldn’t come soon enough. Jessica’s racecar driving is enough to make anyone fear for their life. She cranks up her music and transforms into turbo speed. She sings at the top of her lungs, flails her arms and dances while driving on the freeway. When she slams on the breaks for the hundredth time, she blames every other driver for an almost near collision. At one point, she even speeds up and gives one driver the finger as we pass by. I clench onto my seat the whole way there, remembering why I always volunteer to drive.
Once we safely arrive at the airport, I stumble out of Jessica’s brand new BMW and want to kiss the pavement. Before I can even wipe the sweat trickling from my brow, Michelle and Stephanie slide into the parking spot beside us. Stephanie rolls down her window and flicks her long auburn hair to the side, “Are you girls ready to par-tay?”
Jessica gives a cheer about finally getting hitched, and slams her car door shut. I am still hunched over trying to recover from motion sickness when the three of them link arms and walk towards the airport.