Yawning, sitting in the boutique, I flip through magazine after magazine of wedding dresses before my older sister finally comes out of the fitting room. Although the two of us have been through six different boutiques and dress shops, trying on nearly three hundred gowns, here we sit four months later, at the final fitting.
“What do you think?” she half-heartedly asks me, eyes lowered to the floor, barely making contact with mine or even acknowledging the fact that I exist.
To be brutally honest, she looks as if she’s drowning in lace. Sequins and glitter have taken over every inch of her body, suffocating and invading her personality. All I see is a giant cloud of glitter, a puffy glitzy ball of delicate cotton candy. This is not my sister. Furthermore, the dress looks God-awful and doesn’t fit her.
Pouting, she sniffles to avoid large watery drops from spilling out of her eyes and onto her purchase of a lifetime, “Is it really that bad??”
Unwilling to upset my sister in the weeks before her big day, I try to salvage the situation. Hugging her gently and genuinely I say, “Oh no, sweetie. It’s not that bad!” Pinning up the sides to frame her waistline I continue, “I’m sure we can get this easily taken in with some minor alterations.”
Or some major ones. This girl has lost a lot of weight since trying on her dress.
“Really?” she sniffles with a tinge of optimism in her voice.
“Would I lie to you?” Absolutely. “You’re going to look so beautiful. James won’t be able to take his eyes off you.”
What I really meant to say is that he won’t be able to take his eyes off me. He hasn’t been able to since we started hooking up six months ago. I don’t know how it happened really. I’ve always known that my sister’s boyfriends were off limits, but that’s more of a challenge to me than anything else really. I never intended for it to happen, it just sort of did.
Since then, I’ve heard he hasn’t been the same at home than before the engagement. Are all men unfaithful, or does the gesture of offering a woman a ring set in stone the fact that he will forevermore have only one woman? I tend to follow the former school of thought, but what do I care? A husband is nowhere in my immediate or long-term future. I travel, I paint, I drink wine, I skydive for Christ’s sake. There is no way I’m settling down with someone who makes me feel adequate and makes my loins yearn to procreate. No, I want to travel and cure cancer. Prior to my big sis’s wedding plans, I was working with Doctors Without Borders in Algeria. God, I wish I could be back there. Or maybe Haiti. Hell, I want to dive into the heart of Africa and discover myself again and again, as I’ve managed to successfully do twelve times already.
Which is why it’s so easy for me to cheat with him. I know that in three months, I’ll be long gone and they can start to enjoy their life as newlyweds together. I only regret the fact that some day, he’s going to break my sister’s heart. Or maybe he can be a man about it and keep it inside. Only time will tell. By then, I will be out of phone calling range and nothing but a distant memory to my miserable sister.
However, I can tell the toll is already starting to weigh on her. She’s losing more weight than the children I work with abroad.
Snapping back to the present moment at hand, she notices the fact that I’m in a far off land.
“Do you wanna go to lunch or something now? I can do this later with Mom if you want,” she self-consciously begs me.
“Yeah, that sounds good. We need to deck you out in pensises or something in public.”
Her cheeks flush immediately as she scurries back into the changing room.
* * * * *
Standing on the alter, my sister looks heavenly. She looks breathtaking from behind. But when she turns around, I can read the misery all over her face. I know they’ve been fighting incessantly. He keeps trying to pull away, he tells me he wants to run off with me, but I’m the one pulling away now. And he’s taking it out on her. But I’ve fallen head over heels in love. After seven months, I’ve spent more nights with James than he has with his fiancée, my sister. I know his every thoughts, I know his dreams and fears. I know what a typical day at his job is like and I know his favorite dorky cartoon shows on Saturday mornings. Although James and Carol have spent over three years together, he doesn’t even know her middle name. All he can tell me are her favorite positions. And there haven’t been any lately. Luckily, she’s so preoccupied with last-minute wedding stress plans, she barely has any time for James. But his biggest fear is spending a week alone with her in the tropics.
* * * * *
“Will I get bored with her? I mean, we’re practically strangers now,” he confides in me the night before their wedding.
