Mr & Mrs Fake

Chapter Ten

Jade

"Why the hell are there over two hundred people on this list? It's supposed to be small and intimate!" I exclaim when I see the invitation list my mother conjured up.

"Who even is this? Who is Bianca Hutchinson?" I ask. "She's my old college roommate," My mom says. I roll my eyes and rip the list. "Hey! I worked hard on that," she glares at me. "Why don't we all calm down?" Theo clears his throat, eyes bouncing between the two of us like a golf ball.

"Will you please tell your fiancé that she's being a bridezilla?" My mom crosses her arms. "Me? Me?! You're being a bridezilla and you're not even the one getting married!" I snap. You all can see how well this is going. So far we're a week into wedding planning and haven't gotten anywhere. My mom is being a pain in my ass. And Theo's mom too for that matter. Even though she's more docile than mine.

She wants everything done her way. I want roses, she wants baby breath. I want food trucks, she wants stuffy caterers. "Fine. Do whatever you want," she crosses her arms begrudgingly. Here we go with the tantrums. "I think we should try to reach a compromise. Jade, you're your moms only child. She'll only see you get married once. Hopefully,"  Ae-Cha says the last part lowly.

"Can't you just try to incorporate a little of what she wants?" She asks. I plop down into my chair. "Fine. I can try. But we're still not inviting two hundred people. Fifty max. Theo and I will be approving the guest list."

"Okay let's move on," the wedding planner butts in. "What venue were you all thinking of using?" She asks. "We're going to use The Choi's backyard. It's spacious enough to hold the ceremony and reception," I explain. "What theme?" She asks. "Theme?" I ask in confusion. "Yes theme. Are you doing modern or were you thinking something like elegant? Rustic?"

"I think we'll do modern and elegant." Theo cuts in and I'm grateful for the save. "Sounds good. Now what about the color scheme?" She asks. It takes everything in me like to groan in annoyance. This whole process is so anal.

"Pink and purple." I say simply. "What shades?" She asks yet another question. "Girl-" I start and stop when my mom cuts me off. "Just a blush pink and lilac. And for the flowers we can do white roses." "You can add baby's breath with the roses," I rub my temples. My mom perks up in surprise and smiles gratefully.

"Okay, I've scheduled cake and wine tasting for the soon to be newlyweds. It's today at three. I've texted you the directions. Also Theo, your tux fitting is on Wednesday. Jade's dress consultation is on Wednesday as well," the planner says. "How did you know I was even free that day?" I ask. "Your mom gave me your schedule," she snaps her planner close.

Of course she did. "What else is there to handle?" I ask. "Nothing really.Your stylists have been hired, caterers as well. Waiters for the day of, photographers," she drones on reading down her list. "If I have any more questions I'll give you a call." "You're sure you can make all this happen in two weeks?" I say with skepticism. "Of course I can. I'm the best in Atlanta." "Thank you so much for making time for us Hilary. I'll walk you out," Ae-Cha stands.

"I have such a headache," I groan rubbing my temples. "You weren't much help," I look at Theo. He glances up from his phone, "Sorry. I didn't want to get in the middle with the way you three were going at it." "Don't let my daughter bully you. It's your wedding too," my mom pats his hand.

"Ma don't start with me," I warn. Theo glances at his watch and stands up. "We'd better go. The place is almost an hour away and if we want to beat traffic we need to leave now." I push away from the table, grateful for the escape. "You look like you're ready to snap on someone," Theo guides me out to his car, hand on the small of my back. I ignore the flutters in my stomach at his touch.

"If we had stayed in there one more minute I would have. Can we stop by McDonald's? I need a caramel frappe," I slide into the car when he opens my door for me. "Whatever you want," he smiles and circles the car to the drivers side. I turn on the radio and we sit in silence as he makes the drive to the restaurant.

"Oh I love this song!" I turn up the volume and Fergie's 'Big Girls Don't Cry' fills the car. "I listened to this everyday when I went through my white girl phase," I begin to sing along. I turn in surprise when Theo begins singing along. "What? Maybe I had a white girl phase too," he smirks.

After getting my frappe and two medium fries (yes both for me), and what seems like forever in Atlanta traffic we finally make it to the cake shop. "Welcome welcome!" A stout older man shuffles over to us. "Have a seat. I'll bring out the flavors I've prepared in just a moment," he directs us to a table.

You'd think with this being a fake wedding it wouldn't be as detailed and thorough as it is. I mean who ever heard of a fake couple doing cake tasting for a wedding. He returns from the kitchen with a charcuterie board of mini cakes.

"Starting from left to right, you have a traditional vanilla flavor with fresh raspberry filling and cream cheese icing. Then a chocolate cake with chai spiced buttercream. Lemon blueberry with honey lavender buttercream. And last but not least, salted caramel cake," he lists off the options.

"Ladies first," Theo hands me a fork. I dip it into the first cake and chew thoughtfully. It may be a fake wedding but I don't play about my food. "It's good, I'm waiting for it to be great. No offense,"I say. "Are you going to try it?" I ask Theo. He shakes his head, "I hate raspberry."

He dips his fork into the salted caramel cake, "It doesn't stick out to me. But you can never go wrong with caramel," he shrugs. I taste the cake and shake my head. We try the next two cakes. "I like the chocolate with chai buttercream," I say. "It was good, I more of a fan of the lemon blueberry."

"You could always do both. Plenty of people getting wedding cakes with two or more flavors," the baker pipes up. "He's just trying to get more money out of us," Theo laughs. "But I'm fine with two if you are," he turns to me. I nod, "Fine with me."

"Wonderful," the baker claps. "Thank you both for coming."