Chapter 11
To say Jecina was skeptical of her best friend's declaration to her boyfriend was an understatement. Throughout the entire drive from the hotel to the dress/tux shop, she must've asked Lilianna 20 times if she was sure about making Jon one of Roman's groomsmen in the wedding. This was not going to go over well at all. She knew Dean would blow a gasket alongside Roman once they were informed of the bride's idea. Jecina could already feel a headache developing and they hadn't arrived at the dress/tux shop yet. Jon would only be able to keep his promise IF Dean and Roman didn't provoke him. This was going to be a nightmare. Why did Lilianna have to choose now, of all times, to decide to use Jon to get back at her fiancé and his overbearing mother?
"You do realize she's using you, right?" Jecina asked, unfastening her seatbelt and stepped out of the vehicle, falling behind with Jon while Lilianna hurried inside the building.
"Yeah and? You know I love a little chaos in my life, precious." Jon knew exactly why Lilianna came to him; he wasn't stupid and enjoyed making his brother's life miserable. That was common knowledge. "You worry too much; you're gonna end up with a head full of gray before long. And I'd still fuck you senseless."
Jecina smacked his arm, her cheeks burning a deep crimson. "You did NOT just say that!" She chastised, planting her hands on her hips and Jon yanked her into his arms by the hips, kissing the crown of her head. "And here I thought you didn't fuck grannies."
"You're the only exception to that rule. We're gonna grow old together, so get used to it, Jina." Jon stated, not a single solitary question in his tone only finality. "Come on, let's get in there before your girl starts to think we abandoned her."
"You know she has a name, right?"
Jon smirked, squeezing her backside and gave it a little pat in the direction of the building. "Quit stalling and get moving."
There was a very good reason for her stalling tactic and it involved the eruption that was about to destroy the dress/tux shop. "This is going to be…" No sooner did they step inside the building, all hell broke loose.
"YOU WHAT?!"
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!"
"WHAT THE HELL, LILIANNA?!"
"Bad." Jecina finished her statement in a mumble, all eyes turning to stare in their direction – more specifically, at Jon.
Lilianna expected this reaction, feeling better than she had in weeks and stood her ground, planting her hands on her hips. "Time is running short to find another groomsman, Roman. We don't have time to wipe our asses let alone you contacting one of your many idiotic friends from college to try filling in. That's the whole reason we're in this mess to begin with and since I am the bride, I'm calling the shots on this decision. Jon Moxley WILL fill in as your groomsmen for the wedding. You know that old saying 'what the bride wants, the bride gets' right?" She backed up to stand beside Jon and took his arm, pushing him as hard as she could toward Roman and the rest of his groomsmen, including a VERY irate Dean Ambrose. "Play nice or ELSE. Now then, it's time for the ladies to retreat to try our dresses on."
This was unbelievable! Roman wouldn't stand for it, glowering at Jon Moxley while his cousins took to the man instantly, shaking hands with him. What the HELL was going on with his wife-to-be? Since when did she like Jon Moxley or accept his presence?! Did Roman miss something? He took a chance to look at his Best Man and saw the steam billowing out of Dean's ears, feeling the thick tension in the air.
"Hey Uce, you better just do what your woman wants. Trust me, it's sound advice." Jimmy USO advised, not having a problem with Lilianna's choice considering Jon Moxley was a pretty cool guy after knowing him for a few years.
Baron was there as well, bumping knuckles with Jon and couldn't believe Lilianna had actually asked him to fill in as Roman's groomsman. He was one of them due to building a friendship with Lilianna and Jecina ever since he came to the main roster. Gabriella was also a huge factor and Roman didn't have a lot of options as far as groomsmen went. His brother was all the way in Ohio and currently had health issues that prevented him from attending the wedding. They were on a strict short time frame and Roman didn't have a problem with Baron being a groomsman.
"What the hell is going on, man?" He murmured to Jon, curiosity raging inside of him.
"Later."
Roman growled, not wanting to hear about all the ways Naomi made Jimmy's life miserable for their own wedding in Hawaii. "I need to go talk to her. I'm sure she's only doing this to spite me and-"
"Or maybe she's finally sick of your mother running every aspect of your wedding and wants ONE decision that's solely hers in the entire wedding." Jon spoke up, breaking his silence and smirked at the sour expression on his twin brother's face. "What's the matter, Deano? Afraid I might steal your thunder? You are the Best Man, so act like it." He promised to co-exist and behave, but that wouldn't stop Jon from voicing his thoughts.
