LOVE IN ALL THE WEIRD PLACES

‘Ding dong’. My doorbell rang, I ran down the stairs from my bedroom to answer it. I opened the door to see Amelia and Tanya, two of my three best friends standing on my front porch. “So what’s the big emergency?”, Tanya asked holding a half filled bottle of wine in her hand. I looked at her with my eyebrow arched up. “Isn’t it too early for you to be drinking Tanya” , I replied inviting them into my living room. I wasn’t surprised though. My friends and I always thought Tanya had a drinking problem. It’s not like she drank every time. She just drank at the wrong time, early in the morning or after eating a whole load of food. She once drank a bottle of rosé after jogging. Hello, that’s what water is for. She loved wine. Why wouldn’t she? Her parents owned a vineyard and produced one of the best wines in the country. One wouldn’t be surprised that she grew up to be a sommelier. She tasted wines not only for her family but for other wine industries and she was very good at it. That wasn’t her only work though. Tanya was a model. One of the highest paid to be accurate. She advertised variety of products, walked runways and graced the covers of different magazines. Tanya stood with an imposing height of 6’3, with long legs and a slender shape. She had a sandy complexion, smooth and tawny which complimented her deep brown eyes. “I said the same thing but she won’t listen”,Amelia chipped in while opening a pack of salty chips she pulled out from her handbag. She plonked down on my luxury cushion, took the television remote on my glass table top and switched on the TV. “What are you doing?”, I screamed at Amelia. “What part about girl’s emergency don’t you understand?” I yanked the remote off her hand and switched off the television immediately. “Hey put it back on, I started watching reruns of Friends and I don’t want to miss an episode”, she argued trying to take the Tv remote back from me. Sure, only Amelia would sit in front of the television, for hours in a day, watching reruns of all the entertainment shows she could think of. Amelia was a housewife or recently became a housewife after she married her long time sweetheart,Sean Johnson. She met him while they were just freshmen at California State University while colliding into each other one summer afternoon . They always told us the story, he helped her pick up her fallen books and was mesmerized by her hazel green eyes and freckles while Amelia loved the way he laughed and how he was a gentleman the entire time they spoke. They had been inseparable ever since, except when Sean had to travel to Paris four months ago for an important business. Amelia had always dreamt to being a lawyer. She even graduated top of her class but after they got married and she got pregnant with their first child she decided to give up on her dreams. Now, Amelia spent her days watching entertainment shows, grocery shopping, cooking and picking out colours for the nursery. She even added a few pounds after the marriage. She must be very happy. “What of Valeria?, Is she here already?”, Tanya asked looking around. “No, she said she had a flu or something and couldn’t make it”, I replied and sat in between the both of them. There was an awkward silence. Valeria, the fourth member of our group has been very distant for the few weeks now. She hardly chatted in our group chat, she didn’t come to Amelia’s baby shower or when Tanya won an award as the best model of the year or when I opened my art gallery two days ago. She always gave excuses like she was sick, or she was caught up in work. We tried to reach out to her but we didn’t get any tangible reply from her. “So, why did you call us here?”, Amelia broke the silence leaning towards me as her hands roamed around her protruding tummy. She was in her second trimester. I stood up turned to both of them, my face flushed, my eyes sparkling with delight. “David invited me to Ristorante Dell’Arte for dinner, I think he might propose to me” , I screamed. Ristorante Dell’Arte was the one of the most romantic restaurants in California. I just assumed he wanted to propose to me. “Oh My God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”, Amelia screamed so loud, I can swear I think the baby in her womb moved a little bit. She really was excited, more than me. I guess that’s what friends are for. Tanya jumped up and hugged me tightly. “I’m so happy for you Liv”, she smiled. “It’s about time, you two got hitched, you lovebirds love each other