Chapter Forty-Eight

                                    

                                          
Chapter Forty-Eight
                          
Ten years later. 
                          
Alyssa, Ally, Zee and Daniella had long since claimed their right as my bridesmaids and maid of honour.
                          
Mel had called dibs on my receptionist before they did.
                          
I had Lily, the best photographer I knew installed to shoot and capture my wedding in stunning pictures.
                          
Now all that I needed to do was fit into the dress that all my girls had simultaneously agreed on.
                          
"Ohmygod, girl, hurry up," Alyssa drawled, standing beside me in a short skirt and a crop top. It wasn't even to say that she was remotely ready to be my maid of honour. In her French manicured hands she held make up brushes, mascara, eyeshadow, lipstick, blush, foundation, eyeliner and several other cosmetics that I couldn't recognize.
                          
Daniella and Ally both burst out laughing at the sight of me stripping down to white lingerie and reaching for my dress, the most beautiful thing ever. Essentially it was a strapless satin piece that flowed down to the floor, with a delicate chiffon layer over it, followed by a lace piece that held intricate patterned flowers and covered my shoulders and my arms up til the elbows.
                          
"Faster!" Zee urged next to her, getting just as impatient.
                          
"Shut up!" I snapped, pulling it up to my shoulders with relative ease, taking care not to snag the fragile layers on anything. When it was finally on, Daniella hurled me unceremoniously in front of the full length mirror in my room to get a clear look of myself.
                          
"The bitch is finally getting married..." she sang, fixing my dress and patting it into place.
                          
"Ohmygod, finally, it's my turn, move, bitch!" Before I knew it, I was seated back down in front of my dresser, with everything that was on it but my delicate veil of lace swept to one side in an untidy heap to make space for all of Alyssa's top notch cosmetics.
                          
"Now hold still," she ordered, and she began her work carefully and systematically, while earning either protests of disapproval or delighted nods from the girls.
                          
It was five hours to the wedding, making it five in the morning. I was scheduled to wake at six, but they had almost pounded the door down trying to get it. In their eyes, I needed the extra work. Before I had time to ask what that meant they had forced me into the bathroom, into my dress and now in front of my dresser for hair and make up.
                          
Amidst the comments and conversations I sat through as Alyssa worked her magic, some of which included various topics of BDSM and whether it'd be applied on my first night or in the years to come - courtesy of the ever interesting conversationalist Zee - I went through in my head memories.
                          
It all started when I was...what, nine? When Xavier had so nervously confessed his love for me. Both of us had felt that it was puppy love, but as time went by and the protective, possessive feelings didn't fade, we realized that it wasn't.
                          
The electric jolt that brought me to that realization was his hooking up with Nat, who had been my designer for my entire wedding. Knowing her, she was probably up now trying to get whatever that wasn't settled into order in time for the ceremony at church. However much it had pained me and however jealous I'd been, I supported them all the way until they broke up because of me. Despite my guilt and a surplus of unnecessary fights, Nat and I actually managed to remain best friends.
                          
It took me two months to find a good reason to ditch that sorry excuse for a boyfriend Dominic Wood, who after a while gave up on his advances (thank God), and we finally hitched up on December 31, 2012.