"What the hell do you know? You shouldn't even be here! Stay out of this, asshole!" Dean growled, not amused by his twin's logic and could see his plan with Jecina unraveling at the seams. This was supposed to be his chance to talk to her privately! "Roman, you need to talk to Lili if you don't want this to happen…"
Jon merely chuckled, enjoying the pure disdain and aggravation oozing from Dean and popped a piece of fruit from the tray the shop offered into his mouth, humming under his breath. If Roman wanted to keep Lilianna in his life and marry the woman, he would leave this alone and deal with it. Of course, Jon didn't think the Samoan had a single brain cell that worked in his skull, so it wasn't surprising to watch him stalk out of the men's part of the shop toward the wedding gowns.
"Idiot…" Jon snorted, shaking his head and plopped down on the nearby couch, calm and happy as a clam.
That just infuriated Dean further. Then he suddenly got an idea in his head, wondering if he could still salvage a fraction of his plan and rubbed his hands together. Baron and Jon were conversing about something, both looking up when Dean cleared his throat to gain their attention. He was never one to be subtle, but also refused to interrupt someone talking and had waited until Baron finished whatever he was saying.
"So, Lili really came to you asking to be a groomsman?" Dean asked, still having a hard time believing Jon had nothing to do with this. He was a con artist and scammed people daily! "Or maybe you just didn't want me alone with Jecina for the weekend."
"Why would that bother me, brother?" Jon remarked, bright blues gleaming wickedly. "She comes to my bed at the end of every day and I fuck her until dawn. She can hang with whoever she wants."
Jon knew exactly what to say to get under Dean's skin, but it was time for the tables to be turned. "Be that as it may, it makes me wonder why you guys are living in separate states still. I mean it's been how many years?"
Baiting. Jon wasn't stupid and had a promise to keep to Jecina, letting out a slow breath suddenly needing a nicotine fix. "How about you worry about your own shattered love life and keep your nose out of mine, eh? Baron, cig time. Care to join me to keep me company?"
Anything to get out of this ridiculous shop, Baron was on board and followed Jon out the door, leaving Dean sitting there with the other groomsmen waiting for Roman to return.
Little did Dean know just how much he HAD gotten under his twin brother's skin.
"I TOLD you Roman wouldn't be happy with this decision." Jecina chastised while pulling on the third Maid of Honor dress Lisa picked out for her to try on.
"And I told YOU I'm sick and tired of being excluded from my own wedding planning. Roman will deal with it, stop worrying so much." Lilianna shot back, looking in the full-length mirror and smoothed the dress down her waist, contemplating if she liked it or not.
Didn't she understand it wasn't Roman Jecina was worried about? "If you say so…" Lilianna was the bride and it was Jecina's sworn duty as Maid of Honor to do whatever the bride wanted. "Fine, I won't bring it up again, but if they kill each other…"
"THEN you can say I told you so."
"Deal."
Stepping out of the dressing room, Lisa eyeballed her future daughter-in-law and tapped her chin in thought, the blue hair still bothering her. "The hair doesn't go with it. Next!"
"Actually, I like this dress." Lilianna argued, smiling coolly at Lisa and twirled around in a circle once. "I think this is the one."
"But your hair…"
"Anything goes with white." Didn't they already have this conversation? "I'm not changing my hair, Lisa. Get it through your head…"
Lisa was astounded by this woman's attitude towards her and scoffed, planting her hands on her hips. "No need to be rude considering you've already upset my Roman today. Honestly, what were you thinking, Lilianna? You know how much Roman detests that man and…"
"I'm curious about something." Lilianna enjoyed cutting her future mother-in-law off several times and this time was no exception. "Since when did you automatically think of this as YOUR wedding? You had your special day how many years ago with Sika, remember? Shouldn't you be doing everything the bride, ME, wants instead of whatever you want? This is not YOUR wedding, it's MINE and Roman didn't have anyone in mind to take over the groomsman slot, so I took care of it. I told you all I would handle it and I did. Not my fault if he doesn't like who I chose. Besides, Jon Moxley IS my Maid of Honor's love. It would be foolish and stupid of me not to include him in our wedding, even if he doesn't get along with Roman."
"This is outrageous! How dare you speak to me like this! I've done everything for you and Roman, thinking of only you two and you could care less!"
