Day 75: Wedding Preparation (Part 1)

Once upon a time, there will be a day that my friends will not drag me around on completely unnecessary shopping trips and have totally unjustified panic attacks while I have to sit there watching my life blow up in my face.

This is not that time.

Marlene is taking us to pick out her wedding gown and we get to look at our bridesmaid dresses because the boys are all out doing whatever it is they do, and normally it wouldn't be that bad, but of course normally I am not receiving borderline threatening texts from Peter and confusing ones from Four.

"Perfect," Shauna breathes for the millionth time today as Marlene comes out in yet another dress, but this time I can see why. The lace practically swoops across the dress and the back is wonderfully detailed, with open shoulders and gorgeous ribbon. I wouldn't have picked it, the length would slow me down, but it accentuates Marlene's lovely figure; she looks radiant in it.

"Pretty," Lynn comments, taking a good long look at her striking best friend.

Christina seems to take offense to this. "Pretty? Who cares about pretty at a wedding? This girl is goddamn magnificent! It took ages to find this dress. Everyone is going to notice her. They better. Look at her! She's gorgeous! Marlene deserves more than a little pretty after all of this work." She stomps over to Lynn and sets her shoulders so she's looking at Mar directly in the position I suppose would be ideal to view her attire in. "Honor. The. Dress."

Shauna and I suddenly develop an inexplicable interest in the bridesmaid's dresses directly opposite where Christina currently stands. I am studying a creamy lace one, while Shauna seems drawn to one with bows.

Ruffling through the overly stocked racks of "vintage" dresses gets boring quickly, and I find myself the victim of an unhappy fate: two text conversations at once.

How's dressing up going? Four asks. I can practically see his smirk through the screen. As you'd expect, I text back. Pretty…interesting.

He sends me a sad-looking face, and I suppress a grin.

My phone buzzes, but its only Peter. Who are you hanging with this time, stiff? My grin drops. For a brief moment of bliss, I had forgotten that Peter was back. That he was mad at me.

Or have they abandoned you?

I bite my lip. Peter just is trying to get under my skin, per usual. Shut up, Peter. Don't be so mean, I reply. I can't really believe that Peter has been so openly cruel lately. He had followed me to the Grocery Store yesterday and Four reports that he has been angrily pacing up and down the block outside where Four works. Everything has been so aggravating lately, but maybe the wedding will change that.

Christina grabs my phone and makes a growling noise when she sees who I'm texting, and an even bigger one escapes her throat when she reads what Peter was saying. I try to snatch it from Christina, but my arm isn't even long enough to touch her.

Finally she releases it back to me reluctantly. "I'm telling you, he's bad news," she states matter-of-factly.

I say nothing, agreeing quietly in my head.

"Now we need dresses for you girls!" chants the owner of the shop, Johanna. She has a content, sweet smile and a warm, confident voice. This does not make me any less uncomfortable with all of the frilly things I know I will have to try on.

Lynn goes first and finally picks a white dress with lace and flowers on the shoulders, shrugging when Mar tells her that she looks wonderful. Marlene has let us pick similar dresses instead of the same one, and I am grateful.

Then Christina goes in and eventually gets a strapless creamy dress with lace on the bottom. She does a little twirl for us and we laugh.

Shauna tries on an open-backed dress with a bow on the back and loves it, leaving me to pick something out to wear.

I set out to the racks, quickly realizing that the shop is stocked for much taller girls. I start off by picking anything that doesn't show too much skin and isn't covered with unnecessary extra-fancy flourishes. I'm about to go into the changing room, but a pretty white dress with a bow and a lace top catches my eye and I add that to my pile as well.

It is easy to rule out most of it from the uncomfortable stitching or awkward length some have. I pick up the white dress from earlier. The sleeves go a bit past my elbows and it goes to my mid thigh, and it is fun to move around in.

Shauna gives me a thumbs up when I exit, and Christina takes a picture to send to the gang.

"You all look absolutely lovely," Johanna declares. We all ring up our dresses and change back, paying the points needed to buy it all.

"Now, to help the boys with moving all of the stuff to the yard." Zeke and Shauna have a wonderful backyard, as I have recently discovered, and they have graciously allowed Uriah and Marlene to have their wedding there. It is a beautiful place to do it, I decide, with the birds chirping and the sun shining on the wild roses off to the side. There is quite a decent amount of space to set up and besides it is a small affair. Uriah and Marlene aren't inviting many people.

