The Bride

Chapter 1 - Complicated Stressful Life

"So, are you going to go to the party tonight? I hear EVERYONE is going to be there!" Kelly asks me as I open up my locker. Kelly keeps excitedly rambling on about who is going and the newest gossip. I halfheartedly listen to her as I stuff the rest of my school books in my bag, take a quick glance to make sure I have everything, and close the locker, lifting up the latch to make sure it is secure.

I turn to look at Kelly, who has stopped talking and is glaring at me with her hands on her hips. Oops, I tuned her out again. What was she talking about; oh yeah, the party. "No Kel, I'm not going. I have to work until close tonight and then I'm opening tomorrow." I tell her as we head towards the main entrance.

"Becca!" She whines, drawing out my name in a way she knows I hate, "All you ever do is work these days! Honestly, I don't understand why you ever got emancipated anyway, you don't do anything fun and you are either working on homework or at your dumb job. You don't have time for any of the important things anymore! I mean, what's the point of being on your own if you never have any fun!"

"It's complicated," I begin to tell Kelly, but she cuts me off.

"You always say that! It's complicated! How complicated can it be, you're 17 years old, you have your own apartment, your own car." Kelly is on her favorite tangent, I can almost quote her by now, she is going to continue on her 'you're so lucky' spiel by bringing up my long term boyfriend and then expound on how, since I am now emancipated, no one can tell me what to do. She'd then start complaining on how I don't take advantage of all the neat things I could and should be doing. I'm tuning her out again, not necessarily because I don't want to listen to her, (although broken record does cross my mind) but because we are crossing the student parking lot. I'm keeping an eye out for some of my less intelligent peers, who think it's a good idea to tromp on the gas to prove how much they are ready for the weekend. I'm also trying to recall if next week's schedule has been posted at work yet, I tune back in to her dramatically finishing her rant with "...If you don't start paying attention to him!"

"Look Kelly," I tell her as we reach my car and I unlock the driver's door. "I don't have time to discuss this with you again. Yes I live on my own. That doesn't mean I am free of responsibilities. In fact, I have to work as much as I do or I won't be able to afford my rent. This is what being an adult means; taking responsibility. Now, do you want a ride home or no...wait what do you mean pay attention to him? Who is him?" I ask her realizing she has diverted from her usually rant and added something new.

She looks at me pityingly as she tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder. Why she has it down in her face like that I will never understand. My brown locks are safely secured back with a pony tail and I have a scrunchie on my wrist to put it into a quick bun before my shift starts. Sometimes I think about cutting it all off and being done with it but I probably never will.  

"Honestly Rebecca, do you purposely tune me out or something?!" Kelly's got her whiny tone on again and I mentally slap myself and bite my lip so that my automatic snarky inner thoughts stay inner thoughts. "Who is him?" She grumbles. "Obviously, I'm talking about Jeff and the new girl who has been hanging all over him this week!"

Now I'm even more confused. Why is she talking about Jeff? Although, trust Kelly to take his new lab partner and their big end of term project and turn it into hanging all over him. I swear that this girl sees Jerry Springeresque drama in the slightest of incidents.

"Kelly," I patiently say as I climb in my car and lean over to unlock her door, mentally wishing to myself that my car had power windows and locks and air conditioning, oh and heated leather seats and a purple monkey named Bob. Yep my inner monologue has distracted me again. Thankfully, or maybe sadly, this is a frequent conversation between us and it is easy to pick up my standard response to the beginning of what I have privately dubbed as 'The Ongoing Kelly Conspiracy Theory Hour.' "Jeff and I grew up together, we've been dating since practically grade school. He would never do anything to hurt me!" I say my lines with the ease of LONG practice. Now it is my favorite part of this conversation, where she silently looks at me in disbelief for several minutes. Occasionally, I luck out and this lasts the entire ride home.

Concentrating on watching for gas tromping idiots who need to exchange their muscle cars with matchbox ones, I carefully back out of the lot and head towards Kelly's house.

We've hit the main road when she starts again "Becca I don't see how you think this will work.." she begins, stage two tangent is a go people, I think as I wonder again why we are friends. This time I purposely tune her out but I still end up catching random words and phrases, "Odd relationship...nobody stays with their high school boyfriend...don't you want to date other people...swear you act like you're already married!"

Thankfully she lives fairly close to the school and by the time she has finished, I have pulled up to her house. Kelly opens the door and grabs her bag, she gives me a quick hug and then leaves me with the following. "If I were you I would come tonight after your job." She curls her lips at the word job and continues, "Just because you've always been together doesn't mean you'll stay together. I mean, since you left your Dad's house you've had no time for me and I know you've barely had time for him either. Guys don't like it when they are ignored and there are plenty of girls more than willing to pay attention to him!" She climbs out of my car and with a small wave of her hand, heads towards her front door. I watch her leave resisting the urge to chuck a soda can at the back of her head just because I can. Bad Becca we must not throw things at our fat headed friends, even if the fat head makes a great target! Seeing her strut to the door makes a part of me sad because my life has never been as easy as hers is. Must be nice not to have to worry about anything but the next party, I snark to myself as I pull away from the curb and head to work. Sometimes I wonder if this is what my life will always be like work, work and more work and very little fun. Oh well, I tell myself at least in my complicated stressful life I have one good thing, I have Jeff.