The Blogger and the Hunk (6 page)

Her phone began to vibrate on her desk, interrupting her thoughts. It was a text message from Celeste.

Celeste:
Can you come with me to Wedding Invites tomorrow?

“And so the wedding plans begin,” Penelope stated, looking at her phone screen. Her sister had just gotten engaged the night before and she was already getting to work on the invitations for the wedding.

“I mean, I guess that would be the first thing you’d do,” she murmured, typing up an answer.

Penelope:
Depends. What time?

C:
I have work, so 3:30 okay with you?

P:
I’ll meet up with you. I might be a little late, so just wait for me.

C:
Great! Thank you! Means so much to me! Plus you’ll get to meet Jackie!

Penelope winced. The last person she wanted to meet was Celeste’s good-looking, perfect friend Jackie. She’d never personally met the girl, but Celeste had spoken about her before. She knew it wasn’t Jackie’s fault Celeste had chosen her over Penelope, but it didn’t hurt any less.

P:
Can’t wait! I’ll meet you there. XO

Well, there was some mental preparing to do before meeting this Jackie. Penelope was almost certain she was another cute, bubbly friend with a high-pitched voice, just like all the women her sister was usually surrounded by. Ugh. Cheerleaders. Meeting Jackie would give Penelope an idea of what her competition was. She had to somehow prove to Celeste that she wasn’t a boring older sister doomed to a life of solitude and silence.

Although that didn’t sound like such a bad life after all.

I
hate weddings. I hate the fact that people spend so much money on weddings. The whole elaborate ceremony and reception package are just an excuse to show off. It’s fifteen minutes of fame. What happened to just loving one another? What happened to the importance of the vows and promises given to one another? I was under the impression they were supposed to mean something. I guess I was wrong!

DIARY OF A WALLFLOWER: Entry 122

“She’s thirty minutes late. Where the hell could she be?” Celeste paced the invitation shop, looking down at her phone for the hundredth time since she had gotten there. If there was one thing Jack knew about her, it was that she detested lack of punctuality. Especially if it had to do with her own wedding.

Jack slid his hand toward the back of Celeste’s neck and kneaded the knot there.

“Relax. She’ll be here soon, I’m sure.”

“No, you guys were supposed to meet today. That’s how this was supposed to go. You meet her, you guys become best friends and then you could help her find a date before my wedding!”

“Umm, Celeste? I thought today was about your wedding invitations?” Jack asked, a little confused.

Celeste met his stare. “It was. It is. But I really wanted you guys to meet each other. Jack, you don’t know how miserable she is! I can’t help but feel me getting engaged will probably send her over the edge! Which was why I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to put her in charge of planning anything herself!”

Jack chuckled. “What makes you think that just because you’ve found the love of your life and are getting married, she’d want to do the same thing? Haven’t you thought that maybe she is happy the way she is?”

“Jack, you’re older than me, and I understand that, but sometimes you can be such an oblivious joker. Trust me, she’s miserable.”

Jack shook his head, unable to stop the laughter escaping his throat. “Well, Celeste. It’s been a blast doing my MOH duties with you, but I’ve gotta go. There’s a business dinner I need to get to and I’ve been learning my way around LA traffic these past couple months living here.”

“But, wait! Just a few minutes more? She shouldn’t take longer than ten minutes tops!” Celeste pleaded.

“Sorry, Celeste,” Jack replied, pulling his suit jacket over the dress shirt and handing her a tiny stack of invitations. “I chose a few that I thought looked like something you would like. Some of the designs are right up your alley. Tell your sister I said hi and sorry I couldn’t stay longer to meet her.” Jack stood and kissed Celeste’s forehead.

Celeste merely grumbled and sulked in her chair.

Jack laughed. “Stop frowning. You’re getting married in five months. I thought these were supposed to be the happiest days of your life.”

He could still hear Celeste grumbling as he walked out the door.

* * *

P
enelope parked her car close to the rear entrance of the invitation shop. She looked at her phone.

4:03.