Lynn is the Maid of Honor and I have never seen her so excited about flowers and veils and columns and receptions and cakes before. She seems to be more accepting of "girly" things now that Hana reminded her that pink wasn't the enemy, just people who thought that girls weren't equal to boys.

I see Peter out of the corner of my eye storming furiously down the sidewalk and quickly switch to Christina's other side so he doesn't notice me, and it seems to work.

If only it would stay that way.

The first person I see when I enter the yard is Four, setting up chairs. I offer some help, but he doesn't even look at me when he hands me a chair to set up. I bite my lip. Fine.

The wedding is in two days and so far, the weather will be perfect. I am so distracted unfolding and setting the chairs in rows that it takes three calls for me to answer Peter.

"Peter," I start.

"Stiff," he answers. "This is your last chance to stop hanging around with those losers before we never accept you back again."

"I like my friends," I say, annoyed. Does Peter seriously think I want to go back to the times we had in London, where I was constantly undermined and ignored? He must have some other reason.

"You're weak, Stiff." The line goes dead.

Four notices my expression. "Who was that?"

I don't answer.

"Peter," he answers himself.

"I doesn't matter," I say, practically shoving a chair open and throwing it onto its spot. "Let's set up the table."

My phone bings with another message from Peter, and Four hesitates, about to do something. Then he slips his hand into mine. It's large, or maybe mine are too small, fitting over my hand like a well-worn glove. The gesture feels familiar and intimate at the same time, filling me with a sense of reassurance and warmth. "Don't look at it," he advises.

I flush and turn to get the tablecloth.

"What are you going to do for your honeymoon?" Shauna asks Uriah.

"Go skydiving, or zip lining. I forget which." Uriah's grin could reach the moon.

"Both," Marlene says. "If they allow pregnant women."

"We can sneak you past, I think, if we try," Uriah says. "They won't notice. They'll be distracted by my stunningly good looks."

"We'll see, Uri," Mar grins.

I turn back to Four, who motions for me to join him over with the florist. "Do you think they want orchids or tulips?"

"I don't know if it matters," I say. "Maybe both?"

"Excellent choice," he nods. "Fernando, I'd like you to meet Tris Prior, Dauntless prodigy with pretty classy taste." I flush more. He remembered? I was two years below him. Why would he have cared?

"She spent a long time in London," he adds in a joking whisper, "so she thinks she has better taste than all of us combined. Which may be true…but anyway, Tris, this is Fernando's part time job. He's from Erudite."

"I think I know you," I tell Fernando. He looks familiar, like I've seen him around before but never really knew him.

"I'm Cara's boyfriend," he tells me. "Maybe you know her?"

"Fernando!" shouts Will. "Great to see you. How's Elia?"

"You mean my junior florist over here?" Fernando replies. A little girl with short black hair, Elia, runs up to Will and hugs him.

"There you are, kid," Will says.

"Do I get a hug?" Christina asks. Elia sticks her tongue out and runs away from her. "Elia! Come on."

"Cute kid," Four says to Fernando. "She from Erudite?"

"Yeah," Fernando says proudly, almost like an older brother. "I'm training her for my job."

"Being a florist? Why are you doing this again?" I ask, confused. The Erudite do not strike me as being particularly fond of flowers.

"I'm doing an experiment: Does hanging out with flowers enhance a special part of your brain?"

"It doesn't," Elia drops in, her brown eyes shining with mischief, "but it's a nice break from codes, codes, codes, and chemistry, chemistry, chemistry."

"We don't know that it doesn't!"

"Yeah, right."

"Please excuse my scientifically close-minded partner here," Fernando says. "So, orchids and tulips, coming right up."

Four gives Elia and Fernando a goodbye wave as they exit. "Elia's an adorable kid."

"Yeah," I agree, looking up to watch his face. His nose is hooked and interesting, his eyes drawing me in every time. He looks tired, but pleased.

"Follow me, Tris. We have a lot of work to do."

Day 77: The Wedding (Part 1)

It seems that no one has told Uriah of the "no seeing the bride before the wedding" rule, and Christina nearly yelled his ears off when he went to say hi.

(As Will says, "I've heard that pregnant women are supposed to glow, but then again Christina has always defied expectations." Christina responded with a "you're stuck with me" and started kissing him. Four and I actually had to leave the room.)

