“Stupid freak of a dress!” I exclaimed, tugging on the soft white fabric gathered around my waist, and around my elbows... and around my neck...
“Kelly, calm down,” Briley told me.
“Calm down? How can I calm down? I’m getting married exactly one week from today, and this is the second time they’ve screwed the dress up!”
Briley rolled her eyes in my direction. The two of us were in a large changing room in a Bridal Shop, standing in front of a floor to ceiling mirror. Her in jeans and a t-shirt, me in a wedding dress that is about two sizes too big. Right style, right additions... not the right size.
“Listen... we’ll just have them redo it. It’ll only take a day or two to get altered and everything. It’ll be fine.”
I sighed. “Will you unzip this stupid thing?” Briley unzipped the dress so that I was able to change back into my street clothes. The two of us left the dress in the changing room and walked to the front counter.
“Miss Arquette, how did it fit?” The lady asked.
“Well, let’s just say it’s a shame that my fiancée’ doesn’t wear a dress to the wedding.”
“Why is that?” The lady asked.
“Because he could fit in the thing with me!”
She gave me a blank look. “Are you trying to say it’s still too big?”
I sighed again at this lady’s stupidity. “No... it’s too small.”
“Okay, I understand. No need to get rude about it.”
“Rude? Woman, you ain’t seen nothing yet. This is gonna be the biggest day of my life, and I don’t want anything to screw it up. This is gonna be perfect! Perfect!”
“Ma’am, calm down. We’re going to have it altered for you.”
“When will it be done?”
“Come back on Wednesday. We’ll have it then.”
“Thank you,” I said pointedly, Briley following me out the door. Once in Lance and I’s Pathfinder, I put the keys in the ignition.
“Where to now?” Briley asked as I pulled from the parking lot.
“Flower shop.”
“Oh no.”
“What?”
“The way your luck is today, I wouldn’t be surprised if something was messed up there too,” Briley said with a smile.
“Oh, thanks a bunch for the encouragement,” I replied. “How’s JC doing with everything for his preparations?”
“You mean the bachelor party?” Briley said with a smile. I nodded. “I don’t know. He won’t tell me.”
I faked terror. “Oh no... could it be.... a stripper?”
Briley smiled. “Kelly, don’t be surprised if that is what they are planning for Lance.”
“I know that’s probably what they are planning for Lance,” I said with a smile. We arrived at the flower shop. The two of us got out of the car and went inside.
“Hi. I’m Kelly Arquette, and I was wanting to check on the flowers for my wedding,” I told the lady at the counter.
“Oh! Miss Arquette, I think you are going to be pleased with what we already have so far.” She smiled. “Come with me and I’ll show you.” She lead me to a back room. “Here’s the flower girl’s rose petals....” She held up a box filled with white rose petals. “Here’s the flowers to decorate inside the church with.” She motioned to a wall filled with shelf after shelf of white and pale pink flowers and arrangements. “Here’s the brides bouquet.” She held up a white bouquet. I nodded.
“It looks like everything is in order here,” I said, emphasizing here. “Thank you,” I told the florist.
“I’m glad you like what we have,” She replied, leading me to the front. “Friday evening at the church to decorate, correct?” She said with a smile.
“Right,” I answered her. “Bye and thanks.” Briley and I went back outside and began driving back to my apartment. As we arrived and got out, another car quickly pulled into the driveway. Lance and JC both jumped out and ran up the driveway to Briley and I. Lance ran to me and grabbed my shoulders.
“Kelly, we got a problem!”
“How did I know you were going to say that?” I said wearily.
“I don’t know,” he answered. Then, Lance continued. “First-”
“First!?” I exclaimed.
He nodded. “First, none of the tuxes fit. Well, mine does. But, JC’s arms are too short, Justin’s pants look like he’s preparing for a flood, Chris’ waist is too small, and Joey’s shirt won’t button.”
“Oh no,” I mumbled.
“Second, the church is double booked!”
“It’s what?”
“Double booked,” Lance repeated.
“I heard you the first time!” I exclaimed.
“Sorry!” He said just as loudly. “They have us and some sort of banquet both there that afternoon.”
“At what times?”
“At the same time,” He told me.
“This is so not good...” I mumbled, sinking to the front step.
Lance sat down next to me. “It’s gonna work. Everything will be fine.”
“Okay,” I said softly, resting my head on his shoulder. Lance threw a worried look at Briley.
“Kelly, you might as well tell him your problem too,” she said with a smile.
“What is it?” Lance asked.
“Lance dear....” I slowly said. “I have a suggestion- why don’t you wear a dress to the wedding too?”
“Why?” He asked.
“Because right now, the dress is so big, we could both fit in it.” I paused. “Comfortably.”
