1. DRAINED
1899 Words
"Girl are you getting married or what? My uncle is going out of his mind wondering if you're gonna show up for your wedding or not" Eva budges into the hotel room with her sister in tow.
"Would you people stop pressuring her please. This is a big step she's about to take, she's allowed to take however long she needs to make up her mind" Hannah stands there looking gorgeous in her red gown.
I hope I still look as good as she does when I'm heavily pregnant.
"She had weeks to make up her mind" Eva defends.
"In case you haven't noticed your uncle has some serious issues. I would think twice too if I was in Claire's shoes" Hannah grabs a chocolate bar and opens it.
"Our uncle has no issues. It's not his fault he's been fooled into picking gold diggers in the past. Gold diggers that are not loyal" Eva huffs.
"Yeah well my sister is no gold digger believe that. If she was she'd be racing to the alter that's for sure" Hannah takes a bite of the chocolate in her hand.
It's the day of the wedding and everyone is all dressed up. Well everyone except me. I've only managed to get my hair and makeup done and it's all thanks to my mom. Of course she doesn't know I'm stalling the wedding waiting for someone to come disrupt the wedding. More specifically Ember Blue.
In my mind I keep seeing Ember dramatically showing up and yelling Nash's name at the entrance of the alter when Nash and I are about to exchange vows and him leaving me right there on the alter and running off with her. Picture a scene of Mariah Carey's music video of the song We Belong Together coming to life. That would be a nightmare.
"Claire get up. No time to sit around. Your father just called me and told me Nash is already waiting for you" mom grabs my hand and lifts me onto my feet.
"I don't think she's ready for this mom. I mean look at her. She's been dragging her feet all morning" Hannah disposes the empty chocolate wrapper in the trash can.
"Darling I was super nervous too when I married your dad. I loved him very much but I was scared he'd turn out like my own father after the wedding" mom grabs the off the shoulder princess wedding gown from the clothing rack and Lori rushes to help her cause it's heavy.
It's no secret that my grandfather had serious anger issues that dragged him to his grave. You just couldn't reason with the guy. He was always in a bad mood and being around him was something nobody looked forward to except my aunt Tami. She loved him irregardless of his not so nice personality and would strike up conversations with my grandpa even though she always got yelled at.
Apparently she loved her dad unconditionally which is cute.
"Yeah well I wouldn't wanna marry anybody too if I had a father like yours" Hannah snickers.
"Um excuse me. What was he like?" Lori asks curiously.
"Y'all are still here?" Hannah looks at them like ' Leave' but the twins don't seem eager to.
"Well my dad was a good father he provided all of our needs but he just didn't have peace in his life. He was always angry for one reason or another. He suffered a heart attack in the middle of yelling at a shop attendant at some store" mom explains.
"You should see your faces" Hannah bursts out laughing.
I can't help laughing myself. The shocked expressions on the twins faces is just hilarious.
"Finally she laughs. You should be happy you're getting married. Nash is a good guy" mom lowers the gown to the ground with Lori's help.
Eva helps me out of my morning gown and I'm left with my white corset.
"How would you know?" I step onto the dress and they lift it till it's covering my chest.
"Older women know these things" Eva zips the dress in place.
"Oh please. You're just saying that" Hannah rolls her eyes.
"I am not"
"Where did Sia and Jeanie go to?" mom asks.
The door opens and in walks Sia and Jeanie in their bridesmaid dresses. Sia is in a pink dress while Jeanie, Eva and Lori are all wearing purple gowns all their own design choice. I must say they look lovely.
"We're back. We had to go get Claire's favorite ice cream to cheer her up" Jeanie hands me my favorite ice cream.
"Awww you guys are gonna make me cry" I start to take the ice cream.
"She can't be eating that in a wedding gown now can she. Don't want her to go out there with ice cream stains on this gorgeous-" Hannah grabs the ice cream before I can.
"Let's not forget expensive gown" Sia adds.
"Hey" I pout.
"I bought another one just in case your sister does this Jeanie hands me another ice cream.
"Awwww thank you so much you guys. You're the best" I scoop the ice cream with the plastic spoon with frog eyes on it and eat.
I can't help humming as it melts on my tongue. This just made my day.
"Don't mess up your dress" mom tucks a napkin on my dress.
"I won't I promise"
"Oh wow don't you look lovely. My uncle will pass out when he sees you" Eva comes to stand in front of me grinning.
That is if he doesn't run off with his supposed dead lover when she does show up.
"No he won't" I cover my mouth giggling.
