Emily watched Seth stare intently in the mirror straightening his tie for the hundredth time. "You ready for this, man?" He said, turning toward Aaron.
"No. Are you?" Aaron tensed up next to her. She ran her hand along his thigh trying to calm his nerves, if she didn't he would be right there next to Seth, adjusting his tie and collar until they were both wrinkled beyond repair.
"How can you be nervous?" Isabel said, rolling her eyes, "you've married off two kids already, shouldn't you be the old pro." She was the complete contrast of Seth and Aaron, practically lounging in the chair at the end of the hotel room bed, cool and collected.
"Not to a comedian they've known for less than a year." Emily thought they'd discussed this to death, but apparently a new audience was all Aaron needed.
"He's a nice guy." Seth could see the good in anyone, but Emily had to agree. It only took one look at Rosa to see how happy Lucas made her.
"And he'll be just as nice four years from now when they've gotten a chance to really get to know each other, and he's gotten a chance to find a real job."
"What is this 1970? She needs a man to support her?"
Emily suppressed a laugh, all these years later and Aaron and Isabel still got each other wound up so easily. Some things were just innate, it seemed. "Rosa is very serious about her career. Maybe it's just as well he's fine taking the back seat. An ambitious man isn't necessarily the best match for an ambitious woman." She said, giving Aaron a significant look.
"So it's three against one?"
"Afraid so." Emily replied, kissing his cheek.
Apparently finally satisfied with his tie Seth sat down on the other side of Aaron, "It could be worse, she could be marrying Braydon Miller."
"I liked Braydon." Emily said, unable to suppress a smile.
"Really Braydon?" Seth sounded disbelieving.
"He was cute." She said, hoping to get a rise out of Aaron.
"Cute?" Aaron scoffed. "If you want I think we can get you his number."
"Do you think he still has his motorcycle?" Emily wiggled her eyebrows at Aaron.
"And the soul of an artist." Isabel said in perfect imitation of the breathless voice Rosa once used to defend her boyfriend.
"That doesn't sound any better coming from your mouth than it did from our seventeen year old daughter."
"I guess I have to apologize for my husband, he's still mourning the loss of The Great Andrew Garcia."
"Drew was dependable." Aaron said, his voice was still stern, but Emily could hear the teasing underneath it.
"Drew was boring." Isabel laughed.
"Which frankly is a perfect quality for my daughter's husband."
"You just liked him because he called you Mr. Vice President." Seth said, shaking his head.
"He was respectful."
"And boring." Isabel said again, laughing even harder this time.
"I'm never going to win with you guys, am I?"
"Never." Emily said, as Isabel shook her head and Seth just laughed.
"Have you seen my mom?" Rosa had let her out of her sight for five minutes and now she was nowhere to be found. It didn't help that her Maid of Honor was slumped on the bed, apparently not remotely concerned about wrinkling her dress.
"Yeah, she's next door." Cara used her foot to gesture toward the adjoining room.
"No, my mom." Rose swore her sister was such an airhead sometime, she did not know how they came from the same family. She'd say it was because they were half sisters, but Emily was just as Type A as Rosa and her Mom.
"Yeah, they're all next door."
Rosa could feel her eyes rolling in her head. "They are so weird." It was the last thing she should complain about given the system of buffers and escape routes they had to put in place just to get Lucas's family in the same building, but in her defense her parents spent a bizarre amount of time together for people who were never even married.
"So weird. Do you ever think that maybe they're swingers and Dad just got the wrong girl pregnant?"
"What? No! Gross!" Rosa threw a pillow at her sister with as much force as she could manage. Wrinkled dress be damned, she did not want to think about her parents that way at her wedding.
"I'm just screwing with you, keep your pants on." Cara said, lobbing the pillow back. As it hit her Rosa dissolved into giggles, followed almost instantaneously by Cara. Her family was so fucking weird.