“Shit!” She ran inside and slowed her pace once she found her sister. It didn’t take a genius to realize Celeste was angry. “I’m so sorr—”

“Save it, Penny. I’m not in the mood for your apologies,” Celeste interrupted. She busied herself looking through a stack of sample invitations on the table before her. It was apparent she didn’t want to look at Penelope.

“I swear I was on my way like I told you, but I got caught up in traffic. I’m here now though!” Penelope tried to keep a smile on her face as an apology. “Where’s your friend?”

“Jackie left. Apparently you were too late.”

“Well good riddance to her,” Penelope murmured under her breath.

“What?” Celeste asked.

“Nothing.” Penelope sat down next to her sister and started looking through the invitations in Celeste’s hands.

“This one’s the best one,” she replied, tapping the invitation with the Old English script.

It was printed on beige paper with a black border. A small burgundy ribbon adorned the top of the invitation.

“Somehow I knew you were going to like that one. It’s
Phantom
inspired,” Celeste teased Penelope, referencing her love for
Phantom of the Opera
.

Well, at least she’s not yelling at me.

“Yeah, it is! But it would be such great colors for your wedding. Have you chosen the colors you want yet?”

“I’m thinking lighter, pastel colors. Baby blues, pink, yellow—”

“So, Easter colors?” Penelope asked, a little skeptical of the whole idea.

“Oh, Penny. Stop making that face. It’s
my
wedding.”

“No, no. You’re right. I’ll be here to support you the whole way. I promise.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’ll be judging my choices the whole way down the aisle?” Celeste asked out loud.

“I won’t! I promise,” Penelope responded, trying to be supportive. It was going to be difficult when she didn’t take weddings seriously.

Want to let the world know you and your significant other are married? Okay, that’s great! Want to let the world know you love each other? Sure, that’s a great idea. But why the big hullabaloo? Why the thousands of dollars invested on one day?

That was Penelope’s view on weddings. She couldn’t fathom how much money people spent on weddings every year. She would have preferred saving money on the wedding and spending it on a great honeymoon. Not that she was planning on getting married anytime soon. She needed a boyfriend first.

“How about this one?” Celeste picked out another one from the small stack. It was a nice ivory paper with a baby blue ribbon decorating the border of the invitation.

Penelope had to admit it looked very pretty. “I like it.”

“Really?” Celeste asked.

Penelope nodded. “Reminds me of your name. Blue.” She smiled at her sister.

Celeste laughed and nudged her big sister with her elbow. “I love you, Penny. You make everything better.
Sometimes
.”

Penelope merely shrugged with a smile on her face.

* * *

“S
o, how did it go with the wedding invitations?”

“They went fine, I guess. We brought the choices down to three different styles,” Jack casually responded, walking toward the refrigerator to grab a couple beers. He tossed one into Dylan’s hands.

“Oh how fun,” Dylan deadpanned. “Did you get to meet Celeste’s sister?” he asked, opening the can, trying to slurp the fizz off the disturbed beer before it hit the sofa.

“Naw. You know something? I’m beginning to think she’s a heartless witch. No decent woman would let her own baby sister make the wedding arrangements by herself.” Jack handed him a napkin.

“Bitter, maybe?” Dylan suggested.

Jack shrugged. “Probably. Maybe she needs a good fuck partner.”

Dylan laughed so hard his beer almost came out his nose. “I can help. She hot?”

Jack lifted his shoulder slightly. “She should be, she’s related to Celeste! Unless Celeste stole all the good-looking genes in the family and left her the ugly ones.” He smirked a little at his joke.

Dylan’s eyes widened. “Don’t even joke that way. Knock on wood!” He jokingly rapped his knuckles on the hardwood floor. “Well, when are you planning to meet her?”

“Probably the engagement dinner, this upcoming Saturday.”

“You planning to bone her if she is hot?”

Jack gave an exasperated sigh. “What is it with you and my sex life? Last time I checked, I never ask you about yours.”

“All right, all right. I won’t ask anymore. But tell me one thing,” Dylan insisted.

“Go for it.”

“Can I have her if she blows you off?”

