by Mia Brown
“Are you ready for this?” he asked.
I groaned. “As ready as I’ll ever be. Which means, not really ready at all. Thanks for coming, Houston.”
“No problem at all. Who knows, maybe it will be fun.”
“I like your positivity,” I said as we loaded my luggage into his truck. I hadn’t brought too much stuff, but it was still more than I would usually bring with me on a weekend away. My sister had forced me to buy a lot more clothes than usual.
“You look nice,” he said to me suddenly, and I looked at him in surprise before looking down at myself. I was wearing a plain T-shirt and some overalls, which was nothing out of the ordinary. Although, the shirt was new, and the overalls were of the skinny variety. My sister had insisted on me buying them even though I had moaned about how uncomfortable they were. I was so used to wearing clothes that were loose-fitting that the overalls had felt like I was showing off. Even now I had considered not wearing them, but my old overalls were dirty and in need of a wash. Nicole told me that she had no problem with me dressing down, but that I should at least buy something to fit my body. She had assured me that the overalls suited me, and the shop assistant had agreed with her. I wasn’t sure if they were just trying to appease me, but I had gotten them anyway. I knew that I couldn’t really show up at the wedding in my old clothes no matter how comfortable they might have been.
“Uh, thanks,” I said, and then quickly got into the truck before he could say anything more. I wasn’t used to someone complimenting me on the way that I dressed, and I could already feel a blush creeping up over me. I knew he wasn’t trying to be romantic, but it was still strange hearing someone actually compliment me. Perhaps he was just more surprised than anything else, as it wasn’t the sort of thing I usually wore.
We had a four-hour trip ahead of us, and I was grateful that we were in Houston’s truck rather than my car. His had air conditioning, and I smiled as the cool air moved over my warm face. The more I thought about the upcoming wedding, the angrier I got, and that only made me feel hotter.
“This air conditioning is helping my anger,” I said to Houston.
He laughed. “What do you mean?”
“I get so annoyed every time I think about seeing Lara again, and this cool air seems to be making me feel more relaxed.”
“Good. Hey, you sure you are going to be okay? Maybe you should’ve considered canceling. You could’ve told her that you have the flu or something and that you didn’t want her to catch it. Make it sound like you were thinking of her all along or something.”
“Oh, trust me, I thought about doing that,” I said. “But missing my cousin’s wedding would be a big deal. I have no doubt that I would end up upsetting a whole bunch of people in the extended family. You know what families are like. And it’s just not worth the hassle. I’m worried that if I tell a small lie, and then it somehow has a way of turning itself into a bigger lie, and then a bigger lie, and so on. Those sorts of things always end up exploding in the end, and then you wish that you hadn’t told the small lie to start off with.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I suppose you’re right. Well, then we might as well just go and have a good time. And, you know, if you get really mad you can just throw a drink in Lara’s face. That will give you far more satisfaction than anything else could.”
I laughed at the thought. “Oh man, don’t tempt me. This could end up turning into one of those big Hollywood movies. I’ll be the embarrassing woman at the wedding who drinks too much, eats too much, and causes a scene.”
“Well, this is gearing up to be the most interesting wedding I would’ve ever gone to, then. I’m glad I’m coming now.”
I giggled. “I’m glad you’re coming too. I know I won’t end up causing a scene, though. I’ve got too much self-respect for something like that. But I will definitely think about doing it over and over again.”
“I’ll think about it too,” he said. “Although, for what it’s worth, I actually don’t think that Lara is going to do anything to potentially cause a scene at her own wedding. She sounds like the type of woman that is going to want everything to be absolutely perfect. She wouldn’t risk doing something like that. I think you’re safe.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. I never thought of it like that. She’s probably planned every second of the wedding and will want it to all go smoothly. I don’t think that cause a scene with Cassidy is a part of that schedule.”
Houston laughed. “If it is, then I’m not sure if I’d be more horrified or impressed with her dedication.”
“Same here, actually.”
“Also, high school was a very long time ago.”
“Are you calling me old?” I teased.
“If I’m calling you old, then what am I calling myself? I’m a few years older than you, remember? And I refuse to call myself old,” he said, and laughed. “Nah, what I’m saying is that school was a long time ago, and I really doubt that she’s still trying to belittle you. Have you seen her much since then?”
“I’ve seen her every now and again. In most cases, it’s actually been very brief, and our conversations have all been very clipped. We thankfully haven’t had to interact too much. I guess I’m just worried that I will be forced to spend more time with her now that we are at her wedding. I don’t want it to lead to trouble. I just want to blend into the background and for her to not even realize that I’m there.”
“Don’t worry. I have your back. You really shouldn’t worry. We’ll go and have a good time. Screw Lara.”
I smiled. “Yeah, screw Lara. Thank you, Houston. I do actually find that very comforting.”
“So, did you get her a wedding gift?” Houston asked.
I laughed. “Hell no.”
“Good. Neither did I. I figured our presence was present enough.”
I chuckled. “I like the way you think. Also, I plan on stealing a bottle of champagne or two to take home.”
“I like the way you think, too.”
