A/N: I have titled it with one of the most overused and clichéd titles ever, and yessir, I am ashamed of myself.
Warning: Extremely shortness and suckage ahead. Read at your own risk.
Disclaimer: Me no owney.
Chapter 11
Come What May
Weddings suck.
Especially if you're the daughter of the bride. They suck really bad, I can assure you of that. Really, really bad. Why? Because you have to get up freaking early in the morning in order to get your make up and hair done, while comforting your mother in her pre-wedding anxiety. Why do so many brides get scared just at the big day, anyways? I mean, they planned the whole thing for months and were anticipating the date like crazy. Mom even encircled it in flaring pink on our calendar in the kitchen, so why is she trying to back out now?
Weddings suck, suck, suck, suck.
"May!"
Here we go again.
"Coming, Mom!"
"May, you have to help me," Mom whined, to my confusion only half-way in her wedding dress.
"What's going on?" I asked and stepped closer. She looked like she was about to cry – which was completely out of the question since her expensive make up would be ruined, so I decided to help with whatever the problem now was. As long as her face stayed as it was.
"I can't close it," she whimpered and I could already see those dreading, small, sparkling droplets forming in her eyes. Oh Hell no.
"Mom, don't panic; I'm sure we can fix this," I tried to act all strong and reliable but it sounded more like weak pleading. Okay, it was weak pleading but I really did not need to have any more stress with the make up; she'd already ruined it by crying today, thus we had to make a detour back to the stylist to do it again . . . twice. I especially wasn't willing to do that again since the ceremony was going to start in about ten minutes and we were already late. Horribly so.
"How will we do that? It just won't fit," Mom almost cried as my breath hitched. I had had it with stylists, make up and dresses and WEDDINGS. No way I would go there again. Not before my own wedding, anyway.
"It's okay, Mom. Just, under no circumstances, cry," I tried to remind her in the hope of her stopping. "Let me try it, okay?"
She did.
With all the strength I could muster, and without ripping apart her gown of course, I began my dreadful task. To my and Mom's luck, I remained successful and, after three long minutes, won the battle against the Zipper of Doom. It must've been the Zipper of Doom, the way that thing just refused to close.
That, however, did apparently nothing to lighten up my mother's mood. She still looked pretty stressed, ready to burst of anxiety. Why couldn't she be happy? Why couldn't she be like she had been yesterday? She was destroying my day, and even worse my plan!
"Would you please cheer up? It's supposed to be the best day of your life." Again my voice sounded more pleading than determined. I really needed to change that.
"May, you don't understand," she whispered. She was shaking. "I'm scared."
It was all I could do not to snort. "And of what, may I ask?"
"Of everything! My first husband died, how will I know that my second one will not!"
"DON'T CRY!"
It was too late. Oh joy.
*
Drew was annoyed – angry even. Impatiently, he tapped his fingers against the wooden surface of the table he was sitting at. Why was he angry and annoyed, you ask? Well, for starters, he'd almost kissed the girl he was in love with yesterday, before said girl and by the way also his (soon-to-be) step sister ran away. Who wouldn't feel at least slightly angry after that? Secondly, his stupid, stupid father and groom of the day was behaving even stupider than usually. In fact, it was ridiculous. Peter was acting like a nervous wreck and sweating all over. Drew couldn't understand why. Caroline had already agreed to become his wife, this was only the final confirmation.
"What if I can't bring out even one word?" Peter cried again; it was about the fifteenth time Drew guessed his father had asked that now.
He stopped bothering to answer after the second time. He simply didn't have the nerves to at the moment. There were far more important things occupying his center of attention.
His girlfriend had not wanted to kiss him.
It had been hard for him not to just stomp over to May and ask why the bloody fuck not – Hell, it was hard not to even now – but he had decided to wait; to wait until she came on her own to explain her reasons. But Lord was it hard. He wanted to know it now. Not knowing made him feel like he was out of control of things, which he was, he had to admit. It tore him apart. Him and his manly pride. He wasn't entirely sure which was hurting more.
His girlfriend had not wanted to kiss him.
