The Art of Starting Over

The wedding

“I’m getting f*****g married tomorrow.” Cali said in shock straightening her hair as we all got ready for her bachelorette party at her place. “Don’t sound so shocked sissy, Ember loves you and she has loved you since you guys were 13.” Gavin says taking the straightener and doing the rest of her hair “Besides who else is going to want to spend the rest of their lives with her.” He joked and Cali giggled. “I feel very blessed for it to be me.” She said and Gavin put the straightener down and hugged her. “I love you guys.” He said rocking her back and forth she laughed. “We love you too.” He picked up the straightener and looked at me. “Sevyn you are letting me straighten your hair, papa will be quick I promise.” He said clapping the straightener together in my direction “Okay Gavin but I never want to hear you use the phrase papa will be quick ever again.” I say laughing and standing up. When he’s finished I noticed my hair has gotten long again, it’s almost back down to my butt curly and now that it’s straight it goes right to the middle of it. He notices too and looks at me. “Not tonight because we have to go but soon we have to cut this.” He says seriously showing me how short he would go with his fingers and I nod. “Agreed .”

We make our way to Nadia’s first surprise of the night, a scavenger hunt in a s*x shop. Cali and I pair up and find all of the ridiculous items; c**k rings, blueberry flavored lube, a blowup doll, fuzzy handcuffs, and a collar that says slave for you. “I swear this is a dog collar.” Cali says holding it with two fingers like it might bite her. “Where did you find that Gavin and I looked everywhere?” Gina says when they run out time. “Near the fleshlights.” Cali says giggling the whole thing was quite ridiculous to Cali and I the whole time we basically acted like 12 year olds. “Cali and Sevyn your prize is at the next location.” Nadia says and we look at each other nervously.

We pull up in front of a strip club and Nadia buys us each a lap dance. I let Cali have mine because the sheer embarrassment of it might’ve killed me if I didn’t. We’ve all had a few drinks and a bunch of people have paid for Cali’s after seeing her bride to be sash and tiara. So she’s pretty drunk. “Okay where next.” She says clapping excitedly her tiara falling from her head a little. I fix it for her and try to get some of the glitter off of her skin. I help her out of the club and into the uber and she rests her head on my shoulder. “Sevyn I’m glad you’re going to be my maid of honor, you’re like my second mom.” She says and I laugh and pat her head. “I love you kiddo.” I say and she grins up at me. “What are the rest of us chop liver?” Gavin teases and we pull up to our old junior high school when Cali and Ember met. Nadia leads up to a candle lit blanket where she’s set up a sip and paint right in the spot where they shared their first kiss. “Ohhh Nadia how did you know?” Cali asks excitedly and I decide to just help her take off her tiara because I only see it getting broken from here on out. “I made Ember show me.” Nadia laughs and we sit down and start painting.

Soon we’re all pretty damn drunk and just start using our fingers at a certain point. “Sevyn what do you think?” Cali asks me holding up her painting of flowers proudly. “I love it.” I say giggling and hold up mine. “What about mine?” I ask and show her my painting of the ocean. “Ohhh I want to hang that up in my house.” She says coming closer to look until she touches it with her nose by accident and gets paint on it , she pulls away giggling and I try to wipe it off but forget I have paint all over my hands which only makes it worse. We’re both cackling at the situation when we all get the idea to paint ourselves. I start painting a landscape on one leg and outer space on the other. Cali sticks with her theme of flowers putting them all over her body. We all look at each other and laugh we look ridiculous with the paint all over ourselves. “Okay we are not going into my apartment until we are all dry.” Gavin laughs and continues his on his arm.

We somehow end up on the playground reminiscing about our junior high days. “Remember when Nadia got her skirt stuck in her backpack her first time wearing a thong and her ass was out until lunch.” Gavin says howling with laughter. “I remember seeing her and literally jumping over lunch tables trying to get to her.” I laugh so hard I start tearing up. “Sevyn you saved my life that day, you put parkour junkies to shame the way you jumped through that cafeteria too.” Nadia says through a series of giggles. “I remember until I met you in high school that was how I knew you.” Gina says and Nadia laughs. “That’s how most people knew me until we graduated.” I nod it’s true Nadia was most well known as the girl who had her ass out for most of our high school career. “Remember when Sevyn fell asleep in math class and Mr. Howard got so mad at her he kept yelling the question until she woke up and actually yelled back the right answer just to fall right back to sleep.” Cali says laughing. “It was impressive.” Gavin chuckles and leans back on the grass.

