She would never admit it if you ask her directly, but Charlotte can acknowledge to at least herself that her initial response might have been a little dramatic. Being her best friend’s maid of honor is a huge token of appreciation—not because of what it practically entails, but because of how much it means to Gabi herself.
Gabi, the only friend she allows to put her in her place, even if it provokes some lighthearted death threats. Gabi, with a personality so completely opposite from her own, it only makes sense they had grown so close. Gabi, who recognizes Charlotte’s snarky remarks and countless eye rolls for what they really are, and always responds accordingly; whether it is with a healthy dose of sarcasm, a bottle of wine and a tissue box, or a 30-minute long voice note (that Charlotte had lovingly dubbed ‘Have Mercy, Gab’s Yapping - The Podcast’) with her perspective and opinion on a given situation.
Gabi, who sends her Riley’s number a few days after the engagement party, strongly advising to give her a call so they can start planning.
Gabi, who is now officially going to pay for Charlotte's therapy and her pacemaker.
'I’ll send you a to-do list so you know what’s expected of you,' Gabi texts her when Charlotte responds to Riley’s number with an emoji wearing a cowboy hat. She’d meant to click the clown one, but she’s sure it conveys the message all the same.
'I hope you know what you’re asking,' she replies.
'Yes. I do.'
For the next couple of weeks Charlotte does what she does best: procrastinate. What doesn’t help, is that the wedding isn’t going to take place for another six months. It also doesn’t help that she apparently has to initiate the call, nor that she doesn’t feel particularly excited about the amount of work she has to put in. It does help when Gabi starts threatening to give her address to the local Jehovah’s Witness community if she doesn’t get to work soon.
When Charlotte finally calls Riley, it’s a Sunday night and she’s in the bath. If Riley pisses her off, she figures, she’s already in the right place to relax. That, or she could always throw her phone in the water.
Against the whole world’s expectations, the conversation doesn’t immediately go completely off the rails. It seems... civil, almost. They discuss how ridiculous it is that their friends just dumped these duties on them, even if Riley appears to be lookingforward to some of them. Charlotte goes through Gabi’s to-do list, as Riley hums and comments on a few items. It doesn’t take long for Charlotte to figure out that Lou means as much to Riley as Gabi does to her.
They discuss the bachelorette parties (“Why two? We could just hire one stripper and be done!” “And face their wrath until our dying days?”) and decide it’s easier if both women take responsibility for their own friend’s party. They would attend both and figure out the rehearsal from there.
Nearing the end of the phone call, Charlotte feels a sense of relief about their conversation not having ended in a national tragedy. She rubs her temple as Riley wraps up, and promptly drops her arm into the water with an audible splash.
“...so for the most part, it will just, uhm… Are you… Charlotte, are you taking a bath?” Riley stammers distractedly. Charlotte squeezes her eyes shut, realizing her mistake, and silently curses herself. She is not going to give Riley any mental images to have her way with.
“None of your business.” She sits up, proud of her thoughtful and eloquent response, but it only causes more splashing. Riley’s shy giggle completely throws her off balance.
“Is the idea of talking to me that exciting?”
Here we go, Charlotte thinks.
“On the contrary.”
“Or have you started practicing for when we’re going to share a hot tub?”
“Like I said, none of your fucking— wait, hot tub? What hot tub?”
“The one at the hotel. Where… where the wedding is,” Riley says, now carefully picking her words.
“Riley, I am so scared to ask you this,” Charlotte says, pinching the bridge of her nose, the lingering in Riley’s voice not lost on her. “But what hotel? Where is the wedding?”
She swears she hears Riley audibly gulp before she squeaks: “Mexico?”
Which is, not coincidentally, the exact same word Charlotte screeches when she barges into Gabi’s pharmacy the next day. Gabi barely acknowledges her, calmly screwing the lid on a bottle only using her index finger and thumb.
“You spoke to Riley, then?” She rests her elbows on the counter and looks up at her friend, who in that moment feels and probably looks comically similar to the character Hades from the movie Hercules.
“You forgot to tell me the wedding I’m supposed to plan is going to be in goddamn Mexico? Did you think that was a minor detail? Or were you going to publicly announce it again, like—”
“We decided last week. Charlie, why are you being so explosive? I thought it’d be nice for you to have an excuse to take a few days off, chill out at the beach, bask in the sun—”
“Don’tCharlieme,” Charlotte sneers. “Some of us have a job—”
“You run your own practice—”
“And how am I supposed to plan everything when I don’t know—”
“You don’t have to do this alone, remember?”
