by J A Fielding
“Ellis, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” he yelled.
“Getting you up. You are the only person still asleep this morning,” Ellis said.
Steven’s eyes fluttered open and he pulled himself up to a sitting position.
“Please tell me there is some coffee somewhere here,” he said in a groggy voice.
“I’ll get a pot on. You…get decent. I don’t want to have your junk all up in my face,” Ellis said as he got up. “And by the way, I mean that literally,” he added loudly as he walked to the kitchen area of the cabin.
Steven got out of bed and pulled out a pair of dry boxers from his overnight bag. He walked to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face before he brushed his teeth.
“Why the hell are you…were you naked? Is that like your new thing?” Ellis asked as he handed Steven a cup when he walked into where he was.
Steven smiled and shrugged.
“No, Julie spent the night,” he said before he took a long sip.
“I thought you guys had some sort of pact.”
Steven looked at him and frowned.
“How did you know about that?” he asked.
“You told me.”
“I told you about that?”
“You’d be surprised what a twenty year old scotch can get out of you.”
Steven laughed and took another sip of his coffee.
“So, the pact?” Ellis pressed.
“Well, we did have a pact and it has been days since…you know. But last night was weird. We fought, got rained on, argued…made up,” Steven said. “One thing led to another, I guess.”
“So, speaking of rain, I’m sure you know about the storm last night?” he asked.
“What storm? What are you talking about?” he asked, shaking his head.
Ellis took a sip and raised an eyebrow again.
“Was the sex that good that you never felt anything last night?”
“Well for starters, it was great and I am a pretty sound sleeper. But you knew that already,” Steven said.
“Camp 1998. I still have the photos,” he said smiling and nodding.
“You were brutal back then,” Steven said.
“We all had to go through that. It was a rite of passage,” he said.
Steven took a sip and shook his head.
“You mean you also woke up with your sleeping bag in the middle of the lake?”
“No, I had to do the walk of shame in a thong. Trust me you had it easy,” Ellis said.
Steven smiled and raised his cup to hide the fact that he was smiling.
“A thong?” he asked.
“It’s a long story,” Ellis said before he took a sip of his coffee. “But onto serious business. The storm took out the communication tower last night.”
“Okay. What does that have to do with me?” he shrugged.
“Well, there’s more,” Ellis said.
Steven looked at him as panic set in.
“Is it Julie? Is she okay?”
“Juelz is fine. She is perfectly fine. Meg took her for some girlie thing…something to do with their faces or something,” he shook his head.
“Facials,” Steven laughed.
“I have a problem understanding why the hell you even know that but anyway, like I said, there is more,” he said. Steven took another sip and looked at him before he shrugged. “The storm also took out the bridge,” he said.
Steven raised an eyebrow at him in shock.
“Tell me you’re kidding,” he said.
Ellis shook his head.
“I’m not. Your wedding planner is running up and down trying to figure something out but I know for a fact that the nearest chopper is five hours away. One way,” he said. Steven put his cup down and banged his fist on the counter. “Hey chill out. I have a plan.”
Steven looked at him and shrugged.
“How could you possibly settle this?”
“I know someone about an hour away, two tops. He has a fleet of choppers for hire and I already spoke to him. He can get us four choppers here,” Ellis said.
“You are awesome,” Steven sighed.
“That’s why you chose me as your best man,” Ellis said.
Steven laughed and ran his fingers though his hair.
“What about Julie? How is she taking all this? She must be destroyed,” he said.
“Oh she is,” Ellis said.
“You are a terrible best friend,” he laughed, shaking his head.
“At least I’m honest,” he smiled. “The day is worse for her though. The wedding planner told her something about an arch getting destroyed in the storm,” he added.
Steven sighed again and shook his head.
“Damn it,” he said under his breath.
“But again, she has everything under control. She looks like she knows what she is doing,” Ellis said before he took one last sip of his coffee. “Which reminds me, I should talk to her and let her know about the choppers.” He put his cup down. “We got this,” he said as he looked at his best friend.
“Thanks man,” Steven said in a low voice.
“By the way, Meg…she is awesome,” he said.
“I knew you would like her,” he said. “Even Julie…” he started before Ellis looked at him inquisitively.
“You guys set me up with her, didn’t you?” Ellis asked.
“Yes we did. Are you complaining?” he laughed.
“Not in the least,” he smiled. Ellis looked at him and slowly walked to the door before he stopped and turned around. “You said they went for facials?”
“Yeah, why?” Steven nodded.
“That sounds a little like an adult movie,” Ellis smiled.
“You’re disgusting,” he said as he forced out a smile. “Make sure that side of you doesn’t show itself to Meg,” he added.
“I am a perfect gentleman to her. You can ask her how good I was to her last night,” he teased before he walked out of the cabin leaving Steven shaking his head.
“He sure works fast,” he thought as he poured himself another cup of coffee.
