Amelia

The Wedding

The entire time we were in the bride’s dressing room Ophelia spent them reminiscing over our good times back in University, our travels, parties and all things we lived through together, all three of us. Emily, Ophelia and I. off course there were other people sometimes but it wasn’t the same type of friendship.

We used to share it all, dreams, secrets, we used to be the ones to talk on the phone for hours and hours talking about the most amazing and worst things that happened in our lives, and it had been amazing.

To know you’ve got people that have your back. That have seen you at your worst and still told you they loved you, that was the goal, Was not it?

I couldn’t help but glance at Emily from time to time, only to look away annoyed once I found her looking back at me.

I had to admit her dress looked beautiful on her, and it annoyed me to no end to see that I had noticed her more than just acknowledging her presence and ignoring her existence. I sighed and excused myself to the restroom.

Emily’s dress, as she was a bridesmaid was a slightly different color than mine. hers was a darker tone of green and the back was open, unlike mine. She had her long hair in a braid that went around her head with some flowers that Ophelia added to make it look more cute, her words not mine.

I couldn’t do the same though, since I had pretty short hair, so I grabbed a bobby pin and did a small braid on one side and pinned it so it wouldn’t look awkward against my gelled down hair.

Why did I had to notice her? And her stupid dress and how she was trying to be nice to me, after everything.

I washed my hands since I couldn’t very well wash my face that had make up on and took a loooong breath before coming out and rejoined the conversation with a smiley face.

While we were talking another one of Ophelia’s bridesmaids came up with a bottle of champagne, I don’t remember her name and it’s not really as important as the irking feeling I get when Emily directs a question towards me.

“What about you Am-elia?” she looked at me with a f*****g smile and an intrigued look on her face.

I wasn’t paying attention so I didn’t know what she was asking me about, “what about… what?” I asked taking a sip of my champagne.

Ophelia laughed, “stories, love, do you have any good ones you remember?” she was starting to get tipsy I could see that, so I took her glass and kissed her cheek. No one seemed to notice the bride getting drunk on her second bottle of champagne and I wasn’t about to let her do something stupid, like being drunk before the party.

All sorts of memories from our old days flashed through my head, some happy ones, others painful and full of resentment.

“I do have some” I laugh moving her to sit down and drink some water.

I took my time to select what story to tell, hopefully without ruining the day for us all. “I think it was like 5 or 6 years ago” I started the story looking at the glass of champagne in my hands, “we went on a camping trip with 4 other friends”.

Ophelia blushed like mad and I knew she remembered the trip, “this one” I pointed to our beloved bride to be, “engineered an entire trip with some friends just so she could hook up with a boy she’d had a crush on for 2 years”.

Emily looked at me, she moved uncomfortably in her seat and I smiled, it was satisfying to see her like that.

“And… did it work?” bridesmaid #2 asked, she was giddy and obviously feeling the alcohol.

I nodded, “she did”.

Bridesmaids #2 and #3 giggled happily, unaware of the tension beginning to rise around us, “Did they get together?”.

I shook my head and sighed, “nope, Emily here decided to sleep with him as well”.

Emily quickly got up, spilling some champagne on the floor, “I didn’t know…” her voice quivered, it was a lie obviously. Ophelia had been too excited about the damn trip she had told us all about her crush on Mathew Torres.

“Yes you did” I said with a challenging stare, “you knew and f****d him anyways”.

We stood there staring at each other, Emily seemed to get angrier by the minute but at the same time she looked like she was about to cry. No one uttered a word, the two bridesmaids outside our circle sat there awkwardly staring between us and sipping on champagne.

Ophelia stood up with a smile and took Emily’s hand, “it’s okay baby, I forgive you”.

“I’m marrying the love of my life because I never dated that boy”.

I huffed, typical of her wanting to avoid conflict and face what a shitty thing that was.

“I’m so sorry” Emily cried.

It felt good seeing her like that, no guilt whatsoever, all that rage I still had in me towards her stopped me from feeling sorry for her.

“Okey, girls. Why don’t we drink some more?” bridesmaid #2 brought out another bottle of champagne and popped it, “let’s drink for Ophelia’s magical day!”.

We all drank to that and after a good 30 minutes went by with another bottle the air around us seemed to become more light. Breathable.

“Sorry” I sat next to Emily, though still not looking at her, “it was a shitty think to do”.

She smiled and reached her glass to touch mine, “cheers” Emily said shyly, “we have to look into each others eyes or else we’ll be curse”.

I chuckled at that.

Emily always believed in crap like that, I sigh a lift up my eyes to lock in with hers.

My heart beat begins racing inside of my chest, I can feel the blush creeping on my ears and chest, ‘f**k’ I thought, how was it possible for her to have an effect on me after everything that happened.

I drank quickly and turned away, hoping no one would notice my flushed cheeks weren’t due to the alcohol.

Some minutes later the party was ended by a worried mother who came bearing six cups of coffee, ‘she knows her daughter way to well’ I thought, laughing a little at that.

We all drank our coffee and straightened our dressed so we’d look presentable for the coming ceremony. Our make ups were retouched by a professional she’d hired as well.

Once we were all dolled up and looking ‘perfectly splendid’  did we finally walk out of the room and down the hall towards the chapel.

“Just say the word and we take a run for it” I said, half jokingly, to Ophelia as she turned to look at me, too nervous to walk properly.

She giggled and I slipped my arm with hers to help her.

“You’ll do this girl” I kissed her cheek and handed her the bouquet of roses, “I’ll be waiting for you at the end of the road. I winked and started walking down the aisle with the bridesmaids and the flower kids. Her niece and nephew.

-

“And you Marcus, Do you take Ophelia Dorothea Addams to be your lawfully wedded wife to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?” the priest said and Marcus repeated.

Finally after a good long hour of praying and beautiful words being spoken, the couple said their vows, exchanged rings and kissed.

She really looked happy from where I was standing. This was everything she’d always wanted as a teen, the big wedding, the hot husband and her friends by her side.