Six
Houston
Cassidy and I were barreling down the I-90 E, listening to the radio. We’d spoken a lot in the beginning, and I’d tried to keep her calm about the whole thing by making a few jokes. She seemed to move between feeling okay about everything to feeling worried. I wondered if she was exaggerating about the whole thing. Although, not on purpose. There was a big chance that she had simply made this thing a lot bigger in her mind than it already was.
High school was a long time ago, and I was very doubtful that this Lara woman was still quite so bad. Perhaps she even regretted everything that she had done. Maybe instead of awkwardness and aggression, the two of them would have a tearful reunion, and Lara might even apologize. I had no idea. For now, the only thing I could do was to be there for Cassidy and to be on her side. She was my friend, and I would support her no matter what. I only hoped that I was right about what might happen.
I glanced at Cassidy and saw her staring out the window with a big frown on her face. She was clearly rather nervous about the wedding. So nervous that it made me think she didn't imagine this whole thing at all. It actually made me worry that Lara might do something again to Cassidy. Maybe being a bully was just in her nature. I was glad then that I was with her.
I felt oddly protective over Cassidy, which was something that had caught me by surprise. If there was one person in the world who I assumed would never need protection, it was her. The Cassidy I knew was this tough, no-nonsense woman who never let anyone get in her way. She was a champion barrel racer and the owner of a horse farm at the young age of only 28. Hell, she was tougher than me, that was for sure. But, as I looked at her again now, I saw something in her that I wasn’t used to seeing, and it made me feel strange. I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable to see this side of her. It made me wonder how well I really knew her at all. Had I ever bothered to get to know the real Cassidy Thomas, or had I always just assumed she was unbreakable?
There was something very different abo
ut her today. I wasn’t sure if it was her contemplative mood or the new outfit, but I was starting to realize that there was more to Cassidy than meets the eye. Who knew she had such an amazing set of legs, for one? I had to tear my eyes away from her when I had first seen her today. Not because I was attracted to her, but because I didn’t want her to think I was coming with for any sort of romantic reason. She didn’t like me in that way, and she was more like a sister to me. Still, it had taken me by surprise.
The radio was on, and for a while, neither of us said a word. I thought about how odd it was to see this side of her, while she probably thought about her upcoming meeting with Lara. The radio was playing, and some cheesy love song came on that made me laugh before I could stop myself.
“You know what this sounds like?” I asked as I broke the silence.
“What?” Cassidy said. She turned to look at me in surprise as if she had almost forgotten I was there.
“It sounds like cringeworthy wedding music, the type I’m almost certain our dear old friend Lara will be playing for us.”
Cassidy chuckled, and I realized how nice it was to make her smile. “You’re right,” she said. “We’re in for a treat. I hope you brought all your worst dance moves with you.”
“Are you kidding me? I only have terrible dance moves.”
“Good. Me too. The worst.”
“You know, I forgot there would be dancing,” I said. “Which is sort of ridiculous considering we’re on our way to a wedding. But I really can’t dance. I’m not making that up. In fact, I’m just preparing you for what you might end up seeing and apologizing in advance. Nobody should have to see me that way.”
She chuckled. “I honestly can’t dance either,” she admitted. “So, we can either be terrible together, or we can be the naughty kids at the bar drinking all the alcohol. Or, you know, we can drink the champagne, and then go and show off our dance moves. At least then we’ll think we’re good even if nobody else does.”
I sighed with relief. “Okay, I like the sound of that. I can handle that.”
“Anyway, you’re the one that doesn’t really know everyone. I’m going to have all these aunts, uncles, and cousins staring at me.”
“Does that mean you’ll have to be on your best behavior?” I asked.
She chuckled. “Of course not.”
I grinned. I’d forgotten how easy it was to talk to Cassidy. The two of us had always spoken with ease, but we often went weeks or even months without seeing one another. She had a tendency to keep to herself sometimes, and I got the impression that she preferred the company of horses to that of humans. Not that I blamed her, of course. I knew all too well how much better it was to hang around a horse sometimes. A horse couldn’t bully her, that was for sure.
“Good. So, what’s the deal with the accommodations? I realized I completely forgot to ask you. Then, when I was on my way to get you, I suddenly thought that I have no idea where I’m even sleeping tonight. Was that something I was supposed to figure out myself? Or do I need to transfer some money to you?” The last thing I wanted was for Cassidy to have paid for a room for me and for me not to have even offered to give her money for it. I knew that she didn’t have a lot of money, and that all of it went to her horses.
“Oh, sorry. I should’ve told you. Actually, we’ll each get a guest room on the ranch.”
“At the ranch? So, no hotel?” I asked.
“Yeah, at the ranch. They were reserved for the family, but since you’re my plus-one, you’ll get one too. Don’t worry; the ranch is huge. There’s plenty of space.”
“Oh, great!” I said with relief. “I’ve always felt more comfortable on a ranch than anywhere else. It’s my happy place.”
“You and me both,” she said. “And I love their ranch. So that’s one positive thing about the whole event.”
