by Rachel Astor
Finally we were free to go, but not really, because cars were already there to pick us up and take us home to get changed into our Bridesmaid dresses. We only had twenty minutes at home and fifteen more to get to the hall.
Gary was my driver, as usual. I rushed into my building and was greeted by Mattie in the lobby.
“Hey,” he said. “Is that my handsome future boyfriend out there?”
“You’re sounding a little less tongue tied over Gary today.” I flashed him a mischievous smile.
He swatted my arm lightly. “Oh shush. Can I help it if I get a little floopy over someone? It could be love at first sight you know.”
“Really?” I looked at him over my shoulder as I headed towards the stairs. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use the word love before.”
“I know,” he said rushing behind me. “Did he say anything about me?”
“Are we in junior high? Are you gonna meet him behind the bleachers after third period?”
He leaned into me, pushing me lightly into the wall.
“Whoa, careful there Mattie, this hairdo took forever.”
“Sorry,” he said. “You look great by the way.”
“I was wondering when you were gonna notice,” I said.
“Well, it’s hard to notice anything when a firm piece of man candy like that is nearby.”
“Firm piece of man candy. Now that’s a picture.”
I unlocked the door and tossed my keys on the side table. “Just wait ‘til I get dressed, I’ll be so fabulous, you’ll forget all about my driver.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t doubt that you will look fabulous, but I do doubt that I’m going to forget about Gary down there,” he said, peeking through the curtains.
I giggled. “Nice little spy act you’ve got going on there.”
“Oh shush,” he said. He stood on his toes to get a better view of the street while trying to stay hidden from view.
“He doesn’t even know which window is mine,” I yelled, as I headed down the hall to my room.
“Whatever,” he yelled.
I quickly, though extremely carefully, changed into the gorgeous Bridesmaid gown. A glance in the mirror confirmed that I was looking like a princess.
Hmm. And I’m about to go reign in my prince.
I came back up the hall and found Mattie exactly as I had left him, peeking down at the street.
“Oh lover boy,” I said. “How do I look?”
Mattie was in the midst of rolling his eyes at me, but stopped. “You look marvelous.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Now walk me down to my car, would you?”
“Like you had to ask,” he said putting his arm out for me.
“I can’t believe it’s the wedding already. It went by so fast,” Mattie said. “Now what am I going to do for a project?”
“You know, it’s not the most flattering thing in the world being referred to as a project,” I said.
“Well of course not now,” he said. “But when we first started…”
“Finish that sentence, and I won’t let you say hello to Gary,” I said.
His eyes opened wide and he made a zipping motion past his lips.
“You look lovely Miss McMaster,” Gary said as we stepped outside.
Which was totally weird since it didn’t really seem like outside all of a sudden. Black curtained partitions had somehow miraculously sprouted from my building door, all the way to the car, creating a little hallway for me.
“Thank you, Gary,” I said. “What’s with the walls?”
“Don’t want the paparazzi to see the dresses,” he said, opening the car door for me.
I knew I probably had a few minutes to kill while Gary and Mattie flirted a little, so for the first time since I’d been enjoying rides in the luxurious car, I opened the bottle of champagne.
Today is a celebration right? I thought. My only regret was that I had no one to share it with. Champagne is so much sweeter when shared with someone special. Like a hot movie star perhaps. Several minutes and one calm-my-nerves glass of champagne later, Mattie was sticking his head in the window to wish me luck.
“You’re going to be the belle of the ball,” he said.
“I hope not,” I said. “Or else Emma VanHorn will have my head.”
He leaned in and gave me a peck on the cheek. “Good luck sweetie,” he said.
“Thanks for being here Mattie, which is a lot more than I can say for some of my friends.”
“Yeah, I know. Where is Calla anyway?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Who knows? She said she would be here to see me off… come to think of it, I haven’t seen her for a while. Like two days, I think.”
“I’m sure she’s just busy,” Mattie said. “This is not the time to worry about it. This is the time to worry about how you’re going to dance all night with Jake Hall.”
I smiled as Mattie backed away from the car and waved us off. I could see Gary watching him in the rearview mirror.
“So, are you going to ask him out?” I asked.
His gaze moved slightly from Mattie to me. He smiled. “I think I just might,” he said, finally turning his attention to the road.
He is quite handsome, I thought. I can see what Mattie sees in him. Hmm. Maybe Jake and I can double with them sometime.
I almost laughed at the thought, imagining the field day the tabloids would have with that one. I poured myself another glass of champagne and leaned back to enjoy these last few minutes of peace and quiet before the circus began.
Just as we were pulling up to the event hall, I downed the last splash of champagne in my glass. Gary drove us around the building to a fence and honked three times. There were reporters everywhere. The windows in the car were blacked out, but the paparazzi never stopped their flashes. Most of them backed off as we drove slowly through the gate. I thought it was a bit strange that they didn’t try to get through the gate with us. Maybe they had already tried with a previous vehicle and were stopped.
We drove through and as we pulled around, two large flaps were opened on a giant tent. Gary pulled the car right inside.
“What’s with the tent?” I asked.
