Wedding Bell Blues (6 page)

A
ly knew if she waited one more second, all her courage would disappear. She closed her eyes and blurted, “Joan, I really,
really
want to be a part of your wedding and walk down the aisle and wear a new dress. I just learned there's a job called ‘junior bridesmaid.' May I please be one? I'm sorry if it causes ­trouble . . . but . . . but I just really want to be one. For you.”

Suzy looked from Aly to Joan. Her eyes opened wide. “Me too!” she said. “If Aly gets to be one, I want to be one too.”

Joan took a while to respond. Aly's stomach felt squishy and nervous.

“I don't know,” Joan finally answered. “There aren't any junior groomsmen, so the numbers would be off. We're trying to keep things even on both sides. That's why I asked you two to be flower girls.”

Aly looked down at the floor, trying not to cry. She thought she'd come up with the perfect plan. “It was just an idea,” she squeaked out.

“Wait!” Suzy said. “I have another idea.” She smiled at her uncle. “What if I'm a groomsgirl?”

“A groomsgirl?” he repeated, pulling his baseball cap off to scratch his head.

“What would that mean?” Joan asked.

Suzy cleared her throat. “Well, I'd wear the same exact dress as Aly, but I'd wear it in black so that I'd match all the groomsmen in their tuxedos! Then she and I could walk down the aisle together. Aly could
stand with the bridesmaids, and I'd stand with the groomsmen. And then it would be balanced.”

Isaac turned to Joan. “She did take care of the numbers issue,” he said.

“Please?” Suzy said.

“Please?” Aly echoed.

Joan closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Oh no,
Aly worried.
Now I've ruined Joan's most special day ever. I've made her feel terrible.

At last Joan opened her eyes. “Okay,” she said. “You can be a junior bridesmaid and a groomsgirl.”

Aly and Suzy looked at each other and smiled.

“Yes!” Suzy yelped.

Aly hugged Joan tightly. “Thank you so much,” she whispered. “I really wanted to be in your wedding. I didn't really want to be a stylist.”

“I know,” Joan whispered back. Then she beckoned Suzy over. “You know, girls,” she said, “Isaac
and I were a little bit hurt when we invited you to be in our wedding and you said no.”

Aly stared at her shoes again. She traced the path her sneaker laces made as they snaked in and out of the holes. “I'm sorry,” she said.

Suzy didn't say anything.

“Suzy,” Aly whispered.

“Fine,” Suzy said. “I'm sorry too. It's just that we were too old—”

Aly cut her off. “She's sorry, Joan. We're both very sorry we made you and Isaac feel bad.”

“Thank you,” Joan said. “It takes someone very grown up and responsible to apologize.”

Aly could hear Suzy huff next to her.

“So how about we find you two some beautiful grown-up dresses to wear?” Joan continued.

Aly wiped away the tears that were still lingering on her eyelashes. “Sounds good to me.”

Six dresses later, Aly was wearing a dress the color of Turquoise Delight—the exact shade as her ­mother's. The dress had a scooped neck and straps that crisscrossed in the back. A sash of turquoise flowers trailed down the back of the dress to the floor.

“What do you think?” Aly asked Suzy.

“Hmm,” Suzy said. “I was hoping for a little bit of sparkle.”

So far, the other five dresses had been rejected because:

1. Suzy didn't like dresses with short sleeves.

2. Aly didn't like dresses with long sleeves.

3. Mom didn't think the girls were old enough to go strapless.

4. Joan didn't want the girls in dresses made of shiny fabric.

5. Both Suzy and Aly refused to wear dresses with bows.

But Mom, Joan, and Aly all liked this dress. And Suzy seemed to like it too, except for the lack of sparkles.

“What if we do sparkly nails?” Aly offered. “With sparkly makeup. And maybe we could even get sparkly headbands. Or hair clips.”

Suzy's eyes lit up. “If we get all of those things, then I think this dress is perfect.”

Aly's smile stretched across her face.

“I agree!” Brooke was touching the flowers. “It's the same color as my sash! We're all going to match so perfectly!”

“I think it's a beautiful choice,” Joan said. “And now that you're officially part of the ceremony, that
means you get some responsibilities at the wedding.”

“We do?” Suzy and Aly said at the same time.

“You do,” Joan affirmed. “I need two people to be in charge of meeting Ralph and his driver and bringing them to the kitchen, where all the leftover food is going to be waiting at the end of the reception. Can you two handle that?”

Aly was nodding before Joan had finished talking. “Absolutely!”

“We can handle that,” Suzy said.

Joan tucked Aly's hair behind her ear. “I'm so glad you came up with this solution. I wasn't all that happy about having a wedding without you in it, kiddo.”

“And Suzy,” Aly added “She came up with the solution too.”

“You're right,” Joan said. “That was great thinking, Suzy.”

“I know. I always have the best ideas,” Suzy said.

W
e never made our nail polish plan on Saturday. For Joan and Uncle Isaac's wedding.”

