Bridesmaid Lotto (16 page)

I was a little surprised that I hadn’t heard a peep from him since the whole kissing scandal. That apologetic email was the last contact I’d had.

I checked my email, waiting, hoping, needing to see that email address. But instead only Emma’s was in my inbox.

Dear Bridesmaids,

Two super exciting announcements for you today. We have put together a schedule for the amazing stagette that Josie came up with during the contest. We will be heading out to the Virgin Islands for the long weekend. This will give us three fun filled days of sun, surf, spa, and spritzers!

But before that, my mother has insisted that we have one more formal gathering. This will be held on Thursday, the day before we leave on our little trip. This glamour filled evening is a very formal occasion, held mostly for our parent’s friends. It is a tradition among their crowd to have this sort of last hurrah before any wedding. Please dress appropriately and be sure you are on your best behavior as this crowd is VERY sophisticated.

See you Thursday girls!

Your Bride,

Emma VanHorn

My mood instantly lightened. I would be able to see Jake again, although I was almost starting to wonder if he even cared to see me again.

As usual, Mattie came calling at my cubicle to get the big wedding scoop.

“See? What’d I tell you? I told you you’d need that other dress. You are going to knock Jake’s socks off in that little black Oscar de la Renta.”

“I did look good in that one, didn’t I?” I said.

“Good? Honey, you were spectacular.”

“You always know what to say to make me feel better.”

“Do I detect a hint of gloom in you today?” Mattie asked. “You should be on top of the world right now.”

I shrugged. “Not gloom really. I’m just a little disappointed that Jake hasn’t called or emailed me again.”

“Well, don’t worry, you’ll see him on Thursday, and in that dress no less,” Mattie said.

# # #

At home that night Calla was looking a little gloomy herself.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“I dunno. I’m just feeling a little lonely I guess,” she said. “I’m so used to having you around all the time that I miss you when you’re gone shopping and partying with the rich and famous.”

“Sorry I’ve been gone so much.” I hadn’t even thought about what all this would be like for Calla. “I promise, when this is all over, everything will get back to normal again,” I continued.

“Okay,” she said with a little smile. “Hey, do you have anything on this weekend? Maybe we could do something fun. Since it’s a long weekend, you must be free at least one night,” she said.

The way she said it was lighthearted, but it made me feel like total crap, especially considering I was jetting off to a luxury resort for the weekend.

“Um. Actually…”

Her excited expression fell.

“Emma has the stagette planned for this weekend.”

“The whole weekend?” Calla asked.

“Yeah, we’re um, kind of going away to the Virgin Islands,” I said quietly.

Her mouth dropped open. I hoped she could tell I was feeling bad about the whole thing. She closed her mouth again. “That’s okay, we’ll do something the next weekend,” she said and walked towards her room.

“…if you can.”

I had anticipated that this Bridesmaid thing would take up a lot of time, but I hadn’t even thought about Calla. What kind of a crappy friend was I?

Plus she couldn’t be happy about all the time I had been spending with Mattie. He used to just be a work friend who’d tag along when Calla and I went out. Now I was spending more and more time with him, and without Calla.

I made a promise to myself then and there that I would do something extra special for her. I wasn’t sure what yet, but I would think of something.

# # #

Thursday came faster than I thought it would, even though I still hadn’t heard from Jake. I thought that maybe, just maybe he would ask me to go with him to the party.

Wrong.

As usual Mattie helped me with my hair and makeup. And as usual, he told me that I looked better than ever, that I would be the best looking girl in the room. But I knew better. I knew Rebecca, Bobbi Lynne, and Jennifer would all be there looking just as good as me. Calla didn’t even hang around to see me off.

I sighed as I walked down the stairs to catch my limo. Another night of pretending I was somebody I wasn’t. Even the thought of Jake being there couldn’t help my mood. In fact, it almost made it worse. Now I was in this awful place, wondering whether or not he really liked me, knowing I would have to see him either way.

Usually I would only write in the Disaster Diary when I was getting a big head, but I was depressed and felt like wallowing, just a little.

Dear Disaster Diary,

I was living in this house with several separate apartments in it. It was a weird old house, but the rent was cheap, and I was a college student. Anyway, the house was set up with the laundry facilities in the garage so that all of the apartments could share them. I was dying my hair and wanted to get my clothes ready since I’d be in a hurry once I was finished with my hair.

I realized that my pants were still out in the dryer, in the garage. I threw on my bathrobe and ran out there to grab them. I ran back to my apartment, praying no one would see me in my bathrobe, bare feet, and hair dye cap. But when I got to the door, I had locked myself out.

Totally embarrassed, I ran to the closest apartment, which was old Mrs. Brewster’s, to see if I could use her phone to call the landlord. Much to my surprise, her grandson, a super smokin’ guy about my age, answered the door. He looked at me like I was an alien, and I was about to run away, but old Mrs. Brewster saw me and made me come in. I had to stand there using the phone with this hot guy staring at me, and Mrs. Brewster made me wait inside her apartment the whole time I waited for the landlord to finally arrive.

The party was at a different location, but the media frenzy was much the same as the last time, except now they were much more interested in my relationship with Jake. I smiled the most gracious smile I could muster under the circumstances, and simply repeated “no comment” over and over again.

Inside the building I was greeted with an escort again. It was a different guy this time, I could only assume they hired whatever actor or model was available. In the main event hall, the party was already under way. There were no announcements as people arrived.

