Page 69 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“Yas? Are you here?” Julie spoke into the empty room. She looked around frantically, opening the cupboards, searching under the bed.
“I don’t think she’s here.” Zoe said to Julie, who was on all fours on the floor, looking for Yasmine behind the bed table.
“Let’s check all the rooms.” Julie ran out and started opening all the doors in the corridor, yelling Yasmine’s name inside each of them. “She’s not here, let’s go back downstairs.”
Once they reached the ground floor of the villa, Zoe and Julie found the rest of the bridesmaids looking just as clueless as they were.
“She’s just… gone. What do we do?” Maria shook her head.
“I tried calling her but she’s not picking up.” Alice had her phone in her hand, looking desperate.
Zoe walked away from the group, into the kitchen. . Maybe one of her caterers would’ve seen her?
A flash of white caught her eye through the kitchen window. She did a double-take and went closer. Yasmine was walking through the parking lot, next to the guy from the documentary team. What was his name? David? It didn’t matter now. She bolted through the kitchen door, shouting Yasmine’s name.
“Yasmine! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Yasmine jumped, startled. Her face was covered in tears. The man next to her looked upset. She held a hand up to Zoe.
“Sorry Zoe, I’ll explain later. You’ll understand someday.” She turned away and approached her car. She got in and gestured to David, who, after a moment’s hesitation, got into the passenger seat.
“No, wait!” Zoe hit the hood of the car with her hands as Yasmine was backing out. It didn’t stop her. The car turned around and left the front yard. Zoe tried running after it, but it was all pointless.
The other bridesmaids arrived in a breathless group behind her. “Zoe, what happened?”
“I don’t know… She’s just…” Zoe put her hands up. “She’s just gone. With this guy.” She felt like she didn’t have enough air to breathe in. “Yasmine’s run away.”
All the women stared out onto the road. Surely Yasmine was going to drive around and come back? They waited silently, hoping to see the blue BMW coming back up the road, but the road stayed completely empty.
“What do we do?” Julie asked softly. The other bridesmaids had no answer.
Zoe rubbed her face with her hands. She’d woken up this morning thinking her own relationship was a fiery mess but this took the cake. Beyond incomprehension and sympathy for Yasmine, Zoe was scared that this was an ominous premonition of how her own wedding would be. Would she do the same? Hold on until the last possible minute until the only way out was literally running away? She had to settle things with Tom.
Chapter 30
The guests were milling around the garden, looking stunned. Some were trying to comfort Adam, some were on their phones, presumably letting other people know what had happened, and the rest were just wandering aimlessly. Thebourgmestrewas walking around, looking unsure about what to do next. It did not stop him from thoroughly enjoying the buffet.
Julie herself had no idea what to do. Should they cancel the rest of the wedding? Was Yasmine going to come back? This is what people working in events were calling ‘a complete shitshow’. Julie had never seen anything like this. She thought people being left at the altar only happened on TV. If only they’d show the aftermath of the wedding organisation in the soap operas instead of the happy ending where the two lovers elope and end up together, then maybe she’d have the slightest idea about what to do with herself.
Yasmine was gone with this man that she’d introduced to Julie yesterday as a long time friend. What was their deal? Julie glanced over at Adam, but it was clear that he was just as blind-sided as the rest of them. His face was white as a sheet and he looked shell-shocked as his brother and best man tried to help him into a chair. Leila appeared by Julie’s side.“We should probably call it off… It’s been an hour and Yas just texted me to not worry but that she won’t come back.”
“Really? That’s it? That’s how the wedding ends?” Julie’s heart sank as the reality of the situation finally hit home. She had poured months of her own time helping Yasmine to make everything at this wedding absolutely perfect. She was very worried for her best friend but couldn’t help feeling gutted that it was all for nothing.
“Sorry, Julie. I spoke with the other bridesmaids and we agreed that we’ll take care of the logistics from now on.” Leila shrugged. “You know, you worked enough already, it’ll be unfair that the management of this debacle falls upon you as well.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Julie nodded. “We definitely cannot get any refunds at this point. I’ll just forward you the vendors’ phone numbers so they can know it’s cancelled.”
“What’s going on here?” Adam had shaken off his worried family members and marched up to the two women. “What’s next for the festivities?” He looked dishevelled, holding a glass of champagne that he took a huge gulp from, then wiped his mouth.
“Oh Adam. I’m so sorry.” Leila patted his arm. “We should maybe all head home.”
“No! Come on, Yas is probably gonna come back, right?” He pushed her hand away and took another swig. “It’s just… It’s just wedding stress.”
Julie felt incredibly bad for Adam. She’d never really gotten along with him, but nobody deserved to go through what he must be feeling now. There was no way to break it to him easily that he’d been stood up at the altar.
“Adam…” She had no idea what else to add. “Sorry, Adam.”
“It’s not possible. She wanted to marry me. It makes no sense.” Adam’s eyes filled with tears. “She said yes.” His face tensed up.