The sentence repeated itself over and over and over again.
*
Weddings didn't only suck, they were also very boring and incredibly sentimental.
Two thirds of the guests were literally crying a river. The other third consisted of sleeping, at least 65 years old men, a few lesbians (Don't ask, my family's weird.) and Drew's grandparents, who apparently seemed to hate my mom's guts. No wonder Drew was such a prick sometimes.
Anyway, you have no idea how relieved I was when it was finally over. Being the daughter of the bride is more stressing than it sounds, really. Okay, I hadn't really been doing anything besides standing a hole into my stomach and doing a really bad job at faking a smile, but hey, after fixing Mom's make-up again and successfully ignoring Drew (I'm positively sure he hates me now.), you couldn't have honestly been expecting big wonders from me, now could you?
When the ceremony and Mom and Peter's unnecessarily long and extremely corny kiss were finished, the whole crowd, including me of course, moved on to the restaurant that had been booked for the day. Its name was (unsurprisingly) The Happy Cow and it was originally a milkshake bar. I didn't even bother to ask Mom what stuff she'd been high on when she had decided to hold the wedding party there. Instead, I got myself a large plate of something that looked like beef but tasted like pork along with an extra large chocolate milkshake – the speciality of the house – and ran off to a quiet place at Petal Creek's waterfront, before Drew could even spot or grab a hold of me.
So, I know, earlier I said Mom had been ruining my plan and I also know or rather guess that you're probably asking yourself by now what this ominous plan could be since I didn't really do anything particular of interest up until now, but . . . well, I backed out of it. Sorry, for building up suspense for something that doesn't even happen; though I have to admit it might have worked. I planned to go through the wedding perfectly and show off to everyone how controlled and lady-like I was able to be, and then later in the evening I would go to Drew and ask him to dance with me in a totally sexy manner to make up for my rudeness yesterday and perhaps make out with him a little, before going to bed contently.
The only flaw in my ingenious plot was that I was and am a pathetic coward, who doesn't go through with anything. Thus, I spent most of the rest of the day at the creek eating an irrational big amount of meat and spilling The Happy Cow's speciality all over my dress. The only visitor I had was Mom, who wanted me to go celebrate with her and the others, but she wasn't really persistent, so she was gone soon again.
I didn't mind the solitude all too much; it was a nice change to all the trouble and events of the last week. The scenery was beautiful with all its trees and flowers and birds, and in the almost evening sun, Petal Creek looked absolutely gorgeous. Even more gorgeous than the green haired figure that approached me in the same moment. If his face hadn't been scrunched up in an expression of pure fury, it would have been the other way around.
It took my brain several moments to comprehend the situation. Then I started wailing like someone had just died.
"Stop that," Drew barked when he reached me and shot me a fierce look.
I did. Other than that, I had no clue what to do though. Apologizing originally seemed like a good idea, but Drew didn't look like that would be enough to satisfy and fully calm him. So I just sat there in my with chocolate milkshake ruined dress and did nothing.
Characteristically, Drew laughed. I wasn't even surprised when he began to snicker and after a couple of seconds completely gave in into a fit of laughter. It seemed natural, necessary, so I joined in. Together, just the two of us, we didn't need anything else at that moment. Suddenly, everything looked easy to me, not half as complicated as just 24 hours before, and I felt invincible. I guess, now that I'm telling you this, that love does that to someone. And on that day, I can assure you, I was very in love.
THE END.
A/N: This is the end, people. I know you've been expecting teh great mush with a pompous wedding a lots of making out (especially since I took so long; sorry, but I caught the flu :x), but I wanted to break the tradition and DIDN'T end it with a kiss. Besides, I wouldn't have felt right if I had. This is my story and I can do with it whatever the Hell I want. That's just how evil I am.
Anyway, thanks for sticking with me to everyone who did. I appreciate it loads and I think I also have improved thanks to you guys. This one was for you, even though it might not have ended the way you wanted it. Maybe we'll see each other again in one of my other stories? It would be a pleasure.
Sincerely,
Judith
