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“We agreed we weren’t going to ask,” she hissed, but her voice was so loud that we all heard her anyway. Sammi wasn’t good at subtle.
“We’re sitting right here,” I said. Guess we were doing this now. Emma and I had talked about what to say and, even though we didn’t want to lie to our friends, we decided it was for the best. We wanted to keep this thing between us. They could hear about it after everything was over.
“Yeah, we’re getting it done. They have to process the paperwork and everything. Takes some time,” Emma said, staring so hard at her menu that I hoped it didn’t ignite from the power of her concentration.
“See? All set,” I said, my stomach twisting with the lie. Emma and I had agreed that they wouldn’t understand. They wouldn’t get it.
“Well, that’s good. You both kinda stole my thunder there,” Lara said. I had already apologized about that, but I guess she was still a little salty about it.
“I promise not to announce a pregnancy at your reception, how’s that?” I asked, and she tried to hide a smile.
She stuck her hand out and shook mine across the table. “Deal.”
The topic of conversation moved back to Lara and her wedding, which was in a month. This was the first wedding I’d ever been in and I was already exhausted. Who knew being a bridesmaid was such a massive commitment? I hadn’t realized, not until after I’d put the dress I couldn’t afford on my credit card and then had to pay for alterations on top of it. Not to mention the time spent planning everything, and then there was the wedding itself. Rehearsal dinner, bridal brunch, wedding day, reception still to go. This was a marathon, not a sprint. Still, it was going to be a great time.
Lara’s parents were loaded and they were going to spare no expense on their youngest daughter’s wedding. She had three sisters and they’d all had grand weddings, so she was able to get what she wanted, because her sisters had. I wish my family was like that, or that I’d get a fraction of what they’d done for my sister, but you couldn’t choose your family.
At least I was running this wedding marathon with Emma, and neither of us were the maid of honor. That position went to Lilly, Lara’s next-oldest sister. She was also throwing Lara another bachelorette party, but that one involved a fancy hotel, tea, and board games. Lilly hadn’t been up for the whole Vegas thing, which was understandable since she was pregnant. The Bachelorette Babes had agreed on two separate events, so we still had the second half of the party to get to in two weeks. Tired. I was already so tired and I hoped that none of my other friends were going to get married for an extremely long time, or at least had the decency to elope.
It was so strange to think about Lara getting married when I’d technically had a wedding of my own already. I just couldn’t remember most of it.
“What are you thinking about?” Emma asked me, as I dug into my Garbage Plate, which was tater tots with cheese, sausage gravy, and two fried eggs on top. I didn’t mess around when it came to brunch. I’d been tempted to get a Bloody Mary, but stuck with orange juice mixed with seltzer instead. Moderation, like an adult. I was learning.
“Moderation,” I said. I didn’t want her to know I was thinking about our forgotten wedding. I’d asked her a few times if she remembered anything and she always said that she didn’t. Weird that neither of us could recall, but that was what happened when you got blasted in Vegas, I guess. I hadn’t told her that I remembered one small moment, so I just pretended that the entire thing was a blank for me too.
“Interesting,” she said. “In what way?” I looked up from my plate and at Emma.
“In every way. I think I should be lessimpulsive, don’t you think?” I was teasing her, and it took a second for her to get that.
“That’s probably a good idea,” she said, nodding and her lips twitching from a suppressed smile.
“I think so.” I swerved back into the larger conversation again as we chatted about Willa’s latest dating escapades. For some reason that poor girl picked the worst people to date. It seemed like a cosmic joke at this point.
“How can you be so smart, but so bad at dating?” Emma asked.
“I don’t knowwww,” Willa said, dropping her head on her folded hands on the table. “Just because I’m good at tech doesn’t mean I’m good at people.” Willa’s job was so techy that I didn’t even know what it was, only that she worked at a company that made robots and I spent a lot of time telling her not to make them sentient and she would just roll her eyes at me.
This time her first date with a new girl had ended abruptly when the date’s wife had walked into the bar they were at and was unaware that Willa’s date was seeing people outside their marriage. Oops?
“So then I got a drink thrown on me, for some reason, and then I was wet and sticky, but the bartender gave me her number, so maybe it wasn’t a total loss? Maybe I should just stop dating white people. No offense.”
“None taken,” Emma, Lara, and I said at the same time.
“I’m only half-white,” Sammi said. We all laughed and agreed that the bartender was hot after looking her up online. That was a great meet-cute story, so I hoped it worked out.
Hearing horror dating stories made me glad to be single. Was I technically still single if I was in a sham marriage? I had to talk to Emma about that. How could we date other people if we were legally married? Not that I wanted to be dating, but you never knew when you might meet someone.
We sat around for a little while and then, since the sun was out, we agreed to head over to Boston Common and take a walk. The air was still full of summer, even though it was the beginning of September. The merry-go-round was still out, so I ran for it and Emma followed me, laughing. My rule was that I had to ride any merry-go-round I ever encountered, and as my best friend (and now my legal wife), Emma had to come with me. Lara, Willa, Nova, and Sammi also followed because they were good friends.
“I can’t wait to be at Disney,” I said as we waited in line near a bunch of children who gave us strange looks. I didn’t even care. I was more than happy to be the adult going on the merry-go-round.
“I know,” Emma said. “I feel like we’ve been planning it forever.” As a group, we’d decided to take our annual Girl’s Trip to Disneyworld next year and I couldn’t be more excited. We usually just went to the beach for a few days, or to a cabin in the mountains, but next year we were doing it up. I was going to have to put most of it on my credit cards, but whatever. It was worth it.
“Yeehaw!” Nova yelled, swinging her arm above her head like she had a lasso.
“You are ridiculous,” Sammi said, but she had a fond smile on her face.
“Do it with me,” Nova said, leaning over her horse and kissing Sammi clumsily. “Come on, yeehaw with me!” Sammi let out a half-hearted yeehaw and then we all joined in and embarrassed ourselves.