Lance cleared his throat and I knew he was trying to keep from laughing at me. I looked up from where I sat at JC and Briley. Briley looked at me in sympathy. JC was grinning. “I am so happy you two are amused by this,” I sarcastically commented. JC shrugged as Lance slipped the keys from my hand and stood to open the door.
He pushed the door open, I following him into the apartment. JC and Briley were behind me. No sooner had we sat down than Lance turned to me. “Got any food? I’m hungry.”
I pointed to the kitchen. “There’s a kitchen. Go look.”
“Your the woman. Your supposed to go get me something.”
“I-” I was speechless. I laughed from surprise. “You know what? No. You have two legs. You are perfectly capable of walking into that kitchen and getting yourself something.”
He listened, then said, “Kitchen? There’s food there?” I nodded. “I’ll be back.” As he left the room, he hit JC in the back of the head, mumbling, “Told you it wouldn’t work with Kelly.”
Briley’s head snapped up. JC sat, stunned before speaking. “I have no idea where he hears this stuff.” JC shrugged.
“Uh-huh... sure you don’t,” I said with a smile. We heard the refrigerator open. There was silence until the sound of breaking glass filled the apartment.
I didn’t think anything of this until I heard Lance say, “Oops.” I closed my eyes and lowered my head to my waiting hands.
“Kelly?” Briley worriedly asked.
I looked up and caught her gaze. “That was one of four things, because I don’t put glass in the refrigerator often, because I’m a clutz.” I paused. “Could have been medication...” I thought. “Could have been orange juice....” I paused again. “Could have been pickles...” I look of distress came over me. “Or....”
Lance came into the room. “Kelly, I hope you remember where you ordered the wine for the wedding from....”
I interrupted him. “Lance, please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.”
He looked at the ground. “Okay, I won’t.”
“Your lying aren’t you?” I asked. Lance slowly nodded. “It’s okay... it just cost fifty dollars a bottle and had to be imported from Italy... it’s no problem.” Lance crossed the room and sat next to me on the couch.
“Nice style,” JC said with a laugh, looking at Lance’s feet. The other three of us looked down, seeing his shoes and bottoms of his pants covered in wine.
I sighed. “I can’t believe you have one hundred dollars of liquid on your shoes,” I mumbled.
Lance placed an arm around me and gave me an apologetic hug. “I am sorry,” He softly said.
“I know,” I replied.
JC and Briley glanced at each other. “Hey JC? I think we need to go,” Briley said.
“Good idea,” JC mumbled, looking at his watch. “Those reservations were for six, right?” Briley nodded as she and JC stood. I started to stand, but JC stopped me. “Don’t worry about it Kelly. We’ll let ourselves out,” JC said with a smile.
So, I stayed right where I was in Lance’s embrace. After JC and Briley let themselves out, the apartment was too quiet, so I reached over, grabbed the remote for the stereo, and turned it on. The song “Crush” by Jennifer Paige flowed from the speakers.
“Do you still have my jeans here?” Lance asked, breaking the quiet, with the exception of the music.
“No,” I said, while shaking my head. “I gave those back.”
“Oh.” Lance was quiet. “Do you have any of my clothes?”
I laughed a little. “Probably. Why?”
“I was just hoping I could change so I wouldn’t smell like wine,” Lance explained.
“Oh,” I said slowly, thinking. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I have something of yours.” I stood and made my way to the bedroom, Lance behind me. I knelt in front of a dresser, pulled a drawer open and started going through it. “Still hungry?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder.
“Yeah,” Lance answered, sitting down in a chair in a corner of a room.
I finally found what I was looking for. I closed the drawer and turned to face Lance, throwing him the black Nike shorts. “Want me to order a pizza?”
“Sure, if your paying,” Lance replied, a smile on his face.
I stopped in the doorway. “What happened to all the true gentlemen in you?”
Lance shrugged. “I suppose it was only a matter of time before it disappeared.” I grinned. “Do you have any of my shoes?”
I pointed to the other door in the room. “Closet.”
“And when I’m done?”
“Put it all on the washer.”
“Thanks sweetie!” Lance exclaimed, running over to give me a hug.
“Yeah, whatever,” I jokingly replied. “Okay, I’m really hungry, so I’m going to go-” I pried his arms off of me. “Order the pizza.”
Lance kissed my forehead before taking a few steps away and I turned to go downstairs. I went to the kitchen, ordered a medium pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut, then, got a bag of Ruffle’s WOW! chips out, along with two two-liter bottles of soda... one diet coke for me and one Dr. Pepper for him. I put ice in two glasses and proceeded to carry it all to the living room and set it all on the coffee table.
I then went to survey the movies I had. My eyes scanned each of the rows of movies. Soon, Lance appeared beside me. “What are we going to watch?” He asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“City of Angels?” Lance suggested.