Luckily, my sister is super old-fashioned, so she doesn’t believe that they should share a room the night before the wedding. He’s not allowed to see the bride on the day of the wedding until she graces the aisle towards him for eternity. More for me, I guess.
“I don’t know, you’re the one who asked her to marry you,” I say looking at my feet.
“Yeah, but that was before all of this happened,” pushing a strand of hair behind my ear, he looks me deeply into the eyes. “Is this a mistake?”
“Do you love her?”
“I don’t know,” he whispers. “I mean, I know I do. We’ve been together three years now. But how do you explain how I feel about you? What we have right now?”
Before he can finish his sentence, I kiss his cheek softly. Then I make my way towards his lips and before he can say another word, his lips meet mine.
* * * * *
Standing up when Carol enters the room in her glittery cotton ball, I realize I can’t take my eyes of James. His attention is solely focused on my sister and no one else. It’s as if everything is going in slow motion and all of us, their guests, are fuzzy images that don’t even matter.
He’s gone. Brides always have the power to take everyone’s’ breath away walking down that path.
Good, taking a big gulp of air down, I try to reassure myself. I’ll just go back to working across the globe. But I can’t. I’ve fallen hard. And he doesn’t even see me.
When the vows are read, I can’t be there. I’m going to be sick.
“Do you promise to love James for the rest of your life? To comfort and protect him until death do you part?”
“I do,” I cry to myself perhaps a bit too audible for the rest of the crowd. Not worried about making a scene – dramatic displays are my forte - I hurriedly run down the aisle, towards the nearest restroom and away the hell from this place.
As soon as I hastily slip out, I hear nothing but Carol’s bloodcurdling, shocked screams. What was supposed to be a dream of an evening for everyone involved has already turned into a scene out of a horror movie in less than twenty minutes.
“You’re cheating on me with MY SISTER?!”
And two sets of feet come sprinting towards me. Or so I tell myself, maybe one is towards me and one is after Carol.
Headed towards the nearest stall, I slam the door, lock it behind me and drop my head in my lap ready to violently bawl tears of shame and betrayal.
“What do you think?” she half-heartedly asks me, eyes lowered to the floor, barely making contact with mine or even acknowledging the fact that I exist.
To be brutally honest, she looks as if she’s drowning in lace. Sequins and glitter have taken over every inch of her body, suffocating and invading her personality. All I see is a giant cloud of glitter, a puffy glitzy ball of delicate cotton candy. This is not my sister. Furthermore, the dress looks God-awful and doesn’t fit her.
Pouting, she sniffles to avoid large watery drops from spilling out of her eyes and onto her purchase of a lifetime, “Is it really that bad??”
Unwilling to upset my sister in the weeks before her big day, I try to salvage the situation. Hugging her gently and genuinely I say, “Oh no, sweetie. It’s not that bad!” Pinning up the sides to frame her waistline I continue, “I’m sure we can get this easily taken in with some minor alterations.”
Or some major ones. This girl has lost a lot of weight since trying on her dress.
“Really?” she sniffles with a tinge of optimism in her voice.
“Would I lie to you?” Absolutely. “You’re going to look so beautiful. James won’t be able to take his eyes off you.”
What I really meant to say is that he won’t be able to take his eyes off me. He hasn’t been able to since we started hooking up six months ago. I don’t know how it happened really. I’ve always known that my sister’s boyfriends were off limits, but that’s more of a challenge to me than anything else really. I never intended for it to happen, it just sort of did.
Since then, I’ve heard he hasn’t been the same at home than before the engagement. Are all men unfaithful, or does the gesture of offering a woman a ring set in stone the fact that he will forevermore have only one woman? I tend to follow the former school of thought, but what do I care? A husband is nowhere in my immediate or long-term future. I travel, I paint, I drink wine, I skydive for Christ’s sake. There is no way I’m settling down with someone who makes me feel adequate and makes my loins yearn to procreate. No, I want to travel and cure cancer. Prior to my big sis’s wedding plans, I was working with Doctors Without Borders in Algeria. God, I wish I could be back there. Or maybe Haiti. Hell, I want to dive into the heart of Africa and discover myself again and again, as I’ve managed to successfully do twelve times already.