At least this time every single person in the room isn’t staring at me, I thought.

My eyes darted around the room and I tried to convince myself that I was just checking to see who was there, but even I knew I was really only looking for one person.

“Oh thank God you’re here,” Jennifer said rushing up to me, which wasn’t an easy thing to do in her tight formal gown and four inch heels.

“Geez, you tower over me in those things,” I said.

“Yeah, I know, I feel like I’m taller than most of the men here. Perhaps they weren’t the best choice.”

I smiled. “So, anyone else here?” I asked.

“No. I don’t know where the hell Bobbi Lynne and Rebecca are. And Emma is busy with the rest of the guests.”

I looked around. The crowd was certainly different at this party than the last one.

“Can you believe this?” Jennifer said. “I bet we’re the only two people here under sixty five.”

I nodded searching the crowd for hair that wasn’t either blue or grey. And then I spotted him. Jake. He was entering from a different door way in the back.

My stomach lurched for a second and I fully realized just how much I liked him. But then…

“Is that Rebecca and Bobbi Lynne?” Jennifer asked.

The two other Bridesmaids were sneaking into the ballroom from the same door in the back, just behind Jake. Rebecca was looking very sexy in a sparkling red gown that was very low cut, and Bobbi Lynne looked like the complete opposite of a country bumpkin in a bronze dress that shimmered in places that had no business shimmering.

“What are they doing with him?”

Jennifer shrugged. “I have no idea, but it doesn’t look good.”

She was right. Jake seemed to be trying to straighten himself up, straightening his tie and smoothing his hair while Bobbi Lynne appeared to be trying to readjust her bra without using her hands.

“What the hell?” I said.

Jake went straight over to his brother and huddled with him for a few minutes.

Rebecca and Bobbi Lynne strutted around the room like they’d just won some sort of prestigious award.

“I’d love to go over there and knock her head right off her shoulders,” Jennifer said.

Apparently the horror of the situation was still showing on my face. I could only hope that none of the people with cameras had caught the expression on my face.

“Don’t worry,” she continued. “I’m sure that nothing was going on, Bobbi Lynne probably just had him cornered back there forever, yakking like she does.”

I nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

But it wasn’t Bobbi Lynne that worried me the most. It was that damned Rebecca with that proud as a peacock look on her face.

“Hi y’all,” Bobbi Lynne came bounding up to us.

“Hi,” we both said in unison, both in the same monotone.

“I was wondering when you’d get here. Me and Rebecca have already been sneaking into the back room for a little sociable drinking with the groomsmen.”

“Oh, yeah, I was wondering where you came from,” I said.

“Are all the groomsmen back there?” Jennifer asked.

“Yeah, well except for Jake,” she said.

Jake caught Bobbi Lynne looking his way and she gave him a flirty wave. He politely raised his hand, stopping mid air when his eyes locked with mine. He immediately turned and huddled with his brother again.

“He’s such a sweetheart. And oh my gosh, it was so funny. Rebecca had this whole fake ‘hitting on Jake’ thing going on back there. She even had his tie untied and he had lipstick all over his face,” she said, laughing as she talked. “Y’all should have been there.”

“I’m sorry I missed it,” Jennifer said rolling her eyes.

I grabbed a flute of champagne off the tray of a waiter moving quickly past us and took a big gulp.

“I think we need to get some air,” Jennifer said and grabbed my arm.

She dragged me out to the terrace.

“Thank you,” I said. “I don’t know how much more of that story I could take.”

Jennifer turned and leaned back on the railing. “Man this party is lame. I wonder how soon we can get away with leaving.”

I nodded and took another swig of champagne.

“You look great though. I bet Jake is in there wishing it had been you with all the kissing.”

“Oh yeah, he looked like he really hated it. Did you see how he shot over to his brother, like he had some sort of huge secret or something? He was totally looking guilty.”

“Well, then kudos to you then,” Jennifer said.

“What?”

“What’s he got to feel guilty about if some girl kisses him? Unless of course, he feels guilty because he likes somebody else.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, though it certainly gave me something to think about. Why
did
he look so guilty?

For the rest of the night, I successfully dodged Jake. I didn’t have a clue what to say to him. Who knew what he was really thinking. Truthfully, I was almost afraid to find out. I only knew that I definitely wasn’t ready to have my hopes completely smothered yet.

I ducked out of the party as soon as I thought I could get away with it, telling Emma that I had a headache, and that I would see her tomorrow at the airport before our flight to the Virgin Islands.

~ 13 ~

I arrived at the airport with enough luggage to cover me for just about every possible scenario that might come our way. I’d definitely over packed, bringing half of what I owned including all five bathing suits.

But when I got there I discovered that a model always puts the average girl to shame, just with the sheer amount of clothes that she owns, let alone brings on vacation with her.

“Holy crap, five suitcases?” Jennifer whispered, pointing to Rebecca.

“I know. We’re only going for three days,” I said. “And I thought I was ready for anything.”

I looked down at my measly two suitcases and one cosmetic bag. It looked like Jennifer had packed about the same as me.

“Hello girls,” Emma VanHorn yelled walking up with several girls towing suitcases behind her. “These are all of my best friends,” she continued motioning to the ladies behind her. “You’ll all have a chance to meet on the plane, but for now… let’s get going!”