“I don’t want to watch that. Scream 2?”
“But I don’t want to watch that,” Lance objected.
“Mulan!”
Lance stared at the movies blankly for a second before turning to me. “What?”
“Never mind,” I mumbled, a slight smile on my face. “Okay, what if we watch Scream and City of Angels? It’s only a little after six. We’ll have time... unless you have a hot date you need to get to.”
“Hmmm... Buffy won’t mind if I cancel... sure, we’ll watch them both.”
I just gave him a look that said, ‘there better not be a Buffy’ when there was a knock on the door. “Get the door,” I told Lance, handing him a twenty dollar bill.
Lance went to the door and opened it to find a delivery boy who couldn’t be more than sixteen years old. “It’s 12.49, sir,” he told Lance.
“Hey Kelly! Got the money for the pizza?” Lance turned and asked.
“Lance! I just gave you a twenty for it!”
“Oh... that was for the pizza? Oops... my bad...” Lance said, handing the delivery boy the money.
I set the movies on top of the VCR as Lance got the change. “Tip!” I reminded him.
Lance was quiet for a second. “Be careful in downtown Orlando after dark.”
“Lance!” I exclaimed, putting Scream in the VCR.
“I’m only kidding. Dang woman, if you need midol that bad, I’ll be happy to go and get it for you,” Lance said, much to the amusement of the delivery boy.
“I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation!” I exclaimed, as Lance handed him two dollars.
“Thanks,” the boy said, a smirk crossing his face.
Lance shut the door and carried the pizza to the couch. On my way to sit down, I started the movie. As I sat next to Lance, I shook my head in amazement. “You are so unbelievable sometimes!”
“Kelly, you need to lighten up. Your letting all these wedding plans stress you out. Sure, I’m doing my part, but I’m not letting it affect every aspect of my life. At least for tonight, relax and don’t even think about the wedding.” I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. “Come on... for me?” I didn’t say anything. “The least you can do is try.”
“Okay,” I agreed with a sigh. I kicked my shoes off, put my feet up and grabbed a huge slice of pizza.
An hour and forty five minutes later, the movie had ended and the pizza was gone. We had even devoured a majority of the chips, soda, and ice cream I found in the freezer.
Lance started ‘City Of Angels’ and the two of us settled in to watch. I was curled up next to him, my head on his shoulder, one arm around me. We were also holding hands. A short way into the movie, Lance started singing along with one of the songs. “I’d give up forever to touch you, ‘cause I know that you feel me somehow. Your the closest to heave that I’ll ever be and I don’t want to go home right now. All I can taste is your sweetness, all I can breathe is your life. Sooner or later it’s over and I don’t want to miss you tonight. I don’t want the world to see me, ‘cause I don’t think that they’d understand. When everything’s made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am...”
“Shh!!” I silenced him.
“What? You don’t like me to sing now?”
“Just not during the movie,” I explained jokingly.
Soon, another song began, but this time, I began to sing along with Sarah McLachlan. “In the arms of an angel, far away from here. From the stark cold hotel room, and the emptiness that you feel. You are pulled from the wreckage of your silence reverie, in the arms of an angel, may you find some comfort here.”
“Shh!” Lance said, mimicking me from earlier.
“What? You don’t like me to sing now?”
“Just not during the movie,” he said with a smile.
A silent moment passed. “Hey Lance?”
“Yeah?” He answered, his eyes on the screen.
“I’m in the arms of an angel.”
Lance pulled his eyes from the TV and looked down at me. He didn’t say anything... but it’s not as if he needed to. He silently brought his lips down to mine, where we stayed like this for a few seconds.
By the time the movie ended and the end credits began to roll, I was in tears. I got up and turned the lights on. Lance stood too and stretched, then walked over to me. “Aww... it’s okay... she didn’t really die,” he said with a smile, wiping tears off my cheeks.
I just stepped closer, wrapping my arms around his waist. I sighed and looked up at Lance who leaned down and gave me a soft kiss. I began to struggle with my heart and morals, my mind obviously telling me the right thing to do. ‘Make him leave!’ I told myself. I stood silent, but began twisting my True Love Waits ring around my finger. I looked back up. “Lance, I think it would be a good idea if you left now.”
He took my hands and saw how I was nervously twisting the ring around. “Your right,” he said. Lance kissed me once more and took a step toward the door, stopping with his hand on the doorknob. “I’ll pick you up at ten in the morning. We meet with the realtor to finish the business on the house.” I nodded. “Good night.”
“ ‘Night,” I said softly before he closed the door behind himself. I went upstairs and collapsed on the bed, my mind reeling with so many thoughts, I had no idea how I would get to sleep that night.