Chapter 7
The day was turning out to be terrible. As if the bridge being out and the arch being ruined was not bad enough, Pamela had told Julie that her venue was also not an option because of the heavy downpour the previous night. According to Pamela, the venue was a ‘muddy mess’ and the chair covers were also ruined. But Pamela had worked fast and organized a new venue not very far from the first and the reception seats would be used for the ceremony. So far, Julie didn’t like anything that was happening but she couldn’t control it. Meg had told her that they would continue with the rest of the day as they were supposed to as the ‘right people’ worked on a plan B. Because of Meg, Julie had her nails and hair done, her back and feet massaged and most importantly, her mind relaxed…so far.
After a day of pampering and perfection, Julie almost felt better about the fact that her day was not turning out to be as disastrous as it was. She pulled the cucumbers from her eyes and turned to look at Meg who had a sick smile on her face. A smile played on Julie’s lips. It had been a long time since she had seen her best friend this excited about anything.
“I know you are looking at me. I can feel you looking at me,” Meg said.
Julie turned her head and smiled.
“You have a sick superpower,” she said. “And a pretty weird one too.”
Meg pulled the cucumbers from her eyes and looked at Julie.
“You should be afraid…very afraid,” she said in a low voice.
“This is nice,” Julie said in a low voice.
“What is?” Meg asked.
“This. You and me here alone without all those British women around.”
“Whoa. I thought you liked Steven’s sisters,” Meg responded. .
“Oh I do but I am only close to one. The rest are…I just don’t know, hard to talk to, I guess,” Julie said.
“And here I was thinking that you had suc
h a good time when you went to London,” she laughed.
“I did have a good time there. I won’t lie to you but not with all the Davenport sisters,” Julie said.
Meg shrugged and looked at her best friend’s nails.
“Well, I hope you like the color I picked out,” Meg said.
Julie looked at her nails and smiled.
“Nude with a fishnet accent. Perfect.” It almost makes the idea that we are stuck up here really fine.”
Meg smiled at her.
“We are going to get across. Something will work out. You’ll see.”
Just then, Julie heard her phone ring.
Meg looked at her and frowned. “I thought the tower was out,” she said.
Julie looked at one of the salon workers and asked her to pull her phone out of her pocket.
“Thanks,” Julie mouthed to the lady before she answered the phone. “Hello,” she said without even checking to know who it was. She sighed and smiled when she heard Steven’s voice.
“Hey. You okay?” Steven asked.
“I’ll be honest. I’ve seen better days,” she said.
“Don’t worry your pretty little head about anything. The day will be perfect just as you dreamed it would be.”
“Really? Pamela said we are stuck up here for at least ten hours. That is way past three which as you remember, is the time we are supposed to be saying our vows,” Julie said. “And did you hear about the arch? And the venue…” she was bombarding him with questions.
“Whoa…you need to hold on and relax. Everything is going to be fine. Ellis has everything worked out,” he said.
Julie looked at Meg who was now restless. She obviously wanted an update.
“What do you mean? What does he know?” Julie asked.
“He has a friend…long story short. He has organized for three choppers to be here in about an hour and a half,” he said.
Julie smiled and choked back a sob.
“Really?” she asked.
“What? What happened?” Meg asked looking at her.
Julie put her hand up and gave her best friend a little wave.
“Yeah. So get ready. You will make your wedding after all, baby. I told you everything was going to work out,” Steven said. Julie laughed and nodded.
“I don’t know what to say,” she laughed.
“I’ll see you in a few hours future wife.”
“See you future husband,” she said before she hung up.
“What the hell is happening? Why do you look like you want to cry?” Meg asked. Julie smiled. “Okay now I’m confused,” she said.
“That Ellis is priceless,” she said.
“Now I’m even more confused. What does Ellis have to do with any of this?” Meg frowned.
“He has this friend…and he’s bringing choppers to get us across the ravine,”
Julie said.
“Really? When?” she asked, smiling broadly.
“Steven said in about an hour and a half,” Julie said.
Meg sighed loudly and laughed out in relief.
“Oh thank God,” she said.
Julie looked up at her and shook her head.
“What do you mean thank God? Were you panicking?” she asked.
“Of course I was panicking. Did you look at how deep and steep that ravine was? It would have taken us ages to get across and there was the time factor…” she started. Julie’s eyes grew wide. “Do you have any idea how bad it is for the maid of honor not to have her shit together?” Meg asked.
Julie suddenly burst out laughing.
“Are you serious right now? The only reason I was so relaxed was because I knew you had everything under control,” she said. She looked at Meg who was shaking her head.
“I was in full on freaked out mode. But as a maid of honor, I had to keep my cool and Ellis said something about taking care of things so…I kind of trusted him,” she said.
Julie looked at her and shook her head.
“You really are something. You trusted a guy you met in the last twenty four hours? About your best friend’s wedding no less?” she asked.
“When you are desperate, anything goes. Trust me. He could have told me that he was going to teleport us across the ravine and I would have still believed him,” Meg said smiling.
