Three Nights

01

THE EVENING WAS A BLUR of glowy garden decorations, rose petals, and camera clicks. Lilah sat at one of the wooden benches with a glass of champagne in her hand as she listened to the distorted chatter echoing across the docks.

The ceremony had unfolded like a scene from a Hallmark movie. The siblings, the friends, the parents waited eagerly from the tulle-covered folding chairs as the bride and her father walked slowly, elegantly onto the wooden dock. 

It had finally happened. Even in high school, Lilah could sense Julie Ambrose's feelings for her little brother. The pretty brunette wore her heart on her sleeve, and as she fluttered from guest to guest, she emulated sunshine. Lilah swore she could count each and every single tooth in her smile. Cary was beaming as awkwardly as he was when the two had started dating. Though, with his dark hair gelled back and his lanky limbs tucked neatly into the tuxedo, it was hard to believe that this man was once her dorky little brother.

Now, as the reception raged on, the loud music was starting to give Lilah a headache.  

Lilah tucked her legs under the bench to make room for one of the guests heading off the docks, likely towards the bathroom. He gave her that awkward, semi-friendly half-smile. Did she know him? Maybe. It was gatherings such as these that reminded Lilah of the distance between her now-home and her hometown. The familiar faces from college had blurred into oblivion, their close-knit circles had dissolved into individual, quiet friendships that grew more and more strained with every reunion. Lilah couldn't help but wonder why she expected her old North Carolina suburbs to remain unchanged. Still, she hoped to recognize at least one person among the guests, aside from her immediate family.

Originally, Kenan was supposed to attend the wedding as her plus-one. But the flight tickets were too expensive and he had been busy with work for the last month. She insisted on him staying home and finishing his portfolio.

Lilah had brought Kenan to her hometown twice already, and her parents liked him just fine. They even asked when he was going to propose. And he had. Once. But Lilah couldn't bring herself to say yes just yet.

Still, they moved in together and spent their evenings in front of the TV sharing leftover pizza. It wasn't the fairy tale romance she had read about in her storybooks, but he knew her and she knew him. They found a rhythm that worked, and that seemed to be enough. Though, sometimes she wished he would come home with roses more often, or that he would tell her she was beautiful each night before bed, or that he would ask her out to dinner on a random Thursday evening.

But—she glanced down at her phone and the lock screen of Younger Kenan and Younger Lilah glowed back at her—she knew the concept of love was sometimes unrealistic. And deep down, she knew she loved him in her own way. And she was probably going to marry him.

"Such a beautiful ceremony," an unfamiliar voice sighed from above.

Lilah looked up, meeting the eyes of one of Julie's college friends. Lilah had been introduced to the college group earlier (there were eleven of them), but this woman's name had escaped her.

She nodded politely, correcting her posture.

"I heard from Julie that you created most of the decorations," the woman said with a smile, gesturing to the pink and white paper flowers swinging in the breeze. The delicate spherical pieces fluttered, seeming to puff up their petals at the compliment. "They're lovely. Do you do this professionally?"

Lilah shook her head immediately, a self-conscious laugh escaping her before she could stop it. "Ah, no. Cary just wanted some cheap decorations. They're pretty easy to make—a friend taught me a while back."