For the last two months Marianne's wedding had been the talk of Meadow City and the day had finally arrived bright and sunny. Social media sites were buzzing and #FayFig was trending on Twitter. Marianne was dashing about to and fro as her younger sister Dawn helped her with finishing touches, notably the daisy chain crown. It was difficult because Marianne wouldn't sit still she was flitting around humming Beyoncé's Crazy in Love.
Marianne had been up at the crack of dawn with nerves and had switched on the bedside radio in the hotel room, to her surprise it was tuned to DARK FM. Marianne didn't often listen to the late night show, the "Swamp King" broadcasted between 10PM and 5AM and as Marianne had to be up early to host her own show she missed out on the DARK side of radio. She liked the genre of music he played and his voice, a rough Scottish brogue, was soothing in its own way.
"Before signing off today I'd like to wish a happy wedding day to the love birds over at FAE. Marianne and Roland, this one's for you." Billy Idol's White Wedding started playing and Marianne tried and failed to not laugh. She had never met the King of late night radio but he sure had a sense of humor she thought.
It was the perfect start to a perfect day! Nothing anyone said or did was going to bring her down. She was young, a spry 24 and in love, and today she was getting married.
Around mid-morning, when Dawn had finally gotten her to sit still the pre-wedding jitters came and Marianne became self-conscious.
"Do you think Roland loves me, for me?" she asked giving Dawn a quirky half-smile.
"How could he not" her sister dismissed with a wave of her hand. "He asked you to marry him, didn't he?"
"Yeah but he keeps trying to get dad to make changes to the radio station and I like it the way it is." Marianne couldn't explain this gnawing feeling that had suddenly come over her. Something wasn't right.
"Just wait till he sees you. I promise the look on his face will make it up to you." Dawn gushed trying to lighten her sister's unexplainable dark mood.
"Yeah I guess" Marianne conceded trying to convince herself more so than Dawn.
It was almost noon and Marianne was just about ready to go when she overheard one of the groomsmen telling Dawn no one had seen Roland yet. That was odd, hadn't someone checked his room? Surely he received a wakeup call just like everyone else?
"I still have his boutonniere" the groomsman said holding out the pale pink rose. Marianne didn't even know the guy's name; they all looked the same to her. She hadn't really met a lot of Roland's friends before today.
"I'll give it to him" Marianne said grabbing it from the guy, she took off running down the hall in her heels and long flowy dress. Thankful she had gone for a sleek and slender design rather than princess poufy. It was sleeveless and white feathers trimmed the V neck and around the back of neck.
"Wait, Marianne! It's bad luck if he sees you!" Dawn had called after her.
Marianne ignored the warning marching down the hall to the room she had booked for her and Roland to spend their wedding night in. It was the honeymoon suite at the Fairmont Hotel the nicest place to have a wedding in the whole city. They had a beautiful botanical garden that was perfect for the kind of ceremony Marianne had always dreamed of having. Simple yet elegant, it was to be a small ceremony with only close friends and family in attendance. Roland had urged her for something bigger, grander but it wasn't what she wanted.
Her and Roland hadn't been together very long they had only been officially dating for a few months when he'd asked her on air to marry him. She had thought it romantic at the time, if a little hasty and now less than two months later they were getting married. 'Fools rush in' indeed.
Marianne knocked on the door earnestly and called out, "Roland, are you in there?"
At first there was no answer but then she heard what sounded like a woman's giggle.
She banged on the door until at last her fiancé dared to show his face.
"Buttercup" he gushed upon seeing her, his southern drawl coming out strong. He twirled an errant blonde curl around his finger and leaned awkwardly against the door frame. He wasn't even close to being ready, dressed only in the white terry-towel bathrobe supplied by the hotel. He did his best to block the room behind his broad shoulders but there was no hiding the petite cleaning maid still lounging in the bed.
Marianne's eyes flashed in anger and she threw his boutonniere down on the ground and squashed it under her heeled foot before running back down the hall tears streaming down her face. If he tried calling after her she didn't hear him. There was nothing he could have said anyway to make her change her mind. They were finished.
Dawn was still waiting outside her room in her bridesmaid dress and was shocked by the state her sister was in.
"Marianne, what happened?" she asked full of genuine concern.
Not yet 21 Dawn was so innocent, so blind to the cruelty of the world that Marianne couldn't face it to tell her the truth. Dawn had short flings she had never really fallen in love and so had never had her heart broken. Marianne balked at her own naivety; Roland was a lying cheater and she hadn't really known him at all. She had been a fool who had merely fallen for his outward appearance of Southern charm and good looks. Did he even know her favourite band was ELO? Or that her favourite colour was purple? Had they ever had a 'real' conversation?
