Makeover 10
The next day, Erin came to visit Jun and take her to the Bridesmaid's luncheon. She was happily surprised to see Jun walking on her own two feet once again.
"Jun! You look great! How do you feel?" Erin gushed.
"Much better." Jun smiled. "Jinpei worked with me all day yesterday to help me get rid of that awful walker."
"So where is Jinpei, anyway?" Erin asked.
"Now that I'm feeling better, he went back to camp. He's hoping to have one more week with his crush, Maria."
"Puppy love, huh?"
Erin's eyes focused on the large bouquet of roses on the bar behind Jun. "Oooooo…pretty flowers. Who gave you those?"
Jun blushed. "Ken."
"Ken?" Erin giggled. "You mean the guy who comes in here all the time and never pays his tab? Roses are expensive!"
"So I hear."
"And…lavender, too. Do you know what that means?"
"No."
"Love at first sight. Oh, that is so romantic!" Erin squealed.
"Quit it, Erin." Jun huffed. "Ken and I aren't speaking."
"Not speaking? Why?"
"It's a long story, but, basically, he never came to see me at the hospital."
"What? OH, so he's trying to smooth things over now. Maybe he had a good reason?" Erin placed her hand on Jun's shoulder.
"Oh, please. What could possibly be a good reason for ignoring someone you supposedly care about? Anyway, I told Joe I would try to talk to Ken tonight."
"No kidding." Erin sighed. "You ready to go and eat, Chickee? We have a great luncheon ahead of us."
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Later that afternoon, Joe and Ryu stopped by Ken's airfield to pick him up for the rehearsal.
The bounded in once more without knocking. "You ready, Ken?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Did you ever get to talk to Jun?" Joe asked.
"No." Ken replied sadly. "Guess she's been busy with all of that Maid of Honor stuff. I didn't want to bother her."
"Listen, man, I talked to her, and she wants to talk to you tonight."
Ken nodded.
The trio then stepped into Joe's car and headed for the rehearsal.
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At the dinner, Jun stood at the center of a buzzing circle of girls, who were all chattering excitedly about the wedding. She found it hard to focus on her duties as Maid of Honor, because she kept watching the door, wondering when Ken was going to show up.
Finally, she saw Ryu and Joe walk in, with Ken not far behind.
Their eyes met. Ken nodded politely at her, and she nodded back.
She wanted to go and greet her friends, but the minister called everyone to the front for the rehearsal.
All through the practice, Jun could feel Ken's eyes on her. And when he wasn't looking, she tried to steal glances at him. There was so much to say, she didn't know where she'd begin. But she had to get through the rehearsal dinner first. It seemed to drag on forever.
At dinner, everyone had assigned seats, and of course, Jun was seated on the other side of the bride, away from the rest of the team. She wished that she could just steal away for a moment, to talk with her teammates. It felt weird to be kept away from them like this.
When the dinner finally came to an end, she scurried around, looking everywhere for Ken.
She finally found Joe, who had stayed behind to talk to one of the bridesmaids.
She interrupted him. "Where's Ken?"
"He got tired of waiting around, and got a ride home with the best man." Joe answered, and then he noticed the look of disappointment on Jun's face. "You didn't get talk to him, did you?"
She shook her head. "I was too busy being Maid of Honor. Didn't you tell him I wanted to talk to him tonight?"
"Yeah. But he could see that you were busy…I'm sure you'll get another chance to patch things up tomorrow."
"I guess I have no choice." Jun stalked off and plopped down in her seat at the table once more.
Erin immediately spotted Jun's sad expression. 'What happened?"
"Ken got tired of waiting for me, and left. I hope he didn't think I was ignoring him."
"I saw you talking to Joe. What did Joe say?"
"He said that Ken understood that I was busy tonight, and he got tired of waiting…"
"I'm so sorry, Jun." Erin hugged her gently. "But you'll have another chance tomorrow, right?"
Erin decided to try to cheer her friend up.
"Hey, with it being my last night as a single girl, the girls and I talked about getting a hotel room together, and having a little girls' night out. You're coming, aren't you?" Erin babbled. "No sense in you going home alone. I know Jinpei is gone…"
Reluctantly, Jun shook her head in agreement as Erin led her off toward the car. Her talk with Ken would just have to wait.
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The next day was filled with activity as the preparations for the wedding were in full swing. Jun joined Erin on her trip to the beauty salon to have her hair and nails done.
The next stop was to the tailor, to pick up the dress, and then to Erin's house to get her suitcases.
Finally, they arrived at the chapel to get dressed for the ceremony.
Erin glowed as Jun helped her into her form fitting white gown. She looked radiant. Watching her reflection in the mirror, Jun wondered if this was as close as she'd ever get to a wedding gown.
As Erin touched up her hair and makeup, Jun pulled on her indigo bridesmaid's dress. It was nice to wear something other than striped jeans and a tee-shirt for a change.
"Jun, you look lovely." Erin smiled.
There was a knock on the door. Joe walked in with something in his hand.
"I have a delivery for the bride." He beamed. "Really, it was just an excuse to come over and see all of the pretty ladies."
The bridesmaids all giggled.
Erin took the box out of Joe's hand and opened it. It held a small card and a sapphire tennis bracelet inside. She began to weep tears of joy. Some of the other bridesmaids cried with her.
"He wanted you to have something borrowed and something blue. He said it belonged to his grandmother." Joe grinned and winked at Jun.
He slipped over and whispered into her ear. "Ken wanted me to give you this. It's not a sapphire bracelet, though…" He grinned and shrugged playfully. "Just wanted you to know…"
He handed her a slip of paper. She unfolded it and read: "Meet me by the fountain outside, at the reception."
She smiled. This might be better than any old tennis bracelet.