Without even looking up from her homework, Aly knew who was walking—and, of course, talking—through the Sparkle Spa door. She was expecting customers in the next half hour, but not Suzy this early after school.

“I know, Suzy, I know.” Aly had realized that herself right when they'd gotten home from the bridal shop, since she was the one who had to roll the heavy
suitcase back inside. “Now that we're junior bridesmaids, are we still stylists?” Aly asked.

Suzy shrugged. “I don't see why not.”

“Me neither,” Brooke said from Sparkly's corner. She was giving him an after-school snack.

Brooke walked over to polish wall. “You know, I was thinking we should make up a special occasion manicure for Joan's wedding.”

Suzy rolled her eyes. “Special occasion manicures are—”

“Don't you dare say ‘dumb,' Suzy Davis!” Brooke warned.

Aly knew Suzy was absolutely about to say “dumb,” and she was glad Brooke had stopped her. “What did you have in mind?” Aly asked her sister.

“Well, I was thinking two colors,” Brooke answered. “Heather and I could wear every other finger Pretty in Pink and Turquoise Delight, and
you two could wear every other finger Inktastic and Turquoise Delight, so that it matches both of your dresses.”

“Sounds pretty,” Aly told Brooke. “What about toes?” All four girls would be wearing sandals for the wedding.

“What if I wear turquoise on my toes and you wear black?” Suzy said to Aly.

Aly nodded. “I like it. And Heather can wear pink, and Brooke turquoise.”

“Perfect,” Brooke said.

Aly grabbed all the color choices from the polish wall. They looked awesome together—all were sparkly, and the pink and turquoise were super bright.

“Joan's going to love this plan,” Aly said.

“Uncle Isaac, too,” Suzy added.

Aly wasn't so sure that Isaac would really care
about their polish colors, but she kept that opinion to herself.

“Okay,” Aly said, “the only thing left is our hair.”

Suzy pulled a small stack of papers out of her backpack. It looked like she'd printed them off a computer. “I brought some pictures of sparkly headbands and hair clips. I figured we don't have to match, since Brooke and Heather won't. Plus, our dresses are different colors anyway.”

Aly scanned the pages that Suzy spread out on the table in the waiting area. She saw:

• A headband with sparkles all around

• One with a big sparkly flower that matched their sashes

• One with dangly sparkles

• A clip with three sparkly flowers

• Another clip with a sparkly heart

Brooke was peering over Suzy's shoulder. “Sparkles all around is a good choice. Or the sparkle heart clip.”

“Not the flowers?” Aly asked.

Brooke shook her head. “You don't want too many flowers,” she said. “It's
too
much matching if you have flowers on your waist and in your hair.”

“That makes sense,” Aly agreed.

Suzy squinted at Brooke. “It actually does.”

“So, Suzy, are you thinking headband or clip?”

“Headband,” Suzy said.

Aly smiled. “I was thinking clip.”

Suzy circled their choices “I'll order them. Now we just have to wait three more weeks to wear them.”

Everything was going so well between Aly and Suzy—like they were almost real friends—that it kind of worried Aly. Did that mean something bad was going to happen at the wedding?

T
hree weeks later Brooke bounced onto Aly's bed. “It's wedding day!” she sang.

The day before, Aly had polished Brooke's and Suzy's nails. Brooke had polished Aly's and ­Heather's. All four girls had even taken pictures of their sparkly fingers and toes.

After Aly woke up and Brooke stopped bouncing, the girls headed downstairs for breakfast. In the kitchen Joan, Mom, and Joan's three bridesmaids were sitting at the kitchen table. Michelle
was Joan's roommate from college, Julia was her cousin, and Rachel was Isaac's sister, which also made her Suzy Davis's aunt. Mom was giving them each a manicure.

“Want some help?” Aly asked.

“Oh, could you?” Joan answered.

“Of course. Anything for the bride!” Aly said, sticking two pieces of bread in the toaster—one for her and one for Brooke. “What do you need?”

“My toes,” Joan said. “Your mom polished them in white yesterday, but then I remembered I needed something blue for good luck. Would you switch it to I Love Blue, Too? Your mom ran to the salon this morning to pick it up for me.”

“It's in my purse, Aly,” Mom said as she applied a coat of clear polish to Michelle's fingernails.

After eating her toast and putting on latex gloves so the polish remover wouldn't ruin her own manicure,
Aly took off Joan's old polish and repainted her toenails in blue.

“How's that?” Aly asked when she finished.

“I couldn't have done it better myself, kiddo,” Joan said.

Aly screwed the cap back on the top coat bottle, then took off her gloves. “I love that I got to do this for you on your wedding day,” she told Joan. “And that I get to
be
in your wedding.”

“Me too, Aly,” Joan said, giving her a hug. “And I love how those alternating-color manicures came out on all you girls.”

Aly waved her fingers in the air and smiled. “Thank you,” she said.