Blind Channel One Shot Stories

Chained PART 1 - Tommi

Pov: Tommi

Requested

Plot: It's Joel and Beatrice's wedding day, and Tommi, the bride's best man, will have a meeting that will put him back in time, and force him to deal with his feelings.

I hate big weddings: all those people tight in their elegant clothes that stares at you, the children running around the reception room screaming, the endless lines at the buffets, and the music, the volume of which is so loud that it resonates in your ears. I hate weddings and their expensive ornaments: from pompous centerpieces to rare flowers used to decorate the locations from wedding dresses to crystal favors.

What a waste of money! I find myself thinking, watching from afar the dessert buffet of Joel and Beatrice.

I know I shouldn't be thinking this kind of things, especially today when two of my closest friends are getting married, but it's stronger than me. I can't stand weddings, they make me anxious and every time I take part in one of them I go home sadder than ever. Every time that I cross the door of the house, a thick veil of melancholy engulfs me inside, swallowing every inch of my figure and extinguishing every little spark of happiness within me. I shouldn't think that, I know, I should be happy for my friends, but seeing them fulfill their dreams of love one after the other leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. For three years now, I've been the Grinch of weddings, everyone knows that, and yet they keep inviting me, stubborn, and I keep showing up out of kindness.

Niko and Minna will be the next to marry in our group in eight months, and there's a good chance Niko will ask me to be his best man, given the inadequacy of the rest of the crew. I just wish I could refuse, then disappear into a black hole. I'd be willing to do anything to avoid another wedding, another day like today, made of fake smiles and sugary words, even to simulate an alien abduction if necessary. I'm sure that Joonas and Joel would believe it without problems, Olli would pretend to do it just for his quiet life, while Aleksi, well he has some neurons still. I should use a more realistic excuse with him.

As I think about how to reproduce alien footprints with fluorescent green paint, Aleksi sitting next to me, begins to look at me in a strange way.

"Are you going to eat this pasta or are you going to spend the whole afternoon moving the fork in the plate?" he asks me, irritated.

I laugh, giving the first fork to rigatoni with sauce and basil.

"Where is Bridget?" Aleksi keeps on asking "I thought she'd be here in time for lunch"

"What is it? an interrogation? Where did you leave your badge?"

"Don't be a joker... I thought she'd be here today. She hasn't been around since... since a lot."

"She's not coming, she's got a job to do." I say, before I fill my glass with red wine.

"On a Sunday?" Aleksi's eyes get more and more suspicious, as if he already knew.

"You know how she is... Bridget lives for that job" I get to the point, bringing the glass to my mouth and starting to drink.

"I just hope you haven't broken up. I like her, she's nice, smart, very sweet... I mean, I think she's the one for you"

I used to think so too.

"Oh no, don't worry, you would have already known." Aleksi gives me one last inquisitive look before turning to the other side of the table.

At our table there are also the others with their girls: Niko and Minna, Olli and Amanda, and Silvia, the sister of the bride who is dating Aleksi. Luckily, there's also Joonas on my left, who doesn't make me feel like an idiot among all these couples in love.