Marlene looks like an angel, her green eyes glistening like the emeralds at Erudite museum. She has a skip in her step like the old days, and is as radiant as a new mother or a bride; I suppose she is both, and you can tell.

Shauna is giving her a pep talk. "In the old days-"

Lynn groans. "You and Zeke got married four years ago. Stop acting like you are the old nostalgic grandparents, for crying out loud!" It's true. Shauna and Zeke have been the go-to for advice recently, and since then have been acting like they know all and have seen everything.

"Calm down, my dear sis. Now, in the old days, we had something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. I know you modern folk might not-"

"Shauna," Christina reprimands. "We've got this. Old shoes, new dress, borrowed veil, and blue...underpants."

I blink. Well, then.

"TMI!" Lynn says, shuddering.

I set the veil on Mar's head. "Perfect." Chris has done her makeup, and Mar's fancy sandals are her grandmother's and vintage. The dress is gorgeous; the Amity designers have put much thought into it.

"Ready to go?"

"I've never been more ready in my life."

Will nudges me while we're waiting to go down the aisle. "Uriah was panicking this whole time. He seems to think Mar secretly hates him and will run off with somebody else. It was kind of funny," he says.

I smile. "You weren't much better."

"Don't remind me. Hey, you're up!"

I follow Shauna down the stepping stones and into the pavilion where Uriah stands, looking a strange mixture of being absolutely terrified, in awe, and excitement, but mostly completely in love. I resist the urge to giggle at his expression and focus on not tripping on the high heels I purchased without much thought, but then realized my clumsiness was multiplied in them. Instead of giving me height, they give the impression of a tilting baby giraffe trying to fit in with the adults. Unfortunately, explaining this to Christina did not exempt me from wearing them, and I am almost positive that I will fall.

Four laughed at my theory when I explained it to him. "I hate being this…short," I had expressed, grumbling.

"Have you ever seen the movie Legally Blonde?" he had responded.

"Have you?"

"Well, she's upset at not being taken seriously because she's blonde, and the love interest tells her something along the lines of 'it's like a secret weapon. People don't expect much from you; they underestimate you. I want to see you use that'. And I'm not answering that question." he had said.

"Would that make you the love interest in this situation?" I said before I could stop myself.

He gave me a smile. "Maybe."

Then Peter had called me. "Don't answer," Four had said immediately. "He's just trying to set you up, to get you to blow up, but you're better than that. I know you are."

"Thanks," I say, and look away so he can't read my face.

"No problem."

I am jarred back to reality when I reach the altar, and see Ale as the ring bearer with an adorable little rose on his suit pocket. He gives me a smile and almost drops the rings as he does.

Marlene finally glides down the aisle on the arm of her father Ben, a congenial, vertically challenged man who I do not know very well. Uriah breaks into a beam when he sees her, and the whole room erupts into smiles and several handkerchiefs are taken out.

"Do you, Uriah Jonathan Pedrad, take Marlene Teresa Cole to be your lawful wedded wife?"

"I do."

"Will you love, respect and honor her throughout your years together?

"I will."

"Do you, Marlene Teresa Cole to be your lawful wedded husband? Will you love, respect and honor him throughout your years together?"

"Duh!"

"What was that?" the Priest asks.

"I do. And I will."

"Ah. Well, if no one has any objections, you may kiss the bride."

As Uriah and Marlene share a determined kiss and Hana sobs quietly, the room erupting with euphoric tears and applause, I feel Four's hand on my shoulder.

"That'll be you someday," he whispers.

I fight to keep the proud, joyful tears welling up in my eyes from spilling down my cheeks and say, "You think so?" I resist the urge to add a "softie" onto the end.

"I know so."

Reasons why I have not updated:

a) I'm a lousy person plus I have lots of projects

b) I invested waaaaaayyy too much energy in writing a one shot with the gang in it and FOURTRIS. Check it out ;) ;)

I'm very sorry. Anyways, thanks loads for the reviews (you all are SO SWEET). The poll on my profile will be closed soon, so visit that, and I'm a beta if you're interested! Plus, Elia is the awesome little girl from Insurgent who has about one scene who nobody but me cares about. My apologies if the wedding is terribly unrealistic. I haven't been to a wedding in eons.

Q: What age do you think I am based on my writing? Hint: greater than 3 and less than 103.

(This is going to be hilarious.)

(And honestly if you guess over thirty I might cry.)

Review review review! It makes me update faster. Goal: 65.