Page 5 of Resistance Training
“Are you fighting with Jenna again or something?”
“No. I mean, sort of. She’ll be one of my bridesmaids, but you’re my sister. I want you to be with me as much as possible. Of course you’re my maid of honor.”
Well, now I’m crying. “Really?”
“Yes. Why are you so surprised?”
I wipe the tears away, laughing. “I guess I’m getting too hung up on the wordhonorbecause I don’t think of you as thinking of me as honorable.”
“Yeah, you’re definitely getting too hung up on the word.”
We both laugh, and then the tip of my nose gets extra super tingly and I start to detox liquid feelings from my eyeballs. Aubrey stares at me with pink-rimmed eyes, frowning. “Do not make me cry. I’m wearing lash extensions.”
“I was going to say—they look really good!” I blubber.
“Thank you,” she says, as if she’s receiving an award. “Thank you for telling me about magnetic lashes.”
“I’m so glad you found the perfect extensions for you!”
“I hope you find the extensions you deserve too, Vivi! Soon.”
Wait. Are we still talking about eyelash extensions?I clear my throat and wipe my eyes.
Aubrey clears her throat and widens her eyes.
Now we’re just two siblings who are clearing our throats andnotcrying or talking about how I haven’t found my soulmate eyelash extensions.
“Okay, well…I’m honored that you want me to be your maid of honor. For real. I would love to. Thank you.”
“Thankyou. I really want it to be a special occasion for you too. The wedding is in June.”
“Next June?” I take a sip of wine. That’s an unusually reasonable amount of time for someone as impatient and Type A as my sister.
“No, this June.”
I almost do a spit take but manage to start choking instead. “ThisJune?” I sputter. “June ofthisyear?”
“Correct. Three months from now. I’ll be sending out save-the-date cards in two weeks, as soon as I’ve officially locked down the venue I want on Orcas Island. But I’ve had a group chat going with the owner and the property manager on Facebook for the past few years, and I messaged them, like, five minutes after Eric proposed, so I’m confident they’ll be able to accommodate us some weekend in June. And I emailed the local officiant I’ve been following on Instagram. We’re only inviting a hundred and fifty people and I’ve been editing the list forever. I got this.”
I am now realizing she wants to get married before she turns thirty, and I will not say a thing because I am not judging her. “Wow. Okay.”
“It has nothing to do with being twenty-nine. Don’t judge me.”
“I am so not judging you.”
“So go ahead and block out all the weekends in June on your calendar.”
“I will. Of course.”
She slow-blinks at me. “Right. But do it now.”
“I’m not going to forget that my only sister is getting married this June.”
“I know, but put it in your calendar. While I can see you doing it.”
“Yeah, let me put it in my calendar right now, while you can see me doing it.” I would call her a bridezilla, but this is literallywhat Aubrey’s like all the time. She’s an Aubreyzilla. I’m willing to bet that finally being a bride will make herlessof a control freak.
I reach for my laptop, which is on the floor, beneath Hairy Stiles. “Sorry, buddy,” I say as I slip it out from under him. I make a big show of opening up my browser and enteringONLY SISTER’S WEDDING TO ERIC!!!into my calendar for every weekend of June. The only other entry on the weekends prior to these events wereNew season of The Bear on Hulu?AndUpgrade phone?