“I wonder how comfortable Lara feels on the ranch?” I said, and chuckled. I had no idea what sort of person Lara was, but I got the impression she was not a farm girl. Also, I noticed that every time I mocked Lara, it would cause Cassidy to loosen up and laugh a bit. It was probably not nice of me to be horrible about a girl that I had never even met, but I didn’t care too much. She’d bullied Cassidy through school, so she deserved it.
“Oh, there’s no way she enjoys the ranch. She’s one of those high heels and makeup girls who hate to get her feet dirty. She would go crazy if she broke a nail. She always looks absolutely perfect. I swear, every time I see her I think that she has just walked off the set of some magazine shoot or something. It’s crazy. I have no idea how she finds the time to be like that.”
I groaned. “Are you serious? Women like that drive me crazy. I mean, so what if you break a nail? They just grow back. I could never imagine being with a girl like that. I’m surprised that she’s agreed for the wedding to take place at the ranch, actually. I would’ve expected something a lot fancier from a woman like that.”
Cassidy nodded. “Yeah, me too. I’m actually just surprised that she’s marrying my cousin, to be honest. I was surprised when the two of them got together in the first place, but to see her going ahead with the marriage really confuses me. I always expected their relationship to fail. I know that sounds like an awful thing to say, but I just never thought she’d go through with it. She’s marrying into a ranching family when she would be much better off marrying a doctor or a lawyer or something. I could totally picture her living in a big city. That lifestyle would suit her so much more than this. This image of her living on a ranch just doesn’t work.”
“Think she’s changed?” I asked. It was the only explanation I could find. Marriage was a big deal, so the only thing I could think of was that she was not the same girl that Cassidy seemed to think she was. I half-expected to arrive and be surprised by a woman that didn’t match the description I built up in my head of her.
Cassidy didn’t seem to think so, though. “I honestly don’t think so. I have no idea why she’s marrying Rick. Perhaps she really is that in love with him. I mean, as much as I don’t like her, I do hope that she really loves him. He’s not a bad guy and he deserves to be in a good relationship. If he’s happy, then I’ll have to be happy for him. But I also don’t think she’s changed since her school days. Maybe she’s holding out for the hope that he will be the one to move to the city with her and change his ways. That scenario sounds far more likely to me. Poor Rick.”
“You know, the closer we get to this venue, the more excited I’m getting,” I said.
Cassidy chuckled. “Excited? Why on earth would you be getting excited?”
I shrugged. “I’m dying to meet this crazy woman and see what sort of a wedding she puts together. I’ve got a feeling this will be a wedding that we will never forget. And I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way.”
Cassidy giggled. “For one, our dance moves are going to astound everyone.”
“Exactly,” I said. “I hope you won’t be too embarrassed to keep up with me.” I wasn’t lying at all about my dance moves. I was awful. I was sure that my body was just not built to be a dancer, and I had never bothered to get better. Unlike Cassidy, I’d actually been to very few weddings in the past few years.
She laughed. “Oh, I think I’ll manage just fine.”
After that, we spent the rest of the time talking about the different sorts of dance moves that we were going to do to impress one another. Each one got more elaborate and crazier than the next, and soon we were both in fits of laughter. I was happy to see that Cassidy was now looking a bit livelier and in control of her emotions again. She was no longer gazing out of the window in sadness, and the fear that seemed to have enveloped her looked to be gone.
I realized with surprise how happy I was to see her acting this way and how much I enjoyed seeing her smile. Even more, I enjoyed that I was the one making her smile. Cassidy had always been a breath of fresh air, and I didn’t want to see her upset. This Lara woman must’ve really hurt her, and I was definitely going to have to
be on my guard to make sure that it never happened again.
Seven
Cassidy
The wedding was in full swing. The ceremony had gone off without a hitch, and I’d somehow managed to stay relatively hidden so far. All eyes had been on the bride and groom, and I was happy that Lara hadn’t noticed me at all. I wondered if that was because she was so completely self-obsessed, or whether it was just because I looked so different. I had spent a long time getting ready that day, longer than I was used to.
It wasn’t that there was a lot for me to do, but more a case of me trying to decide whether or not I wanted to go ahead and wear the dress that my sister had picked out for me. The dress was the same color as my eyes, a dark green that shone a different color depending on how the light was hitting it. It was tight at the top and then floated down gently to my knees. If I twirled around, it moved with me: the perfect dress for dancing.
I had no choice but to wear it though, because I had nothing else with me that would suit a wedding. I wore my hair down, allowing the gentle curls to fall around my shoulders, and put on a hint of makeup. The makeup was something else that Nicole had taught me to do, and something I was even more against than the dress. I eventually decided on a bit of eyeliner and some lipstick. I didn’t want to feel too much like a different person.
It was time for the reception now; the part I was avoiding the most. While the bride and groom had been getting their photos taken, I had been drinking champagne, which seemed to be flowing. I was waiting at the table for Houston now, who was getting more for us. I hated being left alone and couldn’t wait for him to get back. I was very uncomfortable, especially now that I was wearing something that didn’t feel like me, but I’d managed to avoid Lara so far. She’d almost seen me once, but I had hidden out in the bathroom until the coast was clear. The room looked a little hazy, and as I gazed around, I tried to find out where he was. I finally managed to focus and saw him walking towards me with two glasses in his hand.