Gary pointed towards the sky. “So the helicopters don’t catch a glimpse of the wedding party before the bride and groom are ready to release photos to the press.”
“Wow, it’s all very secretive,” I said.
“The first glimpses of anything wedding related are worth a lot of money to the tabloids. Mr. Hall and Miss. VanHorn do not want anything leaked. ‘Entertainment News must have set it all up because they’ve got the exclusive to cover the wedding.”
He pulled the car to a stop. “Well, are you ready Miss McMaster?”
I nodded once and Gary jumped out to open the door for me. I could see that even though it was exclusive, there were still plenty of cameras and reporters around. Each of the cameras and microphones had ‘Entertainment News’ plastered on them.
Gary opened the door and an escort took my hand to help me out. Flashes started going off, though not as many as I had begrudgingly become accustomed to.
“Miss McMaster,” the reporter from ‘Entertainment News’ shoved a microphone at me. She was the same reporter who I’d watched only three short months ago announce my name on the TV. “How do you feel now that the big wedding day has finally arrived?”
I was totally caught off guard about the impromptu interview.
I cleared my throat and gave the reporter my best smile. “I’m just so honored to be a part of all of this. I’m really looking forward to the festivities of the day.”
Another car was entering the tent and the cameras turned towards it. I was relieved that I hadn’t had much time to embarrass myself on camera and graciously walked away on the arm of my handsome escort thinking, not too shabby McMaster, not too shabby.
Inside, people were milling around everywhere. Although most of the people were there to assist with the organization of the weddin
g and the production of the TV event, they were all dressed formally, even the people carrying cameras and wearing headsets.
My escort led me down a long hallway to a door marked Bridesmaids. He knocked, and it opened quickly by someone I’d never seen before.
“Thank you,” I said to the escort, and entered the Bridesmaid waiting area.
“Welcome, Miss McMaster,” the girl who had opened the door said as she closed it behind me. It was hard getting used to so many people knowing my name and having absolutely no idea who they were.
“Thanks,” I said looking around, trying to get my bearings.
Bobbi Lynne was in the far right corner with three people bustling around her picking imaginary pieces of lint off her dress and smoothing invisible flyaways from her hair. Her mouth didn’t slow down even when one of the assistants plucked a stray eyebrow. She just let out a quick ‘ouch’ and kept on chattering.
Jennifer waved at me from the other side of the room. She had one eye closed while the make up artist I recognized from the salon touched up her face. Ms. Munroe barked orders at all the people in the room. There was one girl in particular she barked at the most who was frantically writing in a tiny notebook and nodding without looking up.
A second later, I was being pulled in Jennifer’s direction by another assistant type person. Someone pulled a chair in beside Jennifer as if they had rehearsed the routine a million times. The make up artist immediately moved from Jennifer to me. I could hear Jennifer sigh of relief beside me. And I could see why. At the salon, she’d been so careful while applying the make up, but now apparently there was a bit more of a rush. She was dipping into makeup with lightning speed and applying with a force that I thought surely must be damaging to my eyeballs beneath their closed lids. All I could think of was how brave Jennifer had been to risk opening one eye during the process. I was worried that if I opened one of mine for even a second, she might stab me with one of the dozens of tiny brushes she was using.
There was a knock at the door exactly the same as the knock my escort had given.
“Is that a secret knock or something?” I asked, trying not to move my face too much.
“I think so,” Jennifer said. “Can you believe how tight security is?”
“I know. That tent thing was really weird,” I said. “I’m surprised that they let us change at home.”
“Welcome Miss Singleton,” the assistant said and closed the door again.
Oh great, I thought. I heard Jennifer sigh beside me.
“Please come with me, Miss Wilson,” someone said to Jennifer.
I could hear shuffling beside me as Jennifer got up. Bobbi Lynne’s chatter died down a little on the other side of the room. I assumed that the assistants had finally let her go and it was now Jennifer’s turn to be poked and picked at. Someone sat down in the empty chair beside me. Almost immediately the makeup application on me stopped.
A few seconds later, I risked opening one eye. The makeup artist had moved on to Rebecca who was sitting in the vacated chair. I wanted to get up and walk around a bit, but I knew I should probably sit as much as I could before everything started. Who knew how long I’d have to stand in high heels after it all started.
The primping continued for several minutes until there was one last secret knock on the door and a tired looking man announced that we had five minutes. Every body except the four Bridesmaids jumped into action. I don’t really know what everyone was doing, but they were all certainly making a point of looking busy.
The man returned what I’m sure was exactly five minutes later, and led the four of us further down the long hallway.
We were each handed a bouquet of flowers.
“Oh shit,” I said quietly to Jennifer. “I’m allergic to eucalyptus.”
“What? You’ve got to be kidding me,” an assistant said frantically. “Well it’s too late now. They’re already playing the warm up music. Just try not to let it touch you.”
We lined up in the order that we were supposed to walk out. I looked around but couldn’t see Emma anywhere.
The double doors opened in front of us. What seemed like a thousand people all turned to look at us. The walk up song began.
