Page 93 of Just for Fun
Zara is squeezing my hand like her life depends on it. “I hate that we’re late,” she whispers. “Everyone is going to be staring at us now.”
I roll my eyes and place my free hand on the ornate handle of the door.
“No one is going to look. If they do, then the bride and groom must not be as interesting as they think they are.”
Unfortunately, I am wrong. The double doors open with an incredibly loud squeak. The priest stops talking, and literally the entire population currently inside this church turns around to look at us, bride and groom included.
I grin at them, especially at Ray when I notice the serious look on his face as he stands at the altar. Both he and Hayden are throwing daggers at me as we slowly make our way down the aisle.
We make it to the second bench out front, but the gatekeeper didn’t say if we’re on the left, or on the right.
“Over here,” some whisper yells from the left side, and I let out a sigh of relief.
Pressing a hand to Zara’s tense back, I guide her toward our seats. There’s an older couple that we have to pass before getting to the two empty seats next to them. On the other side of us, I see that we have James and Carrie, who are part of my friends group.
Zara takes a seat next to James, and I see Carrie leaning forward to give her a reassuring smile, which Zara doesn’t exactly return. Instead, she looks stiff and uncomfortable. I sit down next to her, coughing into my fist when I see that people are still looking.
I have no idea if I’m supposed to do anything special now that we’re seated, so I give Ray and Hayden a happy thumbs up. I see both of them trying to fight laughter mixed with annoyance, but then, they both turn to look at the priest, and the ceremony continues.
While I can now relax, Zara’s body is stiff as a board next to me. I lean into her playfully, hoping to get a reaction out of her. She just looks ahead and pretends like I don’t exist.
“Are you okay?” I whisper to her, but still nothing. “We’ll laugh about this sometime later,” I assure her. “In the distant future probably,” I continue. “But laugh we will.”
I guess I was a little louder than intended because I hear Carrie stifling her laughter from the other side of her man.
“Young man, behave,” the old lady next me to chastises me.
From that point on, I try to be serious and pay attention to the ceremony. I don’t even know what’s going on, but I do recognize the part when Ray and Hayden finally say their vows. All the women within a five-bench radius get emotional and start sniffling in their Kleenex. All but one that is.
There is no emotion on Zara’s face as she continues paying attention to what’s going on at the altar. She doesn’t even blink, not does she show any sign that she knows I am staring at the side of her face. It’s like I don’t even exist to her anymore.
TheI do’s are finally said. The groom grabs the bride into a kiss that’s most likely very inappropriate for church. We all stand up and holler, clapping our hands loud. I put two fingers in my mouth and let out a loud whistle.
“Young man, this is a church.” The old lady next to me eyes me as I am the devil, and she can’t figure out how I was allowed to enter God’s house.
The next hour is hectic. There are lots of pictures taken, and I am part of a lot of them. I try to pull Zara with me, but she refuses.
“I’ll just wait for you over here,” she tells me, then walks over to a spot where there’s no one that I know.
There’s lots of laughter and excitement all around us, but I can’t help but feeling like I disappointed Zara. When I look her way to make sure she’s okay, she gives me a stiff smile and awave, but I don’t have time to run to her when someone pulls me into yet another set of photo session.
“I rented a limo for all of us,” my friend, Cal, tells me when it’s finally time to go to the reception. “I figured that way we can drink and not drive.”
“Smart.” I fist bump him.
“Evie was hoping to chat with your girl,” he says. “She doesn’t look too happy to be here.” He guesses correctly. “Is it because she doesn’t know anyone?”
“It’s because I caused us to be late.” I shrug when I say it, but deep down, I feel guilty as fuck. Knowing how she feels about stuff like that, I really messed up, and I did it on purpose.
Cal pats me forcefully on the back. “She’ll get over it once the girls get their hands on her. She’ll love them.”
I nod in agreement, but I’m not so sure.
“I can’t leave my truck here,” I tell my friend. “So we’ll have to drive over there.”
“Nonsense.” Cal points toward the woman who stopped us when we first got here. “Give Maya your fob. She’ll take care of the rest. Here, I’ll do it for you.”
I hand over my key fob, then turn to grab Zara. She is in the exact spot where she told me earlier that she’d wait. I run over to her, smile in place, hoping that we can get over the little hump from earlier.