The picture she painted for me is funny. Yes the dress looks really good on me but for Nash to pass out because of that is a little extreme. I'm proud to say that this is one thing I bought with my very own money with the help of my parents. Yes Nash can afford it but it didn't feel right letting him do everything.
"Knock knock" I hear my aunt Tami's voice on the other side of the door.
"Tami would you just come in" mom scolds.
"Knock knock" aunt Tami says again ignoring her sister.
"Whose there" Hannah asks.
By now we're all in stitches laughing. I have a feeling aunt Tami's had more than two glasses of wine. She's a light weight.
"Pepper" aunt Tami responds.
"Pepper who?"
"Pepper pig" aunt Tami finally opens the door.
"You should slow down on those drinks. Don't want no drama today" mom says.
"Don't worry Leah. Kimberly and I are besties now. We won't be throwing shade at each other or whatever" aunt Tami waves.
We look at each other in amusement when she uses slang words.
"Mom stop trying to be cool. Oh my word" Sia groans.
"My goodness. Is this our Claire" aunt Tami mavels.
"The one and only" I look down feeling my cheeks heating up.
Everyone steps away from me to give her space to move around admiring me like she hasn't already seen me twice in this gown.
"That man ought to treat you like treasure. I mean just look at you" aunt Tami walks around me like I'm a piece of art.
"He will. If he doesn't we'll make him" Lori cuts in.
"No need for force. Claire can always find another guy if he messes up. I don't know about him though. My source tells me he's had a thing for gold diggers in the past" aunt Tami laughs.
"Okay that's enough Tami" mom glares at her as she walks towards me with a long train.
The ladies get busy adding the long train and expensive accessories from none other than Kimberly Stone. I was as surprised as you when the twins brought the jewelry claiming Kim sent them to give it to me.
Maybe she's finally accepting me who knows. Or perhaps not. She's probably just being polite. Just then my phone rings. and Sia hands it to me.
"It's Marley" Sia puts the device in my hand.
"Hey Marl" I answer.
"Claire you better get here now. Nash is seconds from murdering someone" Marl says on the other line.
"What? Who?" I frown.
"Kace" Marley says.
That name gets me putting my shoes on like the building is on fire.
"What's wrong?" they all ask.
"There's no time we'll talk in the car" I hurry to the exit.
In fact I'm attempting to hurry with my heavy gown and all. This thing is heavy. It's a lot better with my friends and family here to help me move around. If I knew Kace would use this day to provoke Nash I wouldn't have invited him. Wait I didn't really have a choice. He was blackmailing me.
"We better be hurrying to my uncle cause if not then nobody is leaving" Eva yells from in front of the car.
"Girl get out the way. Where else could we go but the wedding venue" I say before entering the car with help of course.
Man this feels like jail. It's a good thing I picked out another dress for the reception cause I'm already exhausted just moving around.
"Sooo?" all eyes are on me as the limo starts moving.
My mom and aunt took another car but these curious youngsters just couldn't wait to hear what that call was about.
"What?" I look outside acting all clueless.
It's a beautiful day for a wedding. The sky is blue, the birds are chirping, I have good company though curiousity is their flaw and last but not least we're in a beautiful venue.
"What was Marley calling about girl. Quit playing games" Jeanie lifts a brow.
"Nash is sort of causing a scene" I sigh.
"What did you expect. He's stressed out about you ditching him on your wedding day" Eva says in a duh tone.
"Well I'm worried about the same thing but do you see me punching people for no reason" I throw my hands up in the air.
Eva and Lori start laughing. I mean like the laugh till you pee your pants kind of laugh. I look at my bestie, cousin and sister like 'Did I say something funny' to which they only shrug.
"I just can't with these clowns" Jeanie takes out a tube of lipgloss from her clutch.
"What's so funny?" I ask confused.
"You" they continue to laugh.
Lori is now laying on top of an amused Sia laughing.
"Which part?"
"For you to think my uncle will leave you standing on the alter for any reason. Do you know how far he's gone to keep you?" Eva wipes the corners of her eyes with a tissue.
"How about you fill us in on that" Sia glances at me.
She's probably fishing for info. Do these ladies give up trying to dig up crap on my life.
"Just know that he ain't leaving you come rain or sunshine" Lori says.
"Not even when Ember comes back to life?" I find myself asking.
They share a look I don't recognize. Like what's that about.
"Ember is dead. She's never coming back"
Yeah but what if she does. I know for a fact she's not in her grave so the question is where is she.
- Writer
