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“Just tell Duke we’ll go to the frickin courthouse like I wanted in the first place!” she yelled over her shoulder.
“Oh, no, no, no you don’t.” I ran on the toes of my stupid heels to catch up with her, but she was already almost out the church door.
I wedged myself between the door and took both of her shoulders in my hands to force her to face me.
“Stop, Claire. Focus for a second.” I looked straight into her bright freaked-out eyes and had to tamper down a chuckle. She looked like a total Barbie doll today, which I knew she absolutely despised. She was only dressing up for Duke– who was her childhood nemesis, turned secret teenage crush, turned enemy, turned fiancé.
She shook her head and sputtered, but seemingly couldn't find any real words to say.
“Chill out. It’s fine,” I demanded. “None of those people matter… but Duke? Duke matters. He wants this wedding to show you off and celebrate with you,” I pushed. “It won’t be fair to him if you blow it off and make him look like a total loser standing up there on the altar all alone.”
Her eyes still looked wide and freaked out.
“Claire?!” Duke’s voice yelled out behind us.
I internally snickered at the sound of his voice. Of course these two wouldn’t just play by the book today. Theywouldbe the ones to need all the dramatics on their wedding day. But who was I to deny Duke his Superman moment? He lived for being her hero.
“Baby?” I heard his voice call out.
I turned to see him craning his neck, looking for my sister.
I pushed myself further between the door so she was fully out of sight before turning to eye her. “You want to see him? I think it’s considered bad luck, but I don’t really believe in any of that, do you?”
Her face cracked in disapproval. “Yeah no, lemme see him,” she said as she roughly shoved me back into the church waiting area.
She made her way past me, and I watched Duke become completely paralyzed as he spotted my sister… and it was adorable.
The concern on his face melted away and he beamed at her as he touched the softly curled, wispy hairs hanging down around her face.
Oh God, they were so mushy. I crossed my arms and snorted at the two of them.
Within seconds, he had her backed up against the wall of the church and was fiercely making out with her.
“Hey, hey, hey! Not in the church!” I heard my dad call out. His long stride carried him over to the two of them and he promptly ripped Duke away from her. He shoved Duke forward toward the church doors, but he still had a dazed, loverboy look on his face as he kept eye contact with Claire.
“Jeez. Get to the front, Duke. Let’s get this thing going,” my dad ordered.
“See you up there, baby,” he said breathlessly, still looking at her like she was an angel.
She grinned back at him and nodded.
1. Addie
“Where’syourboyfriend, Adelina? Are you next?”
I stood utterly still, squinting at her wrinkly pursed lips, shocked yet again at the nerve of old women.
I felt my face burn red, but Claire’s beside me turned stone cold.
“There’s so many other things you could ask her,” my little sister snapped with her lower jaw jutting out. Her angry face did not match her poofy wedding day white. It was actually shocking she got into a white dress. She’d do it for Duke though, which cracked me up.
“You haven’t seen her in how long and you want to bring that up?” she continued on her tirade. “How about-Oh, you got your masters? Oh, you landed your dream job?Get with the times, old woman. She has an amazing job. Why don’t you ask her about that?” Claire demanded, peering down at her. While we were both only 5’2, it seemed like old Aunt Pearl had shrunk, because she was suddenly looking a lot smaller than the two of us. “Why does she need a guy to feel accomplished? That’s not an accomplishment… That’s more like a burden. AND,” she practically screamed, “haven’t you been complaining about your husband for likefiftyyears? Maybe she’s just trying to avoidyourlife!”
“What?!” my great aunt’s old batty face looked aghast, and she fixed us with a disapproving grimace.
“I said what I said.” Claire stuck her chin in the air. “Maybe your generation should’ve done more to prevent your sons from turning out just like the husbands that you despise. Ever think of that? Where is your dusty ass son by the way?”
I felt myself start to giggle at that. Aunt Batty’s son, James, really wasn’t what you’d call a catch… He was a lazy, mid-thirty-year-old still living in his mother’s basement wasting his life away playing video games all day. My dad gave him a pity job at the rink one summer and had to fire him because he just played on his phone all day.
