Olivia smiled at me, not fooled for a second. She knew how I felt about Ben since our first and only date ended poorly. Ever since then, I’d given him hell every time I saw him, and annoyingly, he gave me hell right back.
“You know, you and Ben need to figure out this whole not liking each other thing. I’d rather my wedding didn’t go down in flames when you two hiss hellfire at each other as I walk down the aisle.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t hold your breath,” I muttered. I didn’t think Ben and I would ever get along. It just wasn’t in the cards. “I promise not to ruin your wedding. If it goes down in flames, just know that it’s all Ben’s fault.”
She pursed her lips and shifted her focus to her reflection in the mirror.
“Alright, dear. You’re all finished here,” the seamstress said. “Now let’s check the fit of yours.” She pointed at me and shooed me off to get changed into my maid of honor dress.
“How are you feeling about that callback you have tomorrow?” Olivia asked from outside my dressing room door.
“Equal parts nervous and excited. I have a good feeling about this one,” I said, giving up on zipping the dress all the way up.
“I’ll be there opening night cheering you on when you get it.”
“You’d better be,” I said, coming out of my dressing room.
The seamstress came up behind me and tugged up my zipper. My breasts spilled out of the top of the satin material, but it cinched in perfectly at my waist, the blush fabric flowing languidly to my toes.
I looked in the mirror, eyeing my current boob situation, the situation being that there was a serious chance of a Janet Jackson level nip slip occurring.
Olivia glanced up from her phone in time to see me attempting to tuck my boobs back into the too tight fabric.
A laugh burst past her lips before she could hold it back. “Oh my God. Your boobs look like they’re going to explode out of that thing.” Her smile faltered and she turned to the seamstress. “There’s time to fix it, right?”
“Yes, yes, dear. It just needs to be taken out a hair here and here to give her more room,” she said, tugging the sides gently. She dropped to the floor and began working at the hem, which was still a touch too long, even in the high heels I was going to wear.
“How stressed is all this wedding planning making you?”
She shrugged. “The worst part of the planning was making the decisions, but Jack did most of that with a little input from me. He has everything organized in a binder with pictures and spreadsheets.”
“Such a nerd.”
Olivia giggled again. It reassured me to finally see my friend so carefree and bright. She deserved all the happiness in the world.
“His nerdy organization came in handy with the wedding planning, for sure. He’s been so tightly wound. I’m really hoping the bachelor and bachelorette party helps relax him.”
I tensed a little, remembering I needed to finalize all the party plans with Ben. Jack and Olivia had opted for one big party instead of separate bachelor and bachelorette parties. As best man and maid of honor, it was Ben and my job to plan this thing, and that meant we had to spend time together.
Ugh.
I hadn’t had the chance to meet up with him and get it all nailed down. I wanted it to be perfect and would have been happy to do it alone, but Ben wanted input. He overheard me telling Olivia some of my ideas and had chimed in and said he wanted to help plan so it didn’t end up being ‘a glittery, phallus-filled hen party.’
I sent out e-invites from Jack and Olivia’s combined guest list weeks ago, saying I’d email an itinerary and details closer to the date. I made a mental note to call Ben as soon as I got home and badger him relentlessly until he agreed to meet up to plan this with me seeing as the date on the invites was only three weeks away.
“We’ll make sure Jack loosens that tie of his and has a good time,” I promised.
Once my fitting was done and Olivia’s dress was packed in a garment bag, we walked out into the sweltering June heat, the sun blinding me as I hailed a cab. There was no way I would carry her wedding dress on the disgusting subway.
“Do you want to come back to my place with me?” I asked Olivia as the cab pulled up to the curb.
Her face paled and her stare turned vacant. I placed my hand on her arm, squeezing gently to pull her back from her spiraling thoughts. I knew what her answer would be before the words were out of her mouth.
“No thanks,” she said, giving me a faint smile. “I need to get back home. I have some edits I need to finish up by next week. Another time.”
She hadn’t been back to our old apartment since her psycho ex, Jared, attacked her there last year. When she moved in with Jack right after, I packed up all of her stuff while Ben, Brian, and David helped move all the boxes. Jack wasn’t allowed to lift a finger since he was healing from being stitched back together after his altercation with Jared.
I didn’t blame her, but I missed her being there with me. I missed the girl talk late at night and the way she always knew what to say when some douchebag made me question everything about myself. We saw each other once a week at most. Less when one of us was especially busy with work or auditions. I loved living with Brian, but sometimes I missed my best friend.