Julie’s smile grew even wider. With the mud mask she had on, she looked even more ridiculous smiling than she did when she was not.
“Well, he came through,” Julie said.
Meg smiled and placed the cucumber slices back on her eyes.
“Thank God for that,” she said.
“Speaking of Ellis,” Julie started as she looked at Meg.
“What about him?” Meg asked as if she didn’t already know what Julie was getting at.
“What happened last night? I mean I know you guys slept together but…really? What happened to the ninety day rule girl I know?” Julie asked.
Meg pulled the cucumber slices from her eyes and turned to look at her best friend.
“Do you really need the whole story? All the gory details because if you need a lesson on the dance of the birds and the bees…”
Julie put her hand up and frowned.
“Eew, no. I don’t want to know what Ellis’ junk looks like.”
“Really? Not even just a little curious?” Meg asked as she put her index fingers parallel to each other and then began to gradually move them apart.
Julie’s eyes grew big.
“Are you serious?” she asked shocked and Meg nodded.
“Trust me, I was quite surprised…pleasantly of course and he knows just how to use it,” she said.
Julie was thankful for the mask on her face since it was hiding the fact that she was blushing at the thought of facing Ellis again.
“You know what, I’m sorry I asked,” Julie said as she leaned back against the seat.
*****
It seemed like forever but eventually, everyone was across the ravine. The one thing Julie really wanted to see was her new venue but Meg wouldn’t let her.
“Whatever is not done by now is probably not that big a deal,” she said.
Julie looked at her and shook her head.
“You understand that I only get one of these days right?” she asked.
“I know, and Pamela knows exactly what she is doing,” she said. “Right now we have to go get you all relaxed before you get your hair styled. I think Sofia is already here.”
“Sofia?” Julie asked. Meg nodded. “You got Sofia Townsend?” Julie asked excitedly. That was the only person who Julie really wanted to do her makeup and at first when she found out that she might not be available, she was devastated. She had chosen to just go with whoever Meg found but this, this was amazing news. She looked at Meg and smiled broadly. “You are actually a really good maid of honor after all,” she said.
“After all? You have no faith me at all, do you?” she teased.
“Well I did until you admitted to me that you have been freaking out ever since you found out we were stuck across the ravine,” Julie said. She looked at Meg and shook her head.
“Come on. That was a mild panic…” Meg started.
Julie laughed and shook her head.
“A mild panic is when you invite your boyfriend for a romantic dinner and you find out that you burnt the chicken. What you did was a full blown meltdown. And you were pretty good at hiding it too, you know, until you came clean,” she said.
Meg shrugged just as Pamela walked up to them.
“Hey. How are we doing?” Julie asked as she looked at Pamela who was looking down at her tablet. If Julie didn’t know any better, she was sure that she would have been pulling her hair out.
“Hey, Julie…quick question. How many bridesmaids do you have?” Pamela asked.
“Three. Meg, my cousin and Steven’s baby sister. Why?” Julie asked as she looked into Pamela’s eyes.
“Hmmm, nothing to worry about. I’ll take care of it,” Pamela said as she s
tarted walking away.
“Hold up, lady,” Meg said as she held Pamela’s hand back. “What is going on?”
“There are two women here. One of them said she is Steven’s sister and another one just looks rude. They both said that they are also bridesmaids and it’s funny because I don’t have them listed as bridesmaids or even guests…Oh wait, the sister is listed. The other woman isn’t,” Pamela said a bit too quickly.
“Do you know this other woman’s name?” Julie asked.
Pamela shook her head.
“But she is a blond haired woman…a bit too classy for my taste…she is almost a Kardashian for all I care,” she said. “She has an air of superiority around her…”
Julie rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Oh no,” she said under her breath.
“What? Do you know this person?” Meg asked as she looked at Julie.
“Yeah. It sounds a lot like Steven’s ex,” Julie said in a low voice.
Meg looked at her and then at Pamela.
“They even said they had the dresses and everything. It was terrible being yelled at in perfect British English,” Pamela said slowly.
“That’s it. I’ll handle this. You go get your hair done,” Meg stated.
“What the hell are you going to do?” Julie asked.
“It is obvious that those two have never seen an angry black woman. They are about to see one now,” Meg said.
Julie knew better than to try and stop her but in the back of her mind, she couldn’t stop but feel angry. Why were all these happening to her? Why did Steven’s ex have to be such a bitch? She wanted to call Steven and tell him but then again, that was none of his business. This bitch was trying to crush her wedding. And just because she didn’t get her own happy ending didn’t mean that Julie was going to let her ruin her own special day.
*****
A few hours later, Julie was looking at a reflection of herself in a beautiful one arm mermaid dress. Her hair was pulled back with soft curls framing her face. She had on a pair of turquoise diamond earrings that Steven had sent to her room and a beautiful diamond and pearl bracelet that her Nan had given her. According to Meg and Pamela, she had on the perfect mix of something old, something new and something blue. She looked at her reflection and felt a tear come to her eyes.
