Just Convenience

Chapter 1

Emma's POV:

"I'm so excited for you," I said, trying to put as much enthusiasm into my voice as I could. I was talking to my best friend from high school, and even though we hadn't talked in over three months, she had called me to announce that she was engaged to her boyfriend of 2 years. 

"Thank you! I am, too!" She yelled, and I held the phone away from my ear. "But," She paused, and I waited for her to go on, "I didn't just call you to let you know," She continued in a quieter tone, much to my ear's appreciation.

"Oh? Why else did you call me?" I asked in a sarcastic way that we always seemed to enter into, even after months of no talking. It was easy like that with her, our banter back and forth. I kinda of missed it if I were being honest with myself. We used to be really close in middle school/high school, but once college hit, we went our separate directions. 

Lorine laughed, catching it right away, "Oh shut up," I laughed along with her as she continued, "I called you to ask if you would be one of my bridesmaids?" My heart sank and seemed to skip a beat at the same time as the question left her mouth. I didn't want to be a bridesmaid, not for a girl that I was falling away from friendship-wise. Though Lorine and I were still close compared to some of my old high school friends, and we had made that agreement. 

"Uh -" I started, to prevent it from turning into an awkward silence, "I don't know. When is the wedding?" I pulled open a calendar on my laptop to see everything that was going on.

"It's in a year, July 16th." She answered, and I sighed to myself, clicking forward month after month in my calendar to get to July. That would give me enough time to get off from work, and it would be a nice thing to do. I entered the date on my laptop and marked off a week surrounding it to give room for bridesmaids' duty.

"Sure, you can count me in," I answered her. I was truly excited for her and actually looked forward to her and Jake getting married. The few times I met him, he seemed pretty cool, and they fit well together. They were both heavily involved in the church. He was a choir director, and she went to school to be an opera singer. It fit that they both liked music, and I'm sure the ceremony would be full of it.

"Awe, yay!" Lorine yelled excitedly. "Im so excited to see you again. This just keeps getting better and better!" I laughed in agreement, it made me happy that she was happy, and I supposed that was all that mattered in the long run.

I looked around the empty workroom, thankful that it was 7 p.m. and everyone had already gone home, so I wasn't annoying anyone by having this conversation. "Who else have you asked?" If I were going to be a bridesmaid, I would need to prepare myself for Lorine's other friends.

"To be a bridesmaid?" She asked, and I hummed yes. She rattled off a few names that I didn't know, then "Katie, Abby, and Megan," three of our friends from high school, if I could even call them that, "though I havent asked Abby or Megan yet, but I'm sure they will say yes."

"Wow, seven bridesmaids," I said, my eyes going wide, and I was thankful that she couldn't see me. "Who is going to be your Maid of Honor?" was it going to be me? What if it wasn't me? Would I be okay with that? We told each other when we were in middle school that we would be each other's maid of honor when the time came. That was our agreement and every year until high school graduation, we made each other promise it again. I held my breath for the response. 

"Katie," she answered, then quickly added, "Just because she is closer, or else I probably would have asked you." Well, that stung. 

I lowered my head down on my desk, letting the wood cool me down a little bit before I answered, "Oh, that should be fun. She will be a good Maid of Honor."