No it was better to preserve Dawn's innocence in light of the whole ordeal so instead she said, "Tell dad the wedding is off" through some painful sobs before shutting the door gently in her sister's face, tears still coming freely, nose all snotty, and mascara ringing her eyes.
"Well folks the painful truth is out, the wedding of the year has been called off indefinitely for undisclosed reasons. I mean I could have told you it wasn't going to last long, but I thought they'd at least make it to the ceremony." The cynical Scot said.
Marianne had shut herself away in the hotel room refusing to come out for anyone including her father, her sister, and Roland himself. She had cried herself to sleep sometime late in the afternoon and woke up again just before 10 and had the brilliant idea that listing to some classic rock music might help take her mind off the awful day. She couldn't have been more wrong.
It had started off alright he had opened the program with his classic intro song Welcome to the Jungle and followed it with Thunderstruck. It had gone downhill after that. The Swamp King's timber was grating tonight as he mocked her failed wedding. He had teased and taunted her unaware she was listening in. He speculated on the possible reasons for the wedding falling through and came uncomfortably close to the truth.
At one point Marianne had the hotel phone in her hand ready to call in and knock him off his pedestal he was having such a go at her expense. A few others had called in on her behalf sticking up for her, saying she probably had a good reason. Others, mostly men seemed to take Roland's side automatically.
"Sure, everyone defends the princess but no one has thought about the consequences this will have on their little morning show" Swampy teased cruelly, "and what about poor Roland? Next caller, you're on the air."
"Leave her alone" a small but mighty voice came through the radio and Marianne perked up. Dawn? She thought.
"Clearly you have never been in love or had your heart broken or else you would know what she is going through and leave her alone" yup that was Dawn defending her big sister to the last iota. A wave of affection ran through Marianne and all she wanted was to give Dawn a big hug.
On the other hand Dawn's abrasiveness had made the Swamp King go silent finally striking a cord.
"Yes, well then." He made a throat clearing noise then introduced the next song and Marianne switched off the radio.
Marianne was glad she hadn't listened to the whole thing when her father presented her with a transcript of the program the next morning at breakfast in the hotel's luxurious dining room. Oberon Fay was a large man and a kind and caring father. He ran the FAE radio station but like any good father he didn't always completely understand his daughters.
"What's this?" she asked after glancing down at the paper and not really looking at it.
"Swampy made some interesting points on his show last night" her father said, pointing at the paper. "With you and Roland not speaking who will host the morning show?"
"I can do it alone" she said, brimming with sudden confidence. Before hiring Roland, Marianne had been promised her own show. Her father's excuse at the time was that it was better to have two hosts but Marianne had the nagging feeling he believed she couldn't do it on her own.
"You, what about Roland?" her father asked. "He had some good ideas you know about switching genres. Country music is very popular now, we should think about adding some in."
"I hate country music" Marianne growled curling her hands into tiny fists, "as for Roland fire his ass!" She was not losing her job over her pinhead of an ex. She would flat out refuse to work with him if that's what it took.
"Marianne, you know I can't do that. There's contracts and paper work that needs to be fixed. If you told me what happened." Her father pleaded then stopped seeing the look of pain cross her face.
"We've got a week to decide" she said diplomatically if a little surly.
Just then Sunny Leaf bounced into the dining room, he moved to the tunes blasting through his red Beats headphones and Marianne had a great idea. Sunny was a good friend to Dawn and enjoyed working at the station as a technical assistant but he had the personality of a host, he was outgoing and quick-witted.
"What about Sunny as my co-host?" she asked keeping her options open.
Sunny stopped in his tracks when Marianne said his name.
"Sunny is getting his own program" Oberon said wisely.
"He is?" asked Marianne a little stunned.
"I am?" asked Sunny even more stunned than Marianne.
"Yes, I was going to tell you later today. You'll have the noon to four PM slot." He explained.
"Wow, that's a real honour sir, thanks, I won't let you down." Sunny shook Mr. Fay's hand very enthusiastically before going off to breakfast.
"So who's going to be our new tech?" Marianne asked, afraid of the answer.
"Well your sister is keen about the prospect; she'll be a temporary replacement until I can hire someone new. I'll be honest with you honey, the ratings are down, we might not be in business much longer." His disappointment showed.
Marianne was floored. She had worked her whole life in radio it was the only thing she knew. She had gone to the best broadcasting school expecting to take over the station.
