Bride to Be

26: Hole in One

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: HOLE IN ONE

July 24th, 2020

At this point in her summer stay in Michigan, Gemma was feeling more homesick than ever. Her shifts at Target were dwindling because at this point, she did not need to worry about making enough money for rent at her New York apartment. So without working as much, Gemma was spending more time at home than she was before. Although working so much was burning her out, Target was a nice escape from all the wedding planning. Though now that Gemma was spending more time at the Perry household, she was seeing more and more of Avery. The wedding, being only two weeks away, was almost all planned out. Avery was still at the Perry house more than Gemma would have wanted, planning out the minor details with Gayle like table seating, centerpieces, and more small components in which Gemma did not care to remember.

So when Gemma walked downstairs to find Avery sitting at the dining room table with Gayle, she was slightly annoyed.

"Gemma!" Avery chirped. "Just the person I wanted to see,"

"Hey," Gemma flatly said. She kept herself occupied in the kitchen by warming up leftover dinner from the night before, hoping that Avery would see she was busy and in turn, not talk to her.

"Are you doing anything later?" Avery joined Gemma in the kitchen, clearly not getting the hint.

"Depends," Gemma shrugged. "Why?"

"The wedding is in two weeks and since I'm not having a bridal shower because Rowan and I aren't going to be living together - "

"Get to the point, Avery." Gemma rudely spoke, though surprisingly, Avery was not alarmed by her former friends' rudeness.

"Right," Avery laughed. Ever since her baby bump grew bigger, something in Avery was becoming more dingy. Pregnancy brain, was what Marcie called it. "I wanted all of us to do a few more nights out before the big day. I was thinking mini golfing. You know how to mini golf?"

"Not really," Gemma wanted nothing more than for this conversation to be over, so she could go upstairs and eat her leftover pasta in peace.

"That's fine, none of us are really good anyways. Will you come tonight?"

Gemma thought about it for a moment as she watched the microwave timer count down to zero. She did not want to say yes, but something in her wanted to see Rowan, given she only had a limited amount of time to see him before he was married. It hurt her, seeing him happy with Avery, but Gemma knew that at this point, there was nothing she could do about it. She still loved him, though any hope of them ever getting back together was slim to none. And even though it hurt her to see him, Gemma still felt as if she needed to see him, because although she was sad, the other part of her felt happy in his presence.

"Yeah," Gemma agreed, keeping her eyes locked on the microwave. She took her food out, hoping Avery would walk away.

"Yay!" Avery clapped, obnoxiously like a child. Made sense, Gemma thought, since she literally was carrying a child. "I'll text you the details."

♥♥♥

As soon as Gemma pulled her mom's car into the parking lot of the mini golf place, she felt her heart sink to her stomach.

"What's wrong?" Marcie asked, instantly picking up on her best friend's change in demeanor.

"Rowan and I used to come here on dates, all the time. I didn't think this would be the same place Avery planned for."

Marcie frowned. She placed her hand on Gemma's shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "We can go back. It doesn't look like any of them are even here, yet."