Lilianna was done holding her tongue around Lisa and folded her arms in front of her chest. "No you haven't! You're full of shit! You and Roman have made all the decisions in this wedding and didn't even ask for my input on any of it! Last I checked, the BRIDE had a huge hand in the planning, even IF I have a full-time job that keeps me on the road 300+ days out of the year. It's still MY wedding and the fact you can't even accept my hair color, which for the record is attached to MY skull, not yours, just proves how LITTLE you actually took my feelings with this wedding into consideration."
"I don't have to stand for this, I'm leaving!" Lisa crowed, throwing her hands up in the air in defeat and stormed out of the dressing room area near the wedding gowns, mumbling about how ungrateful Lilianna was. She stopped at the sight of Roman stalking towards her and held her hands up, tears in her eyes. "I'm going home. Good luck with THAT. Personally, I think you can do much better than her, my son."
"Mom?" Roman blinked, watching her rush out of the dress/tux shop in tears – TEARS – and felt his Samoan temper rise drastically.
He was about to have it out with his fiancée and make it clear NOBODY made his mother cry, no matter the circumstances.
Jecina couldn't have been prouder of her best friend for finally opening her mouth and standing up for herself against Roman's mother. Just being in the dressing room felt uncomfortable because of how imperious Lisa was. She handed Lilianna a glass of champagne the shop offered and had one of her own, knowing both needed it after that confrontation. Just as things began to settle down in the dressing room, the door flew open and crashed against the wall. Standing in the doorway was a very angry Roman Reigns, his grey eyes stormy with barely contained rage and Jecina immediately backed up, pulling Lilianna with her. Perhaps Lilianna had gone too far with Lisa, but at the same time it was a long time coming.
"You're not supposed to be in here, Roman! What the hell?" Lilianna demanded, annoyed he barged in while she was still in the dress she'd planned on walking down the aisle in.
"My mother just stormed out of here in tears – TEARS, Lilianna!" Roman shouted, unable to speak in a normal voice. "What the hell happened? How could you make her cry like that?!"
Jecina stepped forward to try easing the tension and impending explosion between the soon-to-be wedded couple. "Roman, your mother was being extremely pushy with the dress detail because of Lilianna's hair. Lilianna merely told her what needed to be said – this is her wedding as much as it is yours and she's been planning it to HER liking instead of Lili's. And you've allowed it to happen. You haven't ONCE stood by your soon-to-be wife's side through any of the bullshit your mother has done. Lilianna defended herself and I was here to witness just how arrogant and malicious your mother really is. You can be pissed at me all you want and yell at me, but you will NOT blow up at your fiancée. She's under so much stress with this wedding crap you've tossed at her, she's on the brink of having a nervous breakdown. And if you're pissed off about Jon, blame me. I'm the one who asked if she would put him in the wedding party in some fashion." That was a flat lie, but Jecina wanted to take some of the heat off Lilianna.
"She didn't even like the dress I picked out and criticized my hair AGAIN." Lilianna pointed out, not believing Jecina just lied to Roman's face on her behalf and placed a hand on Jecina's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "That's not true. I'm the one who went to Jon and you had nothing to do with it, Jeci."
"But…"
Lilianna smiled warmly at her best friend and stepped in front of her to confront Roman much like she had Lisa, tears filling her own eyes. "Y-You have NO idea how hard it's been for me watching you give your mother the reins to all the planning of OUR wedding. I don't even feel like it is our wedding, Roman. I feel like you should be marrying your damn mother instead of me! And you've never had a problem with my hair until she said something! You haven't defended me against her ONCE and, honestly, I chose Jon Moxley as your groomsman because he is the most logical choice at this point. We're running out of time and you refused to deal with it, so I did. I know that's why you've come here to yell and scold me for choosing him because of Dean. Honestly, I could care less about Dean and Jon's family squabbles. This isn't about them. It's about us and our wedding. Your mother just frustrated me and I finally had enough today. I didn't yell at her, I simply told her how I felt and she couldn't take it so she ran out of her with crocodile tears. And I know you're going to try yelling at me for it, so you might as well calm that Samoan temper down before I cancel this wedding altogether and not marry you at all."
A gasp filled the room from both Jecina and Gabriella, who had remained silent throughout the confrontation between Lilianna and her future mother-in-law. "Lilianna…" Gabriella stepped up on her other side, sharing a worried look with Jecina and they could see the rage drain from Roman. "We all need to just take a beat and calm down. Roman, go back to the guys and settle down. You both can talk about this once you've calmed down and thought about this rationally. Go."
Roman had no choice as Gabriella guided him gently but firmly away from his fiancée toward the open dressing room door.