"I really want to try it on my own, dad, please." She gave up her best smile, the one used for those awful promo pictures and her father relented.
"Alright honey, we'll see." He said.
"You got a lot of nerve showing up here this morning" Marianne hissed at Roland as he took his usual seat across from her in the recording room the following Monday morning. Cup of coffee in hand he looked too relaxed acting as if nothing was wrong.
"Me? You were the one who called off the wedding, remember?" he asked back cool and calm as ever.
"You cheated on me, remember?" she hissed back unable to believe he would stoop so low.
"Alright now everybody we go live in five minutes" Marianne's father said coming into the control room.
"Dad, what is he doing here?" Marianne asked accusingly, pointing her finger at Roland.
"He works here Marianne, you two will just have to get along for the next little while. I'm sorry." He turned and walked back to the control panel where a yawning Dawn sat behind the overwhelming array of knobs and levers.
After a week of fill-ins and guest stars Bog turned on his car to hear Marianne's voice coming through the speakers.
"Dawn, she's my sister, is in the control room this morning" Marianne pointed out proudly.
There was a moment of feedback and then Dawn's voice could be heard, "good morning Meadow City!"
Bog wasn't sure his eardrums could handle that much perky this early in the day.
"Thank you Dawn" Marianne said dryly, obviously suffering from the same problem.
"And now the weather" Bog tuned out as Marianne yammered on about possible rain showers and cloudy periods, he just wanted to be at home and in bed.
"Please give a warm welcome to our guest this morning Matchmaker and Love Guru extraordinaire Sugar Plum!" Roland introduced their guest.
Bog almost couldn't believe his ears how were the two exes expected to continue working together; that was a cruel form of punishment. He curled his nose in disgust at the radio at the mention of Sugar Plum. It had been her dating website he had tried and failed so miserably on.
"Miss Plum, what do you suggest is a good way to win back a woman's heart?" he asked laying on his accent thick. Bog could almost picture him leaning on the recoding table and making gooey-eyes at Marianne.
"Don't" came Marianne vicious reply.
Plum had obviously been booked in for the happy couple's first day back to talk all about the joys of being married and in love. They must not have been able to cancel on such short notice. Marianne had the disposition of an icicle and Roland was acting as if nothing was wrong.
"Oh honey you can never go wrong with a little apology and a cute song." Plum replied in her own perky tone.
"Ugh, don't give him ideas" Marianne made a gag noise and Bog couldn't help it when he gave a small chuckle. Apparently he and Marianne now had something in common, they both hated love.
"Sounds like you got your work cut out for you baby, you may need something a little stronger. May I suggest my new love potion?" The guru plugged her latest project.
A love potion? Bog thought skeptically, he was fairly sure it already existed and was called alcohol. What con would this woman come up with next?
Roland of course fell for the ploy.
"Are you saying I need a love potion?" He asked suspiciously
"Honey it's so easy anyone can use it, and it's guaranteed to work." Plum boasted.
"Guaranteed you say?" he asked clearly coming around to the idea.
"Don't even think about coming anywhere near me with that" Marianne suddenly jumped in, frosty as ever.
"Ah now Buttercup don't get all suspicious." Roland cooed. Marianne narrowed her eyes at him.
"And that cues our next song." Marianne jibed, Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds started playing and Bog relaxed a little, he liked Elvis.
Summer construction season was well under way and the traffic this morning was very stop-and-go. Bon Jovi's you give love a bad name followed suit and that was followed by the morning traffic report. Clearly the two were taking digs at each other with their song choices and Bog found it mildly entertaining.
Sugar Plum took a few calls, and gave out some more awful relationship advice. Marianne set up another song and Pink's So What started playing. This was the last song Bog heard from the morning show as he reached his apartment just as it ended.
He had his own problems to worry about. His mother had informed him his own ratings were starting to slip. During the day DARK had very few listeners Bog's show was basically what kept the station running if his ratings slipped anymore the whole thing would be shut down.
Hosting a radio show was all he had, he liked the late night gig he could play whatever he wanted and say whatever he wanted.
"Ever since you started taking digs at that poor girl your ratings have gone down." His mother had told him this morning.
For the past week almost every show Bog had brought up something about the failed wedding between Marianne and Roland and now he was paying for it. The worst part was every time he did, he remembered that caller from the first night who had called him out on his bullshit. He had known or at least thought he knew what to be in love felt like, and the heartbreak that came afterwards had made him terribly bitter. Marianne was now suffering through the same type of thing and he'd been less than kind about it.