Abby/Jake - The Wedding - pt.1

Would he be there? Of course he would; he was Danny's brother. Why was I feeling so nervous, so excited? I knew why, I would be seeing him again; it had been months since that fateful day, when those words had turned my world upside down. Although we had seen each other at work a couple of times afterwards it had been awkward, would it be the same this time?

I had to work the day shift unlike Susan, Helah, and Neela; they'd all been off, so had been able to attend the ceremony, the wedding breakfast, as well as tonight. Luka was on nights but he'd stopped by during the day before coming to the hospital for his shift; "it's pretty crazy over there, good fun, reminds me of a Croatian wedding" he said laughing. Carter had even promised to be back from Africa for the big day, he said he'd plan his next visit to oversee the building of the Joshua Carter centre to coincide with it; how could he miss it he told Chuny, in his email, I've known you over 11 years.

I went home took a quick shower, making sure not to wet my hair, and got ready; the taxi was due at 8.15pm. I had taken ages to decide what to buy; Chuny's invitation to all the girls in the ER had all been overwritten in her hand saying "sexy dresses only, absolutely no trousers or you will have me to answer for". I had been to several shops looking for inspiration, I hardly ever wore dresses or skirts; I recall Jake saying "why don't you, you have a great figure, why hide it ?" I had finally gone into a small store, "Angelique's" they had a dress in the window that had caught my eye. "Yes it is a lovely dress, the structured bodice means you don't have to wear any thing else, and it really enhances the figure" the saleswoman had said, "if your not keen on the white we have it in various colours, and you can mix and match the ribbon for any colour you want too." I knew the moment she showed me the selection; she had it about ten different colours, they were all so pretty, but she had one in a pale lavender blue, his favourite colour. "I mentioned the ribbon that goes under the bust can be any colour, do you have one in mind you'd like to try?" "Do you have one in brown?" it may not be best combination, but it was the standing joke between us about his undeniable love for the colour.

So here I was standing in front of the mirror. I had decided to put a few curls in my hair with my tongs (they normally did not see the light of day, ) so that when I brushed them my hair would be wavy, not it's usual dead straight. I had made myself practice a couple of times till I could do it quickly as I knew I wouldn't have much time when I got home. I applied a small amount of makeup, put in the earrings Jake had given me, and said to myself, "actually you do look rather nice even if I say so myself".

The dress was simple, yet stunning. It had spaghetti straps, leading down to the bodice which I must say did enhance the bust, I was not that particularly well endowed, but it sure looked as if I was now. The silk material was slightly ruched as it ran over the bodice, but just flowed naturally down from underneath the bust line; there was no adornment save for the wide ribbon that ran around the dress from the back to underneath the bust, where it was bowed slightly off centre, its loose ends trailing down to the middle of my thigh; the chocolate brown the sales assistant had chosen complemented the lavender better than I had expected. When I had first seen it, I had loved its simplicity, but I wondered if it would look too young on me but it hadn't at all, in fact the woman had said it suited all ages, she was right, as the style was classically timeless, and the colour really did compliment my skin tone. It was the sort of dress you could wear at various functions, she had said, (yeah, as if I went to any of those) as it finished just below the knee, it did not drop dead straight, as the cut of the material meant it flared out slightly, and flowed as you moved, it felt great on, it was so feminine, and I must admit, it made you feel sexy too. I decided to buy a pair of strapy heeled sandals in the same colour, and a small clutch purse and wrap in a chocolate to complete the outfit.

Let's face it, I had bought it with him in mind, would he like it? Would he be pleased to see me? Would time have healed the wound I caused?

I had just left the dance floor with Neela; we had gone back to the "ER table", and there she was chatting to Susan. Abby looked stunning, more beautiful than I can ever recall.

"Abby,…. bloody hell, look at you,..…you look fabulous..… you on the pull?." "I could say the same for you, look at that revealing top, your mother wouldn't approve" "thank god she's in England then," she laughed, "besides I'm only following Chuny's instructions "sexy dresses" "well I'm just recalling that article I read, 60 of people meet their future spouses at weddings, so fingers crossed." "60, " he said, "I had no idea." "yes, 60 here, 20, in supermarkets, believe it or not, and the other 20 in bars, dances or wherever". "I better go warn the other single men to be on the lookout for predatory females, or else they won't stand a chance with those statistics." he chuckled.

"Jake it's nice to see you; Californian air seems to suit you, you look well, how's the internship going?" "Great, it's hard work, but really interesting, …..so Abby may I get you a drink, what would you like?; oh and before I forget, there's a buffet at the far end of the hall, a wonderful fusion of Hispanic and Irish fare, you must be hungry if you've just come off you're shift." I inwardly laughed, Jake and cuisine. "I'll have a club soda, no ice, just lemon thanks."

Jake looked wonderful, he had a lovely tan, and those beautiful, hypnotic blue eyes of his seemed even more pronounced. I noticed he had not shaved, he'd got a couple of days growth on his chin , no doubt Chuny had been pleased, she'd probably say he spoilt the photographs, looking like that, like he just got up. ( Had he done that for me, he knew I found it sexy; what was I thinking, why would he, we'd had no contact for just over four months, he'd probably met someone else, he was a good looking guy, he'd have no problems there). I noticed his hair was longer too, only an inch or so; because he'd been dancing it had a slightly tousled look, but it suited him; it was at that length that if you ran your fingers through it, you could take a spiral of hair and wrap it around your finger and play with it. Despite being October the weather was fabulous, and like many of the men present he'd removed his jacket and tie, but he'd also undone the top couple of buttons on his shirt exposing that chest hair that had caused me to stop in my tracks that first night…… oh god I wanted him so much.

Abby's understated sexy dress I noticed was in my favourite colour, it even had a brown ribbon on it; she had always said I had some brown colour fetish; we had often joked about it. I noticed too that she was wearing the earrings I'd given her for her birthday. They were real diamonds; she'd been shocked when I gave them to her. I know she was always saying let me pay for this, or I'll go halves with you, you're still a student I've been there, I know what it's like to eke the money out; but I had wanted to spoil her, she meant the world to me; I loved her. Nor could I get over her hair, it looked lovely, she'd often had it in different styles, but never wavy like now, it suited her, and with her tan from the long hot Summer she looked simply sensational……. oh god I wanted her so much.