Bobbi Lynne left on her mark. The wedding planner was there and signaling frantically, even though everyone knew the cues. Rebecca left as the music hit her mark. It was my turn next. I took a few deep breaths waiting for my cue. It hit. I started walking.
Please don’t let me trip, please don’t let me trip, I repeated over and over in my head. All my concentration was focused on three things. Fake smile, don’t wobble in heels, walk in time to the music. It worked flawlessly until I neared the front of the aisle. And then I saw him.
Jake was looking positively delicious in his tuxedo, and I thought I was about to faint when he looked at me and smiled. For a moment, I imagined that I was the bride, walking toward my groom. A motion beside Jake caught my attention. Eric VanHorn was smiling broadly, the light catching his braces. Our eyes met and he actually winked. Ew. My daydream instantly screeched to a halt. I somehow made my way to my assigned spot beside Rebecca.
Jake kept his eyes on me, and unfortunately so did Eric. I very consciously did not make eye contact with Eric again, and kept my eyes fixed on Jake until Jennifer was taking her place beside me.
Just as she was taking her last steps, the bridal march began. The whole thing was choreographed to the millisecond. Everyone stood simultaneously and I could only assume that Emma had entered the hall based on all the ooohs and ahhhs that were making their way through the crowded room.
What seemed like several minutes later, Emma finally came into view. She looked spectacular in her custom Alfred Sung. I could see now why she wasn’t worried that our gowns were beautiful. She’d made sure she would still outshine us all in her gorgeous beaded gown. Her hair was down over her shoulders and the look was set off with a short veil.
The ceremony went by slowly. The first fifteen minutes were fine, but it wasn’t long before my feet began to hurt. A couple of the groomsmen were getting fidgety, particularly Eric VanHorn, who I’m sure wasn’t used to doing something so strenuous as standing for fifteen minutes straight.
I looked down and realized that the eucalyptus must have touched my neck. Red splotches were starting to form.
Oh great, I thought. Why the crap do I have to be so pale? As soon as I saw the splotches, my neck began to itch. I resisted the intense urge to scratch.
Finally, after Emma and Alan had each given their very long vows to each other, and an excruciatingly long kiss, the ceremony came to an end. I cringed as I took Eric’s arm to head back up the aisle and let go the second we were out of eyeshot of the guests. It was difficult not to shudder.
We were escorted back to the room where we’d been getting our last minute touch ups done. I plopped down on the first chair I saw and took off my shoes.
“Good Lord that was a long ceremony,” I said.
“I know what you mean, these shoes are the worst,” Jennifer said undoing hers.
“Don’t get too comfortable girls,” one of the assistants said. “They’ll be calling you for photographs in fifteen minutes.”
Several people were still in the room apparently awaiting our return so that they could get back to work on us.
“We’ve barely moved!” Jennifer said flinching back from a giant powder puff. “It’s not even possible that we need more makeup.”
“Oh yes it is,” the powder puff lady said. “All the lights, all the shine.” She dabbed at Jennifer’s forehead.
I giggled a little at the wincing face that Jennifer was making. The powder puff turned my way. But instead of dabbing my face the lady gasped.
“Oh my God, what happened to you?” she asked, panicked.
“What?”
Jennifer looked at me and suddenly her eyes grew wide. “Josie, you’ve got big red welts all over you!”
I groaned. “It’s the stupid Eucalyptus.”
The powder puff lady began talking frantically into her headset. “SOS in the Bridesmaid lounge, I repeat, SOS in the Bridesmaid lounge.”
Jennifer and I exchanged confused glances.
The door burst open and Millicent Munroe flew into the room.
“What! What’s the emergency?” she asked.
The powder puff lady didn’t say anything. She slowly pointed to my chest.
“Gah,” Ms. Munroe said and jumped back a step. She began frantically digging through a pack that was around her waist. “Thank God for the emergency pack,” she said and produced a small bottle of antihistamines.
“I think it’s the Eucalyptus,” I said and bowed my head. “Sorry.” I was a little afraid to make eye contact.
“Take these,” she demanded, handing me two of the pills. She started to gather up all the bouquets. She thrust them at one of the assistants. “Have the Eucalyptus removed. Substitute with the Holly leaves.” She turned to me. “Are there any other allergies you’ve forgotten to tell us about?” She had her hand on her hip and looked very disappointed in me.
I shook my head.
“Why didn’t you fill out that you were allergic on your entry form?” Jennifer whispered to me.
“I didn’t fill out the stupid form. I guess my mother forgot about my allergy,” I said.
“Oh my God,” she said, looking at my neck. “I hope those pills kick in quick.”
“Me too,” I said. I lightly rubbed my hand over it. It did very little to relieve the itching. “It must look horrible. I just want to scratch the shit out of it.”
Miss Powder Puff oh so generously held up a mirror in front of me.
Gee thanks, I thought. How very helpful you are.
The splotches were pretty bad. They weren’t quite the crimson color my dress was, but they were close.
“Just relax,” the wedding planner said. “Stress will make it worse.” She turned to the assistant. “I’m going to go see if I can buy a little time. Make sure she stays calm.” Ms. Munroe gave Miss Powder Puff a glare and stormed back out of the room.