Other Plans

Chapter Four

I was unrolling my hair from the curling wand in front of my bathroom mirror when Lily's ringtone blasted from my bedroom. I let it go to voicemail twice, but the third call in a row caused me to rush out of the bathroom, mid-curl.

"What's wrong?" I put her on speakerphone when I got back to the mirror, finishing the other side of my hair. There was some commotion around Lily, so she told me to wait for her to find somewhere else to talk. So, I waited. Both eyes perfectly outlined with mascara, hair softly curled on both sides, and then she finally answered.

"You're going to hate me forever."

I was reaching in my closet for a pair of heels when I knew what she was doing. "Do not tell me you're spending your Friday night at..." I caught my breath, closing my eyes as I clutched my favorite pair of black pumps. "You're at the engagement party?"

"I'm a starving artist, Vi. They were offering a meal and a free bar."

"And opening trauma wounds."

"Not mine, though," she tried to joke. My silence didn't reward her poor judgment. "Look, I just thought I could be like a fly on the wall. I wasn't expecting anyone to notice me, and they shouldn't have because this place is filled with people."

"What happened?" I tossed my shoes on the end of my bed and sat on the edge of the mattress.

Lily told me how she'd gone to the party, been offered the most expensive champagne she'd ever had, and she ran into some people she knew from a million years ago. But, when she went to spy on the happy couple, she was nearly held captive by Eleanora.

"I'm so sorry." I practiced sympathy. It was almost award-winning, because I was starting to get annoyed that my sister was now part of this mess and she felt it was okay to share it with me. It should've been, after a decade, but there would simply never be someone who compared to him. Ever.

I wondered if that meant something was wrong with me. I hadn't held on to false hope, or waited by my phone like a lost teenager. He was gone. There were other plans for him, and I wasn't part of them. It broke me, but I wasn't waiting for magic. Love just wasn't for me anymore, and I found ways to remedy that by celebrating the love of others and... overworking.

I lost track of Lily's rambling. "Can you believe Eleanora asked me to ask you about planning this Roxy chick's wedding? And now, I'm like five glasses of champagne in and I don't even have a ride home. I was planning on walking, but my shoes are too tall."

I'd reached my limit. With my sister for the night, and that family for a lifetime. Standing, I wiggled into my heels and grabbed my clutch and keys.

"I'm going to march in there and threaten to sue their sorry asses if they don't leave us alone. This is harassment," I explained, arguing as I rode the elevator down with Lily still in my ear. I barely acknowledged Michael as he opened the door for me and hailed a cab. I was too annoyed. "Should I plan something for them and have it fail miserably? It would ruin my reputation, but—"

"God," she groaned, interrupting me. "That would be amazing."

"I wasn't serious, you dork."

Lily's voice was muffled as she talked to someone else. When she spoke to me again, I asked where I could pick her up and relayed that to my cab driver. I overheard Lily tell someone that she was talking to her boyfriend, which caused that person to ask if Lily was also engaged, where her wedding was, and if she knew the bride or the groom.

"The groom," she blurted, then excused herself. "I'm going to wait for you outside, Vi. These people are too intense for me."

Trying to squash the knots in my stomach, I paid the driver extra for letting us idle across the street for a few more minutes. When I climbed from the cab, I couldn't see Lily at the entrance. I must've looked for her in the crowd for too long, because the driver was getting restless. I didn't blame him. I don't want to be here either.