Once in a lifetime.

47

October

My alarm blares and I roll over, I stop rolling remembering I am on a couch. I didn't sleep well at all last night. Sitting up I see the sun peeking through the blinds.

"GOOD MORNING ALL! UP AND ADAM!" Elenore's voice comes blaring from upstairs. The girls around me moan and some curse at her. She leans over the balcony and yells, "I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY. GET UP! MAKEUP WILL BE HERE IN FIVE." She smiles at me, and I smile back.

She's excited and I know I can't be mad at her. This is the day that she has been waiting for and preparing for, I bet she got less sleep than I did. I decide that there is no way I'm going to be looking rough when hair and makeup show up. I go to the bathroom after I flush and wash my hands and brush my teeth. Then I go upstairs to see Elenore.

I knock softly on her bedroom door. "It's me El, can I come in?"

The door swings open in response, Elenore grabs my arm and pulls me in closing the door behind me.
"I'm kind of freaking out."

I blink at her. "Are you serious? You were chipper just seconds ago." I ask confused.

She begins to pace the length of her room. "Yeah, I was up all night."

"What the heck El why didn't you text me? I was up most of the night too."

"For what?"

I wrap my arms around myself. "You know, the norm." The fact that just a few days ago I drank a whole smoothie. My stomach is still bloated from the food intake and I've been not only panicking about that but also about the dress.

Elenore looks at me and smiles sweetly. "Don't be sad about him, he'll come back." She had been telling me that for a week now and I was starting to think that she was also in a Dalton haze.

I wave my hands around to clear the air, trying to swat the idea of him away. "Sorry, enough about me. Why were you up, other than butterflies?"

"What if it doesn't work out?"

I respond simply, "I'll beat his ass."

"What if he decides he doesn't want me when I get old and wrinkly."

"I'll beat his ass."

"What if he finds someone better and leaves me?"

"I'll beat his ass. Elenore, are you seeing a pattern? I will beat his ass. Besides, my brother turns to mush when you walk in the room, I can honestly say that I have never seen him like that and I don't think that'll change any time soon. A part of me knew when you two started dating that this was it. I kind of knew that we would be here, I think I knew before you two knew. I knew that you were good for him and he was good for you and together you would be amazing. You are just what the other needs, like you complete each other."

Elenore starts crying and I'm stunned. I have never seen her cry before. I hug her and soon I hear a knock at the door. "El it's me, Rory, I'm coming in." Elenore's best friend Aurora walks in and goes right to her.

"How many times do I have to tell you that if he leaves you he will magically come up missing?" I look at her like she's crazy. "Umm, forget you heard that?" It's one thing for you to threaten your sibling, something different entirely when someone else does it.

Elenore sobs harder, "I don't want anyone to do anything to him."

Aurora rubs her back, "That's because you know that he isn't going to hurt you, in the back of your mind you know that he will be good to you just like you will be good to him. This is all going to be fine. I think it's going to be fantastic." Just like that Elenore nodded and wiped her eyes. It was as if she had never cried. I was impressed. I wish I could do that. She turned and took a few deep breaths. When she turned back around she was smiling. "I think makeup is here."