Bridesmaid Lotto (23 page)

I was seated across from Emma’s slimy brother, and Bobbi Lynne was beside me. I suddenly wished I’d brought earplugs. At least when I locked eyes with Jake for a brief moment, he looked almost as disappointed as I was. Rebecca seemed to be in her glory to be seated near him though. Poor Jennifer couldn’t stop rolling her eyes at everyone and everything. I had to stop making eye contact with her, or I’d have giggle fit for sure.

The meal was wonderful, and if only I would have been able to block out Bobbi Lynne and the ever annoying Eric VanHorn, I might have even enjoyed it. Jake kept giving me looks throughout the night that made me believe that the rumors about him and Mitzi Golden were just that, rumors.

When dessert was finished, we were ushered straight from the dinner table to a larger room where the wedding planner, the infamous Millicent Munroe, ran through all the procedures for the wedding the next day. I was a little surprised that we were going to be involved in the wedding pictures, it’s not like we were real Bridesmaids or anything, but apparently we were. Ms. Munroe was, probably more accurately, calling them publicity photos.

The evening ended with a quick walk through of the ceremony and then we were all ushered back out to our waiting cars.

“Please get as much beauty sleep as you can,” Emma instructed as she waved us all off. “You want to be in top shape for tomorrow.”

I was a little peeved that I didn’t get a second alone with Jake. At least I knew he wasn’t avoiding me.

At least I hoped not.

~ 17 ~

Dear Disaster Diary,

Where are you?
I wrote on a blank piece of paper.
Today is my big day and you aren’t even here for me. Sigh. I suppose I must have left you out in the living room or something. Too bad I don’t have time to look for you – because today is the big day!

I set down the scrap of paper and stretched, not really ready to wake up yet, but my spa appointment was fast approaching. And when I thought about it, that was definitely something worth waking up for.

I quickly showered and got dressed and rushed out to the spa, not bothering with makeup or my hair.

They fed each of us breakfast and coffee, which I was in dire need of to help wake me up. I wasn’t used to getting up so early, especially after I had spent the last four days sleeping in since I had no job to go to. I figured I deserved a few days of sleeping in. After all, I hadn’t slept in much in the past five years since college.

What started out as a wonderfully relaxing spa day, soon turned into a whirlwind of primping, painting, pulling, prodding, and coiffing. I had no idea that you could walk out of a spa about ten times more stressed than you were going in. And of course I was paired with Bobbi Lynne for absolutely everything. Jennifer looked about as pleased as I was to be paired with Rebecca.

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 wedding 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.”