There was no doubt about it. Vivian had to admit that Siobhan looked stunning. Her long black dress fitted her like a glove and her black veil gave her a somewhat mysterious air.
She hadn't noticed that Viv was in the room yet. Not that she hadn't been thinking about her. Thinking about how Viv very nearly pulled her out of her miserable existence with Roger.
Nearly.
As she looked at herself in her compact mirror, her eyes wandered to her engagement ring. It was pretty - she'd picked it - but it held none of the sentimentality an engagement ring was supposed to. Every time Siobhan looked at it, she felt empty, trapped, unloved. She was under no illusions that Roger cared for her. She didn't think he ever had. She didn't think she had it in him to care. The amount of times he'd snarled at her for being wrong, or taken his fist to her when he was drunk had told her that.
She didn't want to marry him, but what could she do? She had no choice.
A voice came from behind her, a caring,
"You alright, Bon-Bon?" which caused Siobhan to freeze. Viv was the last person she expected to be here. She couldn't be here. She didn't want her to watch this. Watch her get married.
Siobhan turned to face Viv, managing to say, "Viv?" before the words got stuck in her throat.
Viv smiled, eyeing Siobhan as she leant against the door frame, folding her arms.
"Wh-why are you here?" Siobhan stuttered.
Viv smirked slightly, evidently amused that she'd been able to make Siobhan's cold demeanor crack.
"I know I'm a tiny bit early with this because the wedding hasn't even started yet, but I object."
Siobhan's eyes widened, staring at Viv in alarm. She didn't even want to think about what Roger would do if this wedding didn't go ahead.
"You... What?" Siobhan answered, still slightly stunned.
Viv walked over to Siobhan, standing in front of her as she carefully lifted Siobhan's veil, letting it fall behind her head.
"I object." Viv stated again, gently cupping Siobhan's cheek with her hand and kissing her softly. "I very strongly object to you marrying a man you don't even seem to like."
Siobhan couldn't help a blush from spreading across her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around Viv to steady herself.
"I don't want to marry him-" Siobhan cut herself off, not knowing what else to say and instead pulling Viv into another kiss, deeper than the first. She tangled her fingers in Viv's short hair and only pulled away from the kiss when air became a problem. Viv took a breath, gently running her fingers through Siobhan's hair.
"Are you sure you've never kissed a woman before? You're damn good at it."
This comment caused Siobhan to blush even harder, looking down at the floor.
"No, I haven't... I've barely kissed anyone. You know how much of a bitch I used to be, it was kind of hard for anyone to like me enough to kiss me."
"Well I like you enough." Viv tilted Siobhan's head up and ran her thumb gently over Siobhan's lips before kissing her again, softly, relishing the way it felt.
A clock chimed the hour in the distance and both women looked towards the direction the sound was coming from.
"We should get out of here." Viv said, taking Siobhan's hand, her fingers coming into contact with Siobhan's engagement ring. She looked down at it, Siobhan followed her gaze.
"I'll leave it here." She pulled off the ring, leaving it on the table by the mirror and then taking Viv's hand again.
"I feel freer already." Siobhan said as she squeezed Viv's hand.
They were half way down the corridor when Siobhan wrapped her arms around Viv's waist, pulling her in for another kiss, and then blushing.
"I'm sorry, I just can't quite believe this is real."
Viv smiled. "Don't apologise Bon-Bon. And start believing." She kissed Siobhan's cheek, taking her hand again.
"Do you know the way out? I got lost getting here..."
"I do." A voice from behind them called.
Both women froze, then turned to see Mia walking towards them, a smirk across her face. She was holding Siobhan's engagement ring in one hand, and a set of car keys in the other.
"Mia..." Siobhan started to say, but Mia cut her off.
"Go and have your romantic getaway, yes I saw you snogging each other a second ago. You've made quite the u-turn Shibby."
Siobhan rolled her eyes at the nickname.
Mia continued, "I'll buy you some time. Take these. They're Reece's car keys. I was bragging to him that my dress had pockets so he gave me his car keys to 'make use of them'. So... His loss I guess." She threw the keys to Viv, who caught them and handed them to Siobhan.
"This is your getaway, you can drive." Viv said and Siobhan smiled. They both thanked Mia and all but ran to the car park, where Reece's car was parked. The pair shared another kiss before getting into the car and Siobhan started to drive away.
Viv could see that Siobhan was almost shaking. She guessed it was nerves, or fear. She knew what Roger was capable of. She reached out a hand, gently placing it on Siobhan's thigh as she drove.
"You're going to be okay, you're safe with me."
