Page 18 of Bless My Body

I laugh. I’ve been to my fair share of weddings and formal occasions that require dressing up and

faking interest in everyone you meet, but I think this might be a first for Ozzy. Wes and Ozzy grew up

together, but they both had very different childhoods, from what I can tell. Ozzy’s parents sound like

real scumbags, and I know he hasn’t seen them in years.

“I think we’ll be fine with just button-downs tonight.” Ozzy looks really put together tonight with

his black dress pants and a black long-sleeve dress shirt. I wouldn’t expect anything but all black

from him. He’s gotten a fresh haircut and trimmed his beard a bit. You almost can’t tell that the guy

does illegal fighting in his spare time.

I went with gray dress pants and a navy blue button-down shirt. I style my hair with my hair putty,

strategically spiking the ends, and grab my dress shoes to meet everyone downstairs.

I sit down on the couch next to Ozzy to put my shoes on when Celine walks into the living room.

She stops chewing on her pretzel mid-bite when she sees us.

“Damn. You boys clean up nice,” she says, her eyes moving back and forth between us. I feel a

twinge of jealousy that she’s checking out Ozzy too, which is stupid because Ozzy is so in love with

Stella.

I look her up and down. “You look… relaxed.” She’s wearing joggers and a ratty old Brunswick

University T-shirt. “Is that what you are wearing to the rehearsal?”

She throws a pretzel at me. “No. I don’t have to be ready until dinner. I’m not part of the

ceremony, remember?”

“Oh yeah. My bad. Well, carry on looking like a hobo then,” I tease, but in reality, she looks good

in everything she wears.

She smirks at me. “I will. Thanks.” She sits next to me on the couch and props her feet up on the

table. I can’t help but notice how cute her little feet are. She catches me staring, so she wiggles her

toes. I’m not embarrassed that she caught me. The number of times I used to just sit and stare at her

was ridiculous. If she knew how many boners I’ve had because of her, she probably would never talk

to me again.

Stella walks in, and her eyes immediately find Ozzy. It’s like her superpower or something.

“Wow. You look amazing,” Ozzy says, standing to meet her. She does look good in her fitted black

dress. I can’t help but notice that they’re both in all black. They must be rubbing off on each other.

Celine must pick up on it too. “Wow, y’all look like some sort of mafia power couple.”