Which is why it’s so easy for me to cheat with him. I know that in three months, I’ll be long gone and they can start to enjoy their life as newlyweds together. I only regret the fact that some day, he’s going to break my sister’s heart. Or maybe he can be a man about it and keep it inside. Only time will tell. By then, I will be out of phone calling range and nothing but a distant memory to my miserable sister.
However, I can tell the toll is already starting to weigh on her. She’s losing more weight than the children I work with abroad.
Snapping back to the present moment at hand, she notices the fact that I’m in a far off land.
“Do you wanna go to lunch or something now? I can do this later with Mom if you want,” she self-consciously begs me.
“Yeah, that sounds good. We need to deck you out in pensises or something in public.”
Her cheeks flush immediately as she scurries back into the changing room.
* * * * *
Standing on the alter, my sister looks heavenly. She looks breathtaking from behind. But when she turns around, I can read the misery all over her face. I know they’ve been fighting incessantly. He keeps trying to pull away, he tells me he wants to run off with me, but I’m the one pulling away now. And he’s taking it out on her. But I’ve fallen head over heels in love. After seven months, I’ve spent more nights with James than he has with his fiancée, my sister. I know his every thoughts, I know his dreams and fears. I know what a typical day at his job is like and I know his favorite dorky cartoon shows on Saturday mornings. Although James and Carol have spent over three years together, he doesn’t even know her middle name. All he can tell me are her favorite positions. And there haven’t been any lately. Luckily, she’s so preoccupied with last-minute wedding stress plans, she barely has any time for James. But his biggest fear is spending a week alone with her in the tropics.
* * * * *
“Will I get bored with her? I mean, we’re practically strangers now,” he confides in me the night before their wedding.
Luckily, my sister is super old-fashioned, so she doesn’t believe that they should share a room the night before the wedding. He’s not allowed to see the bride on the day of the wedding until she graces the aisle towards him for eternity. More for me, I guess.
“I don’t know, you’re the one who asked her to marry you,” I say looking at my feet.
“Yeah, but that was before all of this happened,” pushing a strand of hair behind my ear, he looks me deeply into the eyes. “Is this a mistake?”
“Do you love her?”
“I don’t know,” he whispers. “I mean, I know I do. We’ve been together three years now. But how do you explain how I feel about you? What we have right now?”
Before he can finish his sentence, I kiss his cheek softly. Then I make my way towards his lips and before he can say another word, his lips meet mine.
* * * * *
Standing up when Carol enters the room in her glittery cotton ball, I realize I can’t take my eyes of James. His attention is solely focused on my sister and no one else. It’s as if everything is going in slow motion and all of us, their guests, are fuzzy images that don’t even matter.
He’s gone. Brides always have the power to take everyone’s’ breath away walking down that path.
Good, taking a big gulp of air down, I try to reassure myself. I’ll just go back to working across the globe. But I can’t. I’ve fallen hard. And he doesn’t even see me.
When the vows are read, I can’t be there. I’m going to be sick.
“Do you promise to love James for the rest of your life? To comfort and protect him until death do you part?”
“I do,” I cry to myself perhaps a bit too audible for the rest of the crowd. Not worried about making a scene – dramatic displays are my forte - I hurriedly run down the aisle, towards the nearest restroom and away the hell from this place.
As soon as I hastily slip out, I hear nothing but Carol’s bloodcurdling, shocked screams. What was supposed to be a dream of an evening for everyone involved has already turned into a scene out of a horror movie in less than twenty minutes.
“You’re cheating on me with MY SISTER?!”
And two sets of feet come sprinting towards me. Or so I tell myself, maybe one is towards me and one is after Carol.
Headed towards the nearest stall, I slam the door, lock it behind me and drop my head in my lap ready to violently bawl tears of shame and betrayal.
2 comments:
ooh good story. i never see where they are going!
Thanks Megan :) haha sweet I already have one fan!
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