Kara loved weddings. She loved the excitement leading up to the big day and the nervous buzz from the bride as they sipped champagne in the bridal suite. She loved the heartfelt vows and the rouge flower girls. She loved the dresses that came in every shape and color and she even loved the wine stains leftover the next morning. She loved the cake and the cute little figurines on top. It was safe to say that Kara Danvers loved everything there was to love about weddings but most importantly, she loved being a bridesmaid. After standing by all of her friends' sides as they married - and remarried in some cases - Kara had caught the bridesmaid bug. But it wasn't until her sister - Alex - had made an offhand comment the day before her wedding, that Kara began to see how she could turn her passion and her love for weddings into a career. First, she had tried to go down the wedding planning route, and while she loved every client she worked with that first year, she still longed to stay by their sides at the altar and not in the back row. The first time she had entertained the idea of being a bridesmaid for hire, was when her client shoved a baby pink dress into her arms the morning of the wedding and promised a $150 bonus if she stepped in for her little sister, who at the time was glued to the toilet with a violent case of food poisoning. Kara took great pride in filling it, and as she was handed her bonus at the end of the night, she decided that her business was about to head in a whole new direction. And now, five years later, Kara has been a professional bridesmaid in over one hundred and fifty weddings, and she couldn't be happier.
Lena sat in an agonizing silence at her home office desk. Her perfectly manicured fingers typing violently as she addressed the neglected work emails she had missed that afternoon. Lunch with the future in-laws had been Jack's idea. Or so Lena had originally thought. It was actually the work of his controlling mother, Beverly. Lena was no stranger to difficult mothers. She'd been raised by one herself, but she'd take a lifetime with Lillian over another meal with Beverly. This woman took control to an entirely new level, and Jack sat there and took it. Lena was furious. This was her life that was being dictated to her, and the man she was planning to spend that life with sat silently as his mother laid down the law on how their wedding was going to unfold. But what could she say? 'Back off you old hag,' had come to mind more than once. But that wasn't how she was raised. And no matter how much that woman made her blood boil, she wasn't about to disrespect her future mother-in-law...at least not yet. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful for the shared interest Jack's parents had in their wedding, it was that she wasn't even sure she wanted one. Marriage and a life together, yes. A wedding with a big white dress and speeches and dancing and everyone's eyes on her, not so much. But no one was listening. Not even the man she was going to marry.
The proposal had come as a complete surprise to Lena, and as she paused her frustrated typing and stared down at the oversized ring on her finger, the brunette was terrified of what was to come. She loved Jack. That wasn't the issue. The problem was the ring that weighed heavy on her finger, and the significance behind it. She was a businesswoman. A fierce CEO of her brother's company. She had plans for her future, and marrying her college sweetheart had never managed to sneak its way into those plans, until now.
"Mother sent over some prospective wedding planners. They're some of the best that National City has to offer," Jack stopped in the doorway, his cautious gaze shifting around the almost pitch dark room, the only light coming from Lena's laptop. "Do you maybe want to have a look?"
"You pick." She snarked back, without looking up from her screen.
"You know, this is your wedding as well." He rolled his eyes, an action that Lena had caught the tail-end of when she finally looked up from her laptop.
"Is it? Here I thought you were marrying your Mother." The sarcasm dripped from every word, as she narrowed her eyes at the suddenly terrified man.
"Don't be like that, babe." Jack smiled that annoyingly dashing smile as he pushed himself off of the door frame and padded over to Lena's desk, stopping to sit on the edge nearest her.
"I told you that I didn't want to make a fuss. That I wanted something small, and intimate."
He snorted in frustration, this being a conversion that they'd had almost ten times since he proposed the week previous. "Sorry for being excited and wanting to celebrate spending the rest of our lives together."
"This is just an excuse for your parents to show off to their fuddy-duddy friends in high places."
"Coming from a Luthor." He muttered under his breath, but Lena made a point of showing that she'd heard him clearly, as she abruptly stood and marched over to the small drinks cabinet and silently poured herself a large glass of wine.
Slowly, she turned to face the fidgeting man. "A Luthor who would rather get married on a beach on some faraway island. Not in front of hundreds of people, I don't even know!"
"Have you spoken to your mother?"
"Not yet…" She rolled her eyes, hating that Jack always ended up bringing her mother - and their rocky relationship - into every argument they had as of late. "But I will. And I'm sure she'll agree with you and your mother on all fronts."
In a huff, Jack stands away from the oak desk, his arms folded tightly as he storms towards the door. "I can't talk to you when you're like this. You knew what I wanted when I asked you to marry me. I've always been a traditional kind of man, and that didn't seem to bother you before."
"I said yes, didn't I?" Lena snapped, raising her voice momentarily, before taking a deep breath and meeting his gaze with soft apologetic eyes. "I'm just not looking forward to dealing with mother dearest. Either of them." She shrugs, before offering up her glass - refilled - to Jack, who reluctantly takes it.
"Have a look at the list, please." He smiles defeatedly, receiving a small nod from the brunette. "Oh, and mother would like to start organizing a little get-together at the house. You, Lillian, your bridesmaids. If you could get me a list of names and numbers, that'd be great." He added, with a glimmer of hope in his eyes as they followed the brunette to the desk.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Lena reached for her glasses in hopes of stifling the oncoming headache. "Do we really have to do all of that?"
"The joys of getting married," Jack mumbled before downing the large glass of wine and placing it on the edge of Lena's desk. "My sisters already said they'd step up if you-"
"I single-handedly restored my brother's failing company after he went off the deep end, I don't need any help." She snapped with a look that could kill.
"So you've already picked out a maid of honor?" He asked with a smirk, trying to turn their argument from heated to playful.
"Yes!"
"Who?" He challenged with a raised eyebrow, well aware of Lena's dislike of nonessential relationships.
"An old friend of mine, we haven't seen each other in a while, but we made a promise that we'd be each other's maid of honor," Lena smirked matter-of-factly, turning her attention back to her computer, as Jack slowly made his way back to the working brunette.
Leaning in close, he whispered with a hint of amusement in his voice, while his breath tickled Lena's neck. "Right...and this friend is...real?"
Annoyed and embarrassed, Lena pulled away, allowing the wheels on her chair to glide to the other end of her desk and out of his reach. "Do you really think I'm that pathic?" She snapped, her usually pale cheeks now flushed.
"No! That wasn't what I was…" Jack sighed softly, before making a move to leave the brunette alone, something he knew she'd been wishing for since he stepped into the office. "Just, have a look at the list. I'll leave you to your work," He called over his shoulder, knowing that he wouldn't get a reply from his fiancée.
Lena wasn't mad. Not at him anyway. She'd just dug herself into a hole, and she had no idea how she was going to recover. She could always hire someone - an escort, or the like - but she had a feeling that a well-paid escort would definitely go noticed in her circle. She needed discretion. She wasn't about to be made into a laughing stock for Jack and his family. The Luthor name had already fallen in stature over the past few years, thanks to her brother and his very public breakdown over a rival company. This was her chance to - not only start her life with Jack - but to rebuild herself and her name in the eyes of National City's richest. And she was going to let something as insignificant as her lack of female friends or friends, in general, get in the way of that.
Even though she thought the idea was insane, she quickly pulled up Google and pathetically typed, 'Bridesmaids for bride with no friends.' And was pleasantly surprised to find a long list of websites that offered just what she was looking for. "Danver's Bridal Services...let's see what you have to offer."
A/N: Should I continue?