Page 4 of The Wedding Season
Chapter 2
*Erin*
Ican already smellthe heady scent of the burgundy and cream-colored peony arrangements that are all over the property and must have cost a fortune. There is a string quartet welcoming guests with jaunty movie theme music. There is a giant ice sculpture of intertwined hearts with wings. It’s all a tad more formal than I would have expected from my agent, but I have a feeling her mother did most of the wedding planning because Laurie was more interested in focusing on herwork.
There are maybe two hundred guests here, and a lot of them have already taken their seats in the garden area for the ceremony. Some people are still milling about out front, chatting, most of them using their phones, and there are a few who are actuallysmoking.
“Okay don’t look now but he looks hot in that suit and he can’t take his eyes off ofyou.”
I run my fingers through my hair, despite myself. “Hot like a sweatypig?”
“Nope.”
“He’s probably staring atyou.”
“Nope.”
“He’s probably staring at my armpitstains.”
“I can’t even see your armpit stains from right here, you’recrazy.”
I slowly and casually turn my head to glance over athim.
He has now taken his eyes off of me, if they were ever on me to begin with. But shit, he does look hot in a suit, though. It looks like he just got a haircut. It looks like he’s been working out and eating healthy. It looks like he decided to wear his contacts today instead of his “look at me I’m a smarty-pants writer!” hipster eyeglasses. It looks like he just got back from a GQ magazine photo shoot of Hollywood’s Best-Dressed Screenwriters You’ve Never Heard of and Will Want to Punch in the Face When You Meet Them. He’s talking to someone that I recognize—a studio executive that I saw at Laurie’s birthday party last year. Why does he look so happy to be talking to Scott Braddock? Doesn’t he havestandards?
“Who’s that guy he’swith?”
“He’s a VP at Universal, Ithink.”
“No the arty-looking one, with the wavyhair.”
“His best friend. Samsomething.”
“He’s cute. How come you never mentionedhim?”
“Because he’s Scott’s friend and he’s not yourtype.”
“I don’t have atype.”
“Yeah youdo.”
Maya dates older rich business-types who are hot in bed and boring in life. Sam Fletcher is a sexy nerd who’s a really talented indie music producer (I looked him up) who seems like a genuinely cool person and I have no idea what he’s doing being friends with He Who Shall Not BeNamed.
Some buffed and polished male specimen in a Hugo Boss suit has already started chatting up Maya and I already feel invisible. I can tell that she’s trying to determine whether or not he’s a Hollywood Someone that she should introduce me to, but if I had to guess, I’d bet he went to school with the groom and is now a corporate lawyer in Chicago. Just ahunch.
I spy Laurie’s assistant Kennedy and wave at her. She raises her arm in the air and hops. Kennedy is two years younger than me and she is adorable. She is a literary agent in training but she’s so sweet I worry that it might not be the right career path for her. We prance over to each other like schoolgirls and air kiss, giggling. “You look sopretty!”
“Youlook so pretty! I love seeing you in a dress, and your hair looks amazing like that. Have you seen Laurie today? Is she nervous? She doesn’t get nervous doesshe?”
“No I haven’t and no she doesn’t. So many people have asked me if you’re comingtoday!”
“No way.” God bless Kennedy for acting like it’s her job to make me feel good, even on aSaturday.
“Well, two people. Adam from Platt’s office, who really wanted to buy your last script but couldn’t because they already have something similar indevelopment—”
“Yes, Iremember.”
“And Scott Braddock, who’s Jeff’s client—I didn’t know you guys knew eachother.”