Jack laughed. “Shut up, fucktard.” He thought back to the mouse he had been with a few weeks back, and for a brief moment he wondered where she was. But just as the thought had entered his head, he pushed it aside and chugged down the rest of his beer. He’d thought of confessing what happened that night to his friends countless times, to try and reason why he couldn’t shake her out of his head. But no matter how many times he tried to start the conversation, he always chickened out.

Was it because he was afraid of being judged by his own friends? He’d never been in a serious, romantic relationship with anyone before. After the initial attraction, everything else just bored him. Yet here he was weeks later trying to figure out why he couldn’t stop thinking about Penelope. Shy, innocent Penelope had consumed his thoughts, and it was driving him insane.

“You okay, man?”

“Yeah, just press Play,” Jack instructed, and lay back on the couch to stare blankly at the moving pictures on the screen.

I
n my field of work, I don’t really get a chance to talk to others who work in the same job as me. Being a book editor has been my dream for as long as I can remember, but sometimes I do get rather lonely. Then I remember I’m my own boss and the loneliness fades away. Sometimes. Just sometimes.

DIARY OF A WALLFLOWER: Entry 126

“Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me, Penelope.”

“It’s my pleasure, I assure you. I needed to meet the woman who is able to make me feel all hot and bothered.”

Sarah Johnson laughed heartily, a giddy gleam in her eye. “I’m glad you’ve appreciated Bradley as much as I have.”

“Oh, you have no idea! I’m only halfway through the book, and I’ve already found myself in love with the guy. He’s a perfectly flawed hero,” Penelope responded, holding the manuscript in her hands. She sipped a bit of her iced coffee and looked up at Sarah. “What did you need to see me about?”

“I was going through some of my own ideas for the next installment of the series and I wanted to consult with you. An email would have been easier, but since I’ve decided to use you for the next two books in the series, I’d like for us to have an author-editor relationship on a personal level.”

“Wait a minute,” Penelope started. “You want me to edit all the books in the series?”

“I’ve enjoyed your work so far. You give it to me straight. It’s the kind of motivation I need,” she paused. “Which is why I was wondering if the edits could be finished by Monday.”

Penelope was torn between excitement and frustration. This was one of the biggest opportunities for her. Sarah Johnson had to be one of the most well-known names in the indie book world. Despite the hardships of self-publishing, she had managed to grow a large fan base with her own writing and perseverance. Not to mention it was great for Penelope’s business.

She hesitated. “Yikes. I have to be honest with you, it took me four days to get through half of the manuscript. It’s kind of a busy month for me. And on top of my job, I have a wed—”

“I wouldn’t be telling you this if I didn’t have any faith in you. I trust you wholeheartedly with my writing. You came to me highly recommended, and I have not once doubted your work,” Sarah pleaded.

It wasn’t that Penelope couldn’t get the job done on time. It was just that with her sister’s wedding plans, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to finish her work, support her sister, and still have time to eat and sleep. Why did it feel like every time an opportunity knocked, she had to choose between her sister’s happiness and hers? All those times as children Penelope had to share her brand new toy with Celeste only to have her break it in mere minutes. Or when it came time for college, Penelope’s parents couldn’t afford to pay for both girls to go to school, so Penelope decided to do community college and then transfer, all so her sister could have the opportunity to go to her top choice in New York.

Here she was again, having to choose between her sister’s happiness and hers. Penelope looked at the time and figured she had about an hour before having to meet up with her sister and dear Jackie at the florist. She typed up a quick message letting Celeste know she would try to make it on time.

She turned to Sarah as soon as she hit Send. “Now, where were we?”

* * *

“I
swear I’m going to lose it if this woman doesn’t show up,” Jack muttered to himself as he paced along the sidewalk right outside the flower shop. He kept looking at his watch and looking at each corner of the street for a gray Corolla riding just around the corner. No such luck. The street was full of cars, but none of them the style and color of Celeste’s sister’s.

He took his phone from his pocket and was scrolling through for Celeste’s number when it began to ring.

“Celeste, where’s your sister?”

“Hey, sorry. She sent me a text letting me know she was held up at one of her meetings. I’m almost there. Just a couple minutes—”