so much, it kills me sometimes”, Tanya added grinning from ear to ear. “Are you jealous?”, Amelia taunted, stretching her legs towards other end of the couch where Tanya sat before while crunching on her chips loudly. Pieces of the chips laid everywhere, on her dress, on the couch, even on my newly ordered wool rug that spread across the marble tiled floor. Luckily for her she was pregnant. “That Olivia decided to get tied down and follow the idea of monogamy”, Tanya replied rolling her eyes. “Not in a million years, I don’t think only one person can handle a goddess like me”, she added sticking her tongue out at Amelia. “Tanya”, I chuckled playfully tapping her shoulder. “Why do I have a feeling you f****d those sexy twins you were talking to at my gallery’s opening?”. Tanya nodded, gulping down her bottle of wine . Amelia rolled her eyes so hard you might think they will fall off any moment. “I love to explore unlike little Miss Loyalty here?”, she said facing Amelia “When last did you have s*x?” “You know I promised....” “.........Sean that you’re going to wait for him to get back, even it’s been four months since you got hitched”, Tanya interrupted her. “I’m so sure that Sean is in Paris f*****g as many French lady as he can”. Why would Sean be f*****g other people when he’s married to Amelia? Was I missing something or was Tanya was trying to push Amelia’s buttons? I looked at both of them argue with each other. Tanya and Amelia never saw eye to eye. Maybe because Tanya was hated the fact that Amelia gave up on her dreams after she got married to Danny. Or because Amelia hated that Tanya didn’t believe in ‘happily ever afters’ I wish Valeria was here, she always had a way of calming them down. Valeria was the mediator in our group. She acted more responsible than three of us, gave advices and made the best cookies. She was the closest to me and I shared more things with her than I did with Amelia and Tanya. “Can you two stop bickering and help me pick the perfect dress to wear?”, I screamed at them “I’m not going to show up there looking like this”. Amelia and Tanya looked at each other and nodded. They followed me to my bedroom and watched as I ransacked my walk-in wardrobe looking for the best dress to wear But I couldn’t find any thing good enough or didn’t feel like any of them was perfect for the occasion. I was getting engaged I had to look my best,for David and for anyone that will be there will witness the scene. “Maybe I might even hire a secret photographer”, I thought. “This dress looks nice”, Amelia voiced holding up a black dress I had thrown on my floor some minutes ago. She was sitting on a small stool beside the shoe collection while Tanya stood beside her. “I agree with her it looked amazing and showed off your curves when you wore it at the Art awards show”, Taya said “you can even match it with this black stiletto”. I sunk down to the floor frustrated. As I looked around, my clothes were scattered everywhere but I still didn’t choose anyone. “I just want it to be perfect” I uttered. “ I don’t want to wear any dress I’ve won before or anything simple, I want to look so beautiful for him, this night is special to me. It has to be perfect”. Tears welled up in my eyes. “Liv”, Amelia spoke softly, standing from her stool she walked to my position and sat beside me. She pushed a my hair off my face and cupped my cheeks. “Even if David doesn’t propose to me tonight I still want to get married to him, build a family with him”, I sniffed looking at Amelia. “I want to have something magical, something beautiful like what you have with Sean”. I sobbed as Amelia enveloped me in her arms. “I’m not a big fan of marriage but I think you deserve to be happy”, Tanya added offering me a napkin. Amelia raised my head up and kissed my forehead. After she got pregnant, Amelia maternal instinct or whatever people called that stuff kicked it. She acted like a mother to us. “Do you know what will cheer you up?”, She asked as I shook my head in reply. “Shopping!!!”. “I don’t usually agree with Amelia but shopping is really important right now”, Tanya smiled drawing out her credit card from her purse. “What better way to relieve all this build up emotions than spending a whole load on money on dresses and shoes” She laughed pulling me to my feet. “You can also buy a dress for this night”. I smiled. “I don’t deserve this two amazing people” I thought admiring my friends. “Let’s waste our money!!!!!” I chuckled throwing my hands up in the air.