ELIZA

CHAPTER FOUR: WEDDING

Impure thoughts swirled around in my head. Whenever I looked at him, I felt stuffy so I decided... not to look and enjoy the ride. I blushed again when I thought that I wouldn't mind if he took me to a hotel room instead of to a wedding.

"Why don't you tell me something about yourself?" he asked kindly as we took the first corner from the place I lived.

I glanced at his hand. I noticed a tattoo sticking out under the cuff.

"Ask a specific question." 

"Let's start with the name," he said after a moment's break.

"Eliza," I replied. "My turn," I felt the fighting spirit, I also wanted to get to know him better. "The wedding we're going to is really your sister's wedding?"

There was a sudden silence. Apparently he was thinking about the answer, because after a while he grunted.

"Almost, we've known each other since childhood, she's like a sister to me."

"Really?" I asked, sensing a slight bitterness.

"This is the most important day of her life," he said.

I guessed I touched the sore point, because he didn't say a word to the church anymore. He parked the car in the parking lot and took a gift from the trunk - also a bouquet of roses, plus a small nicely wrapped box.

The ceremony in the church was Catholic, and it went quite normally, only at the end of the mass Cosmo whispered in my ear to leave after him. I obeyed him, taking my eyes off the bride who was just receiving Holy Communion. The woman looked gorgeous, and her husband kept glancing at her, probably amazed at how lucky he was.

We had time to talk for fifteen minutes until the end of the mass. I asked Cosmo if he liked motorbikes, and he asked me where I was coming back from when I was robbed. It was very strange, but I felt extremely comfortable with him, I even told him that I had a little argument with my friend that day about her boyfriend. I was honest, and it felt like he wasn't lying either.

When the bride and groom left the church, the guests threw red rose petals on them. Then we lined up to wish them all the best in their new life.

The bride was beautiful. She had such noble features that in a white dress she looked like a nineteenth-century aristocrat. The groom was definitely older than the woman. He was bald on the top of his head and had large, protruding ears, but he seemed like a nice guy. I exchanged two sentences with him, one of which were standard words of wishes and congratulations. 

My partner held his friend-sister in his arms for a long time. When he finally released her and I went to replace Cosmo, I noticed that the woman's makeup was smeared from crying. Fortunately, I had a handkerchief in my purse, so I handed it discreetly to the bride and recited the same words of congratulations that I had already told her husband. It was Cosmo who gave the gifts (a box and an envelope), and I was to give the roses, which I handed over as instructed.

The woman sighed deeply, looking at me almost insistently, as if she wanted to remember the person accompanying Cosmo. I smiled and walked away.

"It was..." I started to the man as we got into the car, "weird," I finished.

"She was touched," Cosmo defended his friend-sister, then fired the keys in the ignition. He had to know where the party was, because he didn't wait for the bride and groom, but started going right away.

The wedding was held outdoors. It was the first time I had attended such a party and I liked it very much. I dare say it was the best wedding I'd ever been to. Not only did I dance with Cosmo almost every possible dance (the man turned out to be an outstanding dancer), I also got along very well with other guests, and the food was delicious.