We bar hop for a while getting stinking drunk until we end up back at Gavins apartment. Gina and I are in an intense game of wii tennis and I’m about to beat her. “I let you win.” She says laughing as we end our game. “I love tonight this is one of my favorite nights.” Cali says and thanks Nadia. “I’m glad I was a little worried no one would have a good time but I figure when we’re together we always have fun.” Nadia says sounding relieved, she was really worried. Thankfully Cali is blessed to not get hangovers but I don’t know how the rest of us are going to do it, hopefully Gavin will put his hangover expertise to good use and we’ll all be okay by the time of the wedding. “Okay look what I found.” Gavin says pulling out a bunch of old photo’s through the years. “God Nadia you used to go so hard in the tanning booths back in the day.” Gavin teases and Nadia snickers. “It becomes addicting but hey I’m 7 years clean.” She says and Gavin laughs back at her. “I cannot believe I wore that dress to prom.” Gina groans at her revealing bright pink prom gown. “You won prom queen though.” Nadia points out and she nods and laughs. “Only because you and Sevyn threatened everyone who wouldn’t vote for me.” I giggle. “I was not going to let Victoria win she was such a bitch.” I shake my head and realize her older sister is no other than Lauren. I explain my realization to the group. “Oh my God that makes so much sense being a spoiled b***h runs in the family, at that point it’s on the parents.” Nadia says rolling her eyes. “Victoria was super homophobic, one time she came up to Ember and I in the hall and just start preaching the bible, and we were like at least we’ll have each other in hell.” Cali says and we laugh and talk about our other classmates who were assholes.

We all wake up groaning except for Cali who is her usual bubbly self jumping up and down and singing. “I hate you sometimes.” Gavin says and starts trying to figure out how to cure the rest of us. “I’m getting married today.” Cali ran around his apartment singing. We all shower quickly getting last nights paint off of us. Thankfully Gavin’s hangover cures are starting to work as the of us start coming back to life. “I wonder how the others are doing.” Nadia wonders, we were on a strict no contact until the wedding order last night with Ember and the boys, I missed Noah and I cannot wait to see him. “They’re probably feeling pretty hungover too Charlie planned Embers party and I’m sure he had something wild in mind.” Cali says as we climb into the limo that will take us to the venue to finish getting ready. My mom is there waiting for us helping us get into our dresses and last minute things, as Cali’s parents would not be attending. They were never accepting of Cali’s sexuality so Cali stayed with us until Ember and her got their own place when they were 16 thanks to Embers parents who have always loved and accepted Cali. My mom was like all of our mothers, she was our Nancy and she never said no to taking my friends in no matter the situation.

“Cali honey you look absolutely gorgeous.” My mom says tearing up and hugging her. “One of my babies is getting married.” She pulls away and dabs her tears. My father was going to be giving Cali away and Nadia, Gina and I all put in to get her something blue, Nadia’s blue diamond set for her jewelry, something borrowed, Gina’s mother veil from her second wedding, and something new, I bought her a perfect diamond belt that matched with her dress perfectly and for something old my mom is letting them use her fathers old convertible as their get away car. “Everything is perfect, Gavin my hair looks absolutely dazzling.” Cali says trying not to ruin her makeup by crying. My dad knocks on the door. “Are you ready ladies?” He asks and we start taking our places. “Oh I want to cry already.” My mother says kissing us all on the cheek before going to find her seat. The music starts and Gavin makes his way through the door kicking it off and Gina after him, then Nadia and then its my turn I give Cali’s hand a squeeze before I glide down the aisle. I take my place next to Nadia and we all turn and watch as Cali and my father walk down the aisle to the music. My father gives her away and she hands me her flowers then takes Embers hands. I catch Noahs eye and give him a wink he grins back at me and we pay attention to the ceremony, Cali and Ember giving the most beautiful vows, I’m crying by the time the officiant announces the kiss.

