Chapter Seven: July
As she had promised, Mei returned with several wedding dress prototypes for Haruhi to choose from. She ended up deciding on a rather conservative design reminiscent of dresses from the 19th century England. "Leave it to you to choose the most complicated one," Mei teased. "I'll get started on making the adjustments right away."
Although that was one less thing to worry about, both Nekozawa and Haruhi had a very stressful week. Sato had accidentally deleted a very important spreadsheet, so Nekozawa had been running around like a chicken with its head cut off to try to recreate the data, and Haruhi had two trials in one week. So they decided to take their weekend and relax. They had rented as many DVDs as they could carry, ordered take out, and had settled themselves down on the sofa for a night of wild and reckless DVD watching. They were fifteen minutes into Happy Feet when the doorbell rang.
"Maybe if we don't answer it, whoever it is will go away," Nekozawa suggested.
"Yeah, right," Haruhi replied. "I wish. But you know the same people I know, and they won't go away just because we don't answer the door." She heaved herself off the sofa, and barely got the door open before she was nearly bowled over by the two Hitachiin twins.
"What do you want?" Nekozawa demanded to know, less than pleased that the two had forced their way into the apartment. Were they raised in a barn by unbelievably dumb wolves? No, even unbelievably dumb wolves raised in barns had enough sense not to barge into people's homes yelling like a bunch of drunk monkeys. Hikaru sniffed.
"Like we can't visit our friend to tell her some good news." Nekozawa looked like he wanted to beat Hikaru upside the head, but he thankfully had enough control over his emotions to refrain from doing so.
"Haruhi!" Kaoru exclaimed joyfully. "We bought you a wedding dress, and we're going to organize your bachelorette party! It''ll be great! You'll have to enjoy your last night as an unmarried woman, so we're going to get a couple of male strippers for you! And of course you'll have to remember us, we won't let you get married until we give you a proper send-off!" Haruhi stole a glance at her fiance, who looked like he was about ready to erupt. How dare those obnoxious men make such disgusting suggestions regarding his fiancee? They made it sound like Haruhi was some sort of whore! No one spoke about her that way,, not while he was around!
"Um, guys..." Haruhi began, but Hikaru cut her off.
"We got you this strapless dress with a four-foot train," he said. "It's white, of course, you can't get married in a dress that isn't white!"
"But Hikaru," Kaoru said. "She's living with him! Is she still even able to wear white at her wedding?"
"Everyone wears white at their wedding, idiot," Hikaru retorted. "No one gives any notice to that rule! You see divorcees with eleven kids wearing white on their wedding day! And if you follow that old rule, they are definitely not eligible to wear a white dress! No, the thing she can't wear white to is the bachelorette party! What's the point, you know? Especially considering how we're going to set it up!"
"Hikaru, Kaoru," Haruhi said, more forcefully this time. Again, neither brother paid any attention to her.
"Even so, don't you think it's more charming when that rule is followed for the wedding?" Kaoru asked.
"GUYS!" Haruhi finally hollered. "I DON'T NEED A DRESS! And I don't need to have a party. The night before the wedding, I think I'm going to have to work, anyway."
"Please tell me you're not getting married in that tracksuit you're wearing," Hikaru said distastefully, completely ignoring the second half of Haruhi's statement.
"What do you mean, you don't need a dress?" Kaoru asked. "Every bride needs a dress! And if you even think about wearing that tracksuit I'm going to kill you!"
"No, no, it's not that..." Haruhi replied hesitantly. She really wasn't sure as to how the overbearing twins would react when she told them that she didn't need their help with the dress, and even moreso when she shot down their insane bachelorette party idea.
"What is it, then?" Hikaru asked, peering closely at her.
"Mei is already making my dress," Haruhi said quickly. "And I have to work the night before my wedding, so your party idea won't be able to happen. I do appreciate the sentiment, though. Since you paid for that dress, how much do I owe you? I don't want your money to be wasted." Both of the twins looked at her for a moment, and then comprehension set in.
"WHAT?" Hikaru howled. "How could you do this to us? We wanted to make your wedding special! We picked out your dress especially for you! And what kind of bride doesn't even have a party to celebrate her last night as a single woman? Do you even have any idea as to how to get married? Are you crazy?"
"How could you, Haruhi?" Kaoru muttered. "How could you waste your final night like that? Who works the night before their wedding? Do lawyers even have to work at night?"
"Uh, I''m sorry," Haruhi said. "I didn't realize that it was going to upset you so much..."
"Well, it did," Hikaru replied. "You're such a bitch, Haruhi, and here you are marrying Mr. Creepy here. If you had married one of us this never would have happened! You'd better think this through, Haruhi, or you're going to end up a miserable middle-aged housewife like in those television dramas!"
"Hikaru..." Kaoru warned. "Don't cross that line..."
"He already did," a dark, angry voice growled. Nekozawa had jumped to his feet, eyes blazing with pure, unadulterated fury. "He already crossed it. What business is it of yours who Haruhi gets her wedding dress from? And it's certainly none of your business what Haruhi does the night before, the night of, or any night after the wedding! You have no right to call her a bitch for choosing something of her own accord. She does not have to answer to you for anything. Now either you get the hell out of my apartment or you apologize to Haruhi then get the hell out.
"It took a lot of work to get this dress!" Hikaru yelled. "And we only took this on because we felt bad for Haruhi! She's such a charity case that I couldn't just leave her without doing anything! But fine, see if I care! Although she should have known better than to marry someone like you!"
"Nekozawa was right," Kaoru said disgustedly. "You are out of line. Haruhi can do as she pleases." Turning to Nekozawa and Haruhi, he bowed slightly and said, "I apologize. We'll leave now," he announced formally.
"Um... OK," Haruhi replied. Nekozawa nodded curtly, and without further ado, Kaoru dragged his still-fuming brother out the door.
Once they were gone, Nekozawa turned to his fiancee and asked, "What was that about?"
"Don't ask me," Haruhi answered. "I never know what goes through their minds."
To Be Continued
