The Wedding Must Go On
Fiction
Her body was stiff on the bed not because there wasn’t enough space, but because she was too weak to stretch them. The pillow was soft and it anchored the base of her head to reduce the intensity of her splitting headache. Wedding season was up and she was all over the place delivering flowers of varied sizes, colour and smell to all locations of the city.
She was tired from sitting at the office all day, crossing lists, cross-checking orders and handling angry clients. She turned her head and managed to pick up the cold, damp towel on the side table and as she pressed it to her forehead, she made a mental note to send the delivery truck to the repair shop even as the chill of the towel brought respite to her.
If only she wasn’t such a work maniac then she wouldn’t be facing this trouble. She grimaced then winced as the towel worked its magic. A thread of relief took over her senses and as she was beginning to yield to the sweet lullaby of sleep, she heard a loud bang on her door and jerked forward for a second when convinced that the caller was determined to break down her door. Not a chance. She thought as she slowly lowered her body back to her original position.
She was enjoying her recuperation too much to care. Whoever was behind the door could suck it. Besides, she had a strict ‘No work on the weekends’ policy, her way of staying sane, and she was not about to break it for some lunatic with grade one level manners. She would linger awhile, maybe the caller would realise that she wouldn’t open the door and scoot away.
She made a second attempt to calm her nerves but the incessant noise kept breaking into her thoughts. She groaned, resignation setting in, and dragged herself to the door. She opened the door and before she could realise, an agitated man breezed past her into her living room and immediately began to take short steps at the centre of the living room. She squinted her eyes and was about to give him a good telling off after she was sure she didn’t have to call the police when she saw the look on his face.
“Kevin are you okay?”
He opened his mouth but no words came out. Out of habit, she rushed to her kitchenette and poured him a glass of sparkling water. Her many years of friendship with him taught her the right thing to do to calm his nerves.
He took the glass with trembling hands, placed the rest on the table and sunk into the nearest sofa that luckily cushioned his reckless collapse. She waited for the remnants of his agitation to fade away, took the glass he had placed on the table and walked over to his side and sat at the arm of the sofa.
“I can’t do it, Kayla.” He sprung up, dragged his butt forward and rocked himself on the sofa, leaving a deep depression where he sat.
She propped her shoulders backwards and enquired casually. “Do what?”
Kevin shot daggers her way with his sharp stare. How could she be joking with something as serious as this?
“What do you mean, ‘Do what?’” A mild trace of anger could be spotted in his voice.
She didn’t know what to make of his reaction. She had a hint of what he was talking about but she refused to believe that was why he had wanted to break down her door. He had been head over heels in love and eager to walk down the aisle and now this?
“I can’t marry her. I feel like we have nothing in common.” The words tumbled out. “I don’t know what the problem is and I don’t know what to do.”
“Seems to me like you have it figured out.” She took a sip of the water, hiding behind the glass when his stare was piercing through her. He was shocked at her aloofness and didn’t hesitate to point in out.
“You know, this is where you pep me up just in case you are too cold-hearted to realise.”
She forced the words out of her mouth. “It’s just cold feet Kevin, you’ll be fine.” She couldn’t help but care less. No offence to Kevin. She thought. He never asked her to marry that lazy, stuck up witch with no manners. What was worse was the fact that she was her maid-of-honour, a position Kevin had forced her into. Her hatred for Karen could be justified. But her spite towards her best friend’s wedding had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her and she knew that deep down inside even if she refused to admit it to herself. She passed her fingers around the circumference of the glass and the revelation came to her again with the same fear that had accompanied it once before — she was in love with him. She hadn’t realised it until he was engaged to someone else. The envy devoured her and the regret scorched her.
She fancied Kelvin standing Karen up at the altar and giving her the joy of mocking her as she had subtly done from the moment Kevin slipped the engagement ring on her perfectly-manicured finger. In her fantasy, she and Kevin run away to a faraway place and live happily ever after. A cynical smile played at the corner of her lips. That would be the best day of her life.
She lifted her head and found him misinterpreting her for a sadist. In a series of movements, she stretched her hand and placed it on his shoulder — a move she immediately regretted making.
“You’ve been through a lot and you deserve a woman who will make you happy.” She patted his back, slipped back into her flip-flops and sauntered to her bedroom when she found that her self-control was slipping away. She was tough and she wasn’t about to give that away anytime soon. She would sweep it under the carpet like she had done all the secret affection she had had for the men who never noticed her. A couple of romance books, fresh juice and music should do the trick.
“Is there anything else you’d like me to help you with?” She feigned ignorance.
“I don’t get you at all Kayla. Why are you always like this? You never have anything good to say about Karen and you act like you don’t care about me at all.”
“Since you have nothing to say, ‘I’d liked to be excused, please.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” He strutted to her and yanked her from the doorway. He shook her vigorously as if she was an empty bag hiding a missing coin. “Answer me”
With her arms, she fought her way out of his piercing grip, her hair tousled into a frenzy.
She flailed her arms “What is wrong with you? At the end of her rhetorical question, she raised her voice. “Do you want to know badly? Huh. Fine! I don’t care about your wedding because I’m not the one you’re marrying, okay? I’m mad at you. I’m mad because you made me plan your wedding and refused my discomfort. I’m mad because, in a few days, I’d have to stand and watch you marry someone else.” The words raced out before she could chase them back in. The import of her words left her cupping her hand over her mouth in disbelief.
He stared at her and blinked several times. Slowly, he moved to the door and surprised them both by banging his head against the wall severally.
“I’ve waited all my life to hear you say that Kayla. I gave you all the signs there are in the world of my interest in you but I got nothing. My impression was that you had seen them but didn’t reciprocate them because the feeling wasn’t mutual.”
An awkward silence followed. She was too shocked so she allowed it to add a dramatic effect. The revelation was shocking. A real thriller. She felt like the protagonist of a soap opera.
“What do we do now?”
“I don’t know.” He turned and fought an unfair battle with the sofa. “I’m more confused now.” A long grunt followed as he rested a firm grip on his waist and continued his frantic pace around the room.
“You should have said something”
“I only realised when you got engaged!”
He began to chew his nails all the way to his skin. He sunk into the sofa again and lowered his head in serious deliberation. The awkward silence continued as she waited for him to make a decision while she adjusted to and relished in the little information he had shared.
“I can’t betray Karen, Kayla.”
“Right Karen.” She cocked her head to look at him and rolled her eyes to the sun and back.
“Don’t you love me anymore?” She put one hand on her hip and shifted her weight to her other leg.
He turned to her and smiled, shocked that she could belittle the twenty-five years of unrequited love he had felt and still feels for her.
“You know the answer to that.” After more minutes of deliberation. He got up from the chair, a new resolve awakening in him. “I can’t stop the wedding. The wedding must go on.” He was by now standing akimbo. “It’s too late Karen. You already had your chance.”
Originally published at https://www.hadassahstudiosblog.me on July 31, 2020.