“I missed you.” Noah wraps an arm around me as we make our way to the reception. I lean against him. “I missed you too.” I say and give him a kiss. Soon Cali and Ember are dancing the first dance around the ballroom floor and the decorations came out just as I planned, I wanted something that spoke to both Cali and Ember so I went minimalistic and classy. “Your decorations came over lovely.” Nadia said as we waited for Noah and Jared to come back with our drinks. I give her a smile. “Thank you, I’m excited for the day I get to plan my own wedding.” Something about the romantic atmosphere was making me feel sappy. “One day sooner than later I think.” Nadia whispers knowingly and smiles at Jared as him and Noah come back with our drinks. I wonder what she meant by that. Is Noah going to propose soon? It’s only been half a year that we’ve been together. I mean he did save my life once and he goes out of his way to make me happy every day. I do love him more than I ever loved Ritchie and I’ve known him such a short time. I realize I’m caught in my thoughts chewing on my lip when Noah softly grazes my cheek. “Where did you go?” He asked and I gave him a small smile then leaned up and kissed him. “Just thinking about you.” I said and he smiled back at me and grasped my hand. “Sevynnnn.” Cali squeals as her and Ember walk up to us, I give them both a hug and congratulate them again. “Thank you for decorating my wedding so perfectly, I love it.” Ember says and hugs me again squeezing extra hard this time. “It was my pleasure to help make this the perfect day for you two I love you guys and I didn’t want anything to be even a little out of place.” Ember wraps her long arm around Cali’s waist. “We appreciate you all of you.” Ember says and it almost looks like she’s tearing up a little. “No way is Ember showing emotion right now.” Nadia joked and Ember wiped a single tear that fell from her eye. “It’s just a beautiful day with my beautiful wife and my lovely friends and I’ve had a few drinks and I feel very blessed.” She said suddenly more tears start falling, Cali rubbed her back and grinned. “Baby I haven’t seen you cry this much since I showed you brother bear.” Ember wiped her eyes. “That was a very good movie, I’m allowed to get emotional sometimes.” I grinned at her. “It’s okay my moms cried like 25 times today and I bet if we go find her she’s crying over you guys now too.” Ember nodded and smiled.

“She was crying.” Cali said laughing after we found my mom weeping with Embers mom about how happy they were. “Okayyy, it’s time for me to throw my bouqueeeetttt.” Cali squirmed excitedly and Gavin and I got everyone to gather around. We were all standing there and I, with the worst hand eye coordination in the world and also looking off into space, caught the stems from the flowers right to the face. “Oh. My. God. You f*****g would.” Gavin says before bursting out laughing along with most of the people in attendance as I hold my hands to my face. “Sevyn I’m sooo sorry.” Cali says trying to sound apologetic but her amusement being very clear in her tone. I laugh and give her a smile. “It’s okay, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to catch anything in my life.” I joke as Noah comes up to me with a small baggie of ice. “Seems I finally found an imperfection.” He muses and I give him a big ole grin. “Hopefully not a dealbreaker.” I take the ice from his and hold it against my face. “It’s a tough one to get past but I’m man enough.” He gently kisses me on the face. “It’s kind of like a metaphor, one day you’re in a bar and some random pretty lady tells you, you’re cute and boom just like that love hits you in the face.” Noah wraps an arm around my waist and gives me a squeeze.

We run behind Cali and Embers get away car, just married is written loud and proud in rainbow with little streamers, it’s so cute. They’re going on a tour of Europe for their honeymoon and I know they’re going to have so much fun. I’m going to miss them but I know Cali will keep me updated.

(???)S POV

I watch as Noah walks away with Sevyn, hands on her hips and my heart clenches that should be me. She should love me. I get her better than he ever could. I should be the one treating her like she deserves, the one caressing her curves all night. I hate him for it. We both saw her at the same time. I didn’t think she would give him the time of day but here we are months later and they’re in love. Bullshit. She hasn’t even given me a half of a chance. He doesn’t deserve her, he’ll